This and that for your Sunday reading. – Talia Lavin writes about the value of shifting the Overton window to enable serious discussion of higher tax rates on the people who have far more money than they could possibly need: I think about how we view the rich, so often
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jonathan Malesic writes that while millennials may be facing the worst of an economy set up to push workers into precarity, the workforce as a whole is dealing with high levels of burnout. And Jacques Marcoux and Katie Nicholson report on research showing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Colin McAuliffe charts the increasing share of U.S. income going to profits and the already-wealthy. And Dani Rodrik writes about the importance of a progressive movement which seeks to shift the balance of power in how our economy functions, rather than settling
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Assorted content to end your week. – Doreen Nicoll makes the case to reinstate the basic income plan eliminated by Doug Ford in Ontario. Danielle Kurtz examines a few of the ideas being proposed by U.S. Democrats in the lead up to the 2020 presidential campaign (including their own basic
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Paul Barratt discusses the results of a roundtable addressing inequality in Australia – with plenty of lessons worth keeping in mind elsewhere: …(I)nequality is increasing significantly in Australia and, without a change in public policy, the problem will continue to worsen. Australia’s
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Supportive housing for persons with serious mental health challenges
I’ve recently written a ‘top 10’ review of a new book on supportive housing—i.e., subsidized housing with social work support—for persons with serious mental health challenges. The book’s an anthology that was edited by three Ontario-based researchers. A key questions that emerges in the book is: Should such housing be
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Fighting for Midwives: The Personal is Political
Peter Beinart recently wrote a perceptive article in The Atlantic: “The New Authoritarians are Waging War on Women,” that argues that the one thing in common with all the authoritarian-type regimes sprouting everywhere, is keeping women in place: “The problem with both American-born story lines [that Trump was voted by
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten considerations for the next Alberta budget
Over at the Behind The Numbers website, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten considerations for the next Alberta budget.” The blog post is a summary of a recent workshop organized by the Alberta Alternative Budget Working Group. The link to the blog post is here.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jonathan Watts reports on a new study showing how the world’s largest economies (including Canada) are falling far short of the Paris climate goals due mostly to the influence of the fossil fuel industry, while also noting that Canada ranks with China and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Merran Smith and Dan Woynillowicz comment that the new climate denial involves denying that any solutions are possible. Blake Shaffer points out that the Trudeau Libs’ inexplicable decision to favour coal power over other alternatives for the next decade serves to undermine any
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Peter Gowan discusses UK Labour’s plans for a more democratic and participatory economy. And Alex Ballingall reports on Jagmeet Singh’s plan to prohibit the use of “bearer shares” which conceal the ownership of corporate wealth. – Linda McQuaig rightly criticizes Doug Ford’s moves
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Yutaka Dirks reviews Lars Osberg’s The Age of Increasing Inequality, with a particular focus on how matters have been getting worse in recent decades. – Ryan Nunn, Jana Parsons and Jay Shambaugh study (PDF) the connection between geography and inequality, including the role
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Assorted content to end your week. – Jesse McLaren and Kate Hayman discuss how better treatment of workers can reduce the strain on a province’s health care system: As front-line health-care providers we urge the premier to follow the Hippocratic principle, “first, do no harm,” and to not intervene to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – David MacDonald studies the increasing concentration of wealth in Canada, while noting the need for wealth-based taxes (and particularly an inheritance tax) to start building a more fair society. And Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley report on the Trump administration’s latest move
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Oliver Moore reports on Greyhound’s elimination of most of its Western Canadian bus service. Emily Riddle offers a reminder that the lack of transportation puts Indigenous women and other marginalized people at risk. And Simon Enoch highlights the obvious need for Saskatchewan to
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Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Enzo Dimatteo offers a reminder of Toronto’s disastrous experience with the Ford governance model, while Edward Keenan worries that Doug Ford is eager to run roughshod over the city if he gets the chance. PressProgress tallies up the large number of Ontario PC
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Noah Smith writes that public resentment toward the U.S.’ wealthiest few is based on a genuine (and justified) concern about an economic system rigged to exacerbate inequality across generations, not mere envy toward the people who have more: (R)esentment of the super-rich is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Gary Younge comments on the highly selective willingness of far too many privileged people to acknowledge suffering around them. And Paul Krugman calls out the Trump administration’s gratuitous cruelty toward the people who already have the least: There’s something fundamentally obscene about this
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin writes that greed is the only reason why we haven’t yet completed a full health care system with a pharmacare program: If we had a universal pharmacare plan — one that saves lives and relieves suffering — it would cost
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Saskatchewan budget misses opportunity on rental housing assistance
I recently wrote a ‘top 10’ overview blog post about the 2018 Saskatchewan budget. Following on the heels of that, I’ve now written an opinion piece about the budget’s announcement of a phase out a rental assistance program for low-income households. Points raised in the opinion piece include the following:
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