Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Steven Greenhouse discusses how the U.S.’ economy is rigged against workers. And Eric Levitz writes that Donald Trump’s giveaway to the rich worked only as a scam against the rest of the country. – Matthew Townsend and Scott Lanman point out that minimum
Continue readingTag: free trade agreements
THE FIFTH COLUMN: On Free Trade
Even among left wing parties and progressive politicians trade is worshipped as the saviour of the world, but perhaps we should ask ourselves Is Trade Evil ? After we do that we can consider the question of free trade and free trade agreements. We need to seriously look at the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jim Stanford calls out corporate apologists for blaming workers for deteriorating working conditions and stagnant wages which have resulted from deliberate policy choices: Unemployed workers on the dole for months at a time? Clearly they aren’t looking hard enough for work. Low-wage workers
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – PressProgress reports on federal government focus groups indicating the twin problems of precarious employment and high costs of living: According to recently published public opinion research commissioned by the Privy Council Office (PCO) newly reviewed by PressProgress, the Trudeau government’s own internal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Justin Fisher laments the fact that we’re still talking about first steps toward combating a climate crisis after decades of understanding the problem. Jake Woodier points out that Brexit has been the UK’s recent distraction from the most important issue facing humanity. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Justin Trudeau has gone from counterweight to lapdog in dealing with the Trump administration. For further reading…– Teresa Wright reported on the crackdown on refugees in the Libs’ omnibus budget bill. And Karl Nerenberg called out Trudeau’s pandering to anti-refugee prejudice. – Kelly Crowe reports on Canada’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Mike Benusic points out that the success of public health programs is found in the absence of preventable illnesses and dangers – meaning that Doug Ford’s slashing of Ontario’s funding is likely to lead to far more health costs in the long
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Howard Mann discusses the World Bank’s new model for public-private partnerships which deliberately avoids placing any real risk with the profiteers who participate only to make money off of necessary infrastructure. – The New York Times takes an in-depth look at the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Guardian’s editorial board writes that stagnating and even declining life expectancies and nother indications of declining social health are the result of purely political choices: In 2010 a government-commissioned review looking at the relationship between health and wealth – only the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – David Moscrop discusses the need for a more meaningful definition of “progress” which doesn’t hand-wave away the long-term harms and risks created by the single-minded pursuit of immediate gains in top-end wealth. – Rajeev Syal reports that the UK Cons pushed through public-sector
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Laurie MacFarlane writes that flows of income and wealth have everything to do with bargaining power and social decision-making, rather than productivity or merit: (A)ggregate wealth is not simply a reflection of the process of accumulation, as theory tends to imply. It
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Conservatives would have fought harder to protect Canadian dairy farmers? Don’t believe it!
A lot of Canada’s Conservatives were wearing long faces yesterday about the impact of the freshly inked United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on this country’s dairy industry. As political sins go, this small hypocrisy is a minor one. Why not let the sitting government take the rap for a treaty with our
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The OECD examines the generational implications of inequality and poverty – with the descendants of poor children in some countries requiring up to nine generations to project to reach an average income. – Dean Baker writes that the Trump administration is only seeking
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how NAFTA has proven wholly ineffective in deterring a destructive U.S. president from starting a gratuitous trade war – and how Canada should respond in charting a new economic course. For further reading…– Andrew Jackson has previously discussed the effects of NAFTA to date, as well as Canada’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Dru Oja Jay points out the connections between improved public services, decreased inequality and meaningful action to fight climate change. – Adam Corlett challenges spin from the UK Conservatives intended to mislead voters about the relative tax contributions of the wealthy as opposed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ashley Renders reports on the Canadian mining companies which are using corporate trade deals to threaten developing countries with billion-dollar claims to stifle environmental protections. And Mike Blanchfield and Andy Blatchford report that China wants any trade deals to similarly privilege investors
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jim Stanford discusses what can be done to make international terms of trade serve the public, rather than merely offering multinational corporations control over all participants: Acknowledging that globalisation produces losers as well as winners, allows us to imagine policies to moderate the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Faiza Shaheen discusses the UK Cons’ attempts to paper over the harmful effects of austerity. And Amir Fleischmann points out that while the human cost of cuts to public services is all too real, the supposed fiscal benefits are usually illusory: Many social
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your Family Day reading. – Gloria Galloway reports on Jagmeet Singh’s strong case for fair tax revenues as a key highlight from the NDP’s federal convention: In his speech to delegates, Mr. Singh lamented income inequality, urged the protection of pensions, called for publicly funded pharmacare and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Marco Chown Oved, Toby Heaps and Michael Yow discuss the long-term transition away from meaningful corporate tax contributions to Canada’s public purse: For every dollar corporations pay to the Canadian government in income tax, people pay $3.50. The proportion of the public budget
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