Assorted content to end your week. – PressProgress notes that the Cons’ economic track record is one of eliminating well-paying jobs in favour of lower-wage, more-precarious work. And Jim Stanford follows up on why we shouldn’t believe the Cons’ spin about deficits: I think that a more fruitful and principled
Continue readingTag: Poverty
Politics, Re-Spun: You Deserve Better Wages and Benefits
Right wingers want to pay no tax. It’s hard to bleat about that in public without sounding like the greedy, selfish people they are. Instead, they say that public sector workers are paid too much, and that we should privatize everything. THAT way, governments get to starve themselves to the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Sunday reading. – Nicholas Kristof writes about the empathy gap which causes far too many wealthier citizens to devalue those who don’t have as much. Jesse Singal observes that the primary effect of wealth on well-being is to reduce downside rather than improve happiness – signalling
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Economist argues that lower oil prices offer an ideal opportunity to rethink our energy policy (with a focus on cleaner sources). And Mitchell Anderson offers a eulogy for Alberta’s most recent oil bender: For now the latest Alberta bender is over,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Yet Another Logistical Solution to Homelessness
So, Utah has been eradicating homelessness by giving people homes. The bonus is that it’s easier and cheaper to provide social services to people when their housing needs are met. From Amsterdam, we see yet another logistical solution for emergency housing while we have a national dialogue on a national
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Hugh Segal discusses the need for an open and honest conversation about poverty and how to end it. And to better reflect Canadians’ continued desire for a more fair society, Roderick Benns makes the case for a basic income as Canada’s next
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Joan Walsh discusses Elizabeth Warren’s work on improving wages and enhancing the strength of workers in the U.S., while Jeremy Nuttall interviews Hassan Yussuff about the labour movement’s work to elect a better government in Canada. – Bob Hepburn argues that getting rid
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Robert Ferdman reports on a Pew Research poll showing that wealthier Americans are downright resentful toward the poor – and think the people with the most difficult lives actually have it too easy: (T)he prevalence of the view might reflect an inability
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Who Cares About Fixing Poverty in BC?
Well, it’s the Poverty Reduction Coalition! One of their many activities is to send recommendations to the government when the government deigns to ask people for their ideas. The Finance Committee is an all-party committee of the legislature, so the government usually ignores their recommendations. As citizens, we need to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Nathan Schneider discusses the wide range of support for a guaranteed income, while noting that the design of any basic income system needs to reflect the needs of the people who receive it rather than the businesses who see it as an opportunity
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Emma Woolley discusses how homelessness developed into a social problem in Canada in large part through public neglect. Judy Haiven is the latest to emphasize that charity is no substitute for a functional society when it comes to meeting people’s basic needs. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Mariana Mazzucato discusses how inequality and financialization have teamed up to create an economy with little upside and serious risks for most people: (W)hat should we do in 2015? Financial reform–aimed at bringing finance and the real economy together again–must thus critically first
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Alex Himelfarb and Jordan Himelfarb write about the growing appetite for stronger public services and the taxes needed to fund them in 2014 – even if we’re a long way from having that translated into real policy changes: Certainly tax phobia has framed
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Daniel Tencer nicely surveys how a guaranteed annual income could work in Canada, as well as the obstacles to putting one in place: Imagine the government started handing out $10,000 annually to every adult in the country, or implemented a negative income tax
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the need to turn the holiday spirit of charity into lasting improvements in the lives of the people who need help the most. For further reading…– Joe Gunn and Iglika Ivanova also discuss the limitations of charity compared to structural change. – Jordon Cooper discusses Saskatchewan’s bad habit
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mark Bittman discusses the connection between economic and social ills in the U.S., and offers a message which applies equally to Canada: I have spent a great deal of time talking about the food movement and its potential, because to truly change the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lynn Parramore interviews Joseph Stiglitz about the spread of inequality, along with the need for a strengthened labour movement to reverse the trend: LP: In your paper, you indicate that the power of the 1 percent to exploit the rest seems to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: ‘Tis the Season to Rethink Our Charitable Giving
This op-ed by yours truly was published in The Province. The examples are BC-specific, but the message is much broader: donating to charity is not enough, we also have to change the status quo that forces so many people to turn to charity in a rich country like Canada. —
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mariana Mazzucato comments on the role of the innovative state – and the unfortunate reality that we currently lack anything of the sort due to corporatist thinking: (T)hanks in part to the conventional wisdom about its dynamism and the state’s sluggishness, the private
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Carter Price offers another look at how inequality damages economic development. And the Broadbent Institute examines the wealth gap in Canada – which is already recognized as a serious problem, but also far larger than most people realize: – Paul Buchheit discusses
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