Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
How to heal the deep scars from the financial crisis
… we should not expect the economy to “automatically” return to its prerecession growth path. The scars of hysteresis are real, and powerful. As a result, monetary and fiscal policies need to be more expansionary than would otherwise be appropriate for this stage of an economic recovery – precisely to counteract the forces of hysteresis and to push the economy back to its pre-recession level of productive potential.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Corporate Canada needs to pony up to reduce youth unemployment
Unfortunately, a significant minority of employers are taking advantage of the very slack job market for youth through exploitative unpaid internship positions that are generally illegal unless they are part of a formal academic program… Corporate Canada can clearly afford to do more, and it is in their own best interests to do so since labour force growth will soon grind to a virtual halt and young workers with good qualifications and work experience will be widely sought after.
Tags: economy, privatization, standard of living, youth
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
To ensure prosperity, Canada needs ‘ecofiscal’ policies
Relative to other developed countries, Canada makes little use of ecofiscal policies… several important issues require attention – potential threats to business competitiveness, fairness to lower-income families, the benefits from recycling ecofiscal revenues, and dealing with the diverse regions and their priorities… Nov. 4 marks the launch of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission – created to help Canadians seize this opportunity.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Less wage discrimination for women, aboriginals, and visible minorities in public sector, not higher salaries overall: study
This study compares the wages of full-time public and private sector workers and finds significant gaps in the wages of women, aboriginal workers, and visible minority workers—and that those gaps are bigger in the private sector in every instance… The difference in public and private sector wages results from higher levels of discrimination in the private sector and a more equitable system of pay in the public sector”
Tags: disabilities, economy, Indigenous, multiculturalism, privatization, standard of living, women
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s job market underperforming for years
… using an employment barometer that shows no real problem in the labour market… allows cabinet ministers to claim job-seekers just aren’t trying hard enough to find work; they’re not properly trained; they’re not sufficiently mobile; or they’d rather collect EI than earn a living… The nature of work has changed profoundly in the post-industrial era. Contract work has replaced permanent employment. Jobs are short-term, part-time and sometimes precarious. Wages don’t always provide enough income to live on.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada not the big winner in European trade deal
By what conceivable rationale should a foreign corporation be able to sue an elected government for implementing its campaign promises? How does one reconcile this with any possible definition of democracy? By what gall, by what perverse definition of free market competition, has the corporate world persuaded its friends in government around the world to give them such a privileged playing field?
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Greedy financiers undermine free markets
These modern-day speculators combine rapid reflexes and sophisticated algorithms to exploit the ups and downs of the stock market. “Hedge fund managers don’t care whether the companies in their portfolios do well or badly — they just want stock prices to be volatile,” he says. “What is more they want the volatility to be extreme: The more prices move up or down, the greater the earning potential.” So they deliberately create upheaval.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
7 perfectly sensible reasons why child care is good for the economy
Child care is back in the news with two competition visions: give parents a monthly cheque of $100 to help cover monthly child care bills that can top $1,000 or build a real national $15-a-day child care program. So for those of you who need a good, hard dollars and cents explanation about why a real child care program is worthwhile, here are seven perfectly sensible reasons why the investment is good for the economy.
Tags: child care, economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Reviewing Stephen Harper’s economic record as campaign for re-election gears up
the government plan to eliminate the debt, shrink the size of government and hope the private sector would take up the slack has produced worse results than would have been the case if the Conservatives had pioneered a balanced approach that invested more money in infrastructure and job creation… Scott Clark, a former deputy minister of finance… called “the neo-liberal experiment in Canada a dismal failure.”
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Where Mark Carney and Naomi Klein agree
Carney, talking to his audience of corporate interests and pension fund investors, referred to a “tragedy of horizons.” By this he meant the tendency of capitalists — governments, corporations and investors — to look only to the near-term and not the future. If there’s profit around the corner and doom in the distance, capitalism will always be loitering locally.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments