Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ellen Roseman writes about the need to recognize the value of public services - and to ensure that they're properly funded:

Canadians value their high-quality public services, such as education and health care. Many understand that public services democratize consumption and help tame the market forces leading to income inequality.

Yet they still fall prey to the false promises of politicians who say tax cuts won’t change anything and may even improve their lives. In the book, economist Hugh Mackenzie urges readers to think their way through the day, making a note of every time they use, consume or benefit from a public service.
...
(S)ince November is financial literacy month, I’m happy to see a concerted campaign to balance the debate and take taxes out of the closet to which they’ve been relegated.

In the future, we’ll need more public investment as we cope with an aging population, growing income inequality and the slow-moving crisis of climate change, says Mackenzie (the book’s liveliest commentator).

“We must have that adult conversation about the public services we need, and the taxes we’ll have to pay to provide them, and we must have it soon.”

- Meanwhile, PressProgress identifies several more Con attacks on the general public in legislation currently being considered by Parliament. And Scott Sinclair and Christine Saulnier comment on how CETA and other corporate privilege agreements will affect Nova Scotia (and other provinces).

- Gloria Galloway looks in detail at Nigel Wright's role in the Con's Senate bribery scandal. But Stephen Maher rightly notes that it's Stephen Harper who bore (or claimed) responsibility for appointing, hiring, directing and supervising every single person involved in the corruption - and questions whether Harper can possibly recover from the resulting stench.

- Finally, Linda Tirado discusses the burden poverty puts on every person who can't count on being able to meet basic needs - and how that burden leads to the decision-making usually used to justify bashing poor citizens even more.