Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Adam Bienkov highlights the evidence from the UK's COVID-19 inquiry which has demonstrated the utter neglect for public health from Boris Johnson and the political system around him, while Andrew Nikiforuk offers a reminder that the pandemic is still roiling around us. And Tinker Ready interviews Ziyad Al-Aly about new research showing that multiple infections exacerbate the risk of long COVID. 

- Seth Borenstein and Mary Katherine Wildeman examine how fossil fuel lobbyists (whether or not labeled as such) have derailed any effective international action to avert a climate breakdown. And Mitchell Anderson points out that Alberta's emissions policy involves preferential treatment for the conscience-free polluters who are singlehandedly preventing Canada from having any hope of being anything but a climate laggard. 

- Noah Smith writes about the asymmetric propaganda war which has allowed Russia and China to pollute the U.S.' information ecosystem (and lay the groundwork for the rise of fascist politics). And Karl Nerenberg offers some suggestions as to how the CBC can respond to the Cons' fixation on silencing any distinct and independent Canadian voices. 

- Meanwhile, Jason Garcia exposes how a billionaire-funded "think tank" is behind Florida legislation to facilitate the use of child labor. 

- Finally, Juste Rajaonson discusses the need to develop housing policy based on the social importance of the right to a home, rather than focusing solely on how to generate immediate returns for developers and landlords. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Angella MacEwen discusses how the Bank of Canada is fighting a class war on the side of the rich by pushing to reduce employment and wages while corporations continue to profiteer off the backs of the public. And Armine Yalnizyan interviews Tiff Macklem about the choice to do so. 

- Jason Warick interviews Tony Dagnone about the need for Saskatchewan Health Authority board members to stand up for medicare rather than running interference for the Moe government's destruction of health services, while Mickey Djuric reports on the severe understaffing issues facing the province. Kyra Markov reports on another deadly week of COVID-19 in Alberta - both as a direct cause of death, and as an intolerable strain on an already-overloaded health care system. And Tina Yazdani reports on the Ontario family doctors who are abandoning patients due to their own intolerable workloads. 

- John-Baptiste Oduor interviews Tommie Shelby about the case for abolishing prisons, including the connections between incarceration and other means of oppressing vulnerable groups. But Thom Hartmann writes that the U.S. Supreme Court is going out of its way to facilitate and stoke bigotry. 

- Finally, Noah Smith is right to recognize the value of public utilities to both ensure a reliable power supply and support large-scale research - though it's sad that he has to see the concept as "wacky" rather than self-evidently desirable. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- David Adams examines the evidence that COVID-19 remains infectious far longer than assumed by politicized public health messaging. And Ted Raymond reports that Ottawa has already seen more COVID deaths in 2022 than in 2021, confirming that the end of public health protections has been disastrous even by the painfully low bar of considering fatalities alone. 

- Zak Vescera reports on Dr. Ivar Mendez' warning that diverting public money to private surgical clinics will only exacerbate the staffing shortages caused by the Moe government's disinterest in a functional health care system. And Michael Gorman reports that Nova Scotia's PCs are following the usual right-wing playbook of rank patronage in the service of the destruction of public service capacity, with two personal friends of Premier Tim Houston having been appointed to oversee the gutting of Crown corporations. 

- Noah Smith contrasts China's strategic development of technology which actually serves useful purposes against the U.S.' focus on extracting wealth from people through hype and misdirection. 

- Finally, Umair Haque discusses the need for economies to evolve in order to survive the ecological shocks which are striking with increasing frequency and intensity. And Tom Green and Stephen Thomas highlight how Canada has immense potential to develop an economy powered by zero-emission renewables.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Lauren Pullen reports on two outbreaks of the Delta variant of COVID-19 within a Calgary hospital. Emily Mertz reports on a push by Alberta doctors to have the province's major cities retain mask mandates until more people are fully vaccinated after the provincial government has abandoned the fight against COVID-19. 

- Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen and Paul Kiel report on newly-released documents showing how the wealthy in the U.S. pay lower tax rates than the people who have made them rich. And Noah Smith points out that the U.S. is facing multiple forms of self-induced scarcity to the detriment of people's well-being. 

- Paul Taylor argues that we shouldn't sweep inequality and injustice under the rug in order to return to an unacceptable pre-pandemic "normal". And Jack Trovato discusses how trickle-down economics have been a failure for everybody but the luckiest few looking to concentrate their own wealth and power. 

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the conviction of an industrial bakery for safety violations resulting in the death of two temporary workers. 

- Adam Radwanski highlights how the Trudeau Libs have ended any pretense of mapping out a just transition to a clean economy. And Naveena Sadasivam writes that the oil industry itself has been meticulous in planning its own escape from any responsibility for the wreckage it's leaving behind. 

- Finally, Raisa Patel reports on the Libs' continued insistence on fighting against residential school survivors and Indigenous children in court - even after the House of Commons' participating MPs have unanimously passed an NDP motion for an end to the obstruction. 

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.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Sam Cowie writes about the devastating effect of COVID-19 in Brazil, where a particularly dangerous viral variant is combining with the anti-social Bolsonaro government to cause widespread illness and hunger. And Jenna Moon highlights the worst-case scenario facing Ontario's health care system, where hospitals lack the staff to operate temporary beds and are facing painful decisions as to how to triage care for people who need it. 

- Meanwhile, Anna Mehler Paperny reports on the delayed pivot toward vaccinating frontline workers to stop COVID-19 spread where it's most likely to take place.

- Chris Hatch is reassured that the general public has maintained its concern about climate change in the face of the pandemic. But Noah Smith warns that we shouldn't treat carbon pricing as a cure-all - no matter how often it's portrayed that way by both economists with tunnel vision, and businesses looking to avoid more direct responsibility. And Michaela Solomon compares the Saskatchewan Party's gratuitous punishment of electric vehicle drivers against the steps taken by other governments to reduce carbon pollution by incentivizing their use.

- PA Media reports on the latest data showing the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere at the highest level in recorded history.

- Finally, Doug Cuthand writes about the need for funded harm reduction sites to reduce the toll in health and lives from drug use in Saskatchewan.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Emma Jackson highlights why we shouldn't treat carbon pricing as anything more than a tiny piece of a plan to avert a climate breakdown. Hadrian Metrins-Kirkwood writes about the importance of passing an ambitious Just Transition Act into law at the federal leve. And Noah Smith discusses how the U.S. (and other wealthier countries) can help to lead the technological side of a just transition, while Lara Fominoff reports on Ryan Meili's call to create green jobs and technology in Saskatchewan. 

- Meanwhile, Oliver Milman reports on the oil companies who have collected massive amounts of public subsidies linked to COVID relief while still laying off workers. And Loren Steffy discusses how abandoned oil infrastructure is posing an environmental and economic menace in Texas just like in Canada's petroprovinces. 

- Rebecca Solnit writes about the air pollution epidemic which kills millions every year - but which is largely ignored due to the limited wealth and power of the people who suffer from it.

- Yasmine Ghania reports on the passage through committee of a bill to effectively implement a global treaty against plastic waste - with the Libs filibustering and voting it against based on their desire to include a loophole allowing waste to be exported through the U.S.

- Finally, Tess McClure reports on New Zealand's new steps to increase taxes on the rich and enact a liveable minimum wage.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Duncan Cameron writes about the fundamental choice between austerity and full employment in developing the 2021 federal budget. And Noah Smith points out that while pipeline cancellations signal the imminent end of fossil fuels, they don't need to have any impact on job numbers if they're paired with appropriate transition plans.

- Luke Savage calls out corporate liberals for prioritizing the convenience provided by precarious workers over secure livelihoods for the workers themselves. And Brett Nelson discusses how Indigo is one more employer seeing a wave of unionization as workers join together to defend their rights and interests in the workplace.

- Christian Paas-Lang talks to Miles Corak about the need to be far more ambitious than the Trudeau Libs in combating poverty and inequality. 

- Sharif El-Defrawy and Bob Bell warn about the problems with Ontario's choice to privatize eye surgery as yet another step toward corporate health care. And Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack, and Ziad Obermeyer study (PDF) how even small cost-sharing requirements for prescription drugs result in significant harm to patient outcomes.

- Finally, Claire Porter Robbins discusses the need to take action against growing racism in Alberta, while Dan Collen points out how far too many Canadian media outlets are giving positive coverage to racists and/or conspiracy theorists. And Christopher Curtis discusses how journalism is being trashed in the name of slightly increased corporate profits.

Monday Afternoon Links

 Assorted content to start your week.

- Scott Gilmore discusses how our elected leaders have failed us in responding to COVID-19. Shannon Devine offers a warning to the Ford PCs about their insistence in putting workers' lives and health at risk in the midst of a pandemic. And Christy Somos reports on a new survey showing that over two-thirds of Canadians support the ability to bar unvaccinated people from business premises.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board highlights how the Atlantic provinces were able to contain the spread of COVID-19. And Caitjan Gainty and Agnes Arnold-Forster note that vaccines alone don't generally eradicate a disease in the absence of exactly the types of public health measures which have done the most to limit the spread of the coronavirus before a vaccine was available.

- Falice Chin examines Canada's worrisome literacy gaps - with one in six adults lacking even basic literacy skills, and fully half having difficulty processing complex texts in a world governed by them.  

- Lucas Edmond writes about the need for direct action to confront the attacks on labour by Brian Pallister (a point which of course applies to his ideological soulmates elsewhere as well).

- Finally, Noah Smith discusses how the vast majority of the economic profession has come to reject the corporatist dogma that higher minimum wages lead to meaningful job losses.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Noah Smith examines how even leaving aside such trifling considerations as human welfare, it's a better economic proposition to provide money to people with less money than those with more. And Matt McGrath highlights how any hope of averting a climate breakdown requires that the wealthiest people on the planet eliminate some of the extravagant emissions from their lifestyles.

- But Umair Haque points out how far too many decisions are made by and for remorseless and malicious idiots (in the original sense of the term).

- On that front, Tavia Grant and Kelly Grant note that whatever Ontario is calling a "lockdown" is designed to do nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19 in workplaces which have frequently been the sources of outbreaks. And Jenny Kwan and Daniel Blaikie call for the Libs to avoid damaging clawbacks on CERB payments.

- Ian Sample reports on the conclusion of the President of the UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists that the coronavirus pandemic will have more severe mental health effects than any event since World War II. And Amanpreet Brar, Lawrence Loh and Basak Yanar highlight the unfairness of temporary low-wage workers being forced to accept the worst stresses and risks while making do with meager incomes.

- Finally, Frank Morris discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated the exodus of medical professionals from small towns in the U.S. (even in the absence of governments actively driving them away).

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Stephen Buranyi laments the reality that the public's increased awareness and concern about our ongoing climate breakdown isn't being reflected in political decisions. And Noah Smith writes that while the rapid drop in prices for renewable energy may help us avoid the worst possible climate outcomes, we shouldn't doom ourselves to the massive damage expected from a business-as-usual scenario.

- Erin Baerwald calls out the gross inaccuracy of Doug Ford's anti-wind crusade. Jeremy Klazsuz reviews Jason Kenney's year of attacks, while Scott Schmidt discusses the threat the UCP's war room poses to the public's freedom of expression. And Morgan Modjeski reports on the laughably overwrought shrieks of protest in response to a fairly standard Oxbow Christmas pageant which dared to include environmental themes.

- Eion Higgins reports on the spread of the #wouldyoushootmetoo hashtag in response to the news that the RCMP was prepared to shoot to kill peaceful land defenders.

- Chelsea Whyte discusses the tragic - and entirely avoidable - return of measles to the U.S. as a result of antivaxxers.

- Finally, Heather Mallick points out the economic and environmental damage we do by relying on Amazon. And Brendan Kennedy reports undercover on the working conditions facing Amazon's delivery drivers.

New column day

Here, on the problems with the Saskatchewan Party's mismanagement which deserve far more attention than Scott Moe's attempts to pick fights with the federal government for show - including the need to plan for a future in which fossil fuel extraction won't be the basis for a viable economy.

For further reading...
- Again, Sarath Pereis and Murray Mandryk have both commented on Moe's childish posturing against the federal government.
- CBC has reported on the high personal debt faced by Saskatchewan's residents. And Stephen Gordon's chart of mortgages in arrears shows that more people are underwater than at any time since the end and aftermath of the Devine years.
- Umair Irfan reports on the combination of planned blackouts and wildfires devastating California as one of the most obvious immediate consequences of the climate crisis.
- Finally, Jillian Ambrose reports on the emerging plans to fully power the world with offshore wind turbines, while Nicola Davis reports on developing technology which could allow electric vehicles to charge in minutes. Reuters takes note that Volkswagen is rapidly transitioning its production from combustion engines to electric based on the recognition that the former won't remain viable for long. And Noah Smith comments on the end of the oil age.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- George Monbiot writes that the fossil fuel companies most responsible for endangering our living environment are also polluting our politics:

...What counts, in seeking to prevent runaway global heating, is not the good things we start to do, but the bad things we cease to do. Shutting down fossil infrastructure requires government intervention.

But in many nations, governments intervene not to protect humanity from the existential threat of fossil fuels, but to protect the fossil fuel industry from the existential threat of public protest. In the US, legislators in 18 states have put forward bills criminalising protests against pipelines, seeking to crush democratic dissent on behalf of the oil industry. In June, Donald Trump’s administration proposed federal legislation that would jail people for up to 20 years for disrupting pipeline construction.

Global Witness reports that, in several nations, led by the Philippines, governments have incited the murder of environmental protesters. The process begins with rhetoric, demonising civil protest as extremism and terrorism, then shifts to legislation, criminalising attempts to protect the living planet. Criminalisation then helps legitimise physical assaults and murder. A similar demonisation has begun in Britain, with the publication by a dark money-funded lobby group, Policy Exchange, of a report smearing Extinction Rebellion. Like all such publications, it was given a series of major platforms by the BBC, which preserved its customary absence of curiosity about who funded it.
...
What we see here looks like the denouement of the Pollution Paradox. Because the dirtiest industries attract the least public support, they have the greatest incentive to spend money on politics, to get the results they want and we don’t. They fund political parties, lobby groups and thinktanks, fake grassroots organisations and dark ads on social media. As a result, politics comes to be dominated by the dirtiest industries.

We are told to fear the “extremists” who protest against ecocide and challenge dirty industry and the dirty governments it buys. But the extremists we should fear are those who hold office.

- Meanwhile, Michael Harris discusses the connections between Stephen Harper, the International Democratic Union, and right-wing vote suppression tactics in Canada and around the world.

- Noah Smith writes about the importance of equalizing the distribution of power as well as income and wealth, particularly by strengthening the voice of workers in economic decision-making.

- PressProgress highlights the Libs' plans to push the privatization of water services if communities want any federal support for essential infrastructure. 

- Finally, Nora Loreto calls out the myth of the "lone wolf" shooter by pointing out the structural factors which promote violence and hatred.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Noah Smith comments that while we shouldn't necessarily try to adjust GDP for other necessary elements of individual and social well-being, we should avoid treating it as a catch-all measure in assessing policy choices:

GDP does have plenty of flaws, even as an economic indicator. First of all, it leaves out a lot of things that represent real value. When your dad washes the dishes, that represents value creation -- if the dishwashing took place in a restaurant, it would be compensated monetarily, but since it happens for free at home, it gets ignored. GDP also ignores the value of leisure -- if you pay $10 to see a movie in a theater, it gets counted in GDP, but if you have an equal amount of fun hanging out with your friends, that value isn't counted.

Beyond these deficiencies, there’s the broader fact that economic value isn’t the only kind of value. Japanese people, for instance, are on average poorer than Americans in purely material terms, but the very low crime, efficient urban design, and clean streets and buildings has real value that isn't counted in economic statistics. The U.S. and Canada, meanwhile, have an abundance of natural beauty and open space that adds little to GDP, while many European and Asian countries enjoy advantages in health and life expectancy that are also uncounted. These are the kind of things that Bhutan and New Zealand are trying to account for, some of which are also included in the United Nations’ Human Development Index. GDP also doesn’t account for inequality or other issues of distribution.

A third problem with GDP is that it’s not much more than a snapshot of the present. It represents the amount of economic value that’s produced this year, rather than the amount that can be produced sustainably during the coming decades or centuries. Chopping down rainforests, draining aquifers, exhausting topsoil and burning fossil-fuel that contributes to climate change all raise GDP, but don’t necessarily make humanity better off in the long run.
...
Instead of trying to update GDP to include sustainability, health, education, happiness, equality, leisure, and safety, leaders should monitor these things independently. Fortunately, there is every indication that most of them do this already.
...
So instead of trying to fix GDP, it's better to simply remember its limitations. It is not the one economic number to rule them all, but simply one of a broad set of indicators of a society’s success.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Simms highlights the damage done by neoclassicals economics built around unduly narrow standards for success together with grossly implausible assumptions about the relationship between people and corporate actors.

- Jeffrey Sachs writes that first-past-the-post voting systems represent one of the most important common denominators in the rise to power of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. And James Butler examines how Johnson looks to be handing unprecedented amounts of power to lobbyists looking to enrich their clients at the expense of the public.

- Dale Marshall rightly argues that Canada can't pass the buck when it comes to reining in greenhouse gas emissions. And Michael Segalov points out the need for governments to make public transit a more practical option if we want people to shift away from higher-emitting forms of transportation.

- Finally, Chuka Ejeckam argues that after decades of draconian drug policy which has placed disproportionate burdens on racial minorities, Canada's decriminalization process has been designed to ensure that the gains from a newly legal market are concentrated in already-privileged groups.

Wednesday Morning Links

This and that for your mid-week reading.

- Noah Smith writes about the unfairness and inaccuracy in blaming people for finding themselves in poverty. And Sarah Kaine and Emmanuel Josserand call out the business sector's concerted efforts to normalize and spread systematic wage theft.

- Joelle Gergis points out that our climate is deteriorating at a rate which is alarming even to the scientists who have been monitoring it for decades. Geoff Dembicki discusses how Alberta can transition away from a dirty energy economy while ensuring plenty of work is available for people now stuck relying on fossil fuel extraction for work. And CBC News reports on British Columbia's plan to replace its entire bus fleet with electric vehicles.

- Meanwhile, Alden Wicker notes that removing water from products as packaged and sold could go a long way toward eliminating unnecessary waste.

- Finally, in an observation which echoes into Canada's federal election campaign, Bhaskar Sunkara discusses the difference between the ambitious plans of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the "no we can't" group of Democratic presidential candidates.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Linda Givetash discusses how the consequences of climate breakdown include impending water shortages in the UK. But rather than recognizing and acting on that danger, Theresa May's Conservatives are looking at Brexit as an excuse to do even less to protect the environment.

- Meanwhile, Grace Blakely highlights how the UK's outsourcing of public services has led to the usual pattern of corporate profits, bailouts and declining working conditions and social supports. And Tria Donaldson discusses how Saskatchewan is suffering as a result of a decade of Sask Party austerity.

- Noah Smith comments on the economic costs (in addition to the well-known social harm) caused by an opioid crisis which has been met with a grossly insufficient policy response.

- Nora Loreto wonders whether the Christchurch massacre - and the role Canadian extremists played in laying the groundwork for it - might represent a tipping point in ensuring a needed crackdown on hate speech and violence. And Jim Waterson reports on Neil Basu's comments about the UK media's responsibility for radicalizing the far right.

- Finally, Rob Larson argues that we shouldn't accept the corporatist argument that freedom should be equated with unfettered greed, rather than the security for all types of people to be able to make choices.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Thomas Piketty sets out a proposal to start addressing inequality across the EU. Derek Thompson discusses how the U.S.' economy has been designed to squeeze younger workers at every turn, while Sean Coughlan points out that UK youth are skeptical that social mobility is a realistic prospect. And Miles Corak proposes unconditional learning bonds for less-wealthy families as one means of leveling the playing field.

- Matt Price comments on the importance of pursuing a large-scale transition to a cleaner and fairer economy in Canada - though he does miss the reality that the labour movement is already leading the push in that direction.

- Sharon Riley reports that most of the oil well sites certified as being "reclaimed" even under Alberta's already-insufficient regulatory system fall far short of meeting the definition. And the CP reports on a new study showing that the vast majority of oil sector emissions will get a free pass in the Libs' carbon pricing scheme.

- Meanwhile, Nick Falvo offers some considerations for Alberta's budget - including the importance of finally taking in a reasonable amount of tax revenue.

- Finally, Noah Smith writes about the impending battle over corporate monopolies, with particular attention to the effect of corporate dominance on workers in addition to consumers.

New column day

Here, on the fundamental need for governments to provide a secure source of income and benefits - and the choice of the Trudeau Libs and Moe Sask Party alike to instead make citizens bear the brunt of political choices.

For further reading...
- The National Post offered a backgrounder on the Phoenix pay system which has resulted in federal civil servants getting shortchanged on the money they've earned for public service. The Auditor General reported on its inexplicable failings. And CTV reported on the continuing rallies to draw attention to hundreds of thousands of still-outstanding issues.
- Terry Farrell reported on Canada Post's orders which resulted in the delay of benefit cheques which CUPW specifically agreed to keep delivering. CUPW called out Patty Hajdu's misleading attempt to then use management decisions to attack workers' right to strike. And Nora Loreto pointed out that no government can reasonably expect labour peace while going out of its way to undermine the bargaining processes which are supposed to keep conflict contained.
- D.C. Fraser reported on how a rental supplement cut by the Saskatchewan Party will result in a year's gap in coverage since a federal replacement has been delayed - and since Scott Moe and company don't care enough about renters to fix the mess they've made.
- Finally, I'll point again to Noah Smith's post on the many facets of poverty and insecurity in order to highlight the importance of a government willing to reduce all of the drivers of precarity.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Noah Smith writes that for all the recognition of poverty and precarity in the U.S., it may be home to even more material insecurity than normally presumed:

Imagine a 55-year-old single woman with diabetes working a part-time job making close to minimum wage. Thanks to government assistance, her total income is $15,000 a year. But if she loses her job or has a medical emergency — both of which, as Matthew Desmond’s book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” illustrates, are sadly common — she will probably become homeless. That in turn will make it very hard to get a new job, or to pay for her future health-care needs. In short, her situation is very precarious.

As Maslow would predict, this kind of insecurity causes extreme stress. And this precariousness exists along several dimensions — housing, health care, income, the risk of violence — which makes it hard to capture in a single measure. Still, there are some existing measures that could be used to help create a composite picture of security-based poverty.

For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tracks food insecurity, a survey-based measure of how worried people are that their food will run out. Economists track income volatility, which measures swings in earnings from year to year. This kind of risk has been on the rise in the U.S...

A reasonable, common-sense definition of poverty should include not just an absolute measure of material deprivation and a relative gauge of a person’s situation compared to the rest of society. It should also strive to measure how secure people feel — in their homes, their health, and their jobs.

This new measure might well show that poverty in the U.S. is worse than the current statistics say. But an accurate view of a problem is the first step toward addressing it. And eliminating poverty should be a priority of any wealthy society.

- Meanwhile, Molly Moss notes that austerity in the UK has disproportionately withdrawn public funding from the struggling northern region.

- In the wake of failed charges in British Columbia, Barrie McKenna points out how Canada continues to be used as a money-laundering haven.

- Bronwen Tucker makes the case for Alberta's oil production cuts to serve as a first step toward our needed transition to clean energy. And Dennis Gruending reviews Tony Clarke's new book offering a road map to get there.

- Finally, Matthew D'Ancona discusses how the UK's Brexit fiasco is the result of bigotry. And Keith Kahn-Harris writes that the essence of white supremacy is a belief in an entitlement to treat others without respect or moral constraints.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jonathan Watts reports on a new study showing how the world's largest economies (including Canada) are falling far short of the Paris climate goals due mostly to the influence of the fossil fuel industry, while also noting that Canada ranks with China and Russia among the world's absolute world climate offenders. And George Monbiot points out the need for radical action to get us on track to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown.

- Meagan Day writes that we can and should view affordable public housing as an opportunity to build vibrant and beautiful communities. But Mike Crawley reports that Doug Ford's first order of business is to make Ontario's housing situation even more grim by eliminating rent controls for tenants. 

- Noah Smith makes the case for the U.S. to finally raise its federal minimum wage in order to improve the circumstances of lower-income workers.

- Christo Aivalis offers his take on why Canada deserves a proportional electoral system.

- Finally, Andre Picard marks the Remembrance Day week by noting that the first pieces of Canada's health care system were among hte products of World War 1.