The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has issued a heads up to world Hindus for Diwali, the Hindu Autumn festival of lights. In the message, released October 20 and entitled “Christians and Hindus: Together to Foster a Culture of ‘Inclusion,’” the Pontifical Council stated that “globalization has not achieved its
Continue readingTag: Globalization
Calling the bluff on "we must compete in the global marketplace"
The soul-numbing mantra “we must compete in the global marketplace” is much heard these days. Conservative politicians and business groups toss it out tirelessly as an argument to reduce taxes, and weaken labour and environmental laws. Unfortunately, their argument is valid. Trade agreements have so reduced the ability of national
Continue readingPostArctica: Citizen’s Party Growing In Spain – Podemos (We Can)
“It’s citizens doing politics. If the citizens don’t get involved in politics, others will. And that opens the door to them robbing you of democracy, your rights and your wallet.” Pablo Iglesias, Podemos Podemos hopes to cement rise of citizen politics in Spain after election success
Continue readingPostArctica: Citizen’s Party Growing In Spain – Podemos (We Can)
“It’s citizens doing politics. If the citizens don’t get involved in politics, others will. And that opens the door to them robbing you of democracy, your rights and your wallet.” Pablo Iglesias, Podemos Podemos hopes to cement rise of citizen politics in Spain after election success
Continue readingSupport the tax gap motion
That governments are robbed of billions of dollars by the rich and by corporations exploiting tax havens is a well-known national and international scandal. It is now standard practice for corporations to exploit a variety of often opaque schemes to shift profits into low or no-tax jurisdictions. The corporate tax
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Surely lighthouses are simply a good thing?
“From a conventional view of progress, there were few projects more useful and less problematic than building lighthhouses to save life and cargo. From the shore, however, this was not so obvious. Among the local population were wreckers, who waited for storms to drive vessels ashore which they looted for
Continue readingFlaherty bribes automakers—globalization at work
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s $500-million handout to the auto industry has engendered a bit of controversy. Dino Chiodo, president of the union representing hourly workers at Chrysler’s Windsor assembly plant, says it isn’t enough. Mark Milke of the Fraser Institute says it’s way too much, claiming corporate welfare is a
Continue readingCapitalism—an irrational system in an age of climate change
Capitalism is generally recognized as having one great strength. That, of course, is as a creator of wealth. Aided by the remarkable advance of technology (some would say inspired and facilitated by capitalism) it has created wealth unknown before in human history. Capitalism is also generally recognized as having one
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The rise of Bitcoin: and the challenge to the global domination of big money
The following article was written on October 25. I wanted to read it over once more before publishing it, then got busy with other things and forgot about it. In the roughly six weeks that have passed since the writing of this article, the Bitcoin prices have gone from roughly
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: NAFTA, “Free Trade” and the TPP: Fast-Track To Full Corporate Rule
“Twenty years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed into law. At the time, advocates painted a rosy picture of booming U.S. exports creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and economic development in Mexico, which would bring the struggling country in line with its wealthier northern
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Diane Francis is an imbecile and a traitor. The Chicago-born…
Diane Francis is an imbecile and a traitor. The Chicago-born conservative immigrant to Canada should be deported to her homeland, as should all foreign-born right-wing elitists who want to give away Canadians’ sovereignty as if it’s no big deal. Canadian-born traitors like Stephen J. Harper and his spineless sycophants will
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The deeper reasons for the “war on drugs”
There is a deeper reason for the war on drugs, which is the central reason for the policy, even outweighing profits from private prisons and seizure of property by law enforcement officers, both of which no doubt are also significant and strong motivations for keeping the “war on drugs” going.
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 readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Pensions and the Detroit Bankruptcy
Municipal workers across the United States — and especially those already retired — were dealt a warning shot in mid-July when the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Municipal bankruptcies, which have particularly set their sights on cutting the pensions of public-sector retirees, might become a more favoured tool in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It Worked for Capone, Now Let’s Use It on Multi-Nationals
Tax evasion is a crime. Multi-national corporations are criminals. In fact, the G20 is warning that advanced countries are facing “global tax chaos” as multi-nationals evade taxes by laundering their revenues through low-tax or no-tax havens. The buggers really do think they’re above the law, a clear impression they’ve received
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Top Priorities of the 21st Century
If I were asked what I felt were the top priorities facing human beings today, in the 21st century, I would have to say there are four that top the list, in my mind. 1. Halt the global corporate coup. Defeat the corporate war on democracy, which is now escalating
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Robert Reich on Bringing MultiNationals to Heel
Robert Reich argues there’s just one way remaining to wrest domination from global capitalism. We need multinational tax policy to halt the excesses of multinational corporatism. As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom — eliciting subsidies and tax breaks from
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: Only art can save us now
The world needs creative interpretations of global issues, not better descriptions of things people are accustomed to. by Santiago Zabala Perhaps rather than God, as Martin Heidegger once said, it is art that can save us. After all, artistic creations have always had political, religious and social meanings that
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Faces of Evil This one isn’t a music video; it is chilling…
Faces of Evil This one isn’t a music video; it is chilling old footage of Margaret Thatcher having afternoon tea with her close personal friend and political ally Augusto Pinochet, the murderous quasi-fascist dictator of Chile who overthrew a democratically elected government in a bloody coup. Thatcher was an evil,
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: In grade 9 or 10 French class, we had an assignment to write a…
In grade 9 or 10 French class, we had an assignment to write a page of text in French and accompany it with some graphics. I chose to write about the French Revolution, and for the picture, I cut out magazine photos of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney
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