Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Paul Krugman discusses how Republican obstruction undermined both the shape and size of the U.S.' efforts to recover from the 2008 economic crisis. And Moritz Kuhn, Moritz Schularick and Ulrike Steins document how the crisis ant its aftermath exacerbated the U.S.' already-alarming level of wealth inequality.

- Katherine Paschall, Tamara Halle and Jessica Dym Bartlett point out the rising rate of poverty among American children. And Dave Prentis notes that public sector workers are increasingly being priced out of housing markets in the UK (and elsewhere).

- Annette Carla Bouzi writes about her experience on the picket line at Algonquin College. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Alex McKeen report on how the ownership stake of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan saved the jobs and union of cleaning staff in Vancouver.

- Hannah Osborne reports on new NASA research indicating that methane releases from abruptly thawing Arctic permafrost could make an already-dangerous level of climate change far worse in the near future.

- Finally, Chris Selley writes that the gratuitous invocation of the notwithstanding clause out of spite may be just the beginning of Doug Ford's abuses of political power. Stephen Maher figures Ford is likely headed toward only a single term in government, though it's still necessary to minimize the damage even if that proves true. And on that front, Bruno Dobrusin offers some lessons for fighting back against Ford from South American activists all too accustomed to dealing with iron-fist governments.