Archive for the ‘Equality Policy Context’ Category
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Oligarchy, American Style
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
November 3, 2011
… protesters who portray themselves as representing the interests of the 99 percent have it basically right, and the pundits solemnly assuring them that it’s really about education, not the gains of a small elite, have it completely wrong… almost two-thirds of the rising share of the top percentile in income actually went to the top 0.1 percent… rising inequality has meant a nation in which most families don’t share fully in economic growth… extreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy… the truth is that the whole nature of our society is at stake.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
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Why Income Inequality Suddenly Matters
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Nov. 11, 2011
… we believed that “it is OK to have ever-greater differences between rich and poor … as long as (our) children have a good chance of grasping the brass ring.” … However, the last three decades have invalidated our standing hypothesis… Of course, some class mobility still exists. The trouble is that it’s primarily of the downward kind… data from the [OECD] show that social mobility in uber-capitalist America is actually lower than in most industrialized countries… And this is why, among all the fights over economic policy, the debate about taxes is the most crucial of all.
Tags: economy, standard of living, tax
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The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
Nov. 7, 2011
The findings… are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves… They show that traders and fund managers throughout Wall Street receive their massive remuneration for doing no better than would a chimpanzee flipping a coin… Egocentricity, a strong sense of entitlement, a readiness to exploit others and a lack of empathy and conscience are also unlikely to damage their prospects in many corporations… This is not to suggest that all executives are psychopaths. It is to suggest that the economy has been rewarding the wrong skills.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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What do banks actually DO?
Monday, November 7th, 2011
What do banks actually DO? Create credit out of thin air. Were Canadian banks bailed-out? Absolutely, to the tune of $200 billion. And they are still protected and subsidized more than any other sector of the economy. What must be done with these banks? Tax them, control them, and ultimately take them back… A video is available here: < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoOKY5kH9cc&feature=youtu.be >
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
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The Tyee Reader on Inequality
Monday, October 31st, 2011
28 Oct 2011
The Tyee has been covering the Occupy Movement since we started back in 2003… So we’re happy to provide you with links to scores of articles dealing with inequality in British Columbia, in Canada, and elsewhere. We’ve organized them in chronological order within each section. And we’ve included some bonus links to other useful sources on inequality.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, tax
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The big questions raised by anti-capitalist protests
Friday, October 28th, 2011
October 28, 2011
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the ideology was socialism and the force was organized labour. Socialism failed as a way of running economies. It did, however, succeed in establishing welfare states… If the traditional left offers no answer, can the free market right return to business as usual? No. People who believe in the marriage of democratic politics with market economics need to address what has happened… Market capitalism creates inherent difficulties. The two most obvious are macroeconomic instability and extremes of inequality… Any inequality is corrosive if those with wealth are believed to have rigged the game rather than won in honest competition.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, rights, standard of living, tax
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Occupy this: if you’re living here, you’re already one of the ‘one per cent’
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
October 18, 2011
North America and Europe, geographic epicentres of the Occupy Wall Street movement, are the fattest of fat cats, globally speaking… adults in North America, Western Europe and a few Asian countries, most notably Japan, together possess almost all the world’s household wealth (a measure of total assets, including real estate, investments and all other property, net of any debt.), about 88 per cent. Everyone else, the majority of the world’s people, share the remaining 12 per cent.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Canada’s Billionaires
Monday, October 17th, 2011
October 14, 2011
Just in time for the “Occupy Bay Street” protest this weekend, Canadian Business magazine has come out with its annual listing of the richest 100 people in Canada. So in honour of the protestors and their noble cause (demanding more attention to the 99%, instead of the 1%), let’s peruse together the sordid details of Canada’s ultra-rich.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Why we must tolerate hate
Monday, October 17th, 2011
Oct. 17, 2011
A liberal, open-minded law against hate speech? That’s an oxymoron. There’s no possible reconciliation between freedom of speech and hate-speech laws, however they’re written or reformulated. A civilized, progressive society should opt for freedom of speech, period.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, multiculturalism, rights
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The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
September 9, 2011
Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class… The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable. But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions… They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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