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Wealth Gap
Monday, December 12th, 2011
Dec. 11, 2011
Margaret Wente has a point. If you take a long enough historical period and use a narrow definition of poverty, the poor are doing better than you think. Things would look even better if we compared today with the 17th century. Beyond this, poverty is more than material deprivation. It also involves social exclusion and lack of opportunity for participating in society. These have measureable effects on health and social well-being. They reflect growing income inequality, and not simply decreasing material deprivation.
Tags: ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The poor are doing better than you think
Sunday, December 11th, 2011
Dec. 10,2011
The real problem… lies with the elites of the financial class who’ve grabbed a gargantuan share of the spoils by means of fancy financial engineering that creates no value, and sometimes destroys it on a massive scale. Nobody knows how to keep them from wrecking the system every so often. The financial lobby is the biggest and most powerful interest group on Earth. Their ability to rig the system so as to enrich themselves has overwhelmed the ability of the politicians and the regulators to keep them in check.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
A novel solution to inequality: Pay poor people more
Friday, December 9th, 2011
Dec. 9, 2011
The OECD says that inequality is growing even in countries we think of as paragons of egalitarianism… This trend looks set to continue. The developed world’s cherished standards of living are under fierce assault. This is especially the case in Europe… Reversing it, however, should require a focus on alleviating poverty, not reducing the stock of wealth further… perhaps by setting a higher minimum wage (many countries do not have one). A concerted effort to pay poor people more would help to bring the minimum closer to the median wage in rich countries.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Pension ponzi is a raw deal for students
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec. 06, 2011
Across the country, universities are cutting back on programs to pay for soaring operating costs. The fastest-growing cost is frequently the pension fund. Cumulatively, university pension funds are billions in the hole. And in order to bail them out, or at least get them back above water, universities are being forced to divert substantial chunks of money from their operating funds. In effect, the students and taxpayers are on the hook for the generous pension promises made to faculty, staff and retirees. And they have pension deals the younger generation can only dream of.
Tags: budget, pensions, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
For Kashechewan, read Attawapiskat
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec. 07, 2011
We are engaged in national intellectual escapism if we think these communities will escape from their debilitating cycles of problems without something more than a subsistence economy. Without one, dependence will prevail. With dependence comes lack of self-esteem, social pathologies and family troubles… A policy problem does exist with the lower per-student funding level for native education. But if such a cadre could be developed, why would highly educated (in a formal sense) young people stay in places like Attawapiskat when few jobs beckon, except for the band council or maybe a school or health clinic?
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Indigenous, standard of living, youth
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Ontario needs to do its health-care homework
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec. 06, 2011
… total annual funding to family physicians went up by 32 per cent between 2006-07 and 2009-10, from $2.8-billion to $3.7-billion. And despite the higher costs and the ostensibly improved access, the health ministry was unable to provide any evidence that wait times for physicians have gone down… The path out of a $16-billion deficit, more or less endorsed by all three provincial parties in the recent election, revolves largely around flattening health spending increases…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Delivery System | 1 Comment »
OECD calls time on trickle down theory
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Dec. 5, 2011
Trickle down theory is dead. The belief fostered by Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. in the 1980s, that if the rich got richer, their income and wealth would trickle down the income scale so that a rising tide lifted all the boats, has had the last rites pronounced on it – by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Its report “Divided We Stand” published on Monday highlights how income inequality is rising almost everywhere in the developed world.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s wage gap at record high: OECD
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 05, 2011
“Income inequality increased during both recessionary and boom periods, and it has increased despite employment growth”… The richest 1 per cent of Canadians saw their share of total income rise to 13.3 per cent in 2007 from 8.1 per cent in 1980… Two factors explain Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution. “Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
It hurts dancing to supply management’s tune
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Dec. 02, 2011
After months of prevaricating, the Harper government announced two weeks ago that, yes, it was joining the [Trans Pacific Partnership] but would, of course, protect supply management in the negotiations. Except that other TPP countries don’t agree with Ottawa’s interpretation. For them, no country can join by establishing preconditions… If Canada got an exemption for supply management, then Japan and South Korea would want one for their farmers. Other countries would then demand this or that break, and the TPP’s considerable ambitions would be watered down.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
A vision for high-quality health care
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Nov. 30, 2011
… the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) are spearheading a drive to transform health care for the better when the current health accord expires in 2014. Armed with the results of a new Canada-wide public opinion poll that shows overwhelming support for the key aspects of a set of jointly agreed principles as the basis for a new health accord, the two organizations are calling for a high-quality health care system that is universal, equitable, sustainable and truly centred on the needs of patients.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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