This and that for your Thursday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz writes about the need to learn from past mistakes in order to build a sustainable economy for the future: To someone like me, who has watched trade negotiations closely for more than a quarter-century, it is clear that US trade
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Accidental Deliberations: On suspended animation
It would be nice to be able to share Michael Geist’s view that the latest TPP by another name represents a substantial improvement over the original. But to my mind, the real story of the CPTPP is how little it changes. In principle, I’d have hoped to see a group
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Thomas Frank asks how we’ve allowed billionaires to escape any responsibility for the maintenance of civilization by moving their wealth offshore: I know that what the billionaires and the celebrities have done is legal. They merely took advantage of the system. It’s the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – George Monbiot offers his suggestion for a new political narrative to build a better world than the one currently dominated by neoliberalism: (B)y coming together to revive community life we, the heroes of this story, can break the vicious circle. Through invoking our
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Asher Schechter examines new studies showing how massive markups are enriching corporations at the expense of workers: The two standard explanations for why labor’s share of output has fallen by 10 percent over the past 30 years are globalization (American workers are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jerry Dias writes that corporate greed is the common thread in numerous stories about Canadian workers being left without jobs or support. And Yves Engler points out that trade agreements have ultimately served little purpose but to entrench corporate power. – Chris
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Charles Mathewes and Evan Sandsmark write that it’s long past time to start treating the excessive accumulation of wealth as something to be questioned – rather than accepted as an inevitability, or worse yet admired: The idea that wealth is morally perilous
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Angella MacEwen offers her suggestions as to what a fair and progressive trade agenda should look like: Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms are especially unpopular, as they prioritize investor rights over investor responsibilities. Canada and Mexico have had similar dismal experiences under NAFTA
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Assorted content to end your week. – Joseph Stiglitz offers a reminder that tax giveaways to the rich and the corporate sector accomplish zero – or worse – when it comes to economic development: If corporate tax reform happens at all, it will be a hodge-podge brokered behind closed doors.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on why we should be skeptical of Donald Trump’s NAFTA demands – and why it should be willing to walk away from the table if it’s not possible to push for dramatic improvements to what’s being offered. For further reading:– The U.S.’ list of negotiating objectives is here (PDF).
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mike Konczal responds to a pathetic attempt to drain the word “neoliberal” of all meaning (which seems to have won favour with Canadian Libs desperately trying to disassociate themselves from their own governing ideology) by discussing its application in both the political and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Darlene O’Leary sets out the results from public consultations for a national anti-poverty strategy. And Dennis Howlett writes that our tax system could (and should) be set up to build a far more fair and supportive society. – Meanwhile, Ryan Cooper makes
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Martin Lukacs writes that the world should able to draw plenty of positive examples from Canada’s politics – though not from the corporate-focused federal Libs: As Donald Trump rips up the Paris climate accords, it may seem easy to despair. But these provincial
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Alan Freeman discusses the real costs of ideologically-driven deregulation: The idea that “the market” will root out bad actors in any industry and that regulations are just a hindrance to economic vitality is a dangerous concept. Companies, like individuals, will do what they
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Michal Rozworski highlights how UK Labour’s platform provides for a needed move toward the democratization of economic activity along with an end to gratuitous austerity. And a distinguished group of economists has signed on to support the plan. – Charlie Skelton examines how
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Assorted content for your weekend reading. – David MacDonald studies the federal government’s loopholes and giveaways targeted toward those who already have the most – noting that there would be plenty of revenue to fund the programs we’re told are unaffordable if that preferential treatment was ended. And Felicity Lawrence
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Patrick Butler writes about the increasing number of UK families mired in poverty and insecure housing even with one or more people working. And Ali Monceaux and Daniel Najarian discuss the importance of a fair minimum wage in providing people with a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dalia Marin argues that in order to avoid corporate dominance over citizens and workers around the globe, we should be developing international competition policies and systems to combat the concentration of wealth: Two forces in today’s digital economy are driving the global decline
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Scott Sinclair writes that there’s no reason for any party to NAFTA to see itself as being stuck with the existing agreement (or worse), while also mentioning a few ways to substantially improve the rules governing North American trade: Canada should call Trump’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Clive Hamilton discusses the accelerating calamity of climate change which we’re allowing to happen: Our best scientists tell us insistently that a calamity is unfolding, that the life-support systems of the Earth are being damaged in ways that threaten our survival. Yet in
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