Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney ‘Didn’t Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years’, Huffington Post, July 31, 2012 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has what he says is an informed explanation for why Mitt Romney refuses to release additional tax returns. According a Bain
Continue readingTag: Income Inequality
Northern Insight: Liars believe their own lies
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes, Think Progress, July 20, 2012 “Over a four years period from 2008 to 2011, Corning Inc. was one of 26 companies that managed to avoid paying any American income taxes, even though it
Continue readingNorthern Insight: It is an old and cruel tactic
The Battle of Blair Mountain, Chris Hedges, Truthdig “…Reduce wages and benefits to subsistence level. Break unions. Gut social assistance programs. Buy and sell elected officials and judges. Fill the airwaves with mindless diversion and corporate propaganda. Pay off the press. Poison the soil, the air and the water to
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Rewards for success or failure
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess, David Leonhardt, New York Times, March 2009 ” ‘We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Work newly attributed to Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens identified as author of mystery article, Alison Flood, The Guardian, June 25, 2012 An article championing the rights of the working classes, published in one of the journals edited by Dickens for more than 20 years, has been attributed to the author himself Charles Dickens has been identified
Continue readingImpolitical: Two good steps on income inequality
From Scott Brison, whose motion on the issue passed in the House of Commons today with multi-partisan support: The motion I introduced simply asks that the house of commons direct the finance committee to study income inequality, an issue considered important by an overwhelming majority of Canadians. Then we can
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Message to the Harper government
IMF chief Christine Lagarde warns world risks triple crisis, The Guardian, June 12, 2012 “Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the world risks a triple crisis of declining incomes, environmental damage and social unrest unless countries adopt a more sustainable approach to economic growth.
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: An Attack On Progress
Here in Quebec, amidst the nightly demonstrations against the tuition increases and Bill 78, the bill that gave the movement oxygen, we hear a constant drumbeat from media sources that the kids are “spoiled,” or have a sense of “entitlement,” and are perhaps communists. Seriously. It’s tiresome.
Students protest in the downtown streets of Montreal against tuition hikes on May 16, 2012 (AFP Photo/Rogerio Barbosa)
Erica Shaker of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has written a terrific piece about this “scapegoating” of the kids involved and begins by asking a question that should be the starting point for any discussion about the issues at the center of the protests:
Why is it still, for some, a newsflash that reality for today’s youth is a solar system away from the world of just 25 or 30 years ago?
She then outlines what she calls the “toxic socioeconomic brew” that led here: Wages stagnating since the late ’80’s, the infamous 1995 Paul Martin budget which oversaw massive cuts to and restructuring of social programs, and the reduction of transfer payments which has reinforced the trend to greater income inequality.
Now, add to that…
…the fallout from declining levels of government support for higher education in Canada which has resulted in a number of new realities: over the past 30 years, government grants as a share of university operating revenue plummeted from 84% to 58%, and the share funded by tuition fees rose from 12% to 35%.
Suddenly a University education in Canada is a lot more expensive than people appreciate and students get saddled with more debt on the way out the door than their parents ever knew ($37,000 on average – somewhat less in Quebec), and there are less good employment opportunities. Remember, unpaid internships are all the rage.
More to the point, Ms. Shaker reminds us of the benefits of education to all of us:
We know the vast benefits of accessible higher education—and not just physical accessibility. Societies that make this a priority tend to be healthier, have a more politically-active citizenry, enjoy greater levels of community and family involvement, and have more social mobility. There are economic returns as well, all of which means that the demand for public education—or public health care, or public child care—is not a request for “free” anything, or even not wanting to pay one’s “fair share.”
For wanting more and easier access to education the student protestors have been vilified endlessly by the media. This of itself is simply sad but it illustrates the lack of understanding and the unwillingness of the supposed adults to engage in a constructive dialogue. But it’s not the name calling she wants to bring our attention to in all of this:
To be clear, I don’t think what we’re experiencing is so much an attack on youth, though it often feels that way, as it is an attack on progress.
Attacks on progress are something we’ve seen far too much of in this transitional era – one that seems to be marked by greed and stupidity. It’s time to try and put a stop to it by not giving in to media propaganda and opinion writers who regularly make a habit of not only being wrong but of always siding with the corporations, the banks and other arms of the establishment. Maybe we could all try and do what we’re always telling our kids to do, think for yourselves.
Go read the entire piece here for yourself, form you own opinion and just try not to be that guy or gal yelling at the kids to get off your lawn!
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: An Attack On Progress
Here in Quebec, amidst the nightly demonstrations against the tuition increases and Bill 78, the bill that gave the movement oxygen, we hear a constant drumbeat from media sources that the kids are “spoiled,” or have a sense of “entitlement,” and are perhaps communists. Seriously. It’s tiresome. Students protest in
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: An Attack On Progress
Here in Quebec, amidst the nightly demonstrations against the tuition increases and Bill 78, the bill that gave the movement oxygen, we hear a constant drumbeat from media sources that the kids are “spoiled,” or have a sense of “entitlement,” and are perhaps communists. Seriously. It’s tiresome. Students protest in
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Jason Alexander considers joining the 99%
Jason Alexander Joins the 99% from Jason Alexander h/t Monica S.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Canada’s message: "We’re all right Jack!"
Expectation of economic recovery in Europe is replaced now by talk of double dip recession — even depression. Nevertheless, Canada is lecturing nations there to institute the policies of economic neoliberalism favoured by Stephen Harper. Chris Williamson of financial information services company Markit commented: “Austerity in deficit-fighting countries is having an
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Mostly, it’s the schlemiels paying tax
Many working stiffs watch a third or more of every extra dollar earned disappear as income tax. Then, we’re hammered again with user fees and consumption taxes when we spend shrunken dollars to buy goods at prices far higher than what our neighbours pay south of the 49th parallel for
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Fraud, fear and greed
If Romney Hates Government And Its Workers So Much Why Is He Running For President?, Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future Mitt Romney says government workers are paid too well and in general government is a bad thing. But he wants to run it. Romney made his fortune by buying
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Opposition Doesn’t Much Care But Canadians Do
Harper, freely aided and abetted by the opposition parties in our Petro-Parliament, has been pulling Canada’s political centre to what, in decent times, would have been considered the far right. It’s been almost assumed the Canadian public was like-minded. Maybe not. A survey commissioned by the Broadbent Institute has found
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The 1% wages war
From Robert Borosage, Campaign for America’s Future, March 29, 2012 In 2010, as the economy began its slow recovery from the Great Recession, a new study shows the richest 1% of Americans captured a staggering 93% of all income growth, while the incomes of most Americans stagnated. 93%. Occupy that.
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: No comment needed
The Rich Get Even Richer, Steve Rattner, New York Times, March 25, 2012 Steven Rattner is a contributing writer for Op-Ed and a longtime Wall Street executive.
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canadian family finances still under stress: Report
For many families in Canada, income security is an elusive dream, according to a new study released by the Vanier Institute for the Family. The report, The Current State of Canadian Family Finances, shows that income inequality is increasing. Canadian … Continue reading →
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Winners win, losers lose
The Age of Double Standards, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, March 19, 2012 “…Petty felons and 200,000 small-time drug users do prison time, while corporate criminals whose frauds cost the rest of the economy trillions of dollars are permitted to settle civil suits for small fines, with shareholders bearing the
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: How much have Wall Street and banks changed?
Not much, according to Greg Smith, a London based Goldman Sachs’ executive director who is leaving with a loud message to the public. He contributed an Op-Ed to the New York Times, Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs: “TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years
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