Plague Update: Frugality Saves Itself
It’s become trendy to be thrifty. Frugal, even. There’s always been a case for being frugal, but now it’s more apparent to a society facing supply chain disruptions from an…
economy
Leadership in the Post-Pandemic World
It’s been two and a half months since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic; infections and deaths will continue until a vaccine is found. Economists and global thinkers…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Maxwell Smith, Ross Upshur and James Downar warn us against mistaking a temporarily flattened curve for a final victory over the spread…
Jason Kenney’s Fight with Alberta’s Doctors
“The crisis we have in health care, rural included, is a void of leadership by the UCP government. They were voted in with a majority government, but do not seem…
Is Oil Profitable? Negative.
This has been obvious to me for most of the last decade, after it became clear that good information was never going to win over enough people, because disinformation had…
Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Bruce Campbell writes that we have a needed opportunity to reimagine how our economy and society are organized, while Gregory Beatty rightly argues…
Gaslighting 101: Mr Kenney Responds to Mr Trudeau’s Aid Package
Gaslighting: abusive behavior where an abuser manipulates information to make his victim question their sanity by using denial, misdirection, contradiction and misinformation to destabilize the victim and delegitimize their beliefs.…
Plague Update: Canada, Ontario, etc.
Ended up stumbling onto The Agenda, and this episode was great for anyone interested in the plague, or in city planning to respond to it. If you want to be…
Checking In
How are you? Are you okay? The Soapbox family is fine. We’re the lucky ones, we’re doing reasonably well under the circumstances. We check in with each other every day.…
Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Lauren Leatherby and David Gelles examine how people are spending money differently in the midst of a pandemic, while Lucia Mutikani reports…
Coronavirus Questions – and Explanations
Can anyone do basic math? Does anyone fact check? Does anyone question the media or the government? Another $2 trillion was just announced by the US Federal Reserve to…
On private interests
So far, the COVID-19 crisis has offered plenty of lessons about the limitations of delivering public goods through self-interested banks. Any relief has flowed only slowly, while the crisis has…
Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Duncan Cameron writes that while the COVID-19 pandemic has been catastrophic, we shouldn’t pretend that it’s at all surprising – or that…
It Costs A Little To Have Foresight
…It costs everything to have no foresight. Humans who are good at foresight get undermined by those who aren’t.
BoJo Unwell, Like The Economy And Environment
Boris Johnson is at death’s doorstep. This would otherwise be an unremarkable point, except he’s inexplicably the Prime Minister of the UK. Sorry you started taking the advice of doctors…
Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Mariana Mazzucato comments on the triple crisis facing our current economic system, and the importance of addressing health, environmental and economic disasters alike.…
Jason Kenney and the KXL Deal
Last week Mr Kenney threw away (yet again) his belief in the sanctity of the free market by announcing his government (ie. us) would invest $1.5 billion in TC Energy…
The Greatest Depression Begins
Goldman Sachs predicts 24% contraction of economy in Q2 alone – and they are the optimistic ones! This is bigger than the Great Depression, by the look of it. Thanks…
Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jim Stanford writes about the need for a new Marshall Plan to rebuild once we’ve won the fight against COVID-19: For many…