In the wake of the NDP's leadership campaign, it seems the Libs have responded by finding somebody to distill their very essence even more thoroughly than Justin Trudeau.
At least, if we can confirm that centrism.biz is supported by tax-sheltered trust fund dollars.
Showing posts with label scott vrooman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scott vrooman. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
- James Stewart examines how Donald Trump could be paying zero taxes using shelters designed specifically to enrich real estate developers while serving no social purpose. And Alexandra Thornton and Brendan Duke point out the "pass-through" loophole being exploited more and more by U.S. corporations.
- Daniel Tencer reports that the Libs' plan to make it easier for employers to exploit foreign workers comes at a time when any labour shortage is coming to an end. Scott Vrooman discusses how the media is being distracted by Justin Trudeau's PR stunts when it should be calling attention to issues like the Libs' willingness to arm human rights abusers.
- Jhumka Gupta and Reginald Tucker-Seeley discuss the connection between prejudice and social health. And Paul Wells points out that the Libs' interest in social policy seems to be limited to its ability to attract and benefit big money from abroad.
- Rob Ferguson examines how the Ontario Libs' election financing legislation is set up to benefit nobody but themselves. And it still amazes me that a review process started as a response to a government pay-for-access scandal is clamping down on other parties' activities while doing nothing about that issue.
- Finally, Katharine Hayhoe lists just a few of the ways in which climate change stands to affect our health.
- James Stewart examines how Donald Trump could be paying zero taxes using shelters designed specifically to enrich real estate developers while serving no social purpose. And Alexandra Thornton and Brendan Duke point out the "pass-through" loophole being exploited more and more by U.S. corporations.
- Daniel Tencer reports that the Libs' plan to make it easier for employers to exploit foreign workers comes at a time when any labour shortage is coming to an end. Scott Vrooman discusses how the media is being distracted by Justin Trudeau's PR stunts when it should be calling attention to issues like the Libs' willingness to arm human rights abusers.
- Jhumka Gupta and Reginald Tucker-Seeley discuss the connection between prejudice and social health. And Paul Wells points out that the Libs' interest in social policy seems to be limited to its ability to attract and benefit big money from abroad.
- Rob Ferguson examines how the Ontario Libs' election financing legislation is set up to benefit nobody but themselves. And it still amazes me that a review process started as a response to a government pay-for-access scandal is clamping down on other parties' activities while doing nothing about that issue.
- Finally, Katharine Hayhoe lists just a few of the ways in which climate change stands to affect our health.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- Scott Vrooman rightly makes the point that increased wealth at the top tends to splash outside a country's borders rather than trickling down. And CBC News reports on how that process has been facilitated by KPMG and other firms wining and dining executives of the Canada Revenue Agency who are supposed to be ensuring their clients' contribution to a fair society.
- Paul Krugman describes the symptoms of robber-baron stagnation - which all too closely match the state of the U.S.' economy. And Ian Welsh outlines an economy which would serve the interests of people rather than profiteers.
- Unfortunately, the Libs seem bent on pushing the economics of destruction - not only by pushing more arms sales abroad, but also by looking to buy into another round of Star Wars missile defence schemes.
- Laurence Mathieu-Leger and Ashifa Kassam write about the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat and elsewhere. And Charlie Angus discusses the desperate need to go beyond band-aid solutions.
- Finally, John Oliver looks into credit reports and other background checks - and highlights how information which is useless at best and grossly inaccurate at worse is serving to keep people from finding work, housing and other necessities of life:
- Scott Vrooman rightly makes the point that increased wealth at the top tends to splash outside a country's borders rather than trickling down. And CBC News reports on how that process has been facilitated by KPMG and other firms wining and dining executives of the Canada Revenue Agency who are supposed to be ensuring their clients' contribution to a fair society.
- Paul Krugman describes the symptoms of robber-baron stagnation - which all too closely match the state of the U.S.' economy. And Ian Welsh outlines an economy which would serve the interests of people rather than profiteers.
- Unfortunately, the Libs seem bent on pushing the economics of destruction - not only by pushing more arms sales abroad, but also by looking to buy into another round of Star Wars missile defence schemes.
- Laurence Mathieu-Leger and Ashifa Kassam write about the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat and elsewhere. And Charlie Angus discusses the desperate need to go beyond band-aid solutions.
- Finally, John Oliver looks into credit reports and other background checks - and highlights how information which is useless at best and grossly inaccurate at worse is serving to keep people from finding work, housing and other necessities of life:
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
- John Ross makes the case for a focus on the social determinants of health in all kinds of public policy-making:
- Scott Vrooman points out that for all the bleating over relatively small budget numbers, there are far more important deficits that we should be addressing - including the glaring gap between any progress to limit greenhouse gas emissions and the steps needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. And Robert DeConto and David Pollard find that the feedback loops created by a warming planet in fact look to be substantially worse than typically assumed.
- Solomon Israel canvasses how the system of low-threshold arrests and peace bonds set up under Bill C-51 (and seemingly to be left in place by the Libs) raises severe civil rights concerns without making anybody safer.
- Finally, Jennifer Ditchburn writes about the future of open government in Canada. And Mike de Souza catches the National Energy Board deleting a sensitive internal e-mail.
- John Ross makes the case for a focus on the social determinants of health in all kinds of public policy-making:
Many studies show that if you work long hours in low-paying jobs and live paycheque to paycheque, constant life stresses have far more negative health effects than the causes listed on public health posters.- Meanwhile, the Toronto Star calls for a concerted effort at all levels of government to address the needs of precarious workers. And Lois Weiner sees the Chicago Teachers Union's strike as an important step in challenging fundamentally unfair laws designed to silence workers.
Life for many Canadians is more complicated than recommending a “healthy lifestyle.”
Society broadly needs to change the circumstances for all members of our society to enable people to have options and live differently. In our small province we could actually achieve this.
Donald Berwick, former CEO of the Institutes of Healthcare Improvement, said, “Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must — must — redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition re-distributional.”
...
How about this radical suggestion?
Start spending proportionally less on disease care and more on addressing the inequities of the determinants of health (and disease)?
‘Quality health care’ should be access to equitable income distribution, education, employment, food and housing security. That is not currently the case.
- Scott Vrooman points out that for all the bleating over relatively small budget numbers, there are far more important deficits that we should be addressing - including the glaring gap between any progress to limit greenhouse gas emissions and the steps needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. And Robert DeConto and David Pollard find that the feedback loops created by a warming planet in fact look to be substantially worse than typically assumed.
- Solomon Israel canvasses how the system of low-threshold arrests and peace bonds set up under Bill C-51 (and seemingly to be left in place by the Libs) raises severe civil rights concerns without making anybody safer.
- Finally, Jennifer Ditchburn writes about the future of open government in Canada. And Mike de Souza catches the National Energy Board deleting a sensitive internal e-mail.
Sunday, February 07, 2016
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading.
- Heather Stewart discusses the possibility of a 20-hour work week to better distribute both work and income. And without going that far, Andrew Jackson suggests that our public policy priorities should include a needed shift in time on the clock from people who are working excessive hours to ones who lack for work:
- Alan Broadbent and Elizabeth McIsaac call for Toronto to start funding its poverty reduction plan. And the Star argues that we should make affordable access to the Internet available to everybody as a necessary element of social participation.
- Michael Geist optimistically offers some suggestions as to how the Libs could deal with the Trans-Pacific Partnership now that they've signed it without consultation, while Scott Vrooman laments their apparent intentions of ignoring Canadians' concerns. And Erik Loomis offers some valid concerns about the TPP from a U.S. perspective.
- Finally, Patricia Lane discusses how a proportional electoral system could lead to far better governance for Canada.
- Heather Stewart discusses the possibility of a 20-hour work week to better distribute both work and income. And without going that far, Andrew Jackson suggests that our public policy priorities should include a needed shift in time on the clock from people who are working excessive hours to ones who lack for work:
Today, the job market is even more sharply polarized between those who are unemployed or underemployed (such as the one in four part time workers who want more hours), and those who are employed in mainly full-time and permanent jobs who often work very long hours. Data from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey (CANSIM Table 282-0154) tell us that in any given week, one in five workers (21%) worked overtime (defined as hours in excess of normally scheduled hours) for an average of 8.2 hours, or more than one extra day per normal work week.- Josh Eidelson discusses Bernie Sanders' sharp critique of welfare plans which try to coerce people into dead-end jobs. Bill Curry reports on Jean-Yves Duclos' openness to a basic income at the federal level. And Stanislas Jourdain notes that Quebec is now working on developing a guaranteed income for its citizens.
Unpaid overtime, mainly worked by salaried professionals, not least in public services, affects 11% of all employees. Paid overtime, mainly worked by hourly paid blue collar workers in industries like construction, transportation manufacturing and resources, affects 9% of all workers. These numbers have increased a bit since the late 1990s.
Theoretically, redistribution of working time could all but wipe out both unemployment and involuntary part-time employment, assuming a perfect overlap of skills and needed experience between those working long hours and those working no or less than desired hours. While this is unrealistic, redistribution of working time could still put a significant dent in the unemployment rate.
...
More use of work sharing today could help cushion the impact of the slump in resource prices on jobs in the hard hit mineral and energy industries. Even today, many workers in the Alberta oil and gas industry regularly work long hours. There is growing interest in using work sharing to avoid layoffs, and, even more creatively, government, employers and unions might develop programs to use temporarily reduced working hours for training in order to upgrade workers skills which will be needed in the next upturn.
The new Liberal government should also consider the many proposals which have been made over the years to amend the federal labour code so as to limit very long hours of work and to provide employees with more flexible working time options.
- Alan Broadbent and Elizabeth McIsaac call for Toronto to start funding its poverty reduction plan. And the Star argues that we should make affordable access to the Internet available to everybody as a necessary element of social participation.
- Michael Geist optimistically offers some suggestions as to how the Libs could deal with the Trans-Pacific Partnership now that they've signed it without consultation, while Scott Vrooman laments their apparent intentions of ignoring Canadians' concerns. And Erik Loomis offers some valid concerns about the TPP from a U.S. perspective.
- Finally, Patricia Lane discusses how a proportional electoral system could lead to far better governance for Canada.
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