Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
The case for tax reform
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Jan 03 2012
… top-earning CEOs are sitting on $2 billion in stock options that are treated as dividend income, and taxed at half the value. That’s a tax break worth $475 million… It’s hard to make a compelling case that the affluent need tax breaks that ordinary workers will never see when Ottawa is short on cash. And when 3.5 million Canadians live in poverty… The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report… urges Ottawa to eliminate the tax break for executive stock options… the Conservatives do have options for dealing with the deficit beyond thinning out the public service and cutting transfers or services.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Rising inequality demands debate
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Jan. 4, 2012
There are policy responses which would introduce market discipline without interfering with corporations’ ability to set compensation levels. Shareholder rights, both to detailed information on compensation plans and to a direct say, could be strengthened… Alternatively, government could use its redistributive powers to level the playing field… CEOs increasingly take their payment in stock options, taxed at half the rate of income… The trickle-down approach hasn’t worked, said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría. “Without a comprehensive strategy for inclusive growth, inequality will continue to rise.”
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
There’s no way out but a new politics of fairness
Sunday, January 1st, 2012
Jan. 01, 2012
… this is an epochal restructuring of the global economy, the first downturn in which the developing world is gaining power, wealth and jobs at the expense of the developed… The age is crying out for a different kind of politics, one that rallies people around the idea of fighting the great fear together… Recessions at first divide, but as they persist and deepen, even the rich discover that their own prosperity will be threatened… A politics of fairness is also a politics of growth. Fair societies are more dynamic and more innovative.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The decline of deference [and the internet]
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Dec 29 2011
That sense of an alternative way to run things is what the Internet may have implanted. In its early years, flame wars and other epidemics of egomania obscured its potential for collective, lateral decision-making. But now there’s Wikipedia and it works. You don’t need the Encyclopaedia Britannica and its stable of authorities. Or at least: you needn’t defer to them; they’ve become another resource. The discovery of new ways to decide leads to a diminished need for authority… The power of authority diminishes when you can hear credible, contesting voices.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Fighting poverty
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 26, 2011
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations declared… the Millennium Development Goals – a set of eight goals and 21 targets dealing with health, education, hunger, gender equality and environmental sustainability… The targets are, in theory, measurable… (But) aid policy doesn’t require wealthy countries to make major domestic changes.
Tags: budget, globalization, Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
The Bible and ethical economics
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec 22 2011
In his book, Economics of Good and Evil… Sedlacek says, a moral thread runs through economics until the modern era, based on a sense of mutual human responsibility. With that moral element now eliminated, you wind up bailing out (“forgiving”) the biggest, most powerful debtor/sinners, i.e. the banks, but doing nothing for the poor and destitute, who were supposed to inherit the Earth… Nobody uses econometrics to calculate gifts they give or gratitude they feel. The whole process is uneconomic — but only in the withered, current sense.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Hate and the law: how to deal with bigots
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Dec 19 2011
Eradicating racial hatred is a noble goal but it cannot be legislated out of existence. The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits communication “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” This is impossibly vague and subjective… The legislation does not permit a defence of truth and ignores progress made by feminists, gays and civil rights activists, many of whom were contemptuous of, and hateful toward, their oppressors… Bigots are best defeated through open debate, rather than judicial or legislative fiat, precisely so their ideas can be exposed to both hatred and contempt.
Tags: multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Is the Western world history?
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Dec 16, 2011
Recurring global economic crises are highlighting the inherent conflicts between the values of the market economy and those of democracy. We are failing to keep these largely contradictory influences in balance. The dictates of the marketplace are overshadowing the values inherent in our Western democracies… In a market economy the individual is often treated as a commodity, whose value depends on their unit cost, education, age, and even gender and race. But in a democratic society, the promotion of the individual is supposed to be paramount.
Tags: economy, ideology
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
The 1 Percent Club’s Misguided Protectors
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Dec. 10, 2011
Some inequality may be necessary to encourage investment for growth. But as recent research shows, intense inequality actually stunts growth, making it more difficult for countries to sustain the sort of long economic expansions that have characterized the more prosperous nations of the world… Extreme inequality blocks opportunity for the poor. It can breed resentment and political instability — discouraging investment — and lead to political polarization and gridlock, splitting the political system into haves and have-nots. And it can make it harder for governments to address economic imbalances and brewing crises.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The untold tale about income inequality
Saturday, December 17th, 2011
Dec. 17, 2011
The media reports on income inequality never mention the life cycle of earnings experienced by all Canadians. After schooling, incomes are low but increase with age, reaching a peak around age 60 and drop again in retirement… reports also fail to note… temporary influences like illness, divorce, unemployment or lifestyle choices… Similarly, those in the top income brackets are there only for a limited period of time, like the athletes, performers and artists.. between 2002 and 2007 and found that 60 per cent moved into a higher income group after one year, 79 per cent did so after two, and nearly 90 per cent after six.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments