Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jonathan Cohn discusses how arbitrariness is one of the key factors in Donald Trump's destruction of the U.S.' economic prospects. David Silver suggests that businesses should be willing to stand up to autocrats (particularly where they're influential enough to make a difference). Marc Jones reports on the Bank for International Settlements' warning that share prices don't seem to bear any relationship to economic fundamentals, while Jeff Cox reports on Trump's push to reduce public earnings reporting as yet another example of his desire to prevent reality from being  known or acted upon. And Anna Sale talks to Megan Greenwell about how private equity has destroyed viable media and other businesses in the name of extracting short-term profits and fees. 

- The Institute for Research on Public Policy examines how industrial policy is vital to Canada's economy and sovereignty in the face of looming corporate and political threats. And Kyle Briggs discusses the importance of actively working to convert research into products, rather than hoping that tax credits will incentivize businesses to do so. 

- Asawin Suebsaeng, Nikki McCann Ramirez and Andrew Perez write that Stephen Miller's fear-based governance is the most consistent thread winding its way through the Trump administration's actions. And Ben Wieder and Shirsho Dasgupta report on the hundreds of people who have been disappeared after being snatched up into concentration camps. 

- Sasha Fury calls out Mark Carney for embracing political violence, most recently by joining in the effort to whitewash Charlie Kirk's track record of inflammatory racism. Jared Wesley discusses how Danielle Smith's move to attach citizenship markers to basic IDs serves as a dangerous step toward excluding people from basic rights and essential services. And Teren Hazzard writes about the UCP's biased "consultation" which is plainly aimed at stoking separatism. 

- Finally, John Clarke writes that the successes of Air Canada workers in defending their right to strike against government overreach have given rise to questions about what comes next. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Lever examines new research showing how private equity is systematically funnelling risk and underperformance to less wealthy investors. And Charlie Warzel discusses how the AI investment fad is based on mass delusion, while Rick Morton notes that it's also predicated entirely on the retroactive validation of systematic illegality. 

- Ned Resnikoff discusses how the Trump regime is determined to turn American cities into war zones - even as they were previously safer than they'd been in decades - as a pretext for his plan to exert military control over them. Adam Tranter notes that anybody actually concerned with people's lives and well-being would be pushing for low traffic neighbourhoods and people-friendly communities. And Trevor Melanson discusses how Chinese EV imports could give Canadians far more and better options for cleaner and safer transportation. 

- William Foege discusses how public health needs to fight back against the cynical misinformation of antisocial populists and scammers. And Nick Tsergas studies the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 has long-term effects on people's bodies whether or not they've been diagnosed with long COVID - making any avoidable transmission a wilful choice to make people sicker. 

- Finally, Jeremy Appel highlights how Air Canada's flight attendants were able to fight back against the exploitation of unpaid labour. Dale Smith examines the rise of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code which the Libs have taken to using reflexively to squelch strikes and allow employers to run roughshod in collective bargaining, while Verity Stevenson points out how workers' determination to stand up for themselves in the face of that interference should lead to questions as to whether it should be allowed in the first place. And Kim Siever offers a warning that surface friendliness from an employer is no guarantee of respect or job security. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Linda McQuaig calls out the Ford PCs for making it even more difficult to hold corporate health care operators to account for sub-par service. And Emma McIntosh, Fatima Syed and Denise Balkissoon discuss Ford's latest sketchy step to turn farmland and industrial areas into new suburban sprawl, 

- Guido Lorenzi and Ivan Werning theorize (PDF) that inflation is best seen as conflict-based, representing the accumulation of price increases by parties with the perceived market power to impose them. And Duncan Kinney offers a reminder that the largest set of money stolen is that pilfered from workers by employers. 

- Colin Woodard discusses how car payments are taking up an increasingly large share of already-strained U.S. incomes. And Paul Kiel examines how the ultrarich are able to claim private jets and yachts as tax deductions while most people have to pay for transportation from after-tax incomes. 

- Finally, J.W. Mason discusses why socialists should be eager to see industrial policy as a tool to ensure that productive capacity is used to meet human needs and develop desirable economic activity (including the tools for a just transition). And Kevin Anderson offers an overview of what an effective plan to limit warming to 1.5 degrees will require - while noting that what's needed far exceeds what any major actors currently have on the table. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Scott Rivkees writes that COVID-19 denialism has come to dominate public policy around an ongoing viral threat, while Kelly Skjerven reports that the relentless minimization of the ongoing pandemic has led Canadians to stop getting updated vaccinations. Eric Reinhart discusses how doctors are understandably demoralized by systemic failures which prevent them from helping to treat patients. And Joyce Sampson writes that there are plenty of benefits to face masks even beyond the reduced transmission of (and infection by) COVID. 

- Kat Echner comments on the potential for employee ownership trusts to allow employees to share in the benefit from their work. And Jon Brodkin reports on Apple's violations of employee rights in preventing workers from gathering wage data or discussing working conditions.  

- Jen Hassum writes about the need for progressives to recognize and channel people's rightful anger at a system rigger against them - rather than allowing the Cons to coast on that sentiment while planning to make matters worse. 

- Meanwhile, Martin Wolf discusses the advantages of a land value tax to ensure idle assets don't exacerbate inequality. And Guio Jacinto makes the case for industrial policy (dealing with steel and other vital inputs) to ensure that Canada rebuilds an industrial base while transitioning to a clean economy. 

- Finally, Pete Evans highlights the juxtaposition between record fossil fuel profits and attempts to walk back previous climate commitments, while Alex Lawson takes note of the particularly glaring profit-taking by BP as it breaks emission reduction promises. Julia Levin points out the continued lack of an evidentiary basis to think carbon capture will accomplish anything but greenwashing continued environmental destruction. And Drilled News surveys the oil industry's determination to bully people into believing we can't live without their exploitation.