On a personal note, October 6 saw the first question period that I’ll be able to blog about after seeing in person – as well as the first time I’ve heard of question period leading with an event I’ve attended. But the more important development was the…
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The Progressive Economics Forum: Wealth and Income in the Top 1%
One thing I really like about the Occupy movement is that it reclaiming mental space. I’m thinking of the overt focus on the riches gained by the top 1%, and of naming and shaming capitalism. Two are one and the same, of course. It is in the top 1% that we find the capitalists – […]
Continue readingInterview on CBC Central Morning
CBC Radio Central Newfoundland Morning aired an interview they did with me about inequality and the future of development in Newfoundland and Labrador. The pod cast can be found here. It is the last of the three interviews on the … Continue r…
Continue readingInterview on CBC Central Morning
CBC Radio Central Newfoundland Morning aired an interview they did with me about inequality and the future of development in Newfoundland and Labrador. The pod cast can be found here. It is the last of the three interviews on the … Continue r…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Both the Star-Phoenix and CBC cover an important study from the Human Early Learning Partnership pointing out the difficulties facing today’s Saskatchewan families compared to the standard of living a …
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Conservative Economic Myths – Thanks again Alter.net
The writers at Alter.net have been on a tear as of a late. I reproduce highlights from the article. The Top Five Here are five “conventional wisdom” doses of economic nonsense that we have been fed: 1. Business does everything better than government. Corporate conservatives argue that businesses and their one-dollar-one-vote system of decision-making […]
Continue readingOccupy Movement: Inequality in Newfoundland and Labrador
Apparently the policy brief I wrote for the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour has been picked up by the Occupy Wall Street movement. The brief can be found here. The money shot from that brief would be the graph … Continue readin…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Helpful Tip of the Day
Jim Flaherty, fresh off of five years of claiming that Canada’s recession, deficits and increased unemployment levels are all the result of international forces beyond his control as a mere finance minister, is now telling Canadians it’s utterly pointl…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading.- Jim Stanford rightly says that it’s long past time for the Occupy movement to refocus our economy in the wake of a free-market-induced crash and stagnation:In the 1930s, the last time capitalism failed so dest…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Evening Links
This and that for your weekend reading.- Alice provides the definitive overview of the NDP’s leadership campaign, including the right perspective on who will decide the race:It is entirely possible – and the probability can only increase with time
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Nycole Turmel sums up what Canadians should rightly expect from their government – but figure never to get from the Harper Cons:Canadian families aren’t looking for finger-pointing. They’re not looking to shi…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s Billionaires
Just in time for the “Occupy Bay Street” protest this weekend, Canadian Business magazine has come out with its annual listing of the richest 100 people in Canada. So in honour of the protestors and their noble cause (demanding more attention to the 99%, instead of the 1%), let’s peruse together the sordid details of […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Roubini on the Instability of Inequality
Business-school professor and economist Nouriel Roubini earned his nickname Dr. Doom by repeatedly predicting the chain of events that would cause the global economic house of cards to fall down. Yesterday he laid out the economic dilemmas that are triggering a global Occupy movement and concludes: “Any economic model that does not properly address inequality […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your day.- Thomas Walkom points out that the effect of cracking down on peaceful and legal strikes – as the Cons are so determined to do – is to force workers to take more creative steps to make their concerns heard:Canada’s m…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: First We Take Manhattan….. What Occupy Wall Street Could Mean
This is not the stuff of usual protests. Over the past month, a little idea from a Vancouver outfit has mushroomed into a cross-continent movement. Occupy Wall Street, kicked off by Adbusters in July and coming to Toronto this weekend, has already spread to 70 American cities and is going global as protestors challenge society […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Chantal Hebert wonders whether the Libs have reached the point of no return, while Stephen Maher also points out that the NDP is in a historically strong position across Canada. – Donald Lenihan muses about wha…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why occupy? It’s the inequality.
The Occupy Wall Street protests hinge on injustice, in particular a malaise with the current economic system that has brought us a tremendous inequality and the rise of the super-rich, or top 1%. But surely that is just the US? Alas, no. The figure below shows the change in BC labour income (wages and salaries) and […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- Murray Dobbin comments on the role that the Occupy protest movement can play in countering corporate power that’s faced far too little opposition for far too long:Why now? Perhaps it is the international dime…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Libertarians for an Inheritance Tax
I rarely give thanks for Neil Reynolds, but today’s column is a must-read. The point is that taxing large inheritances should appeal not only to those of us concerned about highly unequal outcomes, but also to those simply concerned about equality of opportunity. It may or may not be possible to justify inequalities based on differences […]
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament In Review: September 29, 2011
As Parliament heads into a week off, let’s get caught up on what happened in the last couple of weeks before its break – starting with a day that focused on the NDP’s choice of opposition day motions.The Big IssueWhile the Cons have spent nearly all of…
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