Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Would capitalism work better with ultra-high taxes?
How do we cause that to happen again, without discouraging people with money from participating in the economy? Not by a return to 1960s income taxes… Rather… it can be accomplished by targeting those areas where piles of dead wealth work against the interests of the larger economy with tax incentives that shift the economy away from its worst instincts. Specifically, by targeting inheritance… and extremely high salaries… with deterrent taxes
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
IMF says oil exports aren’t so key to Canada’s economic future after all
A $1 increase in energy investment in Alberta is calculated to boost Canadian manufacturing GDP by just 3 cents, with most of the impact being in Alberta itself. The IMF argues that “there appears to be an important scope to increase inter-industry linkages across Canada” … oil from Western Canada can displace imported oil used by refiners in Eastern Canada. This would not only boost Canada’s trade balance, it would also lower domestic energy prices, and thus benefit the manufacturing sector and the wider economy
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
No skills crisis as Tories claim, budget watchdog says
the Parliamentary Budget Officer takes Finance Canada to task over its warnings of job and skills shortages, concluding there is little evidence in support of a national labour shortage or skills mismatch in Canada. Further, the PBO report on Canada’s labour market found median real wages have stagnated since the end of the recession, while average real wages have increased, meaning it is only higher-income earners who are seeing wage increases.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
The Rise of Anti-Capitalism
We are beginning to witness a paradox at the heart of capitalism… The inherent dynamism of competitive markets is bringing costs so far down that many goods and services are becoming nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject to market forces… we are constructing an Internet of Things infrastructure that optimizes collaboration, universal access and inclusion, all of which are critical to the creation of social capital and the ushering in of a sharing economy… This collaborative rather than capitalistic approach is about shared access rather than private ownership.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Fear Of Wages
… what’s wrong with rising wages, anyway? In the past, wage increases of around 4 percent a year — more than twice the current rate — have been consistent with low inflation… too low an inflation rate puts the economy at risk of Japanification, of getting caught in a trap of economic stagnation and intractable debt… the phantom menace of stagflation still has an outsized influence on economic debate… it’s hard to escape the suspicion that class interests are playing a role… commentators seem oddly upset by the notion of workers getting raises, especially while returns to bondholders remain low.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Five Myths to Bust about Minimum Wage Hikes
A larger increase in the minimum wage may lead to some small number of jobs, or more likely hours being cut, but it is useful to remember that a 20 per cent wage hike that reduces a minimum wage worker’s hours by five per cent still leads to a sizable net benefit for that worker… a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 2.4 to 3.6 per cent decrease in the poverty rate
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Quebec’s ticket back to Canada
Trudeau [represents] the possibility of public sector-private sector co-operation that has been responsible for most of the grand projects that have built the country, including the railways, the great hydro-electric projects, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Air Canada, atomic power, the Trans-Canada Highway and pipelines, and most large cultural initiatives… this will be what is needed to make Canada a proprietary, as opposed to merely a branch-plant, country
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Cheri DiNovo’s bill would give benefits to police, firefighters, paramedics
Ontario has moved a step closer to making it easier for police, firefighters and paramedics to claim benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder they’ve experienced because of their job… The legislation, now known as Bill 67 after previous attempts in 2008 and 2010, would amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to presume PTSD is an occupational disease unless there is evidence to the contrary.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
How to fix executive compensation in Ontario’s public sector
… executive compensation is broadly broken. It’s not the market deciding. It’s a system that has been gamed and inflated… We need to apply a brake that helps to control these salaries… Wagemark is a certification system that provides a standard method for calculating the ratio between the top and bottom earners within an organization. Linking top and bottom pay has many salutary effects — including improving morale and restoring a basic sense of fairness.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak is right to retreat from ‘right-to-work’
Hudak wanted to replace that measure with so-called “right-to-work” legislation, draining labour’s clout by allowing people in unionized workplaces to reject union membership and refuse to pay their dues… This type of measure is obviously no cure for Ontario’s economic ills. It would sap the income of working people… he conceded that “not very many” employers and workers had expressed interest in a right-to-work law.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments