In this engrossing historical account, Quinn Slobodian lays out how a few very rich men—yes pretty much men—and the neoliberal intellectuals upon whose ideas they fed, imagined and sometimes built their versions of utopia: “zones” free from the grasping hands of the many who want to tax their riches or
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Alex's Blog: DEMOCRACY
Throughout the globe we are witnessing democracy under threat. Political scientists who for decades assumed that “the arc of the universe” inevitably bent towards more democracy, are now documenting its decline. Across the advanced economies people are apparently not nearly as committed to democracy as in the past, are more
Continue readingAlex's Blog: How to kill a zombie or the strange persistence of neoliberalism
Here’s a recent piece I wrote on the many deaths of neoliberalism. https://monitormag.ca/articles/how-to-kill-a-zombie-or-the-strange-persistence-of-neoliberalism/
Continue readingAlex's Blog: What Does a Prudent Budget Look Like in these Uncertain Times?
I have been trying to sort out why I so dislike the recent federal budget. The loudest critics, the Conference Board, bank economists, much of the mainstream media have complained about too much spending in this time of continuing inflation, about deficits and debt. How long will we have to
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Fault Lines
I was honoured to chair the Council Of Canadian Academies panel on misinformation. Our report, Fault Lines, is available here. https://cca-reports.ca/reports/the-socioeconomic-impacts-of-health-and-science-misinformation/
Continue readingAlex's Blog: There are no economic laws
In just the last few months we have had a number of elections in which we reelected incumbents who had performed, at best, somewhere within the zone of mediocrity. We received a timid federal economic statement that makes gestures in the right directions – on inequality and climate and helping
Continue readingAlex's Blog: The Politics of Inflation
If democracy is always a battle for who decides, the powerful few or the many, inflation is the current battleground. And what we are getting is what we have been always been getting at least since the 1970s: rapidly higher interest rates, pressures to cut back public spending, concerns about
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Canada needs proportional representation
Here are both sides of the debate on electoral reform, the right one (written by me) and the one opposed. Electoral reform is not a side issue: it goes to the heart of who and what government is for, about who gets to shape the future, the many or a
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Inflation: austerity is not the solution, it’s the problem
SURELY WE HAVE ENOUGH TO worry about without renewed warnings about runaway inflation. But even amid all our various crises, inflation continues to make its way into the headlines: “Canada’s inflation rate hits a three-decade high”; “Is Canada’s inflation rate out of control?”; “Trudeau must act to ease worsening inflation.”
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Interregnum: finding hope and solidarity in times of crisis and division
Notes for a CCPA (national) planning session, April 25, 2022. I chair or sit on a number of boards all of which have been going through exercises much like this one. I must say taking stock in this age of multiple crises can be pretty unsettling, depressing. Virtually every day
Continue readingAlex's Blog: “Hope and Enlightenment in Dark Times”
https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/alla-gutnikovas-speech-from-court-friday-8-april-2022/ Alla Gutnikova’s speech from the Russian court as she is to be sentenced for standing for peace, for our shared humanity, for hope, for art, for our emancipation.
Continue readingAlex's Blog: MAKING BIG CHANGE
I recently posted a piece I did for CCPA’s The Monitor recommending five readings on big change. Here I will try to distill some of what I gleaned about what it might take. Know the barriers: Big change is hard so it makes good sense to know the obstacles and
Continue readingAlex's Blog: BIG CHANGE
Big change is hard though of course big change is just what’s needed. The experts warn and our leaders confirm that we are in the midst of a climate emergency, an existential threat. Every day we see too many vivid and horrifying examples of the tragic costs of colonialism to
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Thoughtful Thursday: something to think about (from Jane Fritz blog)
Thoughtful Thursday: something to think about
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Investing in Care, Not Profit
Central to building the care economy is reversing our dependence on for profit delivery. Here is a position paper by a number of colleagues and I on addressing the tragedy of long term care. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/investing-care-not-profit
Continue readingAlex's Blog: What would a transformational budget look like?
Reactions to this week’s federal budget have been all over the map. Is it too much, too little? Is this the shock the country needs or a missed opportunity to set a new course? As expected, a number of headlines are preoccupied with the numbers – spending, deficits, debt –
Continue readingAlex's Blog: The Case for Deficits and Higher Taxes
Rather than wringing our hands about if and when the federal government plans to balance the budget or about the lack of a fiscal anchor to discipline federal spending, we should take the opportunity to assess the costs of decades of austerity and have the long overdue debate about the
Continue readingAlex's Blog: A Cure for Deficit and Tax Phobia
It started as a FB post, morphed into this blog, and who knows what’s next: the case for an approach to public finance that enables the level of ambition these times require.
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Review of Hugh Segal’s Bootstraps Need Boots
Hugh Segal has written an engaging personal and political memoir and plea for basic income. Here’s my review in Alberta Views.
Continue readingAlex's Blog: How to Pay for a Just and Green Recovery
Some colleagues and I published this piece on how to pay for “building back better”. The Broadbent Institute published this longer version here.
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