Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Taylor Scallon discusses how GDP numbers fail to capture the precarious circumstances facing far too many Canadians. Kerri Breen reports on Ipsos’ polling showing a majority of Canadians seeing the political system as being rigged in favour of a privileged few. But in
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Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Derrick O’Keefe highlights how Canada’s election would look if coverage focused on the issues which feature strong public support, rather than the two painfully unappealing perceived front-runners who ignore them: (T)he Ipsos poll results released Thursday…show an enormous potential for class-based demands
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ian Welsh discusses the reality as to how economic decisions are made – and how we’ve allowed corporate control to remain in place even after it’s failed even on its own terms: All systems have to do only one thing: whatever is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – David Lazarus writes about the fundamental dishonesty needed to keep purveying trickle-down spin in the face of all evidence. And Richard Rubin discusses how U.S. Democrats are having a serious discussion about the merits of progressive income and wealth taxes – even
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Rick Salutin writes that Canada’s lack of accessible housing arises primarily as the result of general inequality. Derek Thompson notes that youth athletics are just one more sphere of activity in which concentrated wealth is driving out participation by people who don’t have
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Paul Krugman writes about the U.S. Republicans’ new complaint of evil eye economics – though it shouldn’t come as much surprise that people who treat the economy as nothing more than a confidence game would object to anybody pointing out how the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andrew Jackson writes that bland centrism is no response to right-wing populism: Right-wing populism is a complex phenomenon which varies a lot by country. But most analysts agree that it is deeply rooted in material circumstances: rising economic inequality to often obscene levels,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Solve the Global Housing Crisis by Recognizing Buyers
The cost of housing has skyrocketed since the banker-caused 2008 financial crisis and there are no signs of prices stabilizing. In Toronto we’ve seen the price of housing rise faster than wages and the same can be said for nearly every major city on the planet. A key reason this
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Norm Farrell examines some of the root causes of a political system which lavishes benefits on the wealthy while neglecting people who actually need help. – Natalie Kitroeff, David Gelles and Jack Nicas examine the role of deregulation in the multiple crashes of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Erika Beauchesne discusses the benefits of a wealth tax as both a means of reducing inequality, and a source of revenue for public priorities: Canada’s NDP has proposed a one per cent tax on wealth over $20 million as part of its
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: My review of Eric Weissman’s book on intentional homeless communities
I’ve just reviewed Eric Weissman’s book on intentional homeless communities. Points made in the review include the following: -Intentional communities in general are communities built around specific goals. But in the case of this book, I mean small communities of housing sometimes made from discarded, donated and recycled material, and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne points out the options to make life genuinely affordable for Canadians – while noting that the Cons’ usual tax baubles don’t make the list. And PressProgress both reveals Doug Ford’s plans to slash Ontario’s already-insufficient housing supports, and lists Brian Pallister’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jim Stanford calls out corporate apologists for blaming workers for deteriorating working conditions and stagnant wages which have resulted from deliberate policy choices: Unemployed workers on the dole for months at a time? Clearly they aren’t looking hard enough for work. Low-wage workers
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Alastair Campbell discusses how the latest group of right-wing demagogues has progressed from being post-truth to being post-shame. – IMFBlog examines how the perpetual slashing of corporate tax rates has eliminated needed public revenue – particularly in lower-income countries – without producing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Mike Pearl discusses the climate despair of people understandably having difficulty working toward a longer term which is utterly neglected in our most important social decisions. But Macleans’ feature on climate change includes both Alanna Mitchell’s take on what a zero-emission future might
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nick Falvo writes that Alberta would be far better served implementing a tax system more in line with the rest of Canada’s provinces to increase revenue, rather than slashing social supports in the name of illusory budget balance. And the Globe and Mail’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne writes about the perilous future we’re leaving to future generations – as well as the hope we should draw from young activists demanding better. – Sven Biggs debunks a few of Justin Trudeau’s excuses for using public money to buy and
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about affordable housing in Alberta
I’ve just written a ‘top 10’ overview blog post about affordable housing in Alberta. Points raised in the blog post include the following: -On a per capita basis, Alberta has far fewer subsidized housing units than the rest of Canada -Some Alberta cities have much more low-cost rental housing (per
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about this year’s Alberta Alternative Budget
The Alberta Alternative Budget (AAB) is an annual exercise whose working group consists of researchers, economists, and members of civil society (full disclosure: I’m the Editor). Our general mandate is to create a progressive vision for Alberta to boost economic growth and reduce income inequality. This year’s document was released
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: MEDIA RELEASE: Alberta should increase social spending; cuts are not the way to go
(June 24, 2019-Calgary) With Alberta’s economy still facing challenges and vulnerabilities, the Alberta government should not be doling out tax cuts or cutting social spending, according to the Alberta Alternative Budget (AAB) released today. “Alberta still has, by far, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any province,” says Nick Falvo, editor
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