wealth distribution

Mitt Romney 'speaks truth to power' about neo-conservatism

Ironically, in the now-famous video that seems likely to end his political career, it could be said that Mitt Romney was speaking truth to power.

Of course, "speaking truth to power" is a phrase normally used to describe courageous souls who risk their own hides to take a principled stand challenging those in power -- not exactly what Mitt was doing.

Rather, assuming he was speaking privately to like-minded multi-millionaires, the Republican presidential candidate told the $50,000-a-platers what they wanted to hear: that he hasn't any intention of helping the 47 per cent of Americans too poor to pay income tax. "My job is not to worry about those people."

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Happy Crashiversary! Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

Armine Yalnizyan

| September 17, 2012

Four years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it's time to take stock of things by asking a stock political question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

Where you stand on the answer depends on where you sit. Many people, businesses and communities are still struggling to regain the ground they lost after September 15, 2008, the day the giant investment banker filed for bankruptcy and triggered the biggest global financial and economic crisis since the 1930s. But for others, things have never been better.

For Canada as a whole, the top line numbers are good, as we've heard repeatedly from Ottawa.

Columnists

Jumping the queue in a class-divided society

As summer drew to a close, I took my kids for our annual pilgrimage to Toronto's CNE Midway. It was a gorgeous sunny Saturday: the smell of corn dogs in the air, the crowd diverse and gritty.

Then came a shocker. The midway company now has special entrances at each ride for people who pay an extra $20 per person per day (above the cost of the rides). They can then bypass the lineups for their favourite attractions.

Say what? Surely standing in line for a roller coaster is a supreme expression of democracy -- not to mention a chance to catch your breath between rides.

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class war class economic inequality wealth distribution airport screening air travel class privilege

Columnists

Class divisions, the other American dilemma

In An American Dilemma, published in 1944, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal examined U.S. race relations, and concluded that the American "creed" would eventually vanquish widespread racism, and allow black and white Americans to live in greater harmony.

The election of a mixed-race U.S. president in 2008 did not mean the end of American racism. However, the victory of Barack Obama did confirm the guarded optimism of the conclusions Mrydal reached in his classic work of social science. A majority of those voting signalled it was all right for a non-white family to occupy the White House. Some 64 years after Myrdal documented the extent of systemic racism throughout the U.S., this definitely constituted progress.

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Capitalism class struggle democracy economic inequality Mitt Romney obama administration racial justice U.S. politics US presidential elections wealth distribution

Who will address the growing problem of inequality?

Gerry Caplan

| September 10, 2012

It flashed through our lives like a comet in the sky, illuminating the most insidious development of our time. Then just as suddenly it flamed out and died. Or at least disappeared. Having made headlines around the world, having made the phenomenon of unprecedented inequality a major issue, having popularized the concept of the 1 per cent versus the 99 per cent -- after all these triumphs, the Occupy Movement is playing no perceptible role in any of the big events that now affect our lives.

In the American election, however disappointing President Obama has been, a victory for the Romney party will make today's level of inequality seem like a socialist utopia. Yet the Occupiers are MIA.

Canadian banks' use of tax havens keeps growing

Toby Sanger

| August 17, 2012

A growing share of Canada's investment overseas is being channelled by Canadian banks into tax havens.

The latest Statistics Canada figures show 24 per cent of Canadian direct investment overseas in 2011 went to the top 12 tax havens, up from 10 per cent in 1987. In fact, tax havens of the Barbados, Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Bermuda were five of the top eight national destinations of total Canadian investment abroad, with the U.S., U.K. and Australia the only countries not considered tax havens in this group.

How to fix income inequality: The experts weigh in

Trish Hennessy

| June 8, 2012

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Several polls released this spring reveal the extent of concern among Canadians about worsening income inequality.

Most Canadians say that deep income inequality undermines Canadian values. The majority of Canadians tell pollsters they would support political leadership to reverse the trend.

But what, some ask, can be done about income inequality?

Columnists

What we owe the striking Quebec students

It's membership time. Cultivate Canada's media. Support rabble.ca. Become a member.

Speaking of debts, as most governments now do in order to explain why they can't create anything and need to cut back on whatever is already there, here's what I think we owe to those striking Quebec students.

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democracy strike education Harper government wealth distribution quebec student strike casseroles Quebec student protest Casseroles Protest

Revivals of protest in the class war

Gerry Caplan

| May 14, 2012

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."

Linking higher taxes on the rich and Nazism

Gerry Caplan

| April 30, 2012

Jim Doak is a man with a mission, a money manager in Toronto anxious to share with the world his strong views on taxing the rich. Last week, on both CTV and in the National Post, he explained that the Ontario NDP's demand for higher taxes on the rich was "ethnic cleansing," since it would "force a defined group, in this case those with annual incomes over $500,000, to emigrate."

wealth distribution

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