Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
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Amid economic gloom, Canada needs to focus on what it does well
Frustration with the past cycle’s structural weaknesses and the current one’s sluggishness has prompted backlashes against globalization and the institutions and enterprises that support it… We have a number of the key pieces in place that position us to run into the global business void created by those who are backing off at precisely the wrong moment. And we can do all this by doing what we already do well, but on a wider front.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Crucial lessons from Brexit vote and rise of Trump
The untold story is that entire swaths of our populations in Western countries have been left behind. Those without the privilege of higher education or access to a fluid employment market are struggling. It remains exceptionally challenging to find steady employment and, for many, the future remains unclear… many turn away from institutions they believe have guided them down this path…
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
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Don’t Believe Claims $15 Minimum Wage Will Cost Jobs
You can easily find economics research papers to support your position on the minimum wage, no matter what it is… in 2013, economist John Schmitt reviewed more than 10 years of research and concluded that “the weight of that evidence points to little or no employment response to modest increases in the minimum wage.” “Modest” is subjective. But Premier Clark’s 28 per cent increase in one year had no obvious impact on employment.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
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Ottawa needs to free Canada from interprovincial trade barriers
Trying to cajole or charm the provinces into giving up their barriers voluntarily is an exercise in futility… Real reform must come from Ottawa… Ottawa has the constitutional power to introduce a sweeping statute – an economic charter of rights – to ensure that no government rules or policies unnecessarily restrict the free movement of goods, services, labour and capital, and give individual citizens clear legal remedies against such restrictions.
Tags: economy, globalization, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
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Was the ghost of Marx haunting Brexit?
It certainly looks like a class struggle, doesn’t it? On one side are the winners in the global capitalist economy – well-educated, well-to-do, young, mobile, well-spoken, confident. On the other side are all those who have fallen behind, the losers – those without education, without prospects, sidelined by age and infirmity, crude, frightened, confused, inarticulate and very angry… The new global proletariat, finding itself increasingly marginalized and threatened, is now fighting back.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
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As Three Amigos meet, unfinished trade business
the true foundation for trade… is labour, and the forging of NAFTA then and the state of labour today is a story of unfinished business… The TPP will, if ratified, tie in countries that bear the hallmarks of Mexico then and now – Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei — in the realm of cheap (and child) labour and inadequate worker protections… NAFTA stands, in fact, as a shining example of how not to affirm labour rights, which didn’t even make it into the primary document.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
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We kicked around the working class. With Brexit, they’re kicking back
This was a referendum on a failed economic regime that has been unable and unwilling to provide for all its citizens as opposed to the very few. Voting to remain in the EU was seen as a tacit approval of the institutional status quo… Since the early 1980s, the focus of policy has been privatization, deregulation and liberalization. As a result, profits have soared, but wages have remained stagnant at best. Income inequality has increased to levels not seen since the 1920s.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Why the government should actively pursue a trade deal with China
… trade agreements typically usher in economic reforms that, over time, transform the daily lives of citizens, exposing them to greater opportunities, material abundance and global ideas. Eventually, this leads voters to demand greater political and social rights… By increasing a country’s fiscal capacity, trade liberalization increases the government’s ability to underwrite programs that actually support and enforce human rights.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Ottawa should name and shame offshore tax cheats
The Americans have rightly determined that the public benefit of transparency outweighs the tax-avoider’s right to privacy. Canada should make public exposure a requirement of any deal it strikes with scofflaws. The benefits would be twofold: the naming and shaming deters other offenders, and the disclosure allows citizens to understand just how thoroughly they are being cheated — and thus how much work the government must do to restore tax fairness.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living, tax
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Calculating Sudbury’s living wage
… a living wage, reflects what earners in a family must bring home based on the actual costs of living in a specific community, calculated as an hourly rate at which households can meet their basic needs… Living wages for… Ontario cities range from Grey-Bruce and Brantford, at $14.77 and $14.85 respectively, to the Niagara Region at $17.47 and Toronto at $18.52… “Generally, it’s about the well-being of the population as a whole and income security is one of those social determinants of health, that impacts on the individual’s well-being, the family and the community as a whole.”
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
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