This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Matt Bruenig offers up a set of proposals to help American families toward economic security. And Andrew Jackson has some suggestions to boost Canada’s middle class: (T)op-line statistics suggest that ordinary middle-class households are seeing little or no increase in their incomes
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Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Paul Krugman duly mocks Donald Trump’s attempt to turn any discussion of social investment into a threat of “socialism”: Some progressive U.S. politicians now describe themselves as socialists, and a significant number of voters, including a majority of voters under 30, say
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This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Larry Elliott reports on Oxfam’s latest study on wealth inequality, showing that 26 extremely rich people now own as much as half of the world’s population. And Ronald Quaroni notes that half of Saskatchewan families are on the brink of insolvency –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Eric Levitz exposes the unsoundness of the right-wing excuses for allowing the accumulation of obscene wealth. And Toby Sanger weighs on the effect of increased tax rates on extremely wealthy individuals – along with the other policies which need to accompany more progressive
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Linda McQuaig writes that Canada’s federal government should look at buying the soon-to-be-vacated GM plant in Oshawa to begin production of electric vehicles. But Nav Persaud notes that even when the Trudeau Libs make promises about using government power and resources for the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: An update on Canada’s National Housing Strategy
Steve Pomeroy, arguably Canada’s top affordable housing policy expert, has written a status update on Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS). His overview includes some great background material on Canadian housing policy generally. Points raised in his analysis include the following: -The Trudeau government’s much-anticipated NHS was unveiled in November 2017.
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
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Roderick Benns points out the disruptive effect of the cancellation of Ontario’s basic income trial – signalling the importance of being able to plan on a stable source of income. And Jessica Chin reports on an anticipated wave of renovictions to push tenants
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 readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Matt McGrath and Dahr Jamail each point out some of the most important immediate effects of climate change. And Kate Marvel discusses the challenge we face in trying to avoid more severe breakdown in the longer term: You may have heard that we
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Wednesday reading. – Matt Bruenig discusses the many opportunities available to expand the reach of public ownership in the U.S.: The state can very competently own retail and manufacturing companies by simply buying up their stock and acting like an institutional investor. For instance, a social
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 readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jerry Dias writes that the holiday season will be a difficult one for far too many Canadian workers facing precarious employment and hostile governments. And the Economist discusses the long hours expected of workers in the U.S. and the UK. – PressProgress highlights
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Tom Parkin discusses the contrived war between the Libs’ fake progressives and the Cons’ phony populists: In Canada, under Conservatives and Liberals, income polarization continues, social programs get cut, workers’ economic strength weakens, infrastructure is turned into a finance rent-seeking scheme and oil
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The Guardian’s editorial board writes that there’s no excuse for political choices which leave people homeless – and no reason not to starting correcting ongoing breaches of the right to housing. And Emily Mathieu reports on the push for Toronto to declare a
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rent Control in Ontario
I’ve just published my new analysis of Ontario’s proposed rent controls and develop an evidence-based comprehensive alternative proposal at the CCPA’s “Behind the Numbers” blog.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Charles Smith and Larry Savage write that Justin Trudeau’s use of back-to-work legislation against postal workers may have far more significant consequences than he seems to have anticipated. And Christo Aivalis examines the next steps for Canada’s labour movement – as well
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: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephanie Kelton, Andres Bernal and Greg Carlock highlight how a Green New Deal is entirely affordable south of the border. And Clayton Thomas-Muller examines what we could demand in a Canadian equivalent: (I)f we’re going to do what the science says we need
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Larry Elliott reports on another of UK Labour’s proposals to democratize the economy, this time by giving consumers some say in executive pay. – Alex Paterson comments on the relationship between the housing market and the investments of many pension plans – though
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