Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Michael Harris neatly sums up the Harper Cons’ legacy: In many ways, the Harper legacy will come down to this: how much can he get away with? Incumbency furnishes a speedy getaway car. From a legislative perspective, Harper might as well be King
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Canadian Trends: Modern capitalists hate capitalism
You can sum up any current financial news in to a few categories. You’ll either find yourself reading about: A solution proposed by those responsible for the problem that when tried didn’t work. An expensive summit or meeting attended by those responsible for the problem to discuss a solution which won’t work.
Continue readingCanadian Trends: GM jobs to be sent abroad to… the United States?
GM cuts confirm factory jobs gone for good. In the 21st century, they’re giving way to service jobs at places like Telus. While the United States unravels it’s debt death spiral, the imbalance between their economy and our economy will become much more noticeable. The U.S. has had several years
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lana Payne weighs in on the Cons’ goal of reducing wages for Canadian workers: As an economist, Stephen Harper must know what his government’s changes to employment insurance (EI), the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the elimination of the Fair Wage Act
Continue readingCanadian Trends: No-gasm: Global economic foreplay isn’t working
Anyone with proper insight in to the global situation has known more Canadian stimulus would be here sooner or later. At the moment it would appear sooner is winning. Coincidentally I don’t remember stimulus in the budget, in fact the whole budget was supposed to be about post-stimulus Canada. Jobs
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: Canada’s housing market crash…the new reality
Its happened all around the world, and now its happening here in Canada, the inevitable collapse of our housing bubble. There are still people in denial, especially those who’ve bought in during the frenzy of the past few years. Of course buyers have had good reason to dive into
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 7, 2012
Monday, May 7 saw another day largely dominated by debate on the Cons’ omnibus budget bill. The Big Issue Plenty of MPs rightly focused on the Cons’ move to combine so many disparate types of legislation into a single behemoth of a bill. Don Davies remembered his first instruction as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On federal cases
Paul Krugman compares the effects of burst housing bubbles in Florida and Spain to point out how the EU’s lack of genuine fiscal federalism has exacerbated its crisis. But there’s an important lesson to be learned for Canada as well. After all, the Harper Cons and their big-business allies are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman highlights the anti-social austerity agenda at work in the U.K. and U.S.: (T)he austerity drive in Britain isn’t really about debt and deficits at all; it’s about using deficit panic as an excuse to dismantle social programs. And this is, of
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Reality Check
Don’t worry! A solution is coming I just can’t tell you what it is. Energy and economics have much in common, in fact economics is just a system to organize the exchange of energy in the form of trade. Today however I discovered another commonality between the two: analysts of
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Tar-sands
There are people who insist on calling the monstrous mega-project in northern Alberta the “oilsands”. I insist on the historically used “tarsands” since I try to reject all rebranding efforts (especially for projects that are so detrimental to life). Yes, it’s technically, chemically incorrect to call it tar sands. Even
Continue readingCanadian Trends: This presentation is essential reading in understanding what is to come
(If some of the slides are blank either zoom in one level or fullscreen the presentation) The End Game
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Dear journalists (Part 2)
I had never intended to make the first part an ongoing “series” and was really just the result of my angry ranting, yet again I feel a need to ask journalists why they are not doing their job. Today’s article of interest: Alison Redford ‘advancing Alberta’s interests’ at elite gathering.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom makes the point that the hysterical response from Brad Wall and others can’t mask the fact that Thomas Mulcair is right in his analysis of the effect of a high, resource-driven dollar: Mulcair’s solution is hardly radical. He argues that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On trade-offs
Much of the recent discussion as to how to develop a strong and sustainable Canadian economy has included absolutely no challenge to the theory that natural resource development is somehow a driver of increased jobs. So let’s take a closer look at the relative economic contributions of the natural resource
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Alison Redford heads to Bilderberg conference on public dime
It seems to be becoming more accepted, that public politicians who are supposed to be representing their constituents and reporting to them can freely attend secretive meetings with foreign dignitaries on the public dime without revealing what was discussed. In 2010 it was Premier Campbell and now this year it is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 4, 2012
Friday, May 4 saw a relatively short day of debate on the omnibus budget bill – but with a few twists on the discussion seen to date. The Big Issue Claude Gravelle noted that the range of major changes in C-38 goes far beyond the environment alone. Ted Hsu wondered
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review – May 4, 2012
Friday, May 4 saw a relatively short day of debate on the omnibus budget bill – but with a few twists on the discussion seen to date. The Big Issue Claude Gravelle noted that the range of major changes in C-38 goes far beyond the environment alone. Ted Hsu wondered
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Harald Bauder comments on the Cons’ continued efforts to provoke a race to the bottom when it comes to wages: (B)oth the planned EI reforms and the temporary foreign workers program are part of a wider strategy of lowering the bar on
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Stunning Disruptors
Asbestos was a miracle mineral, preventing fires in places we didn’t wan to burn. Then people started dying from it. “Antibacterial” soap was lauded by people as the solution to ordinary old soap, and our dirty, dirty world. And couches were catching on fire as potatoes sat on them watching
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