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What is Dutch Disease, and How To Cure It
Saturday, April 21st, 2012
April 16, 2012
We need more industries that add value to our resources (rather than exporting them in raw form); that generate more high‑income, high‑quality jobs; that embody technology and innovation; and that contribute to greater suc‑cess in world markets. These policies, and the fiscal tools that could fund them, formed part of the 2012 Alternative Federal Budget (published in March by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).
Tags: budget, 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
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
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
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Think Labour Cost Cuts “Saved” the Auto Industry? Think Again.
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
August 31, 12011
Implicit… is the assumption that high labour costs were indeed the reason why the Detroit Three got into trouble… The flip side is the corollary claim that the reason the companies have recovered… must be because they dramatically reduced their labour costs. Both assumptions are wrong. Labour costs were not the key problem in the Detroit Three’s crisis. And cuts in labour costs have not been the key reason, or even a major reason, for the subsequent improvement in their performance… Yet labour costs (and labour negotiations) seem to get 99% of the attention.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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GDP Report: Awfully Weak Tea Leaves
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
June 1, 2011
Consumers and governments are tapped out, and their spending binge is over. Net exports are falling. Business investment is not nearly vibrant enough to pick up the slack. Where will future growth come from? Someone has to be borrowing and spending, for demand to expand and the economy to grow. All this should lead Mr. Flaherty (and provincial finance ministers) to fundamentally reconsider the austerity track onto which they are steering Canada’s fiscal policy. Merely by freezing government spending, Canada’s real economic momentum has been considerably undermined.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization
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The Ins and Outs of Foreign Investment
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
Nov. 12, 2010
Instead of continuing to wordsmith an Act that has almost always been a rubber stamp, we should undertake a more honest and wide-ranging examination of the pros and cons of foreign investment. And the starting point of that examination should be a review of where we stand right now… If foreign investment enhances the real capacity of our national economy (by adding real capital investment, technology, and export opportunities that we wouldnt have had otherwise), then its a no-brainer: we clearly benefit. But for the most part, thats not the kind of foreign investment weve been getting lately.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s $130 Million Chapter 11 Giveaway
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Aug. 27, 2010
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government reached a $130 million out-of-court settlement with the bankruptcy trustees overseeing the restructuring of AbitibiBowater Inc., a failed forestry and paper giant… The Abitibi settlement ranks as the largest Chapter 11 payout ever made by any North American government. Ottawa’s capitulation will clearly encourage more companies to take aggressive action through the NAFTA kangaroo court, over any government action (nationally prejudicial or otherwise) seen to hurt business profits and the interests of any investors, whatever their nationality.
Tags: globalization, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
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