Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Kevin Jiang reports on the results of the largest-ever study into the effects of COVID-19 vaccines - which concludes they've been extremely safe (while serving to prevent far worse outcomes). But Gregg Gonsalves laments that public health authorities are under attack by the forces of ignorance - and taking a dangerously defensive posture as a result. And sadly, Patrick Butler's summary of issues facing children in England reinforces the false and anti-health message that the effects of a pandemic on child development should be blamed solely on public health measures to control the spread of COVID, rather than the dangers and effects of the disease itself. 

- Leigh Phillips discusses how wealthy countries are sabotaging work on a global pandemic treaty by insisting that drug manufacturers' profits take precedence over people's health. And Helen Santoro reports on new research showing that big pharma has made over $70 billions in profits off of $11 billion in public research expenditures to develop ten drugs - and has the gall to be demanding that it be entitled to avoid negotiating those drugs' prices to make them remotely affordable to patients. 

- Mark Olalde and Nick Bowlin examine how the oil industry's profits are similarly based entirely on extracting subsidies from, and dumping environmental costs on, the general public. 

- Matthew Rosza weighs in on the need to stop treating ineffective recycling programs as an excuse for permitting the mass pollution generated by plastics. And Gerry McGovern notes that the default assumption that we should accept waste in the name of convenience serves as a source of easily-avoidable energy use. 

- Gil McGowan writes that the UCP's corporatist zealotry represents a grave threat to basic public services. And Joan Westenberg calls out "side hustle" culture for seeking to squeeze even more out of workers while the rich accumulate more and more unconscionable fortunes. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow offers a much-needed response to the establishmentarians who spout "horseshoe theory" to falsely equate work at building equality with its polar opposite. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Adele Waters writes about the large numbers of UK doctors who are suffering from long COVID as a result of their efforts to care for patients - but who have been abandoned to financial ruin as a result. Elizabeth Cooney examines the likelihood of long COVID as the result of a repeat infection. Thanarath Imsuwansri et al. study the safety and effectiveness of nasal spray in neutralizing the spread of COVID.  And Alexander Tin reports on the Biden administration's decision to resume providing free COVID tests, rather than treating a continuing public health crisis primarily as a profit centre. 

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the e. coli breakout in Calgary daycare centres can be traced to both the specific unsanitary conditions at a single outsourced kitchen, and factory food production in general.  

- Andrea Houston asks whether the U.S. and Canada are headed toward a genocide against LGBTQ+ people, as anti-trans bigots consider themselves empowered to use the language of eradication due in no small part to their legitimization by conservative parties. Gil McGowan discusses how the wording comes directly from the fascist playbook. And Jackie Wong makes clear that nothing about the attack on trans people has anything to do with making children safer.  

- Finally, Max Fawcett examines the role of Stephen Harper and the increasingly anti-democratic IDU in discussing why the Cons have such an affinity for Narendra Modi and other fascist governments. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Gil McGowan highlights how the UCP's intolerable plans for Alberta include another four years of systematic wage suppression in order to further enrich the donor class.

- Cory Doctorow writes about the importance of having "ideas lying around" to respond to an obviously unacceptable status quo - though it's worth noting that the neoliberal exploitation of that principle has been paired with consistent corporate funding to keep ever more extreme ideas front and centre while shouting down any alternatives. And Manuela Fernandez Pinto and Daniel Fernandez Pinto explore how corporate funding distorts scientific research.

- Nikolaos Christidis, Dann Mitchell and Peter Stott study the rapidly increasing risk of extreme heat in Europe and the Middle East due to climate breakdown. And Leslie Scism reports that the combination of escalating wildfire risks and increasing construction costs has led a major insurer to stop offering home insurance in California.

- Bethany Lindsay and Christine Birak report on new research showing that access to free prescription medication more than pays for itself as a public investment. And the Canadian Press reports on the call for free school meals as a similar investment in health and well-being which would be more than worth funding even based on calculable financial returns (to say nothing of the importance of children being fed).

- Finally, Heather Mallick offers her account of life with long COVID (in case anybody was lacking for examples as to why it's to be avoided).

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jasmine Kerrissy and Judith Stepan-Noris examine the state of the U.S. labour movement for Labour Day. And Gil McGowan points out the many basic freedoms which are lacking for Canadian workers and their unions.

- Alex Himelfarb writes about the politics of inflation - and particularly the deliberate effort to allow profits to rise while suppressing any associated improvement in wages. And Ted Johnson discusses the significance of even modest student debt relief in making clear that working people can benefit from public policy choices.

- Jeremy Clifton and Nicholas Kerry study the values which best map to political ideology, and find that the most important dividing line is not based on fear (as often assumed) but the acceptance of hierarchy and inequality. And Ariel Kalil et al. find that welfare restrictions driven by both neoliberal and conservative politicians served to exacerbate those factors by preventing parents living in poverty from providing needed emotional support to their children.

- Kevin Rennert et al. find that our current estimates of the social cost of carbon - though far higher than the prices set by public policy - are themselves far short of sufficient to account for the damage wrought by carbon pollution. And Megan Rowling reports on the prospect of a rapid transition if only the money currently spent on fossil fuel subsidies is instead put into a clean economy. 

- Finally, Kate Aronoff writes about Mississippi's example of eco-apartheid, while the Economist's review of two new books points out the imminent reality of large number of climate refugees from around the globe.

Saturday Evening Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Doug Cuthand highlights how we can't afford to let our guard down against the dangers of COVID-19, while Allysha Howse notes that a full-on lockdown may be approaching if Ontario (and other provinces) can't change course in a hurry. The Leader-Post and Star Phoenix editorial boards and Murray Mandryk each point out the Moe government's utter uselessness in the face of an impending wave. And Bill Chappell reports on new research showing how the U.S.' prison system caused millions of avoidable COVID cases and tens of thousands of deaths.

- Natasha Abhayawickrama counters criticisms of climate activism by noting that young people are rightly anxious over the precarious future they face, not the effort people are making to try to achieve something better. Norm Farrell discusses the absurdity of subsidizing the fossil fuels which are causing a climate breakdown. Aliya Uteuova reports on the callous "thoughts and prayers" response of oil giants to a devastating hurricane whose effects were worsened by their decades of climate deception. And the Juice offers an Honest Government Ad for carbon capture and storage:

- Adam King discusses how unionizing drives at Indigo stores offer a positive sign for labour organizing in Canada. And Gil McGowan suggests that Alberta's workers celebrate Labour Day by pushing for Jason Kenney to resign from the position he's used to trample them.

- Meanwhile, Clive Thompson writes that the opportunity to work from home during the pandemic has revealed how much there is to gain from allowing people to structure their own work spaces.

- Finally, Helen Pidd and Georgina Quach report on the UK's crumbling system of social services as immense demands have been met with zero additional resources.

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content for your Labour Day reading.

- Gregory Beatty discusses the class struggle as it's playing out in the time of COVID. Jim Stanford offers a reminder as to how collective action is more important than ever, while Jerry Dias discusses how the labour movement is exercising its strength. Megan Brenan writes about the combination of high approval for unions on a historical scale, combined with a low number of workers actually putting the desire for unionization into effect. The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board comments on the realities of a Labour Day in which millions are out of work due to the poorly-managed coronavirus pandemic. And Gil McGowan writes about the fight to ensure Alberta doesn't fall into full-blown Trumpist authoritarianism and kleptocracy.

- Meanwhile Hadeel Abdel-Nabi discusses the removal of Sandeep Lalli as president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce for the crime of insufficient fealty to Jason Kenney and climate change denial. And Derek Craddock reports on the Kenney UCP's choice not to bother passing a federally-funded top-up along to essential health care workers.

- Pairs Marx reminds us that there's nothing inevitable or inescapable about a capitalist economy. And Yanis Varoufakis proposes true economic democracy as an alternative to a capitalist system which has manifestly failed to sustainably meet people's needs.

- Kim Siever writes that it's top-end tax cuts - not taxes themselves - that we should treat as a theft from our common wealth.

- Finally, Meara Conway and Dan LeBlanc write about the Saskatchewan Party's use of the power of the state to silence Tristen Durocher and other Indigenous voices, while Jeremy Simes reports on a petition to ensure space in Wascana Park is available for Indigenous ceremonies. Murray Mandryk writes about the Cons' embarrassing attempt to demonstrate in favour of genocide. And Angel Moore reports on the continued and flagrant racism in private RCMP social media groups.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Iglika Ivanova examines who has lost jobs to COVID-19, and who needs public support to be able to return to the workforce. Tara Deschamps reports on an RBC study showing women's participation in the workforce has been set back three decades by the coronavirus pandemic and the male-focused policy response. And the Economist makes the case that school reopening is at the top of the priority list in determining what interactions should be allowed and funded.

- Kathryn Blaze Baum reports on the Libs' failure to enforce rules which would have protected migrant workers from COVID-19.

- Larry Summers and Anna Stansbury write about the importance of empowering workers to bargain collectively for better than they can force employers to offer by themselves. William Harris discusses the value of building working-class cultural institutions beyond labour and tenants' unions. And David Frayne argues that the disruption to an already-problematic status quo should lead us to rethink the insistence that only people with traditional paid employment be treated as worthy of public support.

- John Ibbitson discusses how the Trudeau Libs resolutely refuse to learn any lessons from scandals borne out of an overarching sense of entitlement. And Yves Engler notes that the real problem with the WE scandal is the development of tourist volunteerism intended to bolster the status quo as a substitute for grassroots organizing to actually pursue change.

- Finally, Gil McGowan discusses the growing authoritarian tendencies of right-wing politicians - and need for citizens to force a reversal of that pattern both at the ballot box and in their communities.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Justin Ling discusses the dangers of the U.S.' fever swamp conspiracy theories as they get shared - and warped - for Canadian marks. Ryan Cooper writes about the conservative victimhood complex which has made it impossible for the U.S. to be governed in the public interest. And Megan Garber notes that the rise in media echo chambers - and connected decline in local news - has kept far too many people from having credible sources reporting on the world around them.

- Laurie Adkin and Ricardo Acuna highlight how Jason Kenney's UCP has taken direct aim at democratic rights and norms in Alberta to replace it with an unaccountable kleptocracy. Gil McGowan warns against Kenney's plans to replace any labour rights with U.S.-style anti-worker laws. And CBC News reports that the Municipality of Wood Buffalo is having to sue tar sands operators to pay taxes owing - even as the UCP shovels more and more money to the fossil fuel sector based on the laughable promise that it will pay off at some point.

- Greta Thunberg offers a travel diary from her efforts to motivate the world to finally act to avert climate breakdown. And Nerilie Abram, Matthew England and Matt King discuss the threat posed by the destabilization and disappearance of Antarctica's ice sheets.

- Meanwhile, Kevin Ma reports on the perpetually-increasing amount of electronic waste being disposed of every year.

- Finally, John Muscedere and Russell Williams write that seniors deserve far better than to be warehoused in for-profit long-term care operations - and that much of the answer may lie in ensuring supports are available to allow people to remain safely in their own homes.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on the connection between air pollution and more severe death rates caused by the coronavirus. Clyde Russell writes that there's every reason to expect clean energy to win out over fossil fuels as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, while Bob Weber reports on the path for Canada in particular. Wal van Lierop argues that what's been treated as a normal expectation of windfall profits for the oil industry will likely never return. And even the Globe and Mail's editorial board notes that Jason Kenney's willingness to dump billions of Alberta's dollars into the U.S. construction of Keystone XL is a reckless bet.

- Gil McGowan discusses how Kenney's austerity - including mass layoffs of education workers in the midst of the crisis - figures to prove disastrous for Alberta's economy. And Kyle Bakx reports on the tech employers fleeing Alberta due to the UCP's fixation on a dying industry.

- Matt Taibbi warns against providing yet another set of corporate bailouts that further incentivizes and institutionalized the reckless extraction of wealth by the richest few. And Grace Blakely discusses how to break the stranglehold of the financial sector while reviewing Anastasia Nesvetailova and Ronen Palan's Sabotage.

- Marc Lee examines the coronavirus relief package offered by British Columbia's provincial government. Angella MacEwen and Armine Yalnizyan (PDF) each point out who's included - and particularly who's left out - in the federal government's response so far. And Jacob Lorinc reports on the plight of students facing a locked-down economy and a lack of income supports.

- Finally, Anna Fifield reports on New Zealand's success in eliminating - rather than merely containing - the spread of COVID-19.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Brendan Kennedy discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be the last straw for far too many workers already facing precarious finances. And Theodore Schleifer warns of the dangers of counting on billionaires to save us from breakdowns in public capacity which they've done so much to cause.

- Christopher Ingraham writes about the reasons why essential workers are paid far less than they deserve, while Josh Eidelson takes note of the growing backlash against mistreatment. Joanna Frketich reports from the front lines in the fight against COVID-19, while Sheila Block and Simran Dhunna discuss the need to do far more for care workers at a time when they're facing greater pressures and risks than ever.  But Gil McGowan notes that Jason Kenney has chosen to kick public servants while they're down.

- Mark Hancock writes about the immense value of public services in a time of crisis. And Linda McQuaig makes the case to start manufacturing vital goods within the public sector, rather than relying on corporations to provide necessities.

- Brian Bank highlights how Canada will need to expand its manufacturing of electric vehicles in order to keep a meaningful place in the global automotive sector.

- Finally, Perry Bellegarde writes that the coronavirus pandemic is both reminding us of the existing deprivation facing First Nations, and creating an opportunity to finally remediate it. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Laurie Macfarlane writes that contrary to the dogma of budget scolds, the truly reckless course of action is to fail to invest public money in state capacity:

After four decades of neoliberalism, the state’s capacity has been drastically hollowed out. Key public functions have been outsourced to management consultants and private service providers, while the application of private sector management techniques to the public sphere has placed civil servants in an administrative straightjacket. Tasked with delivering such a large increase in public investment tomorrow, it’s likely that what’s left of the public sector would struggle to invest on the scale and pace required. 
 
But this is not an excuse for inaction. As the above chart shows, the public sector has delivered much higher levels of investment in the past, and many countries around the world continue to do so today. Many of humanity’s boldest advances – from the internet and microchips to biotechnology and nanotechnology – were only made possible by strategic public investments that were made by dynamic, mission-oriented public institutions. In many of these areas the private sector only entered much later, piggybacking on the advances made possible by long-term, high-risk public investment.

If the next government is to transform its economy on the scale that is required to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, it’s clear that it must urgently rebuild public sector institutions, and increase their capacity to think and act big.

- Bob Baldwin points out the dangers of setting up comparatively small and inefficient provincial pension plans based on shaky assumptions about future demographics. And Robert Fraser argues that the provinces trying to operate in denial as to the waning future of the fossil fuel sector should take a lesson from Ontario's loss of manufacturing jobs in the wake of NAFTA.

- Meanwhile, Seth Klein and Gil McGown offer a constructive suggestion to fund a just transition away from industries which pose unacceptable threats to our climate. And Kevin Smith discusses both the desperate need to improve the capacity of our public health care system, and the importance of federal involvement in that work (including by returning to its historical commitment to 50-50 funding).

- Finally, PressProgress reports on the devastating effects of a ransomware attack on Nunavut's public infrastructure.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Katrina vanden Heuvel discusses the importance of pushing toward universal child care in order to relieve avoidable stress on families.

- Allison Jones reports that the Ford PCs are only making matters worse by ordering school boards not to hire to fill developing vacancies due to imminent provincial funding restrictions. And Emma Graney reports on the Jason Kenney UCP's similar message that increasing student populations and costs will be met with funding freezes if he gets the chance to impose austerity on Alberta's education system.

- Meanwhile, Kelly Crowe discovers what experts have to say about Ford's arbitrary health reorganization.

- Gil McGowan points out that the UCP's plan to bet on oil booms and corporate giveaways is even more foolish than the similar choices which have busted in the past.

- Finally, Lynn Parramore writes about the connection between economic inequality and opioid-related deaths even when social supports are available.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- David Boyle discusses how the principle of free trade - once intended to empower consumers against monopolies - is instead being used to lock in corporate control:

(T)he original idea of free trade was not a simple licence to do whatever you wanted, if you were rich and powerful enough. It was designed as a means of liberation – so that the small could challenge the big, the poor could challenge the rich with the power of a new approach, an alternative provider, an imaginative, liberating shift. It was an antidote to the old pattern that employers could control not just what you were paid, but also what you paid for the things you needed to live.

But recent decades have seen this central liberal economic doctrine become its own opposite – permission for the rich to ride roughshod over the poor, an apologia for monopoly and an extractive discipline that prevents the all-important challenge from below. It became instead a potential tool of enslavement.
...
Friedman argued that intellectual property was a kind of property, and must be defended as such, rather than – as it actually is – a temporary suspension of free trade to encourage innovation. That is why draft agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which purport to be about free trade, are actually about defending investments and trademarks.

Even more seriously, Friedman argued that monopoly didn’t matter, and – if it did happen – it was the fault of the government for over-regulating.

The first error led to the great heresy of neoliberalism, that corporations should be treated like human beings in legal terms. The second was a rejection of the most fundamental element in liberal economics, a defence against the over-concentration of market power. It was the very opposite of liberal free trade.

It explains why the dead hand of neoliberal orthodoxy has ignored monopolies as a problem as they grow in power over our lives, as we fall into the tyrannical clutches of companies we are virtually forced to buy from...

- Dylan Matthews writes about the state of poverty around the world - including the observation that poverty levels are essentially a matter of choice in the developed world where it can readily be ended through redistribution. Owen Jones highlights why the UK has every reason to be embarrassed about the needless obstacles it's putting in the way of children, while David Tran comments on the difficulties of trying to build a life in the absence of any margin for error. And Gil McGowan points out how an increased minimum wage results in real benefits for people getting by on low incomes.

- Meanwhile, Kristy Kirkup reports that the Libs' idea of complying with an order to stop discriminating against First Nations children has been to add precisely nothing to a budgeting process started when the Cons were still in power.

- Wendy Levinson comments on the growing recognition that parts of our health care system are biased toward unnecessary testing and treatment.

- Michael Vonn points out that C-51's draconian anti-speech provisions may make it far more difficult to carry out any meaningful work against radicalization. And Andrew Mitrovica talks to Paul Cavalluzzo about the glaring flaws in both C-51 and C-22.

- Finally, Gerry Caplan recognizes that Justin Trudeau's media honeymoon is coming to an end. And Steve Paikin points out that Ontario's NDP may soon have its best opportunity in ages in a provincial election campaign.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your Labour Day reading.

- Andrew Jackson discusses the future of Canada's labour movement, while Gil McGowan highlights the fact that unionization can be no less important in Alberta and other booming areas than elsewhere. And Jerry Dias notes that there are some reasons for celebration this year.

- But Edward McClelland points out that far too many labourers who would benefit from organization are instead hostile to the idea of unions. And Timothy Noah finds another gap between labour and U.S. centrist liberals - which is mirrored by the relationship between unions and large-L Liberals in Canada.

- Speaking of which, Tracy Sherlock writes that disastrous past decade-plus for B.C.'s education system can be traced back to the Lib government's hostile response to the inclusion of special needs supports and other student priorities in teachers' collective bargaining agreements. 

- Kathy Tomlinson reports on how the Cons' efforts to undermine Canadian labour are leading to grossly unsafe working conditions for Canadian and imported workers alike. And Geoff Leo exposes yet another employer laying off qualified Canadian workers with help from the Cons' temporary foreign worker program.

- Steven Greenhouse addresses the epidemic of wage theft which is making living conditions all the worse for some of the U.S.' most vulnerable workers.

- Finally, Hedrick Smith (as adapted by Yes) documents how the spread of inequality in the U.S. is the result of deliberate policy choices. And Sean McElwee offers five reasons why politics haven't yet served to reduce inequality, particularly if voters have misplaced faith in upward mobility while ignoring its inevitable counterpart:

According to research from Carina Engelhardt and Andreas Wagner, around the world people overestimate the level of upward mobility in their society.


They find that redistribution is lower the when actual social mobility is [sic] but also lower where perceived mobility is higher. Even if voters perceive the level of inequality correctly, their tendency to overstate the level of mobility can undermine support for redistribution. In another study Alberto Alesina and Eliana La Ferrara find that, Americans who believe that American society offers equal opportunity (a mythology) are more likely to oppose redistribution. Using data from 33 democracies, Elvire Guillaud finds that those who believe they have experienced downward mobility in the past decade are  32% more likely to support redistribution. A relatively strong literature now supports this thesis.

...

[A] massive public education campaign about the extent of income inequality is neither necessary nor sufficient to achieve the kind of redistributive policies liberals favor. The real obstacles to policy action on inequality are more deeply ingrained in the structure of American politics, demographics, and interest group coalitions. Insofar as there is a role for better information to play, it likely relates not to inequality but to social mobility which remains widely misperceived and is a potent driver of feelings about the justice of economic policy. As John Steinbeck noted, "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Stronger unions, more lower income voter turnout and policies to reduce the corrupting influence of money on the political process would all work to reduce inequality. It will take political mobilization, not simply voter education to achieve change.