Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Paula Span discusses how older Americans (and their peers elsewhere) have been left to navigate the pandemic with no consideration for their health and safety. Kailin Yin et al. examine the ways in which long COVID can affect immune system function. And Linda Geddes highlights the risk that COVID-19 is making people more vulnerable to bacterial and fungal threats.

- Jim Stanford writes about the problems with treating human beings as mere commodities in building economic policy around employers' desire for access to cheap labour. And the Canadian Press reports that even RBC Economics' analysis which is being cited as an excuse to hike interest rates shows that wages have fallen short of keeping up with inflation.

- Grace Blakeley rightly argues that the consistent pattern of oil companies abandoning their climate commitments even while swimming in windfall profits shows that free market will never solve climate change. And needless to say, the petropolitical choice to funnel money to fossil fuel corporations only makes matters worse - with David Climenhaga and Dean Bennett each exploring how the UCP's RStar scandal represents a particularly egregious example of polluter-paid governance.

- Meanwhile, Roshan Abraham reports on the laughable attempt by the oil-allied alt-right to turn walkable cities into an object of conspiracy theory and hate.

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses the regressive "time tax" resulting from wealth translating into constant service and convenience while people of less means face far greater time impositions trying to navigate the necessities of life.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Ontario's COVID-19 Science Table has published a primer on long COVID (and the need for associated supports) just in time to be abolished for interfering with the Ford PCs' message that everything is fine. Sri Taylor reports on a massive jump in U.S. cases as students have returned to classes. And Marilyn Thompson and Jenny Deam report on how Republicans in power are using the force of the state to cater to anti-vaxxers and Trumpist quackery while imposing intolerable demands on already-strained hospitals. 

- Meanwhile, Ja'han Jones writes about the poisoning of black America as a result of selectively inadequate infrastructure and deference to corporate polluters. 

- Emily Stewart interviews Nathan Tankus about the need for an authority with the ability to take rational steps in response to imminent inflation, rather relying solely on an after-the-fact response which is limited to suppressing wages and killing jobs. And Grace Blakeley writes that the UK can't afford another bout of Con austerity, while Umair Haque identifies it as the country offering the most jarring example of how not to succeed in the 21st century. 

- Kenneth Mohamed writes about the need to rein in an oil industry that's destroying our living environment in order to extract gigantic windfall profits. Max Moran points out that any plan for a just transition needs to include the development of a civil service capable of doing the work. And Brady Dennis reports on new research showing the massive amounts of land which the U.S. stands to lose to rising sea levels. 

- Finally, Bruce Arthur discusses the futility of trying to argue with radicalized rightists who are impervious to facts and rational debate. And Meghan Grant and Rachel Ward report on the attempt by Flu Trux Klan fanatics to smuggle guns into what were billed as peaceful protests - a plan which was foiled only by the fact that undercover officers were selected to carry out the operation. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- CBC reports that Ontario transit is the latest major public service being paralyzed by the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. And Ishani Desai reports on research showing the exacerbating effect of air pollution on the severity of COVID infections. 

- Meanwhile, Angely Mercado discusses the unprecedented heat faced by the U.S. in July, while David Baker et al. examine the tens of millions of lives threatened by the loss of western U.S. snowpack and associated droughts. And Rosie Frost reports on research showing that ubiquitous "forever chemicals" have rendered rainwater unsafe for drinking around the globe. 

- Emma Thompson highlights how greenwashing serves as an obstacle to the steps we need to take to avert climate breakdown - and how government action is needed to prevent carbon polluters from controlling our political spaces. And Marc Lee offers a reminder that reduced fossil fuel production is a needed element of any effective transition to a clean energy economy. 

- Grace Blakeley is the latest to point out how the wealthiest few have seized on inflation as an excuse to inflict unemployment and artificially limited wages on workers, while rejecting any action which would limit or tax their own profiteering. 

- Finally, Jessie Anton reports that the abuses of power at the Christian Centre Academy (which the Saskatchewan Party government continues to fund and support) included mandatory student participation in right-wing politicians' campaigns. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Benjamin Mueller and Eleanor Lutz discuss the increased number of deaths among the elderly caused the Omicron COVID-19 variant as compared to previous ones, while WorkSafeBC's updated chart shows how 2022 has seen the largest claim counts for workplace COVID. And Gavin Leech et al. confirm the reality that masking can play a major role in reducing transmission in community settings.  

- But sadly, Kate Grenville writes that the pandemic has revealed how eager governments are to claim - and many people are to accept - that "every man for himself" is the only possible response to a social crisis. And Lauren Pelley reports on the warnings that went unheeded which have led to spread of a new monkeypox virus.  

- Armine Yalnizyan warns that the suppression of wages and workers' rights being imposed in response to inflation is far worse than the supposed problem it's intended to solve. And Grace Blakeley points out that privatized shipping and infrastructure is one of the major contributors to inflation (while also representing an obvious example of profiteering at the expense of both workers and consumers). 

- Sigal Samuel writes about the drastic impact of a modest basic income amount in reducing crime among men at risk of criminal behaviour. Rhonda Castello discusses how Ontario's basic income pilot project - which in again at issue in tomorrow's provincial election - relieved some of the most important stressors for people living in precarious circumstances. And Andrew Russell, Carolyn Jarvis, Michael Wrobel and Kenneth Jackson discuss the distinction between the NDP and Greens who are committed to ensuring that child welfare funding actually supports the people who need it, and the PC/Lib determination to prop up operators of for-profit care. 

- Finally, Lex Harvey reports on Doug Ford's feat in breaking the Star's fact-checking system by building his campaign rhetoric around claims which couldn't be tested for accuracy.  

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Jonathan Koltai et al. study the mental health effects of COVID vaccination - finding a justified decrease in stress among people who have been vaccinated, if flagging at the same time the continued mental health burden being imposed by governments who are determined to tear down vaccine passports and other public health protections. And Elizabeth Payne reports on the spread of the more severe and contagious BA.2 Omicron variant in Canada even as the most basic of public health measures are being stripped away.

- Phil Tank reports on the secretive anti-vaxxers who are now setting Saskatchewan's public health policy thanks to Scott Moe. And PressProgress highlights the role of far-right evangelical churches in promoting and stoking the #FluTruxKlan.

- Gabrielle Peters discusses how the convoy and its demands to surrender to the coronavirus represent a unique threat to disabled people. Rachel Snow writes that the racism laid bare and amplified by the kid-glove treatment of violent white occupiers is all too familiar for Indigenous people. And Vinay Menon laments that Canadian governance has been turned into just another symbol in the U.S.' perpetual culture wars.

- Drew Anderson reports that Alberta is well aware that the province's list of contaminated sites is far more severe than publicly admitted - but that the Kenney UCP is fighting tooth and nail to prevent the public from finding out. Justine Calma discusses how the false promise of carbon capture and storage is being used almost exclusively to paper over the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels. And Melissa Aronczyk notes that oil industry PR holds far too much sway in determining both our terms of reference and policy choices in trying to avert climate breakdown.

- Finally, Grace Blakeley discusses why it's essential for workers to demand wage increases in the face of both increased demands on employees and corporate-imposed price inflation.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week. 

- Gregg Gonsalves writes about the continued dangers of responding to COVID with wishful thinking rather than realistic public health measures, while Meredith Wadman reports on how the spread of the Omicron BA.2 strain has caught the scientific community off guard. The National Institute for Health Research points out new research showing long-term lung abnormalities resulting even from mild cases. And Zak Vescera reports on the desperate state of Saskatchewan's hospitals as Scott Moe declares it's open season for community transmission, while Scott Larson reports on the continued conversion of testing into a corporate profit centre rather than a public service. 

- Omer Aziz writes about #FluTruxKlan's assault on Canadian democracy. And Emma Jackson writes that the left can learn some lessons about outreach (while of course advancing an equitable vision rather than the destructive one of the right).  

- Grace Blakeley discusses the appalling level of control exercised by the wealthiest few over the economic and social structures that stand in the way of well-being for so many. And John Nichols suggests a 92% pandemic windfall tax to at least ensure that a public emergency doesn't serve to exacerbate the concentration of wealth and power. 

- Peter Nicholson highlights the three tragedies that stand in the way of the action we need to avert climate breakdown. And Georgina Rannard reports on satellite mapping showing that methane leakage is far worse than normally assumed - making the rate of climate destruction even more severe. 

- Finally, Ricardo Tranjan, Tania Oliveira and Randy Robinson discuss the need for new investment to enable schools and students to catch up after two years of near-constant disruption. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Sarah Rieger reports on the experts pointing out that Jason Kenney (among other right-wing demagogues) is wrong in bleating incessantly that the pandemic is over. And Yasmine Ghania reports that many Saskatchewan residents are far more responsible than their government (or the media which keeps declaring them unwilling to accept public health measures in the absence of any evidence). 

- Yves Engler lends his voice to the growing chorus calling for Canada to invest in a sustainable future rather than a wasteful fighter jet purchase. And Cloe Logan reports on a push by environmental groups and other organizations to stop throwing public money at costly and ineffective carbon capture and storage which serves mostly to prop up the fossil fuel sector, rather than actual investments in averting climate breakdown. 

- Montana Getty reports on the financial precarity facing Saskatchewan residents. And Grace Blakeley highlights how conservative messaging about freedom is entirely empty when it isn't paired with either concern for civil liberties, or recognition as to how material deprivation undermines any positive freedom to make choices. 

- Gwyn Tophan reports on Philip Alston's findings that the privatization of the UK's bus service went so far as to breach human rights by depriving people of access to basic services.  

- Finally, Joe Roberts offers a needed reminder that what the Liberals promise to try to take a false majority looks very different from what they offer if they happen to secure one. 

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Ed Yong discusses the preventable dangers created by a shift in COVID-19 messaging from one of public protection to one of individual choice. Moira Wyton offers some suggestions from experts as to people's options in getting a second vaccine dose - with the most important message once again to recognize the value of whatever vaccine is available, rather than worrying about custom shopping. And Murray Mandryk takes a brief break from his "everything is fine!" series to point out how vaccine hesitancy and complacency are putting Saskatchewan at risk, while Zak Vescera reports on the connection between vaccination rates and other forms of inequality and deprivation. 

- Meanwhile, Heide Pearson's report on Alberta's Foothills Medical Centre outbreak confirms that even full vaccination is far from bulletproof, as ten people who had received two vaccine doses nonetheless contracted COVID-19. Mickey Djuric reports on revelations that Extendicare Parkside residents were sent home from hospitals while still facing symptoms and complications from COVID-19. And Elizabeth Cooney discusses how children suffering from long COVID - no matter how many politicians try to wish away the risks based on their age.

- Chantal Braganza writes about Canada's deficient parental leave policy - and how it's been exposed by the pandemic.

- The Broadbent Institute busts some of the regularly-dispensed myths about a wealth tax. And Robert Reich points out the absurdity and gross unfairness of a U.S. tax system in which the wealthiest people can get away with paying absolutely nothing.

- Finally, Grace Blakeley discusses how capitalism has served to consolidate wealth and power into the hands of the richest few.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- John Michael McGrath highlights how the COVID-19 B.1.617 variant represents a serious threat to the prospect of safely relaxing restrictions over the summer. And Morgan Modjeski reports on the COVID outbreak at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre.

- D.T. Cochrane highlights a few of the major Canadian corporations which have seen massive windfalls as a result of the pandemic. And Grace Blakeley warns that we can't expect the temporary response to the coronavirus to represent the end of neoliberalism.

- Michael Geist has been reviewing some of the problems with the Libs' C-10 regulating online broadcasting - including its application to individual users as well as the tech giants, and its incompatibility with net neutrality. And Nikolas Barry-Shaw makes the case for nationalized telecommunications as an alternative to the cartel which controls communications infrastruction across most of the country.

- T. Cameron Wild et al. find strong support among the Canadian public for harm reduction sites. But Alanna Smith reports on the UCP's latest decision to slash life-saving services first and maybe consider developing an alternative later.

- Finally, Angela Wright discusses the lingering effect of discriminatory urban planning in the U.S. and Canada.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Grace Blakeley discusses how corporate handouts represent a major contributor to the concentration of wealth by the richest few. And CNN reports on the new billionaires created by the public development of COVID-19 vaccines.

- Rachelle Younglai points out that generational wealth transfers are increasingly becoming the price of admission for anybody seeking to find adequate housing for a family. 

- Meanwhile, Anita Kumar writes that U.S. Republicans - like their Canadian conservative cousins - are trying to block any enforcement steps to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share.

- Noah Smith discusses how social media essentially turns status anxiety into an omnipresent element of people's engagement with the community around them.

- Fiona Harvey reports on the belated agreement among developed countries to stop backing the continued production of coal around the world. But the Financial Times highlights how wealthy countries are trying to undermine the International Energy Agency's recent guidance on the need for a transition to clean energy sources.

- Finally, Maya Wolfe-Robinson reports on at least one police chief who recognizes the need to invest in community development rather than militarized to protest. And Janelle Blakley reports on the work being done by community organizations to try to avert drug-related harms and deaths which the Moe government would prefer to ignore.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- George Monbiot writes about the COVID disinformation which is so dangerous as to need to be suppressed. Maggie Keresteci, Nili Kaplan-Myrth and Naheed Dosani highlight the need for equity to figure into our plans and messaging about vaccine distribution. And Dakshana Bascaramurty discusses the challenges in reaching racialized Canadians with the information needed to protect themselves and the public.

- Bruce Arthur points out the futility of blustering about borders when a province already has community outbreaks of highly dangerous variants. And Walker Bragman and David Sirota report on the factors which have had the most impact in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. - with work from home and housing security at the top of the list. 

- The Star's editorial board joins the calls for paid sick leave to ensure workers don't put people at risk in order to pay their bills. And Omar Mosleh reports on the limited number of retail employers offering anything of the sort when not required to do so.

- Theresa Boyle reports that Ontario is among the provinces falling far short of using even the federal resources available to it - let alone contributing appropriately on its own - to offer COVID-19 relief and support. And Matt Elliott calls out Doug Ford's almost total lack of investment in social housing, even as he looks to destroy greenspace and heritage buildings alike to grease the skids for private developers.

- Grace Blakeley discusses how the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated poverty and inequality. And Arwa Mahdawi makes the case for a greed tax to reverse that trend. 

- Finally, Dr. Jacelyn Hanson and Dr. Larissa Kiesman remind us of the existing public health emergencies of homelessness, opioids and HIV which have been worsened by COVID-19. 

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.

Sunday Morning Links

 This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Matthew Yglesias discusses how the Republicans avoid having to answer for antisocial plans (such as wanting to limit access to health insurance based on pre-existing conditions) because voters simply don't believe they could possibly be as evil as they act when given the opportunity.

- Corey Ranger discusses how the UCP's position on opioids - eliminating harm reduction based on puritanical moralization while contributing nothing to any additional services - represents nothing more than social murder. And Miriam Katawazi highlights how appointment-based COVID-19 testing serves to limit access by the vulnerable populations who most need to be included.

- Aaron Wherry writes that increased taxes on those who can most afford them would be a popular move - but rightly questions whether the Libs will have any interest in applying them when they rely on appeasing the corporate sector. 

- Yves Engler wonders why we don't see far more outcry about the use of public money to promote the export of arms to human rights abusers.

- Finally, Grace Blakeley writes about the need for organized labour to be one of the driving forces behind any social change for the better.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Steven Greenhouse writes that COVID-19 may produce a wave of unionization as workers see how little they're valued, and how cavalierly they lives are put at risk. And Ed Yong follows up on the plight of coronavirus "long-haulers" who have faced a constantly-changing series of symptoms for a period of months.

- Smriti Mallapaty highlights the factors needed to safely reopen schools - with minimal community spread being the most crucial point, while masking, class sizes and hygiene also loom large. And Nicole Bogart reports on the school bus drivers who are being asked to take serious risks with little apparent consideration for their health.

- Victoria Gibson reports on the worrisome correlation between COVID-19 cases and eviction proceedings among Toronto neighbourhoods.

- Shelly Hagan discusses how a drop in immigration to Canada as a result of border restrictions may threatens our social and economic development. And Beatrice Paez and Palak Mangat report on a push by some MPs to ensure that farm labourers are able to seek permanent residency, rather than being trapped in precarious and temporary work.

- Stuart Trew is optimistic that the Libs' prorogation of Parliament can create space for discussion about a just recovery. Linda McQuaig argues that the NDP should use its balance of power to push for a Canadian Green New Deal. Jagmeet Singh writes about the importance of investing in child care. And Eric Hoskins offers a reminder of the net benefit to be won by investing in a universal pharmacare program.

- But Matt Korda points out that rather than investing a healthy population and environment, the Libs are instead pushing forward with expensive purchases of armed surveillance drones. Hawa Mire notes that the Libs have continued to stall on action against systemic racism. And Arnold August observes that the Trudeau government is one of the few international supporters of armed regime change in Venezuela.

- Finally, Grace Blakely offers some lessons from Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader of UK Labour - including the importance of fighting for social justice in the face of establishment opprobrium.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Crawford Kilian examines a few crucial questions as to what Canada needs to keep, throw away and modify based on the lessons learned from COVID-19. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board agrees with Kilian that austerity belongs on the scrap heap.

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the need for masked crusaders to defeat the coronavirus in our communities. And Barb Konstantynowicz calls on Saskatchewan residents to keep doing everything we can to limit the spread of COVID-19 - even in the face of pressures to act as if the pandemic was behind us. 

- Amina Zafar writes about the need for precautions to keep people safe in health-care workplaces in particular. Melody Schreiber examines what's needed to reopen schools safely, while Sarah Gibbens looks at what we know so far about the impact of the coronavirus on children. And Daniella Ponticelli reports on the concerns of parents that children with intensive needs aren't being supported in the Saskatchewan Party's plan for a return to school.

- Kevin Carmichael examines the harm being done to women's careers by a pandemic which has both disproportionately affected female-dominated workplaces, and added to already-unsustainable child care burdens. Ysh Cabana discusses how COVID-19 has exposed Canada's reliance on temporary foreign workers, particular in our food supply chain. And Hayley Brown notes that the pandemic has had especially severe effects on workers with disabilities.

- Finally, Grace Blakeley discusses how the obscenely rich are only consolidating their wealth and power while the rest of the human race confronts a crisis - while noting that everybody else would be better off if we can escape from their domination:

Far from representing its social utility, Amazon’s market value – and Bezos’ personal wealth – reflects its market power. And the rising market power of a small number of larger firms has actually reduced productivity. This concentration has also constrained investment and wage growth as these firms simply don’t have to compete for labour, nor are they forced to innovate in order to out-compete their rivals. 

In fact, they’re much more likely to use their profits to buy back their own shares, or to acquire other firms that will increase their market share and give them access to more data. Amazon’s recent acquisition of grocery store Whole Foods is likely to be the first of many such moves by tech companies. Rather than the Darwinian logic of compete or die, the tech companies face a different imperative: expand or die. 

States are supporting this logic with exceptionally loose monetary policy. Low interest rates make it very easy for large companies to borrow to fund mergers and acquisitions. And quantitative easing – unleashed on an unprecedented scale to tackle the pandemic – has simply served to raise equity prices, especially for the big tech companies.

As more areas of our lives become subject to the power of big tech, the fortunes of people like Bezos will continue to mount. Their rising wealth will not represent a reward for innovation or jobs creation, but for their market power, which has allowed them to increase the exploitation of their workforces, gouge suppliers and avoid tax.  

The only real way to tackle these inequities is to democratise the ownership of the means of production, and begin to hand the key decisions in our economy back to the people. But you would expect that even social democrats, who won’t pursue transformative policies, could get behind measures such as a wealth tax.

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.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Grace Blakeley points out the importance of putting our relief and recovery funding toward public investments, rather than the further enrichment of people with already-appalling concentrations of wealth:

We cannot rely on this crisis to undermine the ideology of shareholder value, which has become so entrenched within the UK’s – and indeed the world’s – largest corporations over the last several decades. If we want corporations to behave well – to treat their staff and suppliers well, to operate sustainably and to invest productively – then we must organise to demand more from both businesses and the state. 
...
(W)e must also organise to demand more from the state. At present, the government is simply dishing out free money to some of the country’s largest businesses with no strings attached – much as it did to the largest banks in the wake of the financial crisis. The government’s refusal to stipulate that the banks must lend to the rest of the economy in the wake of the crisis undoubtedly exacerbated the credit crunch. 

Government action is unlikely to stop at subsidies and loans – we will see a wave of corporate bailouts as this crisis progresses. We must demand that conditions be attached. Any companies in receipt of government support should be expected to retain as many of their workers as possible, cutting dividends payouts and senior salaries before undertaking layoffs. Longer term, they should be tasked with reducing pay differentials, promoting environmental sustainability and undertaking productive, rather than speculative, investment.

However this crisis plays out it is likely to transform both the UK’s corporate environment, and the governance of its major corporations. Either we will see the deepening of the logic of shareholder value, rendered much more powerful by the substantial support provided to large corporations by the state; or, we could lay the foundations for a new model of corporate governance – one that places the interests of stakeholders alongside, or even before, those of creditors and shareholders.

- Angela Carter and Keith Stewart extend the same logic to the fossil fuel sector, where we should be looking to support workers and communities rather than oil barons. But Kieran Levitt and Alex Boyd write about Jason Kenney's blinkered insistence on pouring money into shareholders' pockets, while Mitchell Anderson calls out the willingness of so many governments to facilitate the spread of the coronavirus through cramped work camps in the name of resource extraction.

- Kristen Pue writes that having failed to act to end homelessness before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we should be redoubling our efforts to make sure everybody has a secure place to stay (and distance themselves) now.

- On the bright side, Moira Wyton reports on British Columbia's move to boost the pay of long-term care workers.

- And finally, Jordan Himelfarb weighs in on the hopeful signs of improved social cohesion as we respond to a crisis.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Derek Thompson discusses how the U.S.' capitalist system has been designed to squeeze younger workers - leading to many of them being open to systemic change. And in the context of UK Labour's leadership campaign, Grace Blakeley writes about the need for socialists to talk in aspirational rather than merely incremental terms to ensure voters recognize that democratic change is possible:

The idea of ‘aspirational socialism’ is Long-Bailey’s answer to this problem. It was always going to be difficult to convince an electorate beaten down by a decade of austerity that their lives could suddenly be transformed for the better simply by ticking the right box on polling day. But reframing socialist transformation around the idea of ‘aspiration’ aims to cut through this pessimism and make Labour’s ideas seem more achievable. In the context of declining social mobility, stagnant wages and an impending climate catastrophe, it should not be difficult to argue that there exists a need for collective social transformation alongside individual self-advancement. 

Investing in our public services will allow people up and down the country to achieve their full potential, because you can’t build a better life for yourself if you can’t access a good education, decent healthcare and a safety net for when times get hard. Strengthening workers’ rights will allow people to work together to fight for better conditions, higher pay and dignity at work. And a Green New Deal will create jobs in places starved of investment for decades so that we can build a sustainable economy fit for the future.
...

Long-Bailey can argue that live in a rigged economy in which the rules are made and enforced by a tiny elite that profits from keeping wages down, rents high and ordinary people out of politics. The only way to challenge this model is to deliver a democratic revolution that will redistribute wealth and power away from the Westminster-based establishment and towards working people up and down the UK. 
 
Aspirational socialism and the democratic revolution can both be realised through the creation of genuinely democratic collective institutions, which can also provide a substantive socialist response to the call of ‘take back control.’ Abolishing the House of Lords, making the Bank of England publicly accountable and devolving power to local councils will all help to democratise and politicise the British state. Strengthening the labour movement, transforming corporate governance and introducing new models of corporate ownership will deliver a more democratic economy geared towards collective advance.

- David Segal reports on a $60 billion tax evasion scheme which is just now seeing European countries try to recover what's been stolen from the public purse. And Nicholas Shaxson makes the case for a unitary tax system to ensure corporations pay a fair share worldwide, rather than the patchwork under consideration by the OECD.

- Jordan Weissmann examines how private equity has destroyed major retail outlets. And Simon Wren-Lewis discusses how an increased political focus on the individual interests of the extremely wealthy has resulted in an unhealthy environment for many businesses.

- Finally, CBC examines how Finland has used a Housing First model to ensure that everybody has a home.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Rupert Neate writes about the twelve-figure tax avoidance by the U.S.' largest tech firms, while noting that Amazon stands out as the worst offender. And Meagan Day interviews Ramesh Srninivasan about the need to democratize the administration of the Internet.

- Meanwhile, Grace Blakeley makes the case to socialize the financial sector to ensure it serves the public rather than facilitating the concentration of wealth. And Anoosh Chakelian hopes that a devastating report on child poverty will offer a much-needed reality check in the course of the UK's general election.

- Animal Justice notes that Jason Kenney and Doug Ford are following in the Republicans' footsteps by planning to punish people for attempting to expose animal abuse.

- Chris Turner writes about Kenney's pursuit of modern-day McCarthyism. And Graham Thomson notes that rather than representing a necessary result of otherwise justifiable choices, the framing of large number of people as enemies is central to Kenney's political strategy. 

- Finally, Omar Washington writes that the re-election of Justin Trudeau in the wake of his blackface exploits represents a sad failure on the part of Canada's electorate. And Jordan Bober argues that Trudeau should at least recognize the need to put electoral reform back on the table after an election which has produced some of the most distorted first-past-the-post results yet.

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.