Some reasons why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
After reading an article on the Huffington Post website about income inequality as represented by an OECD report, I decided I should list a couple of reasons why I think…
debt
Why the Excitement About Debt?
Further to our recent discussions on this blog about the role of private finance and credit in our present crisis, we present a guest contribution from Ralph Musgrave, an economist…
Who’s Bailing Whom? Challenging the Private Credit System
The time since 2008 has been a crucial historical moment for progressive economists to pull back the green curtain that surrounds the operation of the for-profit banking system, and expose…
Student Debt Rising Amongst New Physicians
Newly-released data indicate that student debt is rising amongst new physicians in Canada. In 2010, 23 percent of medical residents surveyed estimated having more than $120,000 in education-related debt upon…
Earth Overshoot Day – cause for a pause to reflect
Yesterday, September 27, the Global Footprint Network declared as Earth Overshoot Day: the day that humans have used up all renewable resources available for the year. Not good. This obviously…
The similarities between debt crises and currency crises
During the nineties, the predominant form of economic crisis that could hit a nation was the currency crisis whereby the value of a countries currency drops precipitously. Most infamously was…
PSE in Newfoundland and Labrador
Last March, Keith Dunne and I wrote an opinion piece on Danny Williams’ post-secondary education (PSE) legacy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Among other things, we pointed out that average undergraduate…
Remedies for household debt
Canadian households are more in debt than ever. Both the governor of the Bank of Canada and the finance minister have been "concerned" about this for some time.
“Grade-Boosting” Stimulant Use on Campus
A recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal looks at the use of “grade-boosting” stimulants (such as Ritalin) by Canadian post-secondary students. According to the editorial: “Universities and colleges…
As the race begins in Ontario
The writ has still not dropped but the unofficial race is on. A few things this morning on the campaign as it begins...The Nanos leadership numbers are back, in the…
Ontario Student Debt
Last week, the CCPA released a paper by David Macdonald and Erika Shaker entitled Under Pressure: The Impact of Rising Tuition Fees on Ontario Families. The paper does a good…
Is There a Student Debt Bubble?
A recent article in The Atlantic looks at student debt in the United States and suggests there may be a student debt bubble. Written by the authors of the recent…
MYTHOLOGIES: MONEY AND HYPERINFLATION
In an earlier post, Marc Lee mentioned in passing the German hyperinflation episode of the 1920s. It’s remarkable that this event still holds such sway over the popular imagination despite…
MMT: What it Means for Canada
Arun Dubois’ blog post yesterday on Modern Monetary Theory has prompted me to write my own take on the subject. For those interested, an interesting thumbnail sketch of MMT, essentially…
No Retreat, No Surrender: Time For Progressives to Explode Deficit/Monetary Myths
Friends, I’m concerned. I fear that too often, we on the left retreat when we should attack, surrender when we should vanquish. What do I speak of? Well, I am…
Thoughts on “Why not print money?”
Richard Gilbert’s “Why not print money?” in the Globe’s Economy Lab toys with more radical monetary intervention as a response to the crisis. Desperate times, they say, call for desperate…
Capitalism vs Democracy
This article in the Globe & Mail about the ongoing debt crisis in the USA and Europe caught my attention. Not because it offered any interesting or unique insight into…
S&P Pantsed by US Treasury
I have been reluctant to condemn the credit-rating agencies for sovereign downgrades because it seems like shooting the messenger. As the bond markets have noticed, a few European countries have…