rabble.ca - The Economy

Eroding tax fairness in B.C. demands tax reform

PolicyNote — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:31:03 -0400

(with Marc Lee and Iglika Ivanova)

Most British Columbians would agree that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes. And most assume that the wealthy pay more, not only in straight dollars, but also a higher tax rate as a share of their income.

So most would probably be shocked to learn that, in reality, that is no longer how our provincial tax system works.

Changes to EI will put downward pressure on already stagnant wages

Progressive Economics Forum — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:27:03 -0400

Changes to the EI rules announced by the government today are not rooted in any lengthy policy rationale. But Minister Finley and and the media release spoke to the need to "strengthen work incentives." This conjures up images of unemployed workers sitting around and spurning job offers amidst growing labour and skills shortages.

History lessons: Resource management means reclaiming our environmental and fiscal futures

Brian Topp — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:09:12 -0400

Just about at the same time that people in the province of Quebec decided, in overwhelming majority, that decisive action was required by their provincial government to protect the French language, people in western Canada decided that equally decisive action was required by their provincial governments to ensure control of their own natural resources.

The federal government of the day (led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) more-or-less accepted the Quebec National Assembly's right to address the language issue. But the same government waged a battle of sumo-like proportions to try to wrestle control over oil, potash, uranium and other resources from western Canadian provinces.

Which didn't go over very well.

Talking the world into taking the wrong direction

rabble staff — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:57:41 -0400

Attending last week's G8 summit hosted by American President Barrack Obama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper characterized the Canadian economy this way: "Thanks to strong fundamentals, Canada's economy is performing exceptionally well by international standards."

The statement is simply not true. Economic fundamentals in Canada reveal growing inequalities, stagnant incomes, high unemployment, and for 2011, a 2.2 per cent economic growth rate (after inflation) that according to an agency popular in Canadian Conservative Party circles -- the CIA -- puts Canada 149th out of 215 countries in the world.

Boosting Canadian trade vs. free-trade deals

rabble staff — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:56:11 -0400

As soon as it won its coveted majority, the Harper government put the pedal to the metal on the trade front, with a stampede of new free-trade deals. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade currently lists 18 different deals in play, ranging from puny (Panama and Jordan) to gargantuan (Europe, Japan and India).

Anyone who stands in the way of this juggernaut clearly must oppose trade in general. At least that's how the Conservatives portray the issue, attempting to brand its New Democratic opponents as economically illiterate dinosaurs.

Federal jobs cuts: Clarity is always one year away

Progressive Economics Forum — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:07:36 -0400

I've commented on federal job cuts many times before (here, here, here and here) and in the interests of beating this particular horse good and dead (no animals were harmed in the writing of these reports), the CCPA is releasing my latest update on the matter:

De-growth or growth? Maybe we don't need to figure that out

PolicyNote — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:33:45 -0400

There has recently been a renewed interest in the question of whether the ecological crisis means we need to see (or plan for) a stabilization or even a decline in economic growth. This week there is a major conference on degrowth in Montreal. York University's Peter Victor has made important contributions to this debate in his book Managing Without Growth, as has Tim Jackson in his report for the U.K.'s Sustainable Development Commission entitled Prosperity Without Growth?. There is a burgeoning literature on this topic.

Hill Dispatches: Lower migrant pay and tougher EI rules - pushing down wages

karl nerenberg — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:07:06 -0400

The government's plans for Canadian workers, for Employment Insurance (EI) and for the tens of thousands of migrant workers who come here annually are murky and unclear.

Commenting on changes in EI announced, but not specified, in the Budget Omnibus Bill the Minister of Finance says "any job is a good job."

The Minister of Human Resources has a somewhat different story. She says that unemployed Canadians will only be required to take jobs for which they are qualified and in their own regions.

The Minister of Finance goes to Committee and, with a contemptuous pout, tells his collegaues that we'll all know what the EI rules are when the regulations are published. That will only be after Parliament passes the Budget Bill.

Changes to EI tighten the screws on the unemployed

Progressive Economics Forum — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:39:31 -0400

The significant changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) program which are to be quickly implemented through Budget 2012 with very little consultation have not received enough critical attention.

First, a word on what is not in the budget. It is disappointing, to say the least, that the government is failing to respond to the fact that less than 40 per cent of unemployed Canadians are now qualifying for EI, well below the already low pre-recession rate. And, for all of the talk about skills shortages in Canada, it is notable that there is NO increased investment at all in EI-supported training, which would assist unemployed workers to find good jobs.

Instead, the focus is on tightening discipline over those workers who have managed to qualify for a claim.

Understanding the crisis in Greece

Brian Topp — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:44:42 -0400

This weekend, the runner-up party in the recent Greek election, Syriza, seemed to rule out joining with New Democracy and PASOK to give them a majority in parliament. Instead, Syriza cheekily invited a smaller rival left-wing party, Democratic Left, to drink from that poisoned chalice in their place.

At least in the short term, this looks like excellent political hardball on the part of Syriza. They either get to go into opposition in the new parliament while their opponents further discredit themselves. Or there will be another election in June, in which Syriza seems positioned to make further gains -- perhaps enough to form a government.

Syriza then proposes to apply the same hardball approach to the European Union and to the International Monetary Fund.

Banks and the derivatives scam

rabble staff — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:41:06 -0400

John Kenneth Galbraith famously described financial genius as "a rising market." This was on display in the expansionary era of the 1950s and 1960s. New bank credits funded growing businesses. Investment bankers injected their own capital into initial share offerings of "public" companies, allowing businesses to grow by taking in shareholders as partners. Finance flourished.

Mulcair and energy McCarthyism

rabble staff — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:41:14 -0400

The high-and-mighty vitriol which greeted Tom Mulcair's comments last week about the downside of oil-powered currency appreciation is lamentable (repeating the over-the-top reaction to Dalton McGuinty's similar comments a few weeks ago). Mulcair made two modest and empirically substantiated statements: the loonie is sky-high as a result of the oil boom in Alberta's bitumen sands (I doubt you'd find a single currency trader on Bay Street who would disagree with that), and that overvaluation is causing negative side-effects on other industries and regions in Canada.

Revivals of protest in the class war

gerry caplan — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:19:02 -0400

When Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks write their sequel to The Trouble With Billionaires, let's hope they'll help us understand why the 1 per cent whine even when they win.

Take Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of one of the world's largest private equity firms, the Blackstone Group; worth $4.7 billion, Mr. Schwarzman is the 52nd richest person in America. He describes his business philosophy candidly: "I want war, not a series of skirmishes. ... I always think about what will kill the other bidder." He sees Wall Street locked in fierce battle with President Barack Obama which he once described, yes, as a war: "It's like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939."

The big banks' big secret

redeye — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:57:30 -0400

In 2008 Stephen Harper said that Canada has the only banks in the western world that were not looking at bailouts. But a new report says that several banks did need extra money - billions of dollars, in fact - to stay afloat. David Macdonald is a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and author of the report.

To find out more about Redeye, check out our website.

Mining Injustice Conference: Resisting extractivism, lessons and inspiration from frontline communities and fellow activists

MiningWatch — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:30:12 -0400

A concern about the social and environmental destruction caused by Canadian mining companies brought me to the fourth annual Mining Injustice Conference organized by the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, held at the University of Toronto.

The conference was made up largely of panels and keynote speeches, and one breakout discussion group at the end of Saturday.

François Hollande's Socialist France

rabble staff — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:55:13 -0400

Masses of people thronged Place de la Bastille -- symbolically representative of the French revolution -- to cheer the electoral victory May 6 of French Socialist Party candidate François Hollande, over conservative incumbent President of the Republic Nicholas Sarkozy.

The joyful celebratory mood was a welcome change. Over a decade of grim employment news had brought a measure of despondency to the nation once noted for its "joie de vivre." On the campaign trail, Hollande was called the only happy person in a morose country.

Quebec student movement threatens austerity agenda

rabble staff — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:27:33 -0400

No wonder those Quebec student protesters have been spooking the English Canadian establishment. If they get their way, the same ideas could catch on here, leaving the best-laid plans for austerity in tatters.

What seems to particularly gall some English Canadian commentators is the fact that the Quebec students -- who reached a tentative deal with the province on the weekend after a three-month strike -- have been protesting tuition hikes that would still leave them with the lowest tuition in the country. Why can't these spoiled brats be grateful, and go back to watching video games and keeping up with the Kardashians like normal, well-adjusted North American youth?

Smash the State Report: Indigenous resistance and Quebec student strike

dan kellar — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:10:53 -0400

Friday April 27, 2012 - This Smash the State Report starts off with info on the re-opening of the abortion debate in Canada, then jumps into the Quebec student strike with a critique from Stefan Christoff of mainstream coverage, before an update of the April 28th Walk for Peace Respect and Friendship .

Canada's oil: For sale to the highest bidder

rabble staff — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:22:32 -0400

Want to know why Canada's currency is sky-high despite our sluggish recovery, our large and persistent current account deficit, and our lousy export performance?

Check out this fascinating story in Friday's National Post, by Yadullah Hussain, on why Canada's oil reserves are such a uniquely hot commodity in the eyes of global oil corporations.

Why May Day: Organize, resist and win!

dan kellar — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:29:16 -0400

A segment on May Day including a reading from Libcom - A Short History of Mayday, a what's next from Occupy Belfast, we introduce The Peak's #MayDay Issue out of Guelph, then close the show off two interviews from recompositions.com, one with Phinneas a Canadian postal worker involved in 2011's strike action, and another one with Marianne, a student organizer active in Occupy and the New School occupation that happened durin

Quebec student strike rages on and branches out: No Plan Nord and solidarity actions

dan kellar — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:51:23 -0400

We have an update of actions against austerity as the Quebec Student Strike rages on, with street battles, mass arrests and bad faith negotiating, solidarity actions take place in Kitchener, and a piece about Jean Charest's destructive plan nord.

This podcast is part of the weekly 2-hour radio show AW@L Radio on CKMS 100.3 http://soundfm.ca from 16:00-18:00 on Fridays.

If You Could Change One Thing: Developing policy for progressive change

rabble staff — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:10:00 -0400

I had a great change of pace last week, when I stayed out at the CAW Family Education Centre at Port Elgin to teach a 5-day course on "Economics for Trade Unionists" through the CAW's Paid Educational Leave program.

While I have guest lectured many times at Port Elgin, I have never actually taught a course there, so this was a great opportunity for me to experience first-hand how our PEL system trains and inspires hundreds of rank-and-file union activists and local leaders every year, through a wide range of peer-taught courses. The Centre was bursting at the seams with about 250 students in a range of courses -- including toxic substances, pride, collective bargaining, and training to be women's advocates.

David Harvey: Taking back the streets for anti-capitalist struggles

alex — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:56:20 -0400

David Harvey, anthropology professor, geographer and authority on Karl Marx's work Capital, has just published Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. The book addresses the state of inequality in capitalist society, the role of the city as concentration point of struggle around that, and the prospects for a different world.

Aaron Leonard spoke with him recently in his office at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Aaron Leonard: Why do you call the book, Rebel Cities?

A number is never just a number: Taxing times

rabble staff — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:32:04 -0400

31%
That's how much of Canada's economy is made up of income, sales, corporate, property and other taxes we pay to all levels of government. (Source)

~$38 billion
That's how much less Canadians now pay in individual income tax compared to 2000. (Source)

Tax Day's birthday presence

Behind The Numbers — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:13:18 -0400

This year, once again, I'll celebrate my birthday as Canadians file their tax returns.

I was born on April 30th. And considering my line of work, that coincidence might be ironic. Or perhaps just particularly appropriate.

I know, I know. Taxes, right? But the thing is, I've never been one of those individuals who says the "t" word in the same tone of voice some people reserve for words like "larvae." Or, I don't know, "Ke$ha."