This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin discusses the distinction between giveaways to the rich which are perpetually seen as carrying no price, and the expansion of the commons which is treated as intolerably costly: (O)ffer something that is actually free and things get downright snarky. In
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The Equality Trust highlights the perpetual concentration of wealth among an extremely privileged few in the UK. LOLGOP points out how U.S. Republicans would rather let people die than see them adequately sustained by a fair minimum wage and secure social supports. And
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This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin writes that greed is the only reason why we haven’t yet completed a full health care system with a pharmacare program: If we had a universal pharmacare plan — one that saves lives and relieves suffering — it would cost
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Tom Parkin discusses the need for a new Tommy Douglas to start leading the way toward national social programs – and the hope that Andrea Horwath can earn that role in Ontario’s provincial election: Since Douglas’s time, Canadian health care has been
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Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Kady O’Malley writes that after years of delays on their promise to reassess Bill C-51, civil rights are just one more area where the Libs’ proclamations about “open government” have given way to a closed-door process where only their plans are being given
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Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Tom Parkin discusses the Libs’ identity politics – and how they endanger people’s substantive interests both in what the Libs fail to do, and in the predictable reaction from right-wing populists: For Liberals, identity politics is a distraction from economic policies that are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ashley Renders reports on the Canadian mining companies which are using corporate trade deals to threaten developing countries with billion-dollar claims to stifle environmental protections. And Mike Blanchfield and Andy Blatchford report that China wants any trade deals to similarly privilege investors
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andre Picard writes about the unjustifiable limitations and inconsistencies in Canada’s health care system: Break your leg and the X-ray and cast will be covered, but you will need to pay for the crutches. Break your jaw and it will be wired at
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Assorted content to start your week. – Charlie May writes that the inequality which is radically reshaping the American political scene receives short shrift compared to other stories. And Thomas Piketty studies (PDF) the political realignment which is seeing relatively well-defined class politics replaced with “multiple-elite” models. – Meanwhile, Tom
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – James Wallace calls out the Ontario Libs’ track record of consistent cuts to health care and other vital public services (with the exception of election-year promotional items). And Tom Parkin contrasts that pattern against Rachel Notley’s protection of public services from the
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Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jim Stanford discusses what can be done to make international terms of trade serve the public, rather than merely offering multinational corporations control over all participants: Acknowledging that globalisation produces losers as well as winners, allows us to imagine policies to moderate the
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Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rochelle Toplensky reports that ten years after a financial meltdown based on the instability of top-down economic structures, multinational corporations are paying substantially lower effective tax rates than they did before. And Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappaport follow up on how the Trump
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. -Tom Parkin laments the timidity of the Libs’ budget, while recognizing the opportunities it creates for the NDP: Over $7 billion in infrastructure investment, the cornerstone of the Liberals 2015 election appeal, was cut and pushed past the next election — despite the sorry
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Assorted content to end your week. – Jim O’Neill proposes an end to corporate free-riding (and an assurance of contribution to the society which allows for profit) through explicit “pay-or-play” rules: Since proposing a pay-or-play scheme for the pharmaceutical industry, I have come to think that the same principle could
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Evening Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Aditya Chakrabortty comments on the stunning turnaround experienced by the UK city of Preston after it started making a concerted effort to use public money to benefit citizens and local development. – Meanwhile, CNN Wires notes that in contrast, massize Amazon warehouses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses Canada’s likely NAFTA decision between an even worse deal than exists now, and no deal at all – though it’s worth recognizing that the latter choice shouldn’t be seen as a problem. And Alex Panetta points out the Libs’ total
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Larry Elliott writes about the fragility of the political and economic structures which the world’s most privileged people are seeking to entrench in Davos. And Branko Milanovic discusses the importance of intra-country inequality which is getting worse around the globe. – Laurie
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This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tom Parkin writes that job numbers inflated by part-time employment shouldn’t distract us from the consumer debt and wage stagnation which are living more and more people with precarious financial situations. Ben Leubsdorf reports on the recognition by members of the American
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Tom Parkin discusses how the growing pile of Liberal disappointments is creating opportunities for Canada’s opposition parties. – Julie Ireton reports on the continued problems being caused by the federal government’s Phoenix privatization debacle – including by forcing retirement-eligible employees to hold
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Rupert Neate reports on the latest numbers showing the world’s 500 richest people adding a full trillion dollars to their wealth in 2017. And Will Fitzgibbon and Dean Starkman highlight how offshore tax avoidance schemes are sucking prosperity out of the rest
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