Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Nicholas Kristof rightly characterizes the Trump/Musk demolition of US foreign aid as reflecting the world's wealthiest and most powerful men attacking the world's poorest children. And David Dayen points out the childishness of the thinking of the financiers gathered at the Milken Global Conference on Iran and other serious issues. 

- Ross Macfarlane discusses how to end silence on the urgency and importance of addressing the climate crisis. And Chris Rapley rightly argues that we should treat our living environment with no less respect than astronauts - who would never think to voluntary pollute or destroy the life support systems they rely on. 

- Jan Rosenow examines how Spain's shift to renewable energy has given it some of the lowest power prices in Europe. And Allan Olingo reports on the shift toward electric vehicles in Ethiopia and other African countries as the combination of improved EVs and fossil fuel shortages makes a transition inevitable.

- Finally, James Hannay points out that the forces seeking to let corporate-friendly market forces dictate the availability and affordability of food are no more beneficial for agricultural producers than for consumers. And Gustova Indart discusses some of the advantages of publicly-operated grocery stores as a means of meeting people's needs.  

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Brian Platt and Christine Dobby discuss the corporate ethos shared by Mark Carney and the business elites benefiting from his actions in power. The CCPA examines how the Carney Libs are at best repackaging old ideas as new initiatives, and at worst planning to spend massive amounts of public money to further exacerbate inequality. Akash Ramaswamy points out that the Libs' plan to give preferred corporations a get-out-of-regulation-free card only serves to create unfairness and uncertainty. And Gabriela Calugay-Casuga reports on the Libs' attempt to overturn a human rights ruling aimed at remedying racial discrimination in the federal public service. 

- Meanwhile, David Macdonald laments how Carney's cuts to foreign aid are ending any pretense that Canada is a "helpful fixer" on the international scene rather than a cynical opportunist. 

- David Climenhaga points out how Danielle Smith is planning to use public funds to propagandize against reality. And Joel Dryden's look at the predictors of support for Alberta separatism reveals the fact that the few people wanting to separate are disproportionately those who have high incomes they can't manage responsibly. 

- Finally, Ed Zitron confirms that the economics of AI remain laughable at best, as some of its most central actors start to acknowledge they have no realistic path to make money (or serve any useful purpose). And angryea notes that the ultimate motivation behind AI is contempt for users and the general public. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Samantha Hancox-Li writes about the need to build a new woke political movement that actively fights against the forces of reaction rather than assuming that merely exposing them will be enough to drive change. 

- Wajahat Ali and Ellie Leonard discuss how the Trump regime's plans to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell reflect its determination to let the Epstein class exploit its victims with impunity and without consequences. And Victoria Elliott reports on new whistleblower revelations indicating that Elon Musk's attack on USAID did even more humanitarian damage than previously known. 

- Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett discuss the connection between the election of female mayors and the reclamation of public space for people's health and well-being. And Carl Meyer writes about the price we pay in worse health for our fossil fuel addiction. 

- Darius Snieckus reports on a new Ember analysis showing that Canada is falling behind by subsidizing dirty fossil fuels as most of the world transitions to clean energy, while Mitchell Beer discusses the seemingly laughable prospect that we might end up paying to build yet another oil pipeline based on the hope of locking in decades of exports to countries who have no interest in remaining reliant on fossil fuels that long. Jake Johnson calls out the Trump regime's use of war powers to line the pockets of oil tycoons. And Dharna Noor reports on the Republican corporate puppets trying to prohibit anybody from holding big oil and gas to account for the harm it's inflicted on the public. 

- Finally, George Monbiot writes about the imminent breakdown of the AMOC circulation system - and the money and power that have been brought to bear to suppress any discussion around it. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Marisa Kabas discusses the moral rot in corporate, access-based media - which in turn looks to be a contributor to the decline of human decency in the political and social realms. And Perry Bacon talks to Adam Bonica about the obvious opportunity for leaders and movements who pick up on the public demand to combat corruption.

- Jonathan Cohn interviews Atul Gawande about the cruelty of the Trump regime's obliteration of foreign aid programs which kept hundreds of thousands of people alive. Nat Lash reports on the potential for a bird flu pandemic as a result of the Republicans' anti-vaccine ideology and destruction of the U.S. public health system. Freddy Brewster and Luke Goldstein report on the U.S. Senate's gutting of regulations around food contamination as part of the price of reopening government is to ensure it doesn't protect people from corporate damage. 

- Meanwhile, both Andrew Gregory and Amina Zafar report on new studies showing the harm that ultra-processed food can do to the human body. 

- Lest anybody think Mark Carney isn't fully onside with destructive deregulation and corporate control, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson reports on the Libs' choice to eliminate protections around pesticides. Marc Lee discusses how the Libs' economic plans are limited to corporate handouts rather than any vision for future development. And Jim Thomas implores Carney not to let an already-worrisome obsession with artificial intelligence as a panacea turn into a bailout for tech sector tycoons. 

- Finally, Shanna Hanbury reports on Colombia's warning that corporate-biased trade agreements act as a dangerous barrier to needed climate action. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jonathan Last writes about the perfect storm in which economic, financial and constitutional crises - all originating from the deliberate choices of the Trump regime - are hitting the U.S. all at once. And Noah Berlatsky points out the eight-figure global death toll which figures to be traceable to Elon Musk's destruction of USAID alone. 

- Talia Lavin interviews Deborah Blum about the need for collective efforts to protect the public from unsafe food supply - and the immense dangers of the Trump regime's decision to shred anything of the sort. Sarah Zimmerman reports that Trump's callous disregard for public health includes the repealing of a plan to limit salmonella in raw poultry. And KFF releases polling showing a strong majority of the U.S. public opposed to major cuts to public health staff and programs. 

- Olufemi Taiwo rightly notes that an effective protest needs to backed up with the potential for mass action to manifest itself in other ways. And Eric Blanc writes about the need to extend labour organizing across the workforce, rather than hoping that traditional unionized manufacturing jobs will make an unlikely comeback if their owners are handed enough public resources.  

- Finally, Luke Savage writes about how the attempt to respond to a U.S. threat has resulted in the unfortunate Americanization of Canadian politices, while Alex Hemingway offers a plea not to force voters into artificial polarization again when a proportional electoral system can eliminate the problem. Nora Loreto questions whether the Libs will have any interest in addressing the crisis of corporate control without a strong external push. And Linda McQuaig discusses how a disappointing election result hasn't removed the NDP's leverage to push the Libs toward progressive action at a time when it could have the most long-term effect.  

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Paul Krugman discusses how the U.S.' oligarchy was entirely willing to back Donald Trump as long as he was merely devastating other people's rights and well-being, while Nicholas Grossman comments on the profound denial of an executive class which ignored 40 years of Trump's ravings about tariffs. Nick Cohen notes that Trump is providing a rare but frightening example as to how a dictator's whims can be given priority over capital owners' desire to accumulate more. And Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims report that U.S. corporations are cowering rather than acknowledging the obvious reality that they're worse off under Trump. 

- Meanwhile, Michael Barnard reports on China's response to the latest set of tariffs which includes restricting supplies of critical minerals. 

- Jennifer Robson discusses what Canada needs to do to insure ourselves against the vagaries of Trump's regime. And Charlie Angus highlights how Trump's Canadian subsidiaries are looking to undermine one of the key goals by declaring their disloyalty to Canada to try to bully the rest of the country into handing power to Pierre Poilievre.

- Justin Ling reports on Poilievre's plans to mimic Trump's indiscriminate slashing of foreign aid - even as the WHO warns that the effects of aid cuts could kill thousands of women annually based on complications in pregnancy and childbirth alone. 

- Finally, Adam King reports on the Canadian labour movement's priorities in the ongoing federal election. And Joan Baxter talks to Julia Levin and others about the glaring lack of climate policy being discussed even as a rethinking of trade relationships offers an obvious opportunity to focus on a clean and just transition. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jared Yates Sexton discusses the Trump-Musk plot to replace any remnants of U.S. democracy with an oligarchy. Josh Marshall examines the mechanisms put in place to give an unelected billionaire unprecedented control over the American government, while Marc Elias points out the plan for an immediate hollowing-out of the civil service to be replaced (if at all) with unabashed sycophants. David Lurie notes that Trump's direct attacks on the judiciary seem likely to remove any pretense of legitimacy. 

- Cynthia Miller-Idriss notes that Trump is consciously replacing any norm against racism with one of white supremacy. And Mehdi Hasan writes that repeated griping about diversity, equity and inclusion is the new N-word, intended to validate racism and bigotry as a systemic force. 

- Shawn Donnan, Joe Deaux and Daniel Flatley report that foreign aid is just one more area in which Trump is replacing funding for effective government agencies with a blatant giveaway to financial-sector cronies. David Dayen observes that Musk's plan to sell off publicly-owned real estate will likely cause a financial crash, benefiting nobody but the already-rich investors who can afford to swoop in and purchase at cut-rate prices. And Abrahm Lustgarten offers a warning as to how the climate breakdown which Trump is determined to exacerbate will destroy home values. 

- Finally, Steven High offers a reminder as to how worker-based collective action has saved industry from corporate predations before. And Martin Patriquin reports on the unfair labour practice complaint challenging Amazon's decision to close down warehouses to avoid recognizing a certified union. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way chart the likely road ahead in the U.S.' journey from democracy to authoritarianism, while Hamilton Nolan's interview with Stephanie Kelton includes the warning that it may be too late to salvage anything if a resistance movement limits its focus to electoral politics and timelines. Sam Freedman discusses how Elon Musk's influence - and the associated use of technology to seize unfettered power - is the main difference between Donald Trump's first term and his second. David Zipper notes that consumers have plenty of power to protest Musk's absues by making the choice to boycott Tesla as the main source of his current wealth. And Ed Zitron juxtaposes the promise of technology which could help improve people's lives against the reality that tech giants are exploiting us. 

- Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Bretty Murphy discuss the illegality of the immediate trashing of USAID. And Greg Sargent discusses how Pope Francis' response to the invocation of theology to excuse Trump's hatred has placed a spotlight on his administration's moral rot, while Sarah Newey reports on the first deaths directly traceable to the shutdown of its operations. 

- Paul Krugman writes that Trump and Musk have made it open season for scammers to steal money from the American public. And Liz Dye discusses how the destruction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a combination of spite and opportunism. 

- Dave Jamieson reports that large numbers of U.S. workers are joining unions in an effort to build collective strength against Trump. And Jon Milton notes that there's plenty Canadian governments can and should do in response to corporate union-busting, including Amazon's shuttering of its Quebec warehouse in response to an organizing campaign. 

- Steve Smethurst discusses new research about the threat of PFAs and other dangerous chemicals in sewage sludge which is used for agricultural purposes. And Andrew Gregory reports on a study showing that air pollution is responsible for upwards of a thousand annual cases of a single form of lung cancer in the UK, while Denise Balkissoon writes about the data gaps which limit our ability to identify similar threats in Canada. 

- Finally, Kim Pate discusses how Pierre Poilievre's draconian attacks on drug users would only exacerbate poverty and addiction. And Brett McKay reports on the 19-year difference in life expectancy between Indigenous people and other Albertans as a grim example of how discrimination and bigotry lead to severe health consequences. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- William Ripple et al. provide an update on the state of the Earth based on 2024 data, and warn that we're continuing to spew carbon pollution even as it precipitates an active global emergency. Ripple and Thomas Newsome also discuss the implications of a projected path toward nearly 3 degrees Celsius of global warming. And each of Wim Carton and Andreas Malm and Peter de Kruijff warn that even leaving aside the folly of procrastinating on the preservation of a liveable environment, any planned "overshoot" of climate targets is highly likely to produce consequences that can't be reversed. 

- Peter Hannam reports on a new study showing that in Australia (as in many other jurisdictions) the fossil fuel industry is emitting far more methane than it's reporting. 

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the Clean Air Fund's observation that wealthy countries are pouring foreign aid into further fossil fuel development. And Isabella Kaminski points out the justified shock and outrage at the UK's plan to claim the burning of biomass fuel from North Korea and Afghanistan as a credit based on the inexplicable design of emission credit systems. 

- Amber Bracken documents how people in Fort Chipewyan are fighting for their lives in the face of water pollution and government denialism. And Will Falk discusses how Utah's response to the destruction of the Great Salt Lake by data centers has been to try to stop anybody from advancing rights of nature. 

- Finally, Ashleigh Fields reports on new research showing that the increases in the risk of strokes and heart attacks caused by COVID-19 can last for years after a single infection. And Sheryl Gay Stolberg discusses how U.S. Republicans are planning to make hostility to public health a foundational governing principle. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Grace Blakeley comments on the connection between neoliberal ideology, and the replacement of even the possibility of collective action with an assumption that we're only in it for ourselves. 

- Aditya Chakrabortty writes about the need to eliminate poverty in all of its forms - including by dealing with it head-on rather than slicing it into a series of less significant problems. And Gaby Hinsliff reminds us of the work that will need to be done to ensure a COVID generation doesn't miss out on the opportunity to engage in basic socialization and development. 

- Meanwhile, Peter Goodman reports on research showing that the world as a whole will be better off it we work on ensuring the distribution of vaccines based on need rather than national wealth.

- Daniel Oran and Eric Topol write about the consequences of being wrong in basic assumptions about the coronavirus - such as the question of whether it's possible to be contagious without symptoms (as we now know to be the case). Elizabeth Gulino discusses some of the changes we'll need to make in response to more contagious strains of COVID-19, while Patricia Treble points out that we're likely not managing to fully test and trace for the UK variant which we know has arrived in Canada. And Armine Yalnizyan offers a reminder of the desperate need for paid sick days to allow employees to avoid contributing to community spread out of financial necessity.

- Finally, Jen Gerson recognizes that Jason Kenney's belligerence is doing nothing but embarrassing himself and his province. And Scott Schmidt calls out Kenney's refusal to answer for the harm he's inflicting on Alberta.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board asks whether Doug Ford will again fall painfully short in responding to the public health threat posed by COVID-19 - though at this point the questions appears to be entirely rhetorical. Murray Mandryk discusses the lives put at risk by the Saskatchewan Party's selective interest in following experts' recommendations. And Paul Willcocks points out how Erin O'Toole's posturing to dehumanize incarcerated people represents a crucial unmasking for a leader mostly trying to keep his party's misanthropy hidden.

- Alex Crozier offers a reminder that lockdown orders are useless if they aren't accompanied by the means for people to survive in the meantime. And if we needed a reminder of the dangers of hoping employers will keep workers and their families safe, Dave Seglins, Sarah Rieger and Inayat Singh report on the RCMP's investigation into Cargill's role in the avoidable spread of COVID-19 which caused at least one death among hundreds of cases. 

- The Canadian Press reports on the effects of British Columbia's real estate speculation tax - which is raising tens of millions of dollars while also ensuring that more affordable housing is available for people who need it. And Rebecca Shapiro studies the positive effect rental assistance has on recipients in multiple areas.

- Finally, the CP reports on the Libs' continued delays in taking even first steps toward reducing prescription drug costs through pricing regulations. Kenyon Wallace discusses the need to substantially ramp up vaccinations even to meet a target of this fall. And Geoffrey York reports on the Libs' choice not to make any effort to donate COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries - which means that the people in the most need around the world will share in the price of the Libs' choice not to order available doses.

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- John Nichols writes about Pramila Jayapal's recognition that mass unemployment is a policy choice - and her plan for wage supports to make sure workers aren't left without needed income. Nicole Aschoff discusses how profiteers have been taking advantage of programs set up to favour the businesses least in need of support. And Regan Boychuk rightly slams Jason Kenney for insisting that recovery funding be few into zombie oil companies.

- Meanwhile, Duncan Kinney talks to one of the Cargill workers put at risk by the joint neglect of their employer and the UCP. PressProgress exposes Amazon's rush to take even unpaid leaves of absence away from its employees. Jan Malek points out that we can't protect against the disproportionate risks to residents of long-term care homes without addressing the working conditions of the people who care for them. And Paul Daley examines how work may change once the coronavirus lockdown is over.

- Catherine Wedge interviews Alex Neve about the human rights implications of the pandemic. And Ritika Goel discusses how the coronavirus poses extra dangers for people who already lack secure housing or social supports, while Megan Pietrus points out that the response to date has largely left homeless people behind.

- Finally, Philippe Lagassé and Srdjan Vucetic make the case that Canada's response to COVID-19 needs to include distancing ourselves from the U.S. - both due to its negligence in allowing the disease to spread, and its unreliability as a primary trading partner. Linda McQuaig writes that there's no excuse for appeasing the U.S. by continuing sanctions on vulnerable nations, particularly at a time when deprivation anywhere endangers people around the globe. And Gavin Charles and Shannon Kindornay argue that we should be boosting our international aid to ensure a full and fair recovery.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Arwa Mahdawi writes that the outsized influence wielded by billionaires makes them something beyond merely wealthy people. Tom Whyman challenges the worship of the excessively wealthy as a particularly destructive religion. Robert Reich points out that the means of accumulating a billion dollars bear no relationship to the public good. The New York Times' editorial board rightly notes that the concentration of wealth is an impediment to overall growth (to say nothing of shared prosperity).  And Rashaan Ayesh points out how that concentration continues apace, with the U.S.' wealthiest 1% now approaching the total riches of the country's entire middle and upper-middle classes.

- Meanwhile, Grace Blakeley writes that any effective plan to combat the climate crisis need to include systemic challenges to the current power of capital and its exploitation of everybody and everything around it.  And Michael Jacobs comments that the crisis of capitalism can't be solved with the same thinking that created our current imbalanced system.

- The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives offers some proposals which would do far more to make life affordable than tax cuts. Heather Scoffield discusses how the Cons limit their ability to respond to the needs of the public by refusing to acknowledge any value to tax revenues and the services they fund, while PressProgress notes that five companies alone are claiming billions of dollars in free tax giveaways from Jason Kenney's UCP while Alberta's people face grinding austerity.

- Pamela Palmater argues that the Trudeau Libs should take up a radical agenda to fight climate change and pursue reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, while Julia Rodgers suggests that a minority government should be expected to be more accountable. But Matthew Hayers offers a reminder how a distorted electoral system has created exactly the wrong incentives for any of those purposes.

- Finally, Tiffany Gooch makes the case for Canada to start living up to its commitments (and international standards) in funding foreign aid.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Paul Krugman writes that complaints by the U.S.' wealthiest few about Elizabeth Warren reflect their insistence that extreme wealth be coupled with absolute and unquestioned power:

The point is that many of the superrich aren’t satisfied with living like kings, which they will continue to do no matter who wins next year’s election. They also expect to be treated like kings, lionized as job creators and heroes of prosperity, and consider any criticism an unforgivable act of lèse-majesté.

And for such people, the prospect of a Warren presidency is a nightmarish threat — not to their wallets, but to their egos. They can try to brush off someone like Bernie Sanders as a rabble-rouser. But when Warren criticizes malefactors of great wealth and proposes reining in their excesses, her evident policy sophistication — has any previous candidate managed to turn wonkiness into a form of charisma? — makes her critique much harder to dismiss.

If Warren is the nominee, then, a significant number of tycoons will indeed go for Trump; better to put democracy at risk than to countenance a challenge to their imperial self-esteem.

- John Michael McGrath discusses how a combination of arbitrary privatization and governmental heel-dragging has resulted in it taking far more time and trouble than necessary to build public infrastructure. Bryan Eneas reports on the Regina schools which are far over capacity due to the Saskatchewan Party's poor planning and underfunding.

- Thomas Walkom puts the Libs' costly tax tinkering in perspective by comparing it to the puny sums on offer for major social priorities. And Jonathon Gatehouse notes that Andrew Scheer's bombast against foreign aid is as inaccurate as it is dehumanizing.

- Finally, Owen Jones writes that we shouldn't be fooled by calls for both-sides "civility" as a response to organized violence and hatred by the right.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Michael Mikulewicz and Tahseen Jafry discuss the responsibility wealthy countries bear for increasingly severe weather events - as well as the best way to start bearing an appropriate share of the resulting human and economic costs:

In all this inequality, the world’s wealthiest countries are heavily culpable. It stems from a complex economic system that disadvantages the Global South – not to mention the centuries-long experience of colonialism, the effects of which have hampered human development until this day.

In a world where 26 billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity, the prospect of more frequent and intense climate disasters is only bound to exacerbate those inequalities. At the same time, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe contribute only a small fraction of the emissions that are causing such disasters. The West’s responsibility – along with other big emitters such as China – is therefore also a matter of climate justice.
...
Besides the high-profile attempts to reduce global emissions, countries such as the UK should be offering support to poorer countries with everything from building flood defences to supporting social services to transferring technology. They should be forgiving national debt, redistributing wealth or at least giving them preferential trade deals to help them adapt to climate change themselves. This requires a rethinking not just of humanitarian aid but of development assistance in general. 

- Doug Cuthand highlights the need for a united front against white supremacy even as right-wing politicians try to wink and nod toward it. And Paul Willcocks discusses the mortality crisis among Indigenous teen girls as a glaring example of the conditions demanding a response from political leaders.

- Carhy Stephanow highlights how Saskatchewan's budget was nominally balanced on the backs of the poor who have seen already-inadequate standards of living do nothing but degrade over the Sask Party's time in power. And Jesse Winter points out the folly of pushing patients from hospitals immediately into homeless shelters rather than having appropriate housing available.

- Elieen Banks discusses how Jason Kenney's rhetoric about farms is based entirely in ignorance about NDP action to make farm work safer.

- Finally, Alex Marland writes about the dangers of the total control exercised by leaders' offices over elected Members of Parliament.

Thursday Evening Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Richard Waters and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson report that five large tech companies alone turned the Trump corporate tax cuts into tens of billions of dollars in share buybacks benefiting nobody other than those who already had the most. And Caroline Haskins writes about the inequality in firefighting services which has left only a few wealthy California residents with any hope against wildfires.

- Jorge Barrera reports that the Libs have added an Indigenous rights framework to the list of campaign promises now being pushed past the next federal election. And Jenelle Davies discusses how many young adults are disillusioned with politics as they stand, but have reason to hope for better with a proportional electoral system.

- On the bright side, Chris Arsenault reports on a new foreign aid experiment to benefit poor people with direct cash transfers - though it would make sense to try the same strategy to combat poverty at home as well.

- Robert Booth relays the stories of exclusion and deprivation told by young Britons to the UN's rapporteur on extreme poverty.

- Finally, Josha McNab points out the health benefits of acting to fight climate change. And Fernando Arce discusses how Doug Ford's attacks on worker protections stand to make all of Ontario ill:

When asked about the rationale for eliminating paid sick days, the Ministry of Labour offered in an email response to NOW that “these eight days... would be in line with Alberta and British Columbia, and could be taken without fear of termination.”

But as studies have shown, paid sick days can make a crucial, sometimes even fatal difference, when workers choose to stay home or work through their sickness.

“A lot of specialists don’t have availability in the evening, so having sick days allows patients to get to those appointments during the day,” says Raza. Employees without paid sick days also tend to get fewer flu shots, mammograms, pap smears and blood pressure checks.

The changes proposed by the Ford government mean that Ontarians will be at greater risk of contracting diseases when workplaces become inundated with sick workers unable to afford a day off to see their physician or get well. Raza says schools could soon follow when sick children are forced to attend because their parents or guardians can’t stay home with them.

Two years ago this scenario came to pass, with tragic consequences, when two-year-old Jude – described by his mother Jill Promoli as an otherwise “perfectly healthy child” – succumbed to influenza B, which had begun with a fever the day before. His sister had first caught the bug in her kindergarten class. Said Promoli at last week’s press conference: "One sick child came to school, and basically, it became an entire classroom full of sick children."

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Scott Gilmore discusses how Canada is actually backsliding in some crucial development goals. And Colin Gordon writes about the inequality growing on multiple fronts around the globe.

- Kathy Tomlinson uncovers a Vancouver real estate market rigged to benefit developers and speculators. And Ryan Cooper points out the importance of a meaningful social housing policy to ensure that development can benefit the people who actually need a home:

Upzoning advocates argue that if we simply went on a wild private building spree, we'd eventually burn through all the luxury demand and actually reduce the price of midrange and affordable units (as opposed to only slowing the rate of increase). But that could take easily take decades, if it even works at all.

Great big new social housing projects, by contrast — say, one million in California for starters — are a way to efficiently cram in tons and tons of housing supply directly where it is most socially necessary, not where it is most profitable. And unlike traditional American-style public housing which is means-tested for poor people only, social housing could be largely self-funding by including many tenants paying market or somewhat subsidized rents (though a good fraction would be reserved for poor and working-class people, of course). That would have the side benefit of making projects socioeconomically integrated, not poor-only ghettos.
...
(B)ackers should abandon the neoliberal frame of this being a simple issue of free markets versus government over-regulation. Jonathan Chait, for instance, argues that while there may be complex sub-details, at bottom the housing crisis is explained by an "Econ 101 model of supply and demand." Gentrification is simply caused by "artificially constricted housing supply," and California progressives simply will have to choke down de-regulation and working with private developers if they want to solve the housing crisis. (It's a mark of how influential this frame is that both climate writer David Roberts and leftist Hamilton Nolan present the issue in much the same way.)

As we have seen, this is a terribly mistaken way of thinking about the issue. Neoliberal thinking is not just a highly sub-optimal way of addressing the problem, it is big source of the problem in the first place. NIMBY politics are bad, and often quite racist, but they are also in large part a natural outgrowth of the way the American housing market is structured. A great deal of NIMBYism is simply being a good capitalist by defending the value of one's major asset. (This raises the question of why so much American housing policy is dedicated to helping upper-middle class people put their money into a highly-leveraged, highly-illiquid speculative investment, but that's a subject for another post.)

Incoherent Republican-style notions about deregulation and the markets will be most convincing to the people dead-set against solving the housing crisis at all. Granting the reality that the state is inextricably part of all decisions about the ownership of property is more accurate, allows for better policies, and can then help create an anti-NIMBY coalition that might actually win.

- But if we needed another example of the Libs going in the opposite direction, Brent Patterson weighs in on their plans to turn public services into financial profit centres.

- Finally, Anna Mehler Paperny reports that Justin Trudeau has been trying to rewrite Canada's safe third country agreement with the U.S. - not to protect asylum seekers being denied a fair hearing under the Trump administration, but to further restrict when they're able to apply to be safe in Canada. And Brendan Kennedy and Michelle Shepard discuss how Canada is providing minimal aid to victims of war in Yemen while simultaneously arming the countries responsible.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ellie Mae O'Hagan writes about Jeremy Corbyn's much-needed work in addressing the loss of hope by young people in the UK:

For the first time in a good few years, I’ve stopped worrying about money. I can imagine living somewhere nice without having to move to another country. I feel less worried about my parents, who could now be cared for by a properly funded NHS as they get older. I have hope that we may start taking climate change seriously, and people my age and younger won’t be left scooping out buckets of murky water from our living rooms every year. I may finally stop being a member of a sprawling precariat without sick pay, holiday entitlement or job security. It’s amazing to think my parents took those things for granted, and only now do I realise how low my expectations have been.

I know these things won’t happen overnight – maybe they won’t happen at all – but finally there is the possibility of them. Hoping for a better world doesn’t feel like a cruel and futile process any more. It feels rational; it feels like something we deserve.

Last night, when I was out celebrating, I met a 25-year-old woman who was in a two-year unpaid internship and still living with her parents. I spoke to a man in his 30s who said he felt like he was still living like a student. Is it any wonder that the surge for Labour was driven by people under 45? This demographic doesn’t care that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t look like a conventional politician (they like it), or about things he did before they were even born. They just want the constant tension that pervades their lives – the tension that comes with having virtually no financial security – to be lifted.

- Meanwhile, Amy Traub highlights the widespread U.S. wage theft which transfers massive amounts of money from the workers who make the least to the corporations who already have the most. And Erik Loomis points out how the Trump administration is going out of its way to make work as hazardous as possible.

- The B.C. Health Coalition points out a new survey on the spread of private clinics and extra billing in Canada's health care system. And Andre Picard weighs in on the longstanding failure to deal with double-dipping and other practices which lead to both unfairness and poor results for patients.

- Marc-Andre Cossette reports on the Libs' painfully small first step toward child care funding.

- Finally, the Star's editorial board calls out the Trudeau Libs for their miserly attitude toward foreign aid.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Scott Clark and Peter DeVries point out that with interest rates still at historically low levels, Canada would be far better off funding infrastructure for itself rather than locking itself into privatized structures:

But that is not true at all at the federal level.  The federal government funds its infrastructure projects by issuing 30 or 50-year bonds, which it currently can do at historically low interest rates.  The costs are amortized over the service life of the project.  The impact on the budgetary balance is spread over the lifetime of the investment, perhaps as long as fifty years.  If it loans these funds, without concessions and covers its borrowing costs, there is no direct impact on the budgetary balance.

In other words, the government currently has access to unlimited and cheaper funding for public sector infrastructure investments than the private sector.
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(W)hy does the Finance Minister want to create an independent CIB that will focus only on “National Economic Development projects such as toll highways and bridges, high-speed rail, port and airport expansions, smart city infrastructure, national broadband infrastructure, power transmission and natural resource infrastructure?  Projects considered by the Bank should generally have an all-in cost in excess of $100 million to meet the minimum to attract institutional investment”.

In other words, the Council wants an independent CIB that will concern itself with only about 2 per cent of the “national” infrastructure gap.  The remaining 98 per cent that is provincial and local is too small to attract large investors.

Perhaps the Finance Minister should concern himself more with the 98 per cent of infrastructure needs and less with the 2 percent.  It is at the provincial and local level where there are in fact revenue and borrowing constraints that could inhibit infrastructure investments.

- Meanwhile, Brent Patterson questions why the Libs are also pushing "development finance" aimed toward allowing the corporate sector to exploit the developing world, rather than toward improving conditions for people. And Chris Hedges discusses the Trump kleptocracy.

- Alex Ballingall reports on a new Environmental Canada projection showing that Canada is expected miss even the watered-down greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the Harper Conservatives.

- Emma Gilchrist notes that subsidies for the fossil fuel sector - such as the B.C. Libs' power giveaways - lead to disastrous economic consequences as well as environmental destruction. And Judith Lavoie points out how Imperial Metals' corporate political donations fed into Christy Clark's choice to saddle the public with a $40 million cleanup bill.

- Finally, Paul Taylor examines how unnecessary medical testing can do more harm than good - both in terms of the use of medical resources, and in terms of the health of the individual patient. And Andre Picard points out the example of tuberculosis in the North in showing how vital it is to have care available when and where it's actually needed.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Murray Dobbin argues that the Trudeau Libs' response (or lack thereof) to wealthy tax cheats will tell us what we most need to know about their plans for Canada.

- Meanwhile, Tonda MacCharles reports on Justin Trudeau's plans to abandon Canada's longstanding commitment (however neglected in practice) to providing a fair level of foreign aid. And Tom Boggioni exposes the U.S.' use of foreign aid threats to try to keep cancer medicine unaffordable in Colombia.

- Sarah Neville points out how workplace power imbalances can create an environment ripe for sexual harassment and other forms of employee abuse. And David Graeber theorizes that part of the current gap can be explained by the proliferation of what he describes as "bullshit jobs".

- Benjamin Radcliff examines the relationship between political systems and happiness economics, and finds that social democracy is the system most conducive to well-being:

The policies most conducive to human wellbeing turn out to be essentially the same ones that Einstein himself originally suggested: those associated with social democracy. In reviewing the research in 2014, Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, a political scientist at Rutgers University-Camden in New Jersey, found that ‘societies led by leftist or liberal governments (also referred to as welfare states)’ have the highest levels of life satisfaction, controlling for other factors. Looking across countries, the more generous and universalistic the welfare state, the greater the level of human happiness, net of other factors.
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If commodification is so harmful to humans, while the greater market system itself contributes so much to human society, the obvious solution is to maintain the essential features of the market while introducing public policies that serve to ‘decommodify’ workers and their families. Simply put, a society is decommodified to the extent that individuals can maintain something like a middle-class existence if they are unable to successfully sell their labour power as a commodity due to illness, old-age, disability, the need to care for a family member, the desire to improve one’s position through further education, or simply the inability to find (good) jobs when times are hard. The greater the level of decommodification, the easier it is for more people to survive without winning in the labour market.

The creation of a social safety net (the much-maligned ‘welfare state’) is essential to decommodifying people. It assures that those unable to find work will be provided with a minimum income, coupled in its most expansive form with other programmes that limit the extent to which one’s wellbeing is dependent on income – such as ‘family allowances’ (ie child support payments provided by the public), subsidised daycare and housing, and the availability of healthcare as a social right, ie as something (like police protection) that one receives because one is a citizen, not because one can pay for it.

Labour unions also play a vital role in helping decommodify people, by providing a degree of protection to workers against the arbitrary whims of employers; the higher wages and benefits of unionised workers tend to raise the wage floor for all. Finally, labour market regulations can cover all employees, even those not in labour unions. These protections, in some countries, protect all workers, assure them paid vacation and sick days, maintain high levels of workplace safety, and might even (as in codetermination schemes) provide workers with a say in how the business is managed. All this serves to not only reduce insecurity and other forms of stress, but helps contribute to an environment in which workers feel that they are treated with the dignity and respect all persons deserve.

- Finally, Bruce Johnstone observes that the Saskatchewan Party's corporatist economic philosophy - like that of so many other right-wing governments - is failing miserably even on its own terms.