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Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links

Aug

17

2017

This and that for your Thursday reading. – Owen Jones calls out the dogmatic centre for first laying the groundwork for the rise of the populist right, then trying to vilify anybody working on a progressive alternative. And Chris Dillow zeroes in on what’s wrong with the neoliberal view of the world: – Insufficient scepticism ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Aug

14

2017

Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Angella MacEwen and Cole Eisen challenge Galen Weston’s laughable claim that he and his multi-billion-dollar empire can’t afford to pay something closer to a living wage. And Jared Bernstein and Ben Spielberg connect the U.S.’ growing inequality to policy choices which have facilitated the accumulation of extreme wealth. ...

wmtc: join the ndp and vote for niki ashton: deadline aug 17

Aug

13

2017

The deadline to join the NDP and vote for Niki Ashton is August 17. Last night I saw something that shocked me, and today I did something I’ve never done before: I joined a political party. And I did it so I can cast my vote for Niki Ashton for leader of the federal NDP. ...

Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links

Aug

13

2017

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jerry Dias writes that corporate greed is the common thread in numerous stories about Canadian workers being left without jobs or support. And Yves Engler points out that trade agreements have ultimately served little purpose but to entrench corporate power. – Chris Doucouliagos reminds us that inequality ...

Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links

Aug

12

2017

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Bill Kerry discusses the role of inequality in causing a global financial meltdown Leaving aside the greed and stupidity of so many of the world’s financial institutions and, particularly, their leaders, it is easy to see why poor Americans jumped at what they saw as their chance of ...

Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links

Aug

11

2017

Assorted content to end your week. – Noah Smith offers a reminder that market principles don’t work for everything. And Amelie Quesnel-Vallee and Miles Taylor note that in the health sector in particular, the use of private providers to supplement an underfunded public system is leading to inequitable disparities in accessibility. – Andrew Jackson challenges ...

Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links

Aug

9

2017

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Linda McQuaig makes the case as to why any NAFTA renegotiation needs to focus on workers’ rights: NAFTA has been key to the transformation of Canada over the last two decades, enabling corporations to become ever more dominant economically and politically, while rendering our labour force increasingly vulnerable ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Aug

7

2017

Assorted content to start your week. – Paul Buchheit discusses the U.S.’ combination of increasing inequality, systematic tax evasion and false promises of social mobility. Michael Savage reports that even UK Cons are recognizing that a refusal to ensure that the rich pay their fair share makes for bad politics. And Steven Klees highlights how ...

Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links

Aug

6

2017

This and that for your Sunday reading. – The Center for Economic Performance finds (PDF) that increased inequality and concentration among firms in an industry exacerbates disparities in wealth while putting downward pressure on wages. And Frank Partnoy warns that we may be headed for another financial crisis as loan obligations are again being repackaged ...

Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links

Aug

1

2017

This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Cathy Crowe writes that there’s no excuse for putting off action to provide housing to people who need it – not only because of the inhumanity of waiting, but because there’s plenty of evidence as to what works: Over the years big money, at least according to ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Jul

31

2017

Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Cole Eisen points out how Sears – like far too many other businesses – has deliberately depleted employees’ pension funds while extracting billions of dollars for executives and shareholders: Sears Canada’s woes stem from what appears to be a methodical process of value extraction. While Sears’s pension funding ...

wmtc: an open letter to loblaw: greed is not good — especially for public relations

Jul

31

2017

Loblaw Companies Limited1 President’s Choice CircleBrampton, Ontario, L6Y 5S5Attention: LCL Customer Relations Centre Dear Loblaw Ltd.: I am a Loblaw customer and I was extremely disappointed by recent public statements made by Loblaw CEO Galen Weston, Jr., regarding the proposed raise of the minimum wage in Ontario. Mr. Weston claimed that the proposed wage hikes ...

Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links

Jul

29

2017

The latest from the federal NDP’s leadership campaign. – Alex Ballingall reports on Guy Caron’s infrastructure and jobs plan which features both a large investment in public works, and substantial improvements in both wages and working conditions under federal jurisdiction. – Thomas Walkom criticizes Singh’s plan to roll Old Age Security into a means-tested benefit. ...

Accidental Deliberations: New column day

Jul

27

2017

Here, on why we should be skeptical of Donald Trump’s NAFTA demands – and why it should be willing to walk away from the table if it’s not possible to push for dramatic improvements to what’s being offered. For further reading:– The U.S.’ list of negotiating objectives is here (PDF). Canada’s is apparently nonexistent.– Again, ...

Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links

Jul

26

2017

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Louis-Philippe Rochon discusses the need for monetary policy to be better coordinated with fiscal policy to ensure both sustainable economic growth and a more fair distribution of wealth: Monetary policy has been a failure. It has failed to encourage growth, as has been plainly obvious in this lost decade, ...

Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links

Jul

24

2017

Assorted content to start your week. – The Star’s editorial board calls for Canada to take its poor ranking among other developed countries as a prod to action in building a more secure and equitable health care system. And Abdullah Shihipar discusses the need for access to dental care in particular. – Mike Crawley reports ...

Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links

Jul

22

2017

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – George Monbiot examines the history of James McGill Buchanan, Charles Koch and others who have used massive amounts of time and money to ensure that wealth wins out over democracy in shaping U.S. policy – and how their influence will sounds familiar elsewhere as well: The papers Nancy ...

Canadian Dimension: Defending the rights of injured workers

Jul

19

2017

Photo by IWW Environmental Unionist Caucus The Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign has swept across Ontario as a broad-based, worker-led movement that poses a powerful challenge to the austerity agenda. It boldly rejects attempts to drive down wages and working conditions. It presents an inspiring and achievable plan to raise the floor for workers ...

Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links

Jul

16

2017

This and that for your Sunday reading. – Larry Elliott reports on a Resolution Foundation study showing that while the UK’s 1% has fully recovered from the 2008 financial crash, the rest of the population hasn’t been so lucky and has faced extended stagnation at best: Families on low and middle incomes had seen their ...

Accidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links

Jul

14

2017

Assorted content to end your week. – Josh Bivens notes that international trade deals have been structured to maximize the cost of globalization for the workers excluded from the bargaining table. And Jon Queally points out that a massive majority of Americans see power disproportionately hoarded by the rich at the expense of everybody else. ...

Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links

Jul

12

2017

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The Global Alliance for Tax Justice examines the most common tax evasion practices used to allow the wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. And Desmond Cohen points out how our current estimates of inequality underestimate exactly how much is being hidden. – David Macdonald anticipates and criticizes ...

Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links

Jul

8

2017

Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Michael Rozworski discusses the importance of workers exercising power over how our economy functions. Robert Booth reports on a forthcoming UK study showing the desperate need for improved quality of work and life among low-income individuals. And Lana Payne writes that a strong labour movement is essential to ...

wmtc: happy strike-iversary!

Jul

7

2017

The City of Mississauga has a community recognition program, through which community groups can have their banner fly at City Hall for a day. When the program was announced, I said to a few of my union sisters, “I know a flag I’d like to see there…”. I was only joking — but they took ...

Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links

Jul

7

2017

Assorted content to end your week. – Naomi Klein highlights how capital and power combine to turn disasters into profit-making opportunities – while noting that the Trump presidency is just such a disaster. And Linda McQuaig discusses why we should see the income tax and other collective funding mechanisms as an important step in nation-building. ...

Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links

Jul

3

2017

The latest from the federal NDP’s leadership campaign. – Jagmeet Singh offered a must-read Multiculturalism Day take on the extra challenges faced by people fighting negative stereotypes, while also announcing his first caucus endorsement from Randall Garrison. – However, Andrew Jackson chimed in with a note of caution about Singh’s plan to fold Old Age ...