https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/podcast150320-inequality.mp3 I have two guests to talking about inequality today. First up is Branko Milanovic, who speaks with me about global inequality as well as the rise of a global plutocracy. One of the world’s foremost experts on inequality, Branko is professor at the CUNY Graduate Centre, where he also heads
Continue readingTag: Political Eh-conomy Radio
Political Eh-conomy: Podcast: Leo Panitch on Syriza and Greece
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/podcast150220-leo-panitch.mp3 This week I’ve devoted the entire show to discussing the most recent developments in Greece. While there is a great deal of day-to-day drama at the level of the ongoing negotiations between Greece and European institutions, I wanted to take a broader strategic and political look at what the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: the left in Greece and Poland
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/podcast-150123-poland-greece1.mp3 I’ve been visiting family in Poland for the past few weeks so, fittingly, this week’s podcast deals with the situation of the left at two opposite ends of the European periphery: Greece and Poland. My first guest is Yanis Varoufakis, professor of economics at the University of Athens and candidate for SYRIZA
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Jim Stanford on Canada’s economy
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/podcast-1411212-jim-stanford.mp3 Today’s episode is the last of 2014 as I’ll be away spending the holidays with family. For a bit of a year-end summary of Canada’s economy, my one guest is Jim Stanford who joins me for an extended conversation. Jim is the chief economist at Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, and
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Climate deals and pipeline steals
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/podcast-141128-oil-and-climate.mp3 Today’s episode is focused on the economics and politics of climate change, both more globally and locally. To get a global perspective on the state of climate negotiations and the recent US-China climate deal, I speak with Leigh Phillips, a science writer and journalist who has written for Nature,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Doug Henwood on US economics and politics
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/podcast-141114-doug-henwood.mp3 This week, it’s my great pleasure to present a feature interview with Doug Henwood — economic analyst, author of books including Wall Street and host of the wonderful Behind the News radio show and podcast that inspired this show. Doug always introduces his show by saying his guests will be “taking a look at worlds of
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Focus on China
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/podcast-141102-china.mp3 The focus of today’s podcast is China: its development over the past several years, the situation of workers and unions as well as future directions. To get some perspective second largest economy in the world and one still expanding at breakneck, albeit slower, pace, I spoke with two guests:
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Looking towards childcare in Canada, with lessons from Sweden
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/podcast-141016-childcare.mp3 This week, the federal NDP reignited a national debate over childcare by proposing a universal $15 per day childcare program. This is the focus of today’s episode, which features two guests. First up, Angela MacEwen. Angella is an economist with the Canadian Labour Congress and has long been a strong
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Kshama Sawant
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/podcast-141001-kshama-sawant.mp3 Last year, Kshama Sawant shocked the continent by winning a seat on Seattle’s City Council. She defeated an incumbent Democrat to become the first openly socialist city councillor in Seattle in a century. Sawant, an immigrant from India with a background as a software engineer and an economics professor,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Arun Gupta on climate catastrophism and building a climate movement
This will be a weekend of global climate activism. Marches and forums are planned around the world, with the largest set for New York City: the three-day Climate Convergence and the People’s Climate March on Sunday expected to draw hundreds of thousands. I spoke with Arun Gupta, co-founder of The Indypendent, author and journalist living in NYC for a critical
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: BC teachers and First Nations on the frontlines
My guests today help take a fresh look at two issues where British Columbia is on the front lines of bigger social conflicts: that over the future of public education and that over resource development on First Nations lands. https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/podcast-140905-bc-frontlines1.mp3 My first guest is Helesia Luke, life-long public education advocate and member of the board
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Piketty Forum in Vancouver
On June 25th, a standing-room only crowd of 150 people attended a public forum and discussion titled “Pikettymania, Inequality and You” on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Today, I’m happy to post in full the four talks that made up the first half of the event (the second half was
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Updating the Global Slump with David McNally
Today I’m happy to present another in a series of feature interviews with outstanding Canadian political economists. In this segment my guest is David McNally — noted academic, activist and author. David is professor at York University and active in a number of grassroots organizations and movements in the Toronto area,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: 1,000,000 and $14, two numbers, two politics
This week’s podcast focuses on two numbers, one million and fourteen, that draw out some interesting links between economics and politics in Ontario and beyond. https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/podcast-140606-ontario.mp3 One million is the number of jobs that Tim Hudak has promised to create in Ontario if elected next week. This one million claim has
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Linda McQuaig on Hudak’s imaginary jobs and Canadian inequality
Today, I’m happy to present another extended interview and my guest is Linda McQuaig. Linda is a National Newspaper Award-winning journalist and commentator who has worked for the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star and many other outlets. She is also a best-selling author of numerous books that have focused on
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: CLC Convention 2014
This week’s convention of the Canadian Labour Congress was more eventful than it has been in some time. There was a change of leadership and an energy palpable even from afar via social media. Of course, four days of convention does not a labour movement make and so today I’ve gathered
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Temporary Foreign Workers
The Temporary Foreign Workers Program has been increasingly in the spotlight the last few weeks. Many allegations have surfaced about the appalling living and working conditions faced by migrant workers. While much of the media coverage has ignored what is most important, my two guests on this week’s podcast are ready to offer some
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Questioning legacies: Flaherty and the PQ
This week’s podcast takes on government economic policy. First, Armine Yalnizyan looks back at the tenure of Jim Flaherty as federal Finance Minister; the interview is based on an article she recently published in the Globe and Mail. Armine is a senoir economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She is also a
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: In and out of crisis with Sam Gindin
Today’s podcast is a feature interview with fellow political economist Sam Gindin. I interrogate Sam about the political economy of the present: the exit from the 2007 crisis, the role of states, austerity, the place of finance and the possibilities of resistance. Download: podcast-140314-sam-gindin.mp3 Sam Gindin is a left political
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Postal banking
Introducing the Political Eh-conomy Radio podcast, a new podcast on economic issues in Canada and beyond. The inaugural episode tackles postal banking: why cut valuable services and jobs at Canada Post when it is instead possible to create financial services run by the post office, at the same ensuring the
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