The housing problem is the housing market, but it can be solved
We have lived to see the day of a condo boom in Hamilton, Ontario. We have made housing into an object of speculation that sucks in money from here and…
Michal Rozworski
Boosting the economy for the rest of us
Elites and the talking heads in the media are arguing about how to respond to Canada’s soured economic outlook. Who should try to boost the economy, the federal government via…
Elites debate boosting the economy, but for whom?
Elites and the talking heads in the media are arguing about how to respond to Canada’s soured economic outlook. Who should try to boost the economy, the federal government via…
Podcast: The return of the modernist left
In the past few years, what has been loosely called the modernist left has seen some revival. Whether coming out of the ultimate failures of the Occupy movement, dissatisfaction…
Podcast: The return of the modernist left
In the past few years, what has been loosely called the modernist left has seen some revival. Whether coming out of the ultimate failures of the Occupy movement, dissatisfaction…
2015: Year in review
As 2015 comes to a close, here’s a podcast and a post that’s something in between a best of and a year in review. It’s a look back at…
Questions for the Canadian left
Harper is gone, but (as a friend only quarter-jokingly said) we got the second worst outcome sold as the best, so now what? That’s the 10 second version of this…
Uber and the Luddites
The fight against the sharing economy, and Uber in particular, can be disorienting. Opposition is often painted as techno-phobia. The good guys in this story are Uber and progress; on…
Why #COP21 won’t deliver the deal we need: Interview with Oscar Reyes
Last week, I interviewed Oscar Reyes on the background to and likely outcomes of the climate talks in Paris just wrapping up. His answers were prescient as the talks look…
Podcast: COP21, climate inaction and corporate power
This week marks the beginning of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, the latest episode in a UN framework that has been trying, and failing, to reduce global carbon…
Climate and competitiveness in the tar sands
Anytime the oil barons and baronesses are smiling for the cameras with NGOs and politicians, we should at least be interested, if not outright worried. Was the release of Alberta’s…
Poland’s Iron Consensus
The new Polish parliament represents a full spectrum of opinion — from the liberal right to the populist right to the ultra-conservative right. The relatively monolithic composition is hardly a…
Podcast: Climate and the state, refugees in Europe
http://rozworski.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Podcast151116-Climate-and-Refugees.mp3 Two interviews this week on two human-made crises: first, my conversation author and academic Christian Parenti on the climate crisis and the role of the state followed by journalist…
Creative resistance: Interview with Andreas Karitzis
After Syriza accepted a third austerity memorandum for Greece and called early elections, much of its leadership left the party. Some formed Popular Unity, while others are still searching for…
Podcast: What’s next for anti-austerity in Portugal and Greece?
http://rozworski.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Podcast151028-Portugal-and-Greece.mp3 Two updates from Southern Europe this week: Catarina Principe brings us up-to-date on the situation in Portugal and Andreas Karitzis recounts the search for a new politics in Greece…
Canada missed the memo: it’s OK to talk about inequality and capitalism
There is no political rocket science to the Oct. 19th election result. Even with our slanted first-past-the-post system, it would have been difficult for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to squeak out…
Podcast: Cutting through Canada’s election fog, where’s inequality, climate change and free trade?
http://rozworski.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Podcast151012-Elections-TPP.mp3 This week’s podcast is a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives double-header. The CCPA has been an invaluable resource for alternative economic and political analysis for decades and I always…
The media love the TPP, but should you?
My piece on the mainstream media’s trade deal boosterism was published at Ricochet yesterday. Canada’s media have heaped fawning praise on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the biggest free trade and investment…
Having the hard conversations: Interview with Jane McAlevey
My interview with Jane McAlevey has been published at Jacobin. The podcast is available here. Due to a lot of upheaval in my personal life (moving and a new job),…
Deficit discussion overshadows economic debate Canada needs
Photo by Kevin Dooley The Conservatives have promised balanced budgets and have even enshrined them in law. The NDP is also promising balanced budgets, painting itself as “responsible” with government…