Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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Penny-pinchers head for abyss
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Nov 10 2010
Since the Great Recession ended in the middle of last year, deleveraging (paying down debts) has been the main priority of most Americans, Canadians and Europeans. But when everyone in the private sector simultaneously saves to repay debt, this weakens the economic recovery… The new frugality in the private sector also explains why government spending has been the only positive game in town since the financial crisis spread from the United States to other countries in 2008… However, this is exactly the wrong time to become preoccupied with high government deficits.
Tags: economy, ideology
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Fair wage policy: Think before scrapping
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Nov 09 2010
The policy has been in place since 1893, when it was installed to keep taxpayers’ money out of the hands of construction contractors bent on exploiting new immigrants by paying pitifully low wages. Critics of the policy argue it has morphed into a way to protect union work from non-union competition and that restricting cheaper alternatives in this way only drives up the cost of city projects… it might be simply to write into the rules the current six- or seven-year lag in paying a union rate. It would be a mistake to keep an ill-advised campaign promise without the evidence to support it.
Tags: ideology, standard of living
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Canada pays a price for overburdened workers, finding balance is in the public interest
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Nov. 05, 2010
Rugged individualism is wonderful in theory. But it’s totally false to the way most of us experience the world. We don’t scrabble out an existence on our own – we work in offices, we pay taxes to governments, we have families – and what happens in one domain necessarily affects what goes on in the other. People don’t just get over it. They become physically ill from stress, or they suffer depression… That is why work-life balance is not purely a private matter… Public policy needs to catch up to and reflect the reality of people’s lives.
Tags: participation, standard of living
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Corporate tax cuts are good for workers
Friday, November 5th, 2010
October 20, 2010
… cancelling scheduled corporate tax cuts (set to drop to 15% in 2012), would seriously harm Canadian workers and hamper the economic recovery. Taxing business revenue has the effect of extracting a portion of the profits generated by companies. When such taxes are raised, it pushes companies to invest elsewhere. We therefore lose the investments that could have increased our productivity. As a consequence, it is workers who in practice bear the costs of raising corporate taxes.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
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Now Is Not the Time For Spending Cuts: Study
Friday, November 5th, 2010
Oct 18, 2010
Given the fragile economic recovery and the weak job market, now is not the time spending cuts, argues a report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The study argues that debt in Canada—even after two years of stimulus—is still at very low levels compared to other countries, and compared to the mid-1990s. It warns against repeating the major spending cuts of the 1990s, which shrank social programs and public services.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
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Ignatieff ‘s odd plan to raise productivity
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
Nov. 3, 2010
Instead of dissembling about “investing” in the country’s future by repairing roads, building community centres and funding daycare, our elected officials should call it like it is. They are spending the public’s money to provide them with goods and services — some needed, some not, but also redistributing wealth to raise certain groups’ standard of living, and padding pet projects for electoral gain.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
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British Fashion Victims
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
October 21, 2010
… trying to balance budgets in the face of high unemployment and falling inflation is still a really bad idea… There have been widespread claims that deficit-cutting actually reduces unemployment because it reassures consumers and businesses; but multiple studies of historical record, including one by the International Monetary Fund, have shown that this claim has no basis in reality. No widespread fad ever passes, however, without leaving some fashion victims in its wake. In this case, the victims are the people of Britain…
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
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A history of missteps [policy re: First Nations]
Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Oct 30 2010
Status Indians are falling further behind other Canadians in quality of life. The Star investigates the gap, which continues to grow along with the federal bureaucracy focused on Indian issues [This article provides a chronological summary of key points in Canadian policy dealing with indigenous peoples.]
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
U.K. spending cuts foretell our future
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
October 20, 2010
The reforms certainly contain some dramatic policy moves, including cutting £18-billion ($29-billion) from some welfare payments, raising the age of eligibility for the national pension plan to 66 from 65, the loss of 500,000 government jobs and cuts to spending that average 19% over four years in most non-core government departments… economists now believe Canada’s long-run growth is likely limited to 2%, with nominal growth at maybe 4%. At that level, funding debt reduction is going to require more aggressive fiscal action than the reduction effort of the 1990s.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Flaherty’s update: Belief versus reality?
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Oct 13 2010
… he cited the Conservative government’s “fundamental belief” that the private sector must lead the return to economic growth… But if those markets are drying up and Canada is slipping back into recession, the federal government may well have to intervene with some Keynesian stimulus. Flaherty and the Conservatives have done it before. Tuesday’s economic update suggests, however, that the government is deeply reluctant to do it again, for reasons that sound more ideological than economic.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization
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