Posts Tagged ‘globalization’
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The caging of capitalism
Mar. 05, 2012
It has taken a century to turn capitalism from an awesome force of nature, rude, raw and rambunctious, to the subservient thing it is today… Getting the right balance between economic and political freedoms isn’t as easy as ideological rhetoric makes it appear.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Employment Debates | No Comments »
Free-market ‘rationalism’ turned Canada from champ to chump
February 26, 2012
From Korea to Finland, China to the Netherlands, Brazil to Germany, countries which actively direct and manage growth seem to perform better in productivity, innovation, and global trade. These countries have fostered investment and innovation with focused sector strategies; deliberately favourable capital market, exchange rate, and trade policies; and sophisticated efforts to manage income distribution so that productivity growth visibly translates into higher living standards
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
Drummond-style restraint would be Ontario’s Greek tragedy
Feb 21 2012
Government workers are laid off to save money, which leads to higher unemployment. Higher unemployment reduces tax revenues, thereby widening fiscal deficits. Governments are forced to borrow more to cover these shortfalls, thus increasing debt… If we assume, as Drummond seems to, that the U.S. economy will never fully recover and that the price of oil (and therefore the loonie) will stay perpetually high, then Ontario’s economy will remain precarious. In this scenario, “unprecedented” spending cuts of the kind Drummond recommends would be the worst possible action.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Exploiting Canada’s resources can be a fool’s game
Feb. 22, 2012
Canada has one of the worst productivity records in the industrialized world. Upon productivity improvements household incomes depend, not burgeoning household debt. When you ask why median household incomes stagnated for a long time in Canada, and why the lowest-income Canadians have gotten poorer, one reason (among many) is low productivity… If nothing changes, taxes will certainly have to rise on them just to deal with aging alone, unless those who remain in the work force are more productive… Without better productivity, forget real income growth.
Tags: economy, globalization, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Employment Debates | No Comments »
Caterpillar fiasco highlights failure of economic and social policy
Feb 13 2012
The factory operated profitably and productively for decades. Then suddenly its workers and the whole community were confronted by an uninvited visitor — who barged in, demanded money, and then left, leaving a shuttered plant and immeasurable social despair in its wake… Caterpillar had no sooner digested its new subsidiary, than it began shifting production to Indiana (where new right-to-work laws effectively ban unions) and Mexico… moving jobs out of Canada won’t stop Caterpillar from raking in billions in revenue here… Yet nothing was demanded from Caterpillar in return for this largesse
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
Why we’re seeing the ugly new face of capitalism
Feb. 14, 2012
The implicit deal is that lower taxes create more investment and competitive cost structures create more demand. Both supposedly create more (good-paying) jobs. Lower taxes, check. Lower payroll costs, check. More good-paying jobs here at home: Insert sound of crickets chirping… in Canada, federal taxes on profits had fallen to 16.6 per cent by fiscal 2010-11 after briefly dipping to 13.2 per cent in 2008, a level not seen since the Great Depression… Unlike the 1930s, corporate profits in Canada have rebounded since the 2008-9 crisis, nearing the previous high water mark… Despite growth, there is no shortage of profitable firms telling workers they can keep their jobs only if they agree to get less.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
Buy North American and save ourselves
Feb. 13, 2012
Few Americans know that the two key markets for their exports and source of energy imports are Canada and Mexico. Our trade with each other enhances our collective competitiveness because many of those goods are jointly produced with parts from all three countries. Thus, the best way to multiply our exports and accelerate growth would be to create a seamless market…
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
The world’s losing its workers. How will we compete?
Feb. 11, 2012
The world’s supply of working-age people will soon be shrinking, causing a shift from surplus to scarcity… There are currently almost five working-age Canadians whose income taxes pay the pension and health-care costs of each retiree; within 20 years, there will be only three. As a result, according to Ottawa, health-care costs will double and social-service costs will rise by a third… Immigration has spared Canada from the worst of aging, but immigrants adopt host-country family sizes very quickly, so they’re a temporary fix.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, youth
Posted in Employment Debates | No Comments »
Prime Minister Stephen Harper boasts about Canada’s economic performance while jobs vanish and pensions shrink
Feb 09 2012
What we are seeing is a power shift. Governments and corporations are limiting their risk exposure at the expense of their citizens and employees. This trend is not new, but it accelerated sharply in 2012. We knew Harper had no intention of bolstering public pensions. But no one imagined he would make life harder for seniors, without any warning or public discussion.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Employment Debates | No Comments »
Caterpillar closing part of a coordinated attack on unions
Feb 03 2012
Since it locked out 460 Canadian workers in January, the giant U.S. firm had made little secret of its intent to move their jobs to Muncie, Indiana. All it was waiting for, apparently, was a signal that the state government there was serious about crippling trade unions. The London plant closing is not an isolated event. It is part of a coordinated attack across North America on unions and wages… But the attack on wages is also being aided and abetted by governments. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is blatantly anti-union. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government is simply useless.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
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