Posts Tagged ‘tax’
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Americans get tough on ‘tough on crime’ policy
In the United States, “tough on crime” measures of the past four decades swelled the prison population by a factor of seven. Prisons are crowded and costly. The same trends are in the early stages in Canada. As the Auditor-General noted, crime is down, but the male prison population is up, largely because offenders are serving more of their sentences in custody… The government scorned the federal Justice Department experts who knew the policies would fail.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Race, Class And Neglect
… the riots in Baltimore… draw… attention to the grotesque inequalities that poison the lives of too many Americans… Shrugging your shoulders as you attribute it all to values is an act of malign neglect. The poor don’t need lectures on morality, they need more resources — which we can afford to provide — and better economic opportunities, which we can also afford to provide through everything from training and subsidies to higher minimum wages. Baltimore, and America, don’t have to be as unjust as they are.
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Mel Hurtig’s wake-up call for Canada’s democracy
Hurtig writes that “not only does Stephen Harper demonstrate a lack of respect for the democratic foundations of our nation, all indications are that he is determined to undermine or destroy them. Information is withheld, dissent is stifled and the checks and balances on government power are eroded or eliminated.”… the only way to stop Harper is for the Liberals and NDP to form a coalition “for the sake of restoring our democracy and indeed, our civil society”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
What does Alberta’s election have to do with socialism?
If resistance to this renewed barbaric capitalism must be collective… and if collectivity is embodied in nations and nationalism, and if nations must express their aspirations through governments… The end [of a political dynasty] was never particular policies or nationalism, it was always actual people and their needs. It was humanism, really. So if Alberta’s election provides some impetus for people to act together politically to create a nobler future, then maybe it’s somehow socialist, too.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau takes mildly progressive stance
For a decade, Canadians have watched helplessly as the richest 1 per cent of the population has increased its share of the nation’s incomes. Their government, ideologically driven to cut taxes and unleash market forces, has done nothing to counteract this trend. Trudeau would. The worst thing about his economic blueprint is that it overlooks the poorest 30 per cent of Canadians. In his eagerness to help the middle class, the Liberal leader has excluded those who need help most.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Trudeau takes from the rich, gives to the median
… median incomes fell dramatically between 1976 (when Statistics Canada’s data start) and 1997… 1997 marked a significant turning point, and incomes have grown steadily since them. Moreover… the Canadian middle class has been holding up pretty well over the past 20 years… In 1976, the bottom income quintile received 27 per cent of all government transfers; this share had fallen to 19 per cent in 2011.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, poverty, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Income Inequality Is Costing the U.S. on Social Issues
… when it comes to the health, well-being and shared prosperity of its people, the United States has fallen far behind…. blaming globalization and technological progress for the stagnation of the middle class and the precipitous decline in our collective health is too easy. Jobs were lost and wages got stuck in many developed countries. What set the United States apart… was the nature of its response. Government support for Americans in the bottom half turned out to be too meager…
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Jobless insurance needs a new manager
… the Conservative government, raids the $23.1-billion fund at will; collects more in premiums than it pays out in benefits; denies coverage to the most vulnerable workers; dispatches officials to recipients’ homes to catch them loafing; and withholds income support from laid-off Canadians who get one computer keystroke wrong… Take responsibility for rule-setting out of the hands of the employment minister and Ottawa would no longer have the authority to deny 60 per cent of the jobless EI benefits.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
The Tories want to have their cake and imprison it, too
Canadians… have been spending an additional $91-million a year in order to be less protected from crime…. The Conservative government has… slowed the rate of release for prisoners and this has contributed to a 6-per-cent increase in prison populations over the past four years… In fact crime rates have been dropping since 1991 – 15 years before the Conservatives came to power… “Truth in sentencing” is what the Conservatives call their policy of making it more difficult for inmates to be paroled.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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