Assorted content to end your week. – Robert Reich discusses how a reasonable balance of economic and political power is necessary to any protection of meaningful personal freedom: In reality, corporate free speech drowns out the free speech of ordinary people who can’t flood the halls of Congress with campaign
Continue readingTag: income splitting
Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Richard Shillington studies the Cons’ income-splitting scheme for the Broadbent Institute, and finds that it’s even more biased toward the wealthy than previously advertised: • The average benefit of income splitting across all households is only $185, though nine out of 10
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Without a Debate on Taxes, We Risk Sleepwalking into the Future (by Alex and Jordan Himelfarb)
Some months ago, we published a collection of essays designed to promote a discussion of taxes in Canada. The book’s premise is that the current tax conversation is distorted. While we rightly ask of any new policy or program proposal, “what will it cost and how will we pay,” we
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Without a Debate on Taxes, We Risk Sleepwalking into the Future (by Alex and Jordan Himelfarb)
“La Sonnambula”, illustration of a Bellini opera Some months ago, we published a collection of essays designed to promote a discussion of taxes in Canada. The book’s premise is that the current tax conversation is distorted. While we rightly ask of any new policy or program proposal, “what will it
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Death of Jim Flaherty
“We are, of course, not in the world alone and our lives here are finite.” “Our individual and family responsibilities are primary. Yet the desire to accumulate private goods in the end does not lead to satisfaction simply because, as we all learn, enough is never enough.” – Jim Flaherty,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Dean Starkman writes about the media’s failure to see and report on the culture of corruption and manipulation that led to the 2008 economic meltdown: Was the brewing crisis really such a secret? Was it all so complex as to be beyond
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stephen Harper Fired Jim Flaherty Because of Income Splitting Disloyalty
The smile: it’s fake. He was fired. Seriously, is it me or did Stephen Harper fire Jim Flaherty over his disloyalty over the income splitting policy disaster? Certainly, I haven’t read EVERYthing written this week about dude going back to spend more time with his family private sector, but the
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Apparently I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the idea of $10,000 TFSAs…
…neither does the economist who came up with the idea of TFSAs. And for pretty much the same reasons I spelled out a few years ago when it was first floated. It is just way too regressive, significantly helping the richest Canadians (those who can afford to put $20,000 as a
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Advice To Federal Tories: Run On Income Splitting
Tax breaks for couples wealthy enough to live their lives in the Biblical manner. Forget any silly economic “principle” used to justify the move; follow the money. The same people who 15 years ago were pushing for a repeal of the metric system are now going to get favorable tax treatment
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The New York Times editorial board points out that a higher minimum wage can produce clear economic benefits for businesses as well as for workers: One 2013 study by three economists — Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester and Michael Reich — compared the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Twisted Priorities of the Con Regime
It looks as if the ghastly partnership of Stephen Harper and Jimbo Flaherty is heading for a messy breakup.For after first appearing to agree with Flaherty that his income splitting plan was fatally flawed, he has now changed his mind. The Conservative caucus appears to have put some woolly socks on Prime Minister
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Rick Smith hopes that the Cons’ backtracking on income splitting means that they won’t go quite as far out of their way to exacerbate income inequality in the future: (T)he unfortunate reality is that we are still becoming ever more unequal, a trend
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Robert Reich comments on the concerted effort by the U.S.’ rich to exacerbate inequality – and points out how it’s warped their worldview. And Dean Baker criticizes the spread of inequality by design: And then there is the financial sector where Mankiw tells
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Caucus Splitting
By design, Tuesday’s budget was a non-event. The public’s eyes are on Sochi, and the pundits’ eyes are on next year’s budget. So, it should not be surprising that it was the post-budget fallout that grabbed the most headlines, when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty mused that the Tories central 2011
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On testing principles
It’s obviously tempting for opposition parties to turn the recent spate of stories about difference of opinion within the Cons into a simple matter of “they’re not united”. But it’s well worth emphasizing the substance of the issues – and particularly questioning whether the MPs who are challenging their partymates
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Who Benefits From Income Splitting?
Rich folk. From this guy. No wonder Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is having doubts. I can’t see this as being good politics, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his negative comments are some kind of trial balloon to gather feedback before the Tories decide for or against. Alternatively, if you’ve heard Flaherty
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – David MacDonald studies the effect of the Cons’ income-splitting scheme, and finds that it’s oriented purely toward funnelling money toward the top of the income scale: “Income splitting creates a tax loophole big enough to drive a Rolls Royce through. It’s pitched
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Polly Toynbee discusses how the public shares in the responsibility for a political class oriented toward easily-discarded talking points rather than honest discussion: Intense mistrust of parties is growing dangerously with each generation: with fewer than 1% of the population members of a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Frances Russell finds that authoritarianism and bozo eruptions are two of the defining characteristics of right-wing politics in Canada: Put simply, the double standard states “ I can do it but you can’t because…” followed by a lengthy list of inequalities: because I’m
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Nadir Khan interviews Linda McQuaig about her choice to run for the NDP in Toronto Centre – and confirms that McQuaig’s commitment to progressive politics fits neatly with her participation in a caucus: NK : You mention that you’ve been outspoken and taken
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