According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Covid shrunk the global economy by 3.3 percent in 2020, the worst downturn since 1980. Almost 100 million people slipped into severe poverty. The only major economy that didn’t shrink was China’s with growth of 2.3 percent. The IMF predict it will be
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Alberta Politics: Why did China’s government pluck the Two Michaels from among 300,000 Canadians in China?
Soon after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver two years ago at the behest of U.S. authorities, Chinese state security officers arrested two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. It was clear from the get-go the arrest on Dec.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It wasn’t supposed to be like this! Alberta sheds jobs while the rest of the country creates them
In January, as the Globe and Mail put it in a colourful old-timey headline last week, Canada’s job market blew past the forecasts for the month. Unemployment also fell. In Alberta, not so much. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Indeed, Alberta was the only province in Canada
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Ever-Widening Disparity
The Mound had a post today on the ever-widening disparity between the earth’s wealthiest and the rest of the world. The statistics are shocking: 82% of the global wealth generated last year went to 1% of the world’s population, while the poorest received nothing. The following is intended as a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The effort to engineer regime change in Greece could lead to a much bigger disaster
PHOTOS: Leaders of the Greek military government of 1967 to 1974. Is something similar waiting in the wings if the eurozone leadership’s effort to terrorize the Greeks into voting Yes to never-ending austerity fails today? Below: Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras, former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien and Nobel-Prize-winning American
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can the IMF turn over a new leaf and challenge the 1%?
…and will we follow Dutch court & challenge Harper on climate change? Two remarkable developments during the past week that could have a significant impact in many countries have been pretty much ignored in Canada and the United States. First, a major research document published by five top economists at
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Can the IMF turn over a new leaf and challenge the 1%?
…and will we follow Dutch court &
Dutch told to act on emissions
IMF denounces ‘trickle-down’ economics
Austerity increases poverty
Critics strongly object to austerity measures that have been forced upon most of the 60 countries where the IMF has been providing loans.
Read my lips—it doesn’t trickle down
It has been the heart and soul of capitalist market economics since day one—the ultimate justification for an unfair society. If we ensure that the rich get richer, the benefits will trickle down through the economy benefiting all. According to a new and exhaustive study released by the International Monetary
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: What a year 2015 has been in Alberta politics!
TweetDecember 29, 2015 Column by: Dirk Pranter, Provincial Affairs columnist, Edmonton Journal-Sun Tories re-elected for 14th time A snap mid-Summer election returned Jim Prentice’s renamed “Conservative Party of Alberta” to its fourteenth term as government. In an unexpected twist of fate, Finance Minister Danielle Smith was defeated in her home riding by Wildrose Party leader Randy Thorsteinson.
Continue readingCarbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: The Real Price We Pay for Fossil Fuel Energy
Did you know our government spend money subsidizing fossil fuel energy to keep prices artificially low? A new International Monetary Fund study uncovers just how much these subsidies are and urge our governments to stop these market distortion practices. I calculate the real price we pay for fossil fuel energy and
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