Larning more about the nature and history of money, we eventually realize that money is simply a promissary note, valuable only because we agree it is valuable, a useful social fiction, or token system, useful for exchange of real goods or services, or possibly for savings (minus inflation, hyper-inflation and
Continue readingTag: finance
Things Are Good: Canada Now Requires Companies to Disclose Who Benefits
Following similar legislation in other countries Canada has finally introduced a beneficial ownership requirement on Canadian companies. Federally registered companies will have to disclose who owns them, which means it’ll be harder to commit tax fraud. Plus, by having companies reveal who benefits from their existence it will be easier
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Banks Destroy Your Future, And What You Can do About It
Money makes the world go round, but it can also make the world go burn. If you care about the planet, the people on it, or just life in general then you probably don’t want your investments to destroy what you care about. Investment funds that claim to protect the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Canadians Need to Know Snow-washing
Us Canadians need to live up to the stereotype that we are a nice, peaceful, and safe country. Clearly the so-called trucker protest tarnished our reputation, but in financial circles our reputation is tarnished thanks to our neglect of corporate accountability. Internationally Canada is seen as a great place to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Pandora Papers Resonate in Canada
The Pandora Papers were released just last week and they are already having in impact in Canada. The non-profit Canadians for Tax Fairness is pushing the recently elected politicians to get on closing loopholes and exploits that only the rich get to use. All parties support tax reform to address
Continue readingThings Are Good: Opening A Pandora’s Box of Elite Financial Trickery
Yesterday the Pandora Papers were released to the public by a team of investigative journalists. It exposed how 35 world leaders and 300 other public officials used complex financial arrangements to not pay taxes and avoid potential corruption charges. While the rest of us get in trouble for not paying
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Kudos to Carney (and Good Luck!)
Mark Carney is a banker par excellence, a Canadian boy who made the big time. He served as Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and is credited with helping the country weather the recession. He then went on to become Governor of the Bank of England,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Time for a Tobin Tax on Financial Transactions
High frequency trading increases volatility in stock markets and mean that only those with access to high-powered computers can compete. This is not good for long-term thinking and means that what a company actually does is irrelevant to the stock performance – contradictory to claims about how the market ought
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Why #COP21 won’t deliver the deal we need: Interview with Oscar Reyes
Last week, I interviewed Oscar Reyes on the background to and likely outcomes of the climate talks in Paris just wrapping up. His answers were prescient as the talks look set to deliver a decidedly insufficient agreement, one that locks in more warming shrouded in lofty rhetoric. This interview gives context to the talks and the […]
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Bay St. isn’t back, it never left
The New York Times reports that Wall St. is back in a big way since the 2007 crisis: profits, salaries and confidence have returned in the US financial industry. As often happens when I see something intriguing like this about the US, I wanted to quickly see whether a similar dynamic is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We’ve been goosed by Uncle Joe.
Once more the Canadian parliament has been downplayed by the Harper Conservatives. Even as simple an announcement as the date of bringing down the next budget is moved away from Ottawa. It was moved to a Toronto factory where people toil at sewing machines, assembling winter jackets for a garment
Continue readingFlat Tax Math Yields a T-Bird
Here’s some interesting math for you. Between 2011 and 2014, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice was a Vice-President for CIBC, with a salary “reportedly over $2 million.” In Ontario, his 2013 provincial income taxes would have been calculated using a progressively increasing tax rate that topped out at 13.16% on income over $509,000. The
Continue readingFLAT TAX MATH YIELDS A T-BIRD
Here’s some interesting math for you. Between 2011 and 2014, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice was a Vice-President for CIBC, with a salary “reportedly over $2 million.” In Ontario, his 2013 provincial income taxes would have been calculated using a progressively increasing tax rate that topped out at 13.16% on income over $509,000. The provincial tax deducted from his … Continue reading FLAT TAX MATH YIELDS A T-BIRD →
Continue reading9 ways Alberta should manage resources better
Sometime toward the end of November, the Alberta government will release their 2nd quarter fiscal update. Finance Minister Robin Campbell will likely tell us that the second quarter was another good quarter but that the good news is coming to an end and the 1st quarter projection of a $3 Billion bonus will be
Continue reading9 WAYS ALBERTA SHOULD MANAGE RESOURCES BETTER
Sometime toward the end of November, the Alberta government will release their 2nd quarter fiscal update. Finance Minister Robin Campbell will likely tell us that the second quarter was another good quarter but that the good news is coming to an end and the 1st quarter projection of a $3 Billion bonus will be revised. The reason of course … Continue reading 9 WAYS ALBERTA SHOULD MANAGE RESOURCES BETTER →
Continue readingTHE CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE: WikiLeaks Publishes Secret Global Trade Agreement
by: WikiLeaks | June 19, 2014 Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has published the a secret draft text of the World Trade Agreement’s Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which aims to “further deregulate global financial services markets.” According to the draft, Canada is among the 50 countries that are part to
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Banks save over €40 billion in capital thanks to government decree | In English | EL PAÍS
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/04/24/inenglish/1398330641_511126.html Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Eurozone Crisis, finance, neoliberalism, Spain
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a great public servant. There’s no doubt that the NDP
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a gre…
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Flaherty’s Curtain
Jim Flaherty was unethical, incompetent and he should have been fired. Those aren’t my words, they’re Thomas Mulcair’s, spoken just last year in Question Period. Yet after the former Finance Minister’s death, Mulcair has called him a good man and a great public servant. There’s no doubt that the NDP
Continue reading