A conservatism is spreading that the Tories can’t fathom | John Harris | Comment is free | The Guardian. A month or so ago, when the public’s opposition to any intervention in Syria was revealed, the stock explanation of their views was pretty simple – boiling down to Iraq, the unhinged premiership
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Parchment in the Fire: Democratic constitutions a ‘barrier’ to neo-liberal ‘reforms’
Check out @EurozoneCrisis’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/EurozoneCrisis/status/383338023402090496 Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Austerity, Democracy, Eurozone Crisis, neoliberalism
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: organized labour is the only potential political force with enough critical mass & enough organizational capability to get things moving.
Here’s my take on the May Day CUPE Sponsored Workshops in Ottawa on Saturday, the 27th of April: It was an interesting affair for its lamentations and the myriad problems it laid forth with little emerging by way of tactics, however, and certainly no overall strategy. Unions can’t even wrestle concentrated concern from
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or capital expenditures of some sort and new hirings. We’ve had this policy in place for quite some time now, and yet employment really hasn’t improved one iota. If anything it’s merely gotten worse along with – because of the incentive of low interest rates – an astounding increase in personal debt to the unseemly tune of a 165% income to debt ratio.
** For example, “the number of temporary workers in Canada hit a record two million last year, according to Statistics Canada. That amounts to 13.6 per cent of the work force compared with 11.3 per cent in 1997, when such record-keeping began.

Politics and Entertainment: why focus on inflation when there is little evidence of a inflationary trend while there are abundant statistics revealing just how bad things are for both the unemployed and the underemployed.
One of the official goals of central bank monetary policy is supposed to be low employment fostered through what is known as an expansionary policy by lowering interest rates with the hope that low credit rates will encourage businesses to expand their operations by way of capital investment in hard assets or
Continue readingProtectionism: Krugman half right, halved wrong*
I can’t refute Krugman. Institutions matter. But just what is an institution anyway. A stop sign, Burger King, constitutional conventions the EMU? All of the above? Sadly yes including gold standard like thinking. But the EMU and the WTO come with rules ratified in international treaties and enshrined in national
Continue readingAutonomy For All: America’s Political Nightmare in One Paragraph
My god this may be the finest paragraph Paul Rosenberg has ever written: In truth, the Republican party only has three problems: its policies are unpopular, its policies do not work, and they hate everybody who does not agree with them. In contrast, the Democratic party has only one problem:
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
The key to deficit reduction is not austerity – reducing government spending by cutting programs and personnel – but good old-fashioned employment. Stanford’s argument is in the Krugman reformist, Keynesian tradition. He doesn’t seek a transformation, merely a technical economic readjustment, but, given our failure to transform capitalism so far – which can be brought about,
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
The key to deficit reduction is not austerity – reducing government spending by cutting programs and personnel – but good old-fashioned employment. Stanford’s argument is in the Krugman reformist, Keynesian tradition. He doesn’t seek a transformation, merely a technical economic readjustment, but, given our failure to transform capitalism so far – which can be brought about,
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Why are governments addicted to neoliberal #austerity?
Politics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
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*English is indeed the language of business and global commerce thanks to U.S. imperial control of global finance, but the cultural differences, the nuances, the subtexts, the connotations, the rhythms among English language speakers are significant when it comes to communication efficiency – which is what a call centre should be all about. An English-speaking German really doesn’t speak the same language as an Indian or Texan. This is why offshoring call centres in the interest of profit and wage cost cutting is a failed business practice. It frequently if not always alienates clients. The neoliberal habit of displacing domestic workers is also of course in and of itself morally reprehensible.
Politics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
“Yes, the Conservatives are focused on what they call the economy. But their economy is a ruthless, inhuman task-master. It demands that the very profitable Royal Bank be even more profitable. It demands that 45 highly trained people lose their jobs. It demands that Canada’s visa system allow all of
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour
“Yes, the Conservatives are focused on what they call the economy. But their economy is a ruthless, inhuman task-master. It demands that the very profitable Royal Bank be even more profitable. It demands that 45 highly trained people lose their jobs. It demands that Canada’s visa system allow all of
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Change will not come from government and this policy or that – only from extra-congressional, extra-parliamentary strategies.
Here is a two-part interview with Stephanie Seguino, who, though focusing squarely on income inequality and its racial and gender implications, is not a revolutionary transformer of capitalism but a technical reformer in the Krugman…
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Change will not come from government and this policy or that – only from extra-congressional, extra-parliamentary strategies.
Here is a two-part interview with Stephanie Seguino, who, though focusing squarely on income inequality and its racial and gender implications, is not a revolutionary transformer of capitalism but a technical reformer in the Krugman Keynesian tradition. Like Krugman, she advocates closely monitored public spending as a way to stimulate the economy. An interesting argument
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Change will not come from government and this policy or that – only from extra-congressional, extra-parliamentary strategies.
Here is a two-part interview with Stephanie Seguino, who, though focusing squarely on income inequality and its racial and gender implications, is not a revolutionary transformer of capitalism but a technical reformer in the Krugman Keynesian tradition. Like Krugman, she advocates closely monitored public spending as a way to stimulate the economy. An interesting argument
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter the harm that results from that quest. (Is it any wonder they’re called “the feral rich.”) The distinction is important because it shifts the strategic focus to the plutocratic investor class itself and in turn their banking, regulatory, and corporate institutions – their agents of destruction – which are served of course by compliant governments everywhere and nowhere more so than right here in Canada. Our banks are now “too big too fail.” This is, sad to say, the point to which the financialization of the Canadian economy has descended: 80% of financial assets are held in these institutions. Be prepared for the socializing of bank debt down the road now that the framework’s in place; that is, you’ll pay for any bailouts.
More and more too I find myself in agreement with both Greg Albo and Leo Panitch, who have argued persuasively that progressives groups here (including the Council of Canadians) and elsewhere are very big on tactics and “micro-politics” but woefully lacking in overall strategy and considerations of long-term consequences. I would add to their basic argument that the self-interest of the progressive groups each with its own agenda determined largely by their executives – as is the case with political parties – will no doubt continue to inhibit any collectivizing co-operative movement towards a larger, focused pragmatic goal of institutionalizing social democratic controls.
For a brief moment, there was a ray hope with the establishment of CommonCauses, but apparently all they wish to do is replicate the actions of other progressive groups and to replace the Harper Regime. The issue of course is much larger than that simplistic goal. The issue is not capitalism under new management, but the transformation of capitalism itself. Else all is lost.
Is it hopeless? Perhaps not. Perhaps all that is required is patience, As Richard Wolff has said, “As has happened often in human history, what provokes change is less any clear vision of where we go next and more the intolerability of where we are. Capitalism is no longer “delivering the goods” for most people. The circle of its beneficiaries grows smaller and richer and more out of touch with the mass of people than ever.”
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon
More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter
Continue reading