Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Polly Toynbee and David Walker write about the brutal social consequences of a decade of austerity in the UK. – Andrew Jackson reviews James Crotty’s Keynes Against Capitalism with a strong emphasis on Keynes’ recognition of the need for a democratically-planned economy. –
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz writes about the need to cultivate solidarity as an alternative to neoliberal selfishness. And Chuck Collins reminds us how the very existence of billionaires represents both a profound failure of public policy, and a cause of distortions at the whims of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ezra Klein discusses the socialist ethic behind Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. And Umair Haque writes that the antidote to Donald Trump’s authoritarianism is a far stronger recognition of the need for collective action. – Meanwhile, Shree Paradkar notes that the vilification of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: income support for low-income households in Alberta
Next week, Jason Kenney’s UCP government will table its second budget. With that in mind, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten things to know about income support for low-income households in Alberta.” Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Low income is associated with lower food expenditures,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about subsidized rental housing in Alberta
In anticipation of next week’s Alberta budget, I’ve written a ‘top 10’ overview of subsidized rental housing in the province. Points raised in the blog post in include the following: -On a per capita basis, Alberta has far fewer subsidized housing units than the rest of Canada. -In 2017, BC’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Annie Lowrey writes about the affordability crisis which has left most Americans in dire financial straits even as aggregate economic numbers look reasonably strong: (B)eyond the headline economic numbers, a multifarious and strangely invisible economic crisis metastasized: Let’s call it the Great Affordability
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Justin Worland writes that the financial sector is belatedly and slowly waking up to the dangers of the climate crisis – with crucial implications for both the limited future of the fossil fuel sector, and the development of the energy sources which
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Derek Thompson discusses how the U.S.’ capitalist system has been designed to squeeze younger workers – leading to many of them being open to systemic change. And in the context of UK Labour’s leadership campaign, Grace Blakeley writes about the need for socialists
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Gabriel Winant reviews Matt Stoller’s Goliath, and discusses in the process the importance of challenging the assumptions capitalism as a system rather than presuming that it can be rendered just merely by taking steps to break up immediate monopolies. And Alexandra Posadzki’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Michael Enright interviews Linda McQuaig about the loss of public resources to privatization – even in the face of popular opinion: People don’t like big corporations. They don’t like the big five or six banks because of the banking fees, etc. So
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kate Aronoff offers a reminder that the right’s constant bleating about limiting government spending never applies to the cost of wars of choice. – Laura Glowacki reports on how Doug Ford’s choice to allow rent increases will only make matters worse for Ontario’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Scott Gilmore writes about the glaring need for Canada’s politicians to show more capacity for shame – through it’s worth noting both a global pattern to the same effect, and the dangers of trying to draw “both-sides” equivalency (as Gilmore does) in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Paul Thacker discusses the importance of addressing the climate crisis as a health issue. CBC takes a look at a few of the ways a deteriorating climate is affecting Canada. And Taylor Noakes points out the central role a national public transit
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Assessing progress on St. John’s Plan to End Homelessness
I’ve written an assessment of the 2014-2019 St. John’s Community Plan to End Homelessness. The full assessment can be found here. Points raised in the assessment include the following: -Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest unemployment rate of any Canadian province. This pulls people into homelessness, while also making it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Canadian Press reports on the Libs’ desire to approve massive tar sands expansions no matter how the resulting production – to say nothing of the consumption left uncounted – would affect Canada’s role in exacerbating a climate breakdown. And Janyce McGregor
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Linsey McGoey discusses the historical case for abolishing billionaires rooted in Adam Smith’s critique of plutocracy: Smith was scathingly critical of the wealthy’s disproportionate power over government policymaking. He complained about the tendency of the rich to shirk tax obligations, unfairly passing tax
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Sarah Schulman discusses the importance of sleep as a determinant of health, arguing that a safe bed is the first step toward addressing all kinds of social ills. – Laura Lynch interviews Adria Vasil about the massive amount of avoidable waste generated
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Laurie Macfarlane writes about the interconnected economic, democratic and environmental crises facing the UK – and the opportunity voters have to address all three in today’s election. And a group of political and thought leaders from around the globe lends its support
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Olivia Bowden reports on new research showing that the harmful health effects of air pollution are even worse than previously known. – But in case anybody was under the illusion that we’d expect polluters to pay for the cost of their damage, Chris
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – David Jones writes about the important benefits enjoyed by workers as the result of the efforts of the labour movement. And Arindrajit Dube studies the international effects of minimum wage increases, finding that they consistently improve lower-end wages while having little effect on
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