Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nick Cohen writes that the corporate sector is home to some of the most dangerous cult philosophy in the world: (T)he language of business has become ever more cultish. In the theory of “transformational leadership”, which dominates the business schools, the CEO is
Continue readingTag: rail
Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Ish Theilheimer writes about the opportunity progressives should recognize in the scandals engulfing Rob Ford, Stephen Harper and other conservative leaders: (W)hile you’d think the (Ford) situation would be a golden opportunity for Toronto left-wingers to win back the public, this isn’t necessarily
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Deep thought
In times like these, it’s vitally important that we not connect dots like “oil”, “rail”, “deregulation”, “explosion” and “disaster”. Because otherwise, people might start demanding that our corporate reduce the likelihood that we’ll have far more similar incidents to come.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Charles Campbell discusses Robert Reich’s work to highlight the importance of a fair and progressive tax system. And while Lawrence Martin is right to lament the systematic destruction of Canada’s public revenue streams under the Libs and Cons alike, his fatalistic view
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – It shouldn’t be a surprise that more people are pointing out the importance of effective regulation in preventing disasters like the Lac-Mégantic explosion. But it may be somewhat unexpected to see that message from a CEO in the industry which stands to be
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – There was never much doubt that the Cons’ demolition of Canada’s long-form census was intended to ensure that we lack data needed to develop evidence-based policies – and that the effects would be most significant among the most marginalized (or exclusive) groups. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Richard Seymour rightly calls out right-wing lobby groups in the UK for distorting the facts in order to attack social programs: The report calls for benefits to fall in real terms, and refers to “the regrettable 5.2% blanket benefit increase put through in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Dan Leger points to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion as an all-too-vivid example of the intersection of privatized profits and socialized risks: Are we tough enough on corporations that destroy, burn and kill? What’s happening at Lac-Mégantic suggests we aren’t. There’s a scramble on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Stephen Beer argues that the UK’s Labour Party should take the lead in arguing for a financial transactions tax oriented toward reducing inequality: The banking sector is incorrigible. It cannot alone reform itself or repair its relationship with the rest of society.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Saturday reading. – Rick Salutin writes about the need for the labour movement to better promote its contribution to the general public – and my only quibble is that I’d prefer to see a focus on what still can be (and needs to be) done rather
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Bill Gardner discusses the effect of inequality and poverty starting at birth: There are three important facts packed into this slide. First, the lines stack up in order of increasing age, meaning that older people reported worse health than younger people. Second, all the lines
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Duncan Cameron discusses how the G20 is dancing around the problem of corporate tax evasion. The Economist issues a call to action against offshoring. And David Atkins points out what’s more likely needed to deal with a global problem which can be
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jim Stanford discusses the OECD’s findings that job protection actually improves better employment outcomes – while “flexible” labour markets serve only to ensure less opportunity for workers. And Sid Ryan makes the case for premiers to reject a low-wage agenda. – Oil spills
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on what the Cons’ response to the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion says about their wider concern (or lack thereof) for the safety of Canadians. For further reading…– My earlier posts addressing Con-style arguments from Andrew Coyne are here and here.– Andrew Griffith’s book excerpt on the difference between political and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Upworthy and the Equality Trust both provide fascinating examples of greed in action. – Rank and File discusses the relentless wage-slashing that has led to a perpetually smaller number of workers with sole responsibility for dangerous cargo, while Leo Panitch makes a similar
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Murray Dobbin writes about the crisis of extreme capitalism: (T)he “free economy” romanticized by Friedman and his ilk is anything but. Completely dominated by giant corporations whose wealth outstrips all but the richest nations, economic freedom does not exist for anyone else, including
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Robert Reich asks a few impertinent (but important) questions about plutocratic encroachment on the U.S.’ political system. – Catherine McKenna explains why it’s important to try to make a difference in our political system. But Chris Cobb reports on what happens to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On selective endpoints
Shorter Andrew Coyne: If you ignore the actual recent rail disaster that blew up a town, there’s little apparent risk of rail disasters. So let’s keep assuming the likelihood of future disasters is trivial. Now, some observers might ask how consistent a particular event is with a set of assumptions
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The Globe and Mail weighs in on the Lac-Mégantic tragedy by pointing out that we should be far more concerned about public safety than technical defences and excuses. Saskboy notes that as soon as a corporation’s business choices lead to a massive public
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Martin Lukacs offers up the definitive response to the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy: The deeper evidence about this event won’t be found in the train’s black box, or by questioning the one engineer who left the train before it loosened and careened unmanned into
Continue reading