I’ve been getting rid of some accumulated paper. I found a receipt for a full year of university tuition in 1978-79: $740. I also found a paystub for my minimum wage job in the summer of 1979. At $3 an hour it took under 7 weeks to earn my tuition.
Continue readingTag: Economics
Susan on the Soapbox: Politics in the Age of Bewilderment
The historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari says we’re living in the Age of Bewilderment, the old stories have collapsed and the new stories have not yet been written. Ms Soapbox thinks some politicians are trying to bridge this gap by pretending it doesn’t exist. They hope to turn this
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Taxing the Rich
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the freshest Democrat to hit the White House, is making headlines for mimicking the dance sequence from The Breakfast Club back in college, and wanting to raise marginal tax rates to 70%. Unfortunately people care a bit too much about her dance moves, and headlines are missing the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If other Canadians don’t think Alberta should go suck a lemon, they probably soon will
Alberta! Go suck a lemon! I don’t endorse that sentiment, of course. I’m an Albertan, after all. The person who did say something like that, as it happens, didn’t say it about Alberta. It was a long, long time ago, 1976 as a matter of fact, when Catherine Ford said
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Moe Defends His Travel By Attacking the wrong NDP
Saskatchewan’s Premier literally thinks that raw resources are more important than our people and their future here in Saskatchewan. Why is his badly typed meme using a federal NDP campaign plane to talk about provincial NDP travel? Could it be that his travel expenses are ridiculous, full of evasive photo
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: 12 Years Left and Over $200B to Fund
We have less than 12 years left to kick the oil bums out. The oil bums have left us with hundreds of billions of dollars in liabilities, while claiming our economy would fall apart without their borrowing of money to destroy our climate and air quality.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: “An appealing concept”
Does the north of Canada need improved transportation? Yes. Is this need being exploited by those who want a pipeline to “tidewater”? Yes. Will constructing it ensure Canada exceeds our promised and required emissions limit? Yes. Will that limit being crossed result in the likely destruction of our society? Yes,
Continue readingIn-Sights: Economic illiteracy in Canadian media
The Fraser Institute declares Tax Freedom Day each year. It is an inaccurate trick to further interests of the millionaires and billionaires for whom the “charity” works. Many of those people use overseas tax shelters so their tax freedom day falls in January. Don’t expect Fraser Institute to mention Earth
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Doomsayers, Chicken Littles and Conservatives get it wrong on the impact of minimum wage increases
Now there’s a surprise! Ontario’s minimum wage increase behaved exactly as predicted by most mainstream economists. That is, the 21-per-cent wage increase implemented by the former Liberal government that took effect on Jan. 1 this year did none of the terrible things Conservative politicians, right-wing think tankers, Astro-Turf “tax watchdog”
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Hursh Lights A Match
And the fields are dry. “As a farmer in southwest Saskatchewan, this isn’t a great year. It’s been dry and hot. Crop yields as well as prices are down. Many of my neighbours have had their crops destroyed by vicious hailstorms.” Hursh has made it clear. Yes, it’s clear that
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Money or Mission? A Simple Test of Policy
In a discussion about politics in America, Michael Lewis, the author of The Big Short and Moneyball, said the rift isn’t between Republicans and Democrats, it’s between the people who are in it for the mission and the people who are in it for the money. This “mission” or “money”
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Worst President Possible
Who puts children in cages?Not men assured living wages.A #FightforFifteen?A quaint little dream,While American Dreams shrink in stages.#WhereAreTheChildren?#ChildrenConcentrationCamps.This started when?President Orange Gramps.* *Obama and Bush share some blame. — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) June 18, 2018
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Universal Basic Income – A Change We Need
If we have to live within a capitalist framework, the very least we can do is make sure everyone has a chance.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Your Alberta Propaganda
WARNING: The following blog post contains government propaganda (literally). Reading it may cause a warped sense of reality, and loss of your bearings. It’s repulsive that @YourAlberta Government is paying for this propaganda promoted tweet https://twitter.com/KeepCanWorking/status/996165558822465545 … They sound like a Trudeau Liberal, ‘The money from destroying the earth from selling
Continue readingEarthgauge News: Interview with journalist Paul McKay about pipeline economics in Canada
https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/paulmckay-part1-forair.mp3 https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/paulmckay-part2-forair.mp3 Time and time again, we hear from politicians that we need more pipelines to get Alberta’s oil to new markets. But Paul Mckay, an award-winning journalist who has looked at this issue closely, says this is all a shell game, smoke and mirrors designed to distract us from
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada backs foreign investor rights to shield mining industry: Book
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria during a bi-lateral meeting in Paris (OECD/Flickr CC Licence) Canada’s controversial mining sector may be the driving force behind the country’s insistence on protecting foreign investors’ rights over laws that guard its own citizens and environmental values. Prime Minister Justin
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: How to use Nanowallet for the NEM blockchain
May 4, 2018 NEM is a cryptocurrency, inspired by Bitcoin and an alt-coin called NXT. It isn’t compatible with Bitcoin, however. For this reason it needs its own wallet, and that wallet for your computer is named Nanowallet*. Nanowallet has some advantages over the mobile phone NEM Wallet version for
Continue readingEarthgauge News: Earthgauge Radio – April 17, 2018
https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/earthgaugeradio-forair-18-04-17.mp3 Edition #14 of Earthgauge News for the week of April 16, 2018. A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world. Join me here every week or subscribe to the podcast. On the show this week: Palm oil is being banned by a
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Reporter Was Right Before
When someone is correct multiple times about major events, it’s worth hearing what they have to say about the latest unfolding. Trump’s Presidency is crumbling, and if Americans wake up, it won’t last long into next year.
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