Take a look at the picture below. Take it in. Now scan your eyes to the far right…there, in faded blue you’ll see the initials MMT. Now zoom out. Take it in again. Notice: a few hundred people. Spending their time learning about an economic theory called Modern Monetary Theory
Continue readingTag: federal budget
The Progressive Economics Forum: EI Shrank by 100,000 in 2011
Statistics Canada reported today that the number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance rose by 4,230 in December, a month in which unemployment rose by 6,100. The proportion of unemployed workers receiving benefits remained below 39% (i.e. 544,720 beneficiaries out of 1.4 million unemployed). Although December saw relatively little change in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: In the Wake of the Crisis: Bully Capitalism
A shorter version of this article appears today at Economy Lab, the Globe and Mail’s on-line business feature. Capitalism has entered an ugly new era, one that may work well for the shareholders of world, but not for the rest of us. I couldn’t help but notice that, on the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Is The OAS/GIS Program Unaffordable?
No. Of course not. Even if the government waves around scary large increases in nominal dollar terms. As has been widely reported, the most recent OAS actuarial report shows that total program expenditures will rise from $38.8 billion in 2011 to $107.9 billion in 2030. However, the dollar figure reflects,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal cuts could push unemployment to 8%
Now that the government is planning for an $8 billion cut, the potential job losses could drive job losses to between 99,000 and 108,000 full time positions across Canada. At this much higher level, the federal government could be single-handedly responsible for pushing national unemployment from its current 7.5% to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Focus of the Federal Budget Must Be Jobs, Not Cuts.
The Mark have published a pre Budget commentary from yours truly.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Cost of Inequitable Tax Loopholes Increases
Finance Canada published its annual Tax Expenditure Report for 2011 and it shows that the cost of some of the most inequitable tax preferences and loopholes continues to rise. For instance the stock option deduction, which allows CEOs and executives to pay tax at half the rate of ordinary working income, is
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Long Way from Plan B
The best one can say about today’s Economic and Fiscal Update is that it signals some very slight flexibility amid changing circumstances. The Minister said “We will not be bound by ideology when it comes to making decisions to keep our economy strong and protect Canadians, their financial security and their jobs. We have responded […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Austerity Kills: Conservative cure worst thing for what ails the economy says Stiglitz
Governments around the world are heading down a path to economic suicide. So said Nobel Prize-winning former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, to hundreds of well-heeled financiers and decision-makers who paid a bundle to hear him in Toronto. With a voice as gruff as gravel, and an energy bristling with urgency, he […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Funding for Federal Granting Councils
The Canadian Association of University Teachers represents 66,000 university and college teachers, academic librarians, researchers and staff at more than 120 universities and colleges in Canada. Their 2012 brief to the Federal Finance Committee contains some useful numbers. I was particularly interested to see their data showing decreased funding to Canada’s federal granting councils. Using constant dollars, the brief spells out that, over […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: MMT: What it Means for Canada
Arun Dubois’ blog post yesterday on Modern Monetary Theory has prompted me to write my own take on the subject. For those interested, an interesting thumbnail sketch of MMT, essentially functional finance augmented by a full understanding of monetary operations, is explained at http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-in-nutshell.html. While MMT deals with the details of monetary and fiscal matters, […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: About those “unfunded liabilities”
When it comes to the Canada Pension Plan, a major talking point from the right is that the CPP has “unfunded liabilities”, with the implication that is not affordable and financially unsustainable. This is nonsense, a scare tactic based on an accounting fiction that counts only future expenditures but does not count future revenues. For […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Clemens vs. Clemens
Jason Clemens, who hangs his hat at several right-wing think-tanks (the Fraser, Pacific Research and Macdonald-Laurier Institutes), lauds Canadian fiscal conservatism in today’s Wall Street Journal: Canada’s government, for example, has grown smaller over the last 15 years. Total government spending as a share of the economy peaked at a little over 53% in 1993. […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Family Values and Budget Cuts
Once again, in the middle of summer, the anti-government government has unleashed more anti-policy policy via a compliant Statistics Canada. Who needs data when you’ve got family values? The Harper team knows what you need. (Hint: tax cuts. Oops! Not for you sister, if you’re a single mom.) The Globe and Mail’s Tavia Grant has […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Navigating challenging economic waters
Down south, the Obama administration is in a dangerous game of chicken with Republican congressional leaders, who are cynically holding the US economy hostage in order to impose a radical agenda of spending cuts. Obama has seemingly bought into the rhetoric of cutting debt, rather than focusing on the real US problem of unemployment. Yet, […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal Budget Refried
Was it worth the wait? Hardly. Today’s federal budget is about as appetizing as two month-old pizza warmed up in the microwave. I guess they deserve high marks for consistency, though not for economic policy or a long list of other things. The Harper government’s June Budget is almost entirely a reprinted version of the […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: How Much Will Harper Cut?
Some progressives worry that the new Conservative majority will dismantle the Canadian state. Hard-nosed economic conservatives like Andrew Coyne and Terry Corcoran worry that the Conservatives will not actually cut government spending. I have suggested that the Harper Conservatives will cut, but not as much as the Chretien Liberals. This debate would benefit from some […]
Continue readingRailroaded by Metrolinx: End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry by the next Federal Budget
This is the second video produced by our frenetic little team at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Toronto Chapter) about why the Conservatives paying $1.4 billion dollars to the oil, gas and coal companies is just absurd. Please call the Finance Minister,…
Continue readingRailroaded by Metrolinx: End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry by the next Federal Budget
This is the second video produced by our frenetic little team at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Toronto Chapter) about why the Conservatives paying $1.4 billion dollars to the oil, gas and coal companies is just absurd. Please call the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty at 866-599-4999 and let him know that
Continue readingRailroaded by Metrolinx: End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry by the next Federal Budget
This is the second video produced by our frenetic little team at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Toronto Chapter) about why the Conservatives paying $1.4 billion dollars to the oil, gas and coal companies is just absurd. Please call the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty at 866-599-4999 and let him know that
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