This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda McQuaig writes about the fallout from the ideology of constant privatization – and a precedent from Canada’s past as to how public institutions can meet essential social purposes: C. D. Howe was a towering figure during the war, and he has
Continue readingTag: inequality
Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Crawford Kilian highlights how ongoing inequality is among the many factors leading to stagnant life expectancies in Canada. Jim Stanford points out that tax cuts don’t do anything to help workers facing stagnant wages due to policies designed to leave them under the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Joseph Stiglitz discusses how the failure of neoliberalism to provide gains for any but the wealthiest few has led to risks to the democratic systems which have been treated as tied to laissez-faire economics. And Armine Yalnizyan challenges the false assumption that increased
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jason Hickel observes that what progress has been made in human health and quality of life is the result of progressive policies, not leaving plutocrats to do what they will: (S)ocial services require resources. And it’s important to recognise that growth can help
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dylan Matthews writes about the growing body of evidence showing that minimum wage increases boost pay for lower-income workers while having no effect on the availability of jobs. And Paul Karp and Amy Remeikis report on new research challenging the explanation for reducing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Dan Hancox discusses how both work demands and consumerist force are causing people to lose sleep. And Jodi Dean writes about the need for a sense of comradeship to counter the impossible expectation of self-reliance. – Anand Giridharadas argues that the wealthy
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Sabrina Shankman discusses new research showing how the climate crisis will affect today’s youth. And Bill McKibben highlights why we can’t afford to delay in reining in catastrophic climate change. – But Damian Carrington reports on fossil fuel extraction projections which far exceed
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Towards a Green Social Democratic Economy
Background/Context Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3][4] Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive markets.[5][6] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investments are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jeremy Rifkin sets out how Canada can implement a Green New Deal – while also reminding us of the costs of failing to do so. And Brett Dolter charts the path toward net zero emissions from Saskatchewan’s perspective – even as Scott Moe’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Chris Hedges writes about the damage oligarchs are doing to humanity and the planet. And Dominic Rushe points out how whiny the people who have rigged the economy toward their own concentration of obscene wealth become when they face the slightest hint
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – PressProgress highlights the latest example of the obscene concentration of wealth in Canada, as a mere 45 people own more than the GDP of over half the country’s provinces and territories. – Paul Precht dispels any myth that Alberta’s anti-tax ideology has anything
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz discusses how decades of laissez-faire economics and deference to the rich have undermined any effective democratic decision-making. Bruce Boghosian observes that structural change is needed to avoid a tendency toward the concentration of wealth and concurrent rise of inequality. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Daniel Tencer reports on Ray Dalio’s recognition that the economic system which made him a multi-billionaire is broken. And Harvey Cashore, Chelsea Gomez and Gillian Findlay report on the Liberal-connected tycoons who lobbied against any steps to stop the offshoring of wealth. –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Arwa Mahdawi writes that the outsized influence wielded by billionaires makes them something beyond merely wealthy people. Tom Whyman challenges the worship of the excessively wealthy as a particularly destructive religion. Robert Reich points out that the means of accumulating a billion
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Annie Lowrey highlights how low-income households are bearing the brunt of unequal inflation, as prices are increasing more quickly for their needs than for the luxuries bought by wealthier households. – Paul Krugman comments on the delicate sensibilities of billionaires who refuse to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about the 2019-20 Alberta budget
I’ve just written a ‘top 10’ overview of the recent Alberta budget. Points raised in the post include the following: -The budget lays out a four-year strategy of spending cuts, letting population growth and inflation do much of the heavy lifting. -After one accounts for both population growth and inflation,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Michael Spence discusses how a wealth tax can work, while noting that the worst possible response to growing inequality is to refuse to do anything. And the Centre for Labour and Social Studies summarizes the current class disparity in the UK, as well
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Edgardo Sepulveda writes about Chile’s popular revolt against austerity and inequality – while at the same time pointing out how Canada is foregoing the revenue needed to provide for people’s basic needs. – Nicole Aschoff discusses a few trends highlighted by actors
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Stephen Mihm writes that among other positive outcomes, wealth taxes and other progressive tax options reliably produce a boost in life satisfaction for a large number of people (while having little impact on the positional interests of the ultra-rich against each other). And
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about poverty measurement in Canada
I’ve written a blog post providing an overview of poverty measurement in Canada. Points raised in the post include the following: -One’s choice of poverty measure has a major impact on whether poverty is seen to be increasing or decreasing over time. -Canada’s federal government recently chose the make the
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