Posted earlier as an opinion piece for CBC. See original post here (this post slightly modified from original) By Louis-Philippe Rochon Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon Much was at stake earlier this week when finance ministers from G20 countries met in Istanbul to discuss Greece and the state of the world
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The G-20’s failure on growth
There are, in my humble opinion, two overwhelming threats to humanity, either one of which will undermine global civilization if not dealt with adequately and quickly. The recent G-20 conference dealt with one—climate change—but not only ignored the other, it pushed us further down that path to Armageddon. Article 19
Continue readingWill the tax man catch up to the corporate slackers?
Globalization as we have come to know and love it is misnamed. As it advantages corporations while disadvantaging workers and governments, it might more appropriately be called corporatization or some such thing. Among its sins, it allows corporations to escape the democratic confines of the nation state and it allows
Continue readingLeDaro: Dinner for leaders attending G-20 in St. Petersburg, Russia
Syrian war and killings, violence in Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and on and on. In the meantime dinner for leaders in St. Petersburg, Russia. Nice setting, eh! Wars are for the poor and unemployed. HIGH-PROFILE DINNER: A dinner setting for G-20 leaders was placed on a table before a dinner at
Continue readingLeDaro: Barack Obama and Valdimir Putin meet
The picture below depicts their meeting better. They’re smoking happy.:)
Continue readingLeDaro: Obama meets Putin at G20
Looks cordial? The heading should be ‘Obama passes by Putin’.:) Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The G-20, Global Stagnation and the Option of Wage Led Growth
Here is the link to a short piece I wrote for Economy Lab. It borrows from and includes the link to an important paper co-authored by the PEF’s own Marc Lavoie and recently published by the ILO , which I highly recommend. The overall conclusion of that paper is that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Polozogistics: Nine Thoughts About the Choice of the New Bank of Canada Governor
1. He’s Number Two: Stephen Poloz was widely acknowledged in economic and political circles as the second-best choice for the top job at the Bank of Canada. So the surprise was not that he was chosen. The surprise was, Why Not Tiff Macklem? Will someone please find out and tell
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Strong public support for financial transaction taxes
An international poll commissioned by the International Trade Union Confederation found very strong support in many countries, including Canada, for the introduction of Financial Transactions Taxes (FTTs), such as the Robin Hood Tax. Trade unions provided results of this poll in their meetings with world leaders at the G20 meetings in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada, the IMF and the G20
The Harper government decided to attack Thomas Mulcair on the issue of Canadian support for additional IMF resources to deal with the euro area crisis, implying that Canadian taxpayers should not be asked to “bail out” a rich area of the world. As recounted in Macleans here, on June 8,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A New Stage of the Crisis?
Until quite recently, it seemed that the global economy was set for an extended period of stagnation, lacking an obvious engine of growth in the advanced economies as households deleveraged, as governments imposed harsh fiscal austerity programs, and as corporations failed to see any good reason to invest significantly in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada – The Petrotyranny
The revelations over how the federal Tories used a robo-calling firm (or firms) to contact voters in possibly 30 or more ridings during last year’s election – misleading them about where polling stations were located – is just another example of the Harper government’s undemocratic tactics. This is on top
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Souvenirs de Cannes
I was in Cannes last week with CLC President Ken Georgetti for the G20 Labour Summit. (I know, tough job.) This event was arranged by the International Trade Union Confederation with the support of the French Presidency of the G20. Our group as a whole, consisting of labour leaders from the G20 countries and leaders […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Rethinking “Business As Usual”
As the heads of state for the G20 countries gather in Cannes for their annual conference, where the economy will be high on the agenda, I thought it would be fine to contemplate a vision of a post-consumer society, where people work fewer hours. They m…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: IMF Hints at Need for Less Fiscal Austerity and a Plan B for Canada
Albeit in a highly nuanced way, the IMF has called on the G-20 to temper short-term fiscal austerity now that the global economy “has entered a dangerous phase.” In their submission to the October 14-15 meetings of G-20 finance ministers, the IMF call for medium-term fiscal consolidation plans to “create more policy space for near-term […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Prime Minister and the G20
Prime Minister Harper’s op ed in the Globe today on his hopes for the Cannes summit is disappointing, even if the content comes as no surprise. His focus is on the danger of a relapse into a global recession precipitated by a worsening of the European financial crisis. This is indeed a hugely important issue which […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The State of the Economy and Labour’s Response
The advanced economies, including Canada, risk falling back into recession because of government spending cuts and a looming financial crisis. The Canadian Labour Congress has been calling for our federal government and the G20 governments to respond by putting jobs first. This paper summarizes the economic situation as of the end of September, 2011 and […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The G20 and Jobs
The meeting of G20 Labour Ministers in Paris on September 26-27, held in advance of the November G20 Summit in Cannes, reached some conclusions which go some (extremely modest) way toward living up to prior G20 commitments in London and Pittsburgh to promote quality jobs and a more progressive labour market model as part of […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Trade Unions Urge G20 Action on Jobs
I am attending the G20 labour ministers meeting next week, which is being held against the background of high unemployment in the advanced economies, and the prospect – highlighted by the IMF yesterday – for unemployment to increase even further in the months ahead. A key union demand – that the G20 establish an ongoing […]
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