This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ian Welsh writes about the concentration of wealth and economic control: Money is permission: you can’t do squat in a market economy without it. Those who can create it, or who have excessive profits, control what other people can do. It is
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Political Eh-conomy: Magic numbers and the math stick
Economics is often associated with numbers. We are bombarded with economic data: GDP, unemployment, inflation, debt, exchange rates, market indices…the list is seemingly endless. While many of these numbers change – we are encouraged to cheer when they rise, jeer when they fall – there are others that are presented
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Robert Reich comments on the concerted effort by the U.S.’ rich to exacerbate inequality – and points out how it’s warped their worldview. And Dean Baker criticizes the spread of inequality by design: And then there is the financial sector where Mankiw tells
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
I’ve written before about the dangers of government by manufactured crisis – which is all too familiar under the Harper Cons and the Wall Sask Party alike. But in light of recent events, I feel compelled to add that an inexplicable “you must accept our plan NOW! NOW! NOW!” only
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Strategy, or escape from the privatization matrix (Canada Post, Part 2)
The endgame of the current rounds of cuts at Canada Post is some form of privatization. In the previous post, I argued that privatization proceeds differently depending on context. Many factors – I focused on whether a public service provider is exposed to competition and is profitable – can have
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Diagnosis, or into the privatization matrix (Canada Post, Part 1)
There is little doubt that Canada Post’s recently-announced plan to eliminate home delivery, raise prices and lay off thousands of workers is not aimed solely at streamlining operations, but is likely a prelude to future privatization of postal delivery in Canada. Canada Post is ripe for the picking: it is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, questioning the Saskatchewan Party’s belief that meeting the province’s constitutional duty to provide correctional centre inmates with the basic necessities of life isn’t a “core” government function. For further reading:– CTV reports on the label the Sask Party has applied to correctional food services (and the resulting privatization process)
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Cassidy offers ten options to reduce income inequality. And Andrew Coyne concurs with the first and most important suggestion that income supports sufficient to provide a stable living to everybody would make for the ideal solution. – Meanwhile, Frances Russell is the
Continue readingcmkl: CBC’s saying Canada Post will start killing door to door delivery in early February
CBC Ottawa is reporting this morning. But doesn’t say where. Allow me to guess – no swing ridings, no otherwise vulnerable government MPs. Because superboxes suck. CPC spokesmuppet Jon Hamilton admits as much. I’ve said it before, Canada Post, even if you’re hell bent on getting rid of as many
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: QE: Furthering the habit of privatizing gains and socializing losses
“Privatizing gains and socializing losses” could be the motto for the neoliberal era. Alongside this and “there is no alternative”, few slogans better capture the ideology that has been so successfully diffused throughout the world over the past several decades. Five years after latest financial crisis, this motto rings true
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – In keeping with the theme of this week’s column, the Star-Phoenix questions the Wall government’s choice to neglect existing school infrastructure. And Lana Payne’s message about how leaders react in a crisis also looks to be closely intertwined with the need to plan
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Post-Corporate Media Look Like?
I know you’re wondering. But it’s hard to imagine. Kind of like a fish imagining life without water. We’ve known corporate media for generations. Since the advent of psychology and marketing, the influence/manipulation of corporate media is ubiquitous. And not in a good way. But let’s take a few moments
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how well-planned public infrastructure and a strong community spirit have helped Saskatchewan through weather that’s caused far more problems elsewhere – and how we’re in danger of losing that advantage. For further reading…– The obvious point of comparison is the spate of problems faced by Toronto – including
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom points out that many Canadians can expect to lose jobs without any social supports due to the Cons’ focus on political messages over real-life impacts. And Blake Zeff offers a reminder that while progressive economic policy may be receiving more attention
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Come On, Let’s Really Increase Taxes on the Rich
Well, here’s something you don’t see [ever] in corporate media: a review of tax measures in the USA since the crash in 2008 that have succeeded in increasing taxes on the rich. And it turns out, tax increases that are regressive [sales taxes, etc.] or include the non-rich, seemed to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Polly Toynbee discusses how the public shares in the responsibility for a political class oriented toward easily-discarded talking points rather than honest discussion: Intense mistrust of parties is growing dangerously with each generation: with fewer than 1% of the population members of a
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Privatizing Everything In Sight
There is a belief commonly held that the private sector will always be “more efficient” than the public sector. Outside of the United States, nowhere is that more prevalent than in Alberta. Alberta has moved regulatory oversight of the Oil Industry to an “arms-length” regulator … which is funded by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Susan FitzGerald reports on new research that growing up in poverty has a significantly more damaging effect on a child’s development than exposure to drugs – leading to obvious questions as to why so many governments loudly wage a nominal war on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Greed + Government Cuts Erode Society [Bah, Humbug!]
The greedy and selfish among us are NOT on our side. Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you’re all giving lots of money to charities because ’tis the season and all that. But what happens if generally, as a society, we can’t or won’t give so much? Coupled with public sector
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The in-and-out trick: Thoughts on Canada Post, CPP and your child’s breakfast
The past few days have not been great for public services in Canada. Canada Post will be phasing out home delivery of mail. Expansion of the Canada Pension Plan was scuttled at the finance ministers’ meeting. In the grand scheme of things, however, these are not extreme cutbacks. It’s not
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