Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jamelle Bouie offers a reminder that Donald Trump's assertion of the power of a dictator-for-life is based on his winning an election by electoral margins then embarking on a constant stream of reviled plans. Greg Sargent discusses polling showing that challenges to Trump's supposed economic prowess are proving particularly effective, while Gabe Ortiz points out that MAGA attacks on immigrants are a major cause of rising food prices. And Brian Beutler notes that for Democrats in the U.S. as for governments around the world, there's no point in trying to strike deals with a regime which considers itself entitled to thumb its nose at them. 

- James Hardwick highlights how financial speculators have set up a debt bomb which will eventually be blamed on (and directed toward) Canadian consumers. And John Anderson offers a reminder that postal banking has historically been a crucial part of the national infrastructure which has allowed Canada to develop - and is only being ruled out now due to the Libs' insistence that Canada Post not look for ways to better serve the public. 

- John Woodside writes that Mark Carney's attempt to address climate change through the morality and decency of the financial sector has proven as comically ineffective as one would expect, while Elizabeth May notes that Carney has abandoned climate policy altogether now that he holds power. Jocelyn Timperley discusses some of the most effective actions which are possible at the individual level, but Isaac Callan and Colin D'Mello report on on Doug Ford's dirty transportation policies as a prime example of governments sabotaging their already-insufficent climate plans. And Markham Hislop discusses yet another example of the oil sector slashing jobs while still demanding public policy concessions in order to extract massive profits: 

- Finally, Simon Enoch rightly calls out arsonists like Danielle Smith and Scott Moe for pushing separatism as a distraction from their working against their citizens. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ed Broadbent discusses how economic equality is a precondition to freedom for the majority of the population. Chris McGreal reviews Angus Deaton's book on the role of the corporatist assumptions of economists in fomenting a war on the poor. And John McDonnell warns that Keir Starmer appears to be hoping for his opponents to hand him the UK's next election while neglecting the need for policy that would actually improve the material conditions of the working class. 

- Benjamin Shinger reports on the IEA's latest study concluding that fossil fuel consumption will peak in 2030 even without any policy steps to advance the transition to cleaner energy. And Fiona Harvey reports on a UN report calling for an end to new fossil fuel exploration by that time. 

- Simon Enoch and Charles Smith discuss the cynical political calculation behind the Moe government's use of the notwithstanding clause to attack trans children, while Trudy Keil points out the distractions included in the legislation to obfuscate the reality that its only real effect is to further endanger vulnerable youth. And the Economist offers its own take on Scott Moe's choice to import the U.S.' culture wars to Canada. 

- Finally, Adam Nichols reports on the contents of a leaked white nationalists' manual confirming the violent intent of the racist right. And Ryan Meili offers his take on how to respond to reactionaries. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Meara Conway examines the absolute frivolousness of the Saskatchewan Party's Ottawa-bashing, while Stephen Magusiak offers a reminder of the oil-backed astroturf project behind Alberta sovereignty messaging (and its Saskatchewan copycats). And Simon Enoch discusses Scott Moe's choice to keep underfunding public services even when the province has more money than it knows what to do with. 

- Meanwhile, Sheila Block, Randy Robinson and Ricardo Tranjan point out that Doug Ford has chosen to "balance" Ontario's budget by starving public services which are already on the brink of collapse. And Helena Pamic discusses how food banks are having to serve a growing share of Ontario's working class as the necessities of life become increasingly unaffordable.

- Adam McKay rightly points out that we're continuing to fail to treat the climate crisis as an emergency even as its direct effects become all the more frequent and stark. And Andrew Nikiforuk writes that by any reasonable measure, the skyrocketing price tag on the climate-busting Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would be treated as a massive scandal.

- Finally, Timothy Noah discusses how the Republicans (who of course set the agenda for Canada's Cons and their right-wing allies) have become unabashed cheerleaders for the exploitation of child labour.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Kelsey Piper writes about the U.S.' memory-holing of the successes of a vaccine program which resulted in exceptionally quick development and distribution of effective COVID vaccines (and should have set a precedent for future pandemic planning). 

- Dustin Cook and Mike Hager note that while Doug Ford tries to claim there's no alternative to turning surgeries into a profit center, B.C. is instead achieving actual improvements by investing its public health care system. And Ryan McGreal discusses how the structure of Canadian health care - including the concessions to profit-seeking baked in from the start - is facilitating the push to privatize. 

- Meanwhile, Richard Murphy points out that one-time lump sums being offered by the UK's Cons as a substitute for fair wages are intended only to lock workers into longer-term reductions in real pay. And Jeremy Appel writes about new CCPA research showing that the largest beneficiary of inflation in Canada has been the resource extraction section - which has seen massive windfall profits while passing virtually nothing along to workers. 

- Max Fawcett discusses how Danielle Smith is lying to Albertans about a just transition in order to keep public policy skewed toward the continued enrichment of oil and gas tycoons. And Hannah Ritchie points out the absurdity of spin attempting to justify continued reliance on dirty energy (and environmental destruction associated with its extraction) by complaining about the far lesser amount of mining required to supply clean alternatives. 

- Simon Enoch points out a couple of prime examples of Saskatchewan's corporate-owned politicians substituting meaningless words for policy which does anything to benefit people - including the Moe government's publicity blitz around the word "sustainable" in lieu of any plan to build an economy which is consistent with anything short of climate disaster. 

- Finally, Cat Zakrzewski, Cristiano Lima and Drew Harwell report on what the U.S. House of Representatives' January 6 committee learned about the actions of social media giants in allowing violent rhetoric to appease the alt-right. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Olha Puhach, Benjamin Meyer and Isabella Eckerle examine what we've learned about viral shedding from the COVID pandemic so far, while Bhanvi Satija reports on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' warning that we may face plenty more dangerous mutations if we keep pretending the pandemic is in the past. And British Columbia's lessons learned report (PDF) offers at least a somewhat substantial review of what governments need to be doing in order to be able to ensure public health during an emergency.

- Kate Bueckert reports on the continued expansion of food banks which were supposed to be a temporary relief measure, not a long-term alternative to an adequate standard of living. 

- Pratyush Dayal discusses the wave of Saskatchewan residents being evicted from housing due to cost pressures far beyond their control. And Jen St. Denis writes about the supports needed to keep people from falling into homelessness.

- Doug Cuthand writes that we should be funding safe consumption sites to reduce the harm from drug use - and not lending any credence to the politically-motivated messages of the anti-social parties bent on attacking them. And Euan Thompson, Ginetta Salvalaggio and Petra Schulz add supportive housing and safe supply to the list of policies which can end the drug fatality crisis.

- Finally, Simon Enoch offers a reminder that the Moe government's plans to shutter Saskatchewan's SLGA liquor stores represents the continuation of a longstanding policy of undermining public institutions, not a result of market forces. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the lives lost to COVID-19 in Ontario workplaces and the deliberate choice by employers and governments to enable that outcome. And Carly Weeks reports that children's hospitals are having to brace for yet another wave of respiratory illnesses while all public health measures have been eliminated. 

- David Wallace-Wells writes about both the implausibility of avoiding catastrophic climate change, and the possibility of a transition to what's on the other side. 

- Padraig Moran reports on the record grocery profits being taken by a corporate oligopoly which is pretending not to be responsible for soaring food prices. And Sharif Hassan reports on the increasing number of people relying on food banks to fill in the gap in their ability to pay for the essentials of life. 

- Gordon Cleveland examines the progress Canada is making toward a national system of early learning and child care, while noting the need to ensure additional funding and support goes to workers.

- Finally, Simon Enoch offers his take on Scott Moe's preposterous excuse for a position on federalism. But if anybody thought there was a line of absurdity or sociopathy that Moe and his government wouldn't cross...it's time to think again. 

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Umair Irfan discusses the importance of getting COVID-19 booster shots - particularly the bivalent versions better targeted toward newer strains - in order to help limit the damage from a pandemic which is otherwise being allowed to wreak havoc with little restraint. And Keeanga Yahmatta-Taylor points out how parents and teachers bear the brunt of politically-oriented refusals to allow schools to close where necessary to protect public health.

- Simon Enoch discusses how the oil industry's propaganda and rage farming birthed the Flu Trux Klan. And Christopher Bonasia notes that while the fertilizer lobby is trying to disavow its connections to the convoy which laid siege to Ottawa, it's still planting its messaging firmly in the realm of denialist disinformation.

- Justin Ling examines some of Danielle Smith's more appalling public positions which were either overlooked or accepted as she ascended to power in Alberta. And Tyler Kingkade, Ben Goggin, Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny report on the roots of the Republicans' talking point about litter boxes in classrooms - though it's especially telling that to the extent there's even a hint of reality to the claim, it flows directly from the Republicans' own fanaticism in pushing a gun culture where the prevalence of school shootings requires classrooms to be provisioned for what should be unthinkable. 

- Finally, Sisonke Mismanga discusses how the combination of tax giveaways to the rich and shrinking opportunities for the working class is exacerbating Australia's class divide. And Katie Verigin points out how Canadian consumers stand to be further squeezed by a settlement which will allow businesses to charge fees for credit card use (without any expectation that they'll lower base prices accordingly).

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Adam Kleczkowski examines the effectiveness of COVID-19 interventions two years into the pandemic, while noting the importance of applying the precautionary principle in the face of uncertain but severe risks. Jillian Horton discusses how our aversion to thinking about danger has been exploited by the forces seeking to eliminate any protection against an ongoing pandemic, while Umair Haque highlights the devastating effects of COVID on the brain which we're just beginning to understand. And Lisa Steacy reports on the recognition by British Columbia Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender that the elimination of masking rules creates disproportionate and discriminatory risk for vulnerable populations.  

- Ketan Joshi reminds us of the role that oil and gas have played in building up Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. Richie Assaly reports on the reality that the best means of disempowering dictators is to stop relying on the non-renewable resources they control. And Greg Muttitt discusses the reality that all countries need to be working on phasing out fossil fuel extraction and use in order to avert catastrophic results. 

- Meanwhile, Matt Simon discusses the climate threat posed by the greenhouse gases which may soon be released by the melting of undersea permafrost. And Christy Climenhaga reports on the projections showing a future of increasingly widespread and severe droughts in Saskatchewan as another consequence of a climate breakdown.

- Finally, Robert Reich writes that raising interest rates won't help to avoid inflation caused by supply chain disruptions and corporate profiteering - but will ensure that working people are faced with wage stagnation and a recession along with all the other forces already arrayed against them. And Simon Enoch warns Newfoundland and Labrador against following the path of austerity and privatization which is making Saskatchewan and other conservative-controlled jurisdictions unliveable for so many. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Phil Tank calls out the Moe government for concluding that Saskatchewan's citizens should be deprived of the information we need to make decisions about risk. Zak Vescera reveals that the province crossed thresholds for a medical triage protocol due to Moe's disregard for public health in 2021, but stopped just short of actually activating it. And Adam Miller talks to experts about how the failure to test and trace leaves us all the more vulnerable to more (and worse) variants, while Jennifer Lee discusses the folly of eliminating public health protections as the BA.2 Omicron variant becomes the dominant strain.

- Meanwhile, Jonathan Jarry writes that the fearmongering about kids being harmed by wearing masks to protect themselves and others has proven to lack any basis in reality.

- Jamie Henn writes about the danger that the oil and gas lobby will use Russia's invasion of Ukraine to lock in climate-destroying fossil fuel infrastructure. And Bill McKibben writes that the way to defeat Vladimir Putin and other resource-fueled dictators is to ensure nobody has to rely on their supplies of non-renewable energy, while Roger Harrabin reports on the UK government's recognition that increased use of renewables would be better for consumer prices as well.

- Fiona Harvey reports on the IEA's recognition that fugitive methane emissions could be eliminated at no net cost (and indeed as a benefit to many producers). And Markham Hislop points out the IEA's conclusion that methane emissions are 70% higher than reported - even as the Jason Kenneys aof the world insist on refusing to allow them to be fully monitored or regulated. 

- Finally, Saamia Ahmad, Simon Enoch and Inez Hillel discuss the false promise that privatization somehow saves money, rather than adding transaction costs as well as an expensive profit share to be handed over to the corporate sector.

Friday Evening Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Alex Hemingway examines how a wealth tax could raise substantially more money than assumed by the PBO. And Caterina Lindman writes about the benefits of a basic income guarantee funded by progressive taxes.

- Stefan Nikola discusses how shortened work weeks are at long last - if still gradually - becoming more common. And Kaitlyn Matulewicz and Iglika Ivanova highlight how paid sick leave can help to close the gender gap (among other important benefits).

- Simon Enoch weighs in on the Saskatchewan Party's belated recognition that obsessing over balanced budgets is foolhardy in the midst of a health crisis. And Trish Hennessy offers a few reasons for hope as a path out of the coronavirus pandemic comes into sight.

- But lest there be any doubt about the consequences of relaxing public health measures too soon, Kate Kelland reports on research showing that the B.1.1.7 variant is more deadly as well as more susceptible to transmission - which makes it alarming that Regina is seeing that variant become the dominant strain of COVID-19, with dozens of cases confirmed and even more presumed. And James Keller and Ivan Semeniuk report on Jason Kenney's preposterous plan to prioritize social conservatives' vaccine choice over effective distribution to as many people as possible.

- Finally, Yvonne Hii and Henny Yeung discuss how COVID-19 has only confirmed the importance ensuring parents have access to child care.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren and Michael Stepner study a myriad of issues about COVID-19 and its public reaction - with a focus on how social insurance relieving against the effect of closures has accomplished far more (both for well-being and for economic indicators) than attempts to force businesses to stay open. And Brad DeLong points out the folly of austerity even under normal conditions - and its particular danger in a time of crisis.

- Adam Miller and Amina Zafar discuss the lessons that we should be taking from the Canadian provinces which have best controlled the coronavirus. Laura Glowacki highlights the role that indoor air plays in the community spread of COVID-19. And Zoe Hyde writes that there's little evidence to suggest a lower level of infection or transmission among children as opposed to adults.

- David Hughes highlights the factors which make the TMX pipeline an absolutely useless endeavour at this point. And Mia Rabson reports on the Canada Energy Regulator's conclusion that the same applies to Keystone XL.

- Meanwhile, Simon Enoch weighs in on Saskatchewan's pitiful placement as the least energy-efficient Canadian province.

- Finally, Jonathan Watts discusses the rise of land inequality among farm operations around the globe. And Marc Montgomery points out how that phenomenon is playing out in Canada's prairie provinces. 

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Resource Movement offers a handy primer on wealth taxes (and the value of applying them).

- Jean-Benoit Legault reports on new research showing that pregnant Inuit women are exposed to significantly more contaminants than their counterparts elsewhere.

- David Climenhaga discusses how generations of conservatives have warped any discussion of energy issues in Western Canada by vilifying the National Energy Program and anybody even tangentially associated with it - even when that means blatantly lying to the public. But Simon Enoch notes that with the rest of the world moving past any acceptance of petropropaganda and austerity politics, this year's Saskatchewan election may have been the last one under the province's current conventional wisdom. 

- Meanwhile, David Sirota and Andrew Perez report on the oil industry's embarrassment at its own actions, as one company going bankrupt is setting a precedent by attempting to conceal its political donations from the bankruptcy process.

- Finally, Angus Reid finds overwhelming support among the Canadian public for a universal pharmacare program. And Saad Ahmed makes the case to build our drug manufacturing capacity in order to assure that supply limitations don't prevent people from getting the medicine they need.

Friday Afternoon Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Karon Liu offers a basic primer on how to avoid contributing to the second wave of the coronavirus. And the Canadian Teachers' Federation surveys how educators and students have been - and continue to be - affected by COVID-19.

- CUPE is encouraging Saskatchewan's votes to cast their ballots with an eye toward the importance of public services. Adam Hunter reports on the doubling of Saskatchewan's MRI wait-list as the Sask Party's move toward privatized health care predictably did nothing to improve access in the public system. And CBC News reports on the likelihood that Scott Moe's choice to intercept federal CERB funding will end up leaving people homeless.  

- Brian Bethune talks to Michael Sandel about how the language of meritocracy contributes to ongoing (and indeed increasing) inequity.

- Finally, Emily Eaton and Simon Enoch examine how a move toward a renewable Regina can align with the goals of reducing poverty and inequality. And Seth Klein discusses the need to deal with the climate crisis and inequality together:

(C)limate policy purists are wrong. The rebuttal is two-fold.

First, these issues are actually deeply intertwined. Lower income people and countries are more vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. Those with higher incomes and wealth have greater GHG emissions. Conversely, many climate action policies impact lower-income people harder, and thus these impacts must be mitigated.

And second, it is only by linking these issues that we win over and mobilize broad popular support. We cannot ask people to separate their fears about the climate crisis from the other affordability anxieties, economic pressures and systemic crises they face. At a very basic level, inequality undermines trust that “we are all in this together.”

Many doubt that the task at hand will be undertaken in a manner that is fair. It is hard to rally the public if many believe the rich are merely buying their way out of making change—fortifying their homes, walling their communities or purchasing carbon offsets in the hope that others will lower their actual emissions. Equally troubling is a cultural narrative that sees climate action as part of an elite project in which the poor or those currently working in the fossil fuel sector are expendable. 

...

High levels of inequality undermine social cohesion and promote social divisions, rather than building the social and political trust needed to chart a future based on a sense of shared fate. If climate policies are not perceived as fair, public support will not be sustained, and political determination will shrink accordingly.

The more a robust climate action plan is linked to an exciting plan to tackle poverty and inequality, along with a hopeful and convincing jobs plan, the more we maximize public support. Plus, it’s the right thing to do.

 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Simon Enoch studies how P3 projects result only in public money subsidizing private profits. And a new report from the Canadian Labour Congress warns about the dangerous consequences of privatizing public goods and services.

- Amanda Follett Hosgood examines how the authority of courts is being used to protect corporate interests at the expense of people's freedoms of speech and assembly. And Carol Linnitt exposes the predictable astroturfing behind the anti-environment Canada Action, which falsely claimed to be a "grassroots" organization while being funded by the oil industry.

- Richard Denniss and Matt Grudnoff study the effects of free child care as both a form of immediate stimulus, and a means for women to fully participate in a sustainable economy. But Bryce Covert highlights the risk that in its absence, women will be left behind in a transition to an environment of increased work from home.

- Robert Russo argues that a path to permanent residency is essential to protecting the rights of migrant farm workers.

- Finally, Seth Klein makes the case to ensure young people have opportunities to shape their future - including by being able to vote.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Heather Scoffield points out some of the people who have been systematically excluded from any discussion about what steps need to be taken next in response to the coronavirus pandemic, while Althia Raj focuses on self-employed Canadians in particular. Simon Enoch is rightly aghast at the Saskatchewan Party's development of a "reopening" plan which makes no mention of, and fails to take into account, the needs of workers. And Laird Cronk writes about the importance of ensuring that the new society we build on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic recognizes and values the contributions of essential workers.

- Moira Walsh and Omar Mosleh report on the court ruling Ontario nurses had to win in order to be able to determine which personal protective equipment was required to keep them safe in long-term care homes. And Noam Scheiber and Michael Corkery report on the lawsuit seeking to ensure that Smithfield workers aren't ordered to endanger themselves and their colleagues.

- Jesse Drucker exposes some of the handouts to big business and the wealthy buried in the terms of the U.S.' meager relief packages. Emily Flitter and Peter Eavis document some of the corporations which have demanded bailouts after draining what should have been more than sufficient cash reserves. And Karl Nerenberg discusses the Libs' choice to make public funding available to tax haven abusers, rather than ensuring that businesses benefit from public supports only if they've paid their fair share.

- Finally, Chuck Collins notes that the world's wealthiest people are so removed from everybody else that they've managed to accumulate even more while most people have been in lockdown. And Alex Hemingway makes the case for an excess profits tax to ensure that businesses can't retain the spoils of profiteering based on a public emergency.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- The New York Times' editorial board highlights how many of the people looking to defend a habitable planet from environmental destruction are being met with state-assisted violence in response. And Oxfam examines how Australian mining companies are exploiting west Africa to the tune of billions of dollars of resources without any benefit going to citizens.

- AnnaMaria Andriotis, Ken Brown and Shane Shifflett discuss the plight of families borrowing more and more to give the appearance of keeping up a middle-class lifestyle which can't be supported by their income. And Raina Delisle examines the practical difficulties facing parents trying to get by at the poverty line.

- Margot Roosevelt reviews Steven Greenhouse's Beaten Down, Worked Up as highlighting the accomplishments of unions in checking corporate abuses - and the need for a strengthened labour movement to continue that role. 

- Simon Enoch comments on the long-term cost of P3s which is all too eagerly foisted on future generations by short-sighted and self-serving politicians. Dan Planeto takes note of the Sask Party's constant privatization of Saskatchewan's public services. And Vaughn Palmer writes about the need for far more investigation into the B.C. Libs' giveaway of public lands to developers who haven't even bothered to pay the cut-rate sticker price.

- Finally, James MacLeod writes that Canada's grossly inefficient enforcement mechanisms make it far too easy for businesses to avoid compensating citizens for severe privacy breaches.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.


- Simon Enoch examines Scott Moe's bait-and-switch when it comes to carbon taxes, including his utter refusal to offer any other plan for province-wide emission reductions as a substitute for consumer-based carbon pricing. And Aaron Wherry points out how any carbon tax falls far short of the actual social cost of carbon. 

- Alissa Quart offers a reminder that the perceived necessity of second jobs and side gigs is a sign of a broken economic system which makes unfair demands of workers. And the Economist charts the pessimism many Americans have about the course of the next few decades when it comes to their standard of living, their health and their environment.

- Fay Faraday argues that Canada needs to stop exploiting migrant workers. But Bill Curry writes that the Libs are instead following the Trump/Scheer plan to strip rights and protections away from immigrants, including by slipping a blanket denial of refugee claims into an omnibus budget bill.

- Finally, Geoff Dembicki discusses Jason Kenney's choice to make his UCP into a breeding ground for bigotry. And Hugh MacKenzie studies the effect of the UCP's platform (or Kenney's even more austerian promises), concluding that its anti-social cuts would lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Rupert Neate reports on the latest Credit Suisse study showing that wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few ultra-rich individuals. And Lawrence Mishel and Julia Wolfe take note of a similar trend for U.S. wages, particularly when it comes to the soaring amount being claimed by CEOs.

- Sharon Treat discusses how the USCMA only figures to put large corporations even further beyond the reach of any regulation in the public interest. And Marie Aspiazu points out its effect on digital rights, including its extension of already-excessive copyright terms.

- The Star's editorial board takes a look at the costs of Doug Ford's cancellation of Ontario's cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. And both Lars Osberg and the C.D. Howe Institute make the case for full fee-and-dividend systems - though it's still worth raising the value of ensuring that some money collected as a result of carbon pollution actually gets applied to reducing the scope of the problem.

- Finally, Simon Enoch argues that climate sanctions may be needed to ensure that the worst offenders don't undermine any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And George Monbiot writes that in the absence of sorely-needed government action to avert a total climate breakdown, there looks to be little alternative but civil disobedience.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Tiffany Crawford interviews Kirsten Zickfeld about the contradiction between new fossil fuel infrastructure and any serious attempt to reverse our climate breakdown. Murray Mandryk offers a reminder of the local costs of climate change. Fatima Syed highlights how Doug Ford's supposed climate plan consists of nothing more than a determination to scrap anything which has already been working, while the Calgary Herald's editorial board calls out both Ford and Jason Kenney for their utter lack of anything constructive to contribute. And Simon Enoch recognizes that the new strategy of climate defeatism only highlights the urgency of immediate action:

We can certainly lament the fact that the discourse on climate action has sunk so low that shrugging our shoulders has become a valid argument from our political leaders. But we can also take solace in the fact that the opponents of real climate action have been forced to make such a terrifyingly prosaic argument. It means they recognize that their previous arguments of denial and delay are running out os steam. The realities of global warming are becoming too evident to even entertain denial, while the speed of climate change is making delay look more and more reckless. Urgent, radical action will soon be the only reasonable means forward to a sustainable future. The only response the defeatists can muster is to foreclose that future altogether. Let climate defeatism be the sad last gasp of those who have stood in the way of climate progress for the past thirty years and are about to be swept aside by history.

- George Eaton points out that the UK Conservatives' austerity (like that of other governments) has failed even on its own terms. Jerry Dias responds to Ford's attacks on a fair minimum wage by noting that there hasn't been any meaningful tradeoff between real gains in wages for workers, and the jobs which the business lobby wrongly claims to be at risk. And Simon Lewsen comments on the shameful presence of hunger in the midst of Canada's wealth - including the reality that food may be the most easily-cut expense item in households living in poverty. 

- Tim Pearson discusses how governments elected under proportional representation systems are more likely to take care of both our environment and our economy, rather than being focused solely on single-party political interests.

- Finally, Meagan Day looks at the Trump administration as a prime example of the dangers of putting corporate autocrats in charge of the public sector.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Simon Enoch challenges Scott Moe's misleading rhetoric on equalization by pointing out that Saskatchewan could easily afford child care and other programs which Moe criticizes other provinces for funding - if only the Saskatchewan Party hadn't blown the proceeds of a boom on tax slashing and vanity projects.

- Christian Weller examines the results of the U.S.' latest tests of supply-side dogma, and finds that it continues to fail miserably:

On June 7, the Federal Reserve released its latest data on corporate finances, providing the first look at what happened after the passage of the tax cuts.* The supply-side arguments do not hold up; corporations have gotten a lot more money, but that additional cash has not translated into increased domestic investments.
...
(I)nvestments took a back seat in the first quarter of 2018. Capital expenditures equaled 178.6 percent of after-tax profits in that period, meaning that companies borrowed money to invest. This was down from 191.2 percent at the end of 2007. If, in the first quarter of 2018, corporations had invested the same amount relative to after-tax profits as they did at the end of 2017, they would have had an additional $58 billion to spend on manufacturing plants, office buildings, and equipment such as computers, heavy machinery, and trucks.

Yet, rather than investing the money in this way, corporations used it to keep shareholders happy. In the first quarter of 2018, the share of after-tax profits that went to net equity issues—share repurchases above and beyond new share issuances—equaled 37.5 percent, up from 32.7 percent at the end of 2017. This acceleration indicates that corporations spent an additional $12 billion in the first quarter of 2018, for a total of $257 billion, in order to buy back their own stocks. Such a buyback raises the prices of a company’s shares and boosts the wealth of its shareholders.

...
Corporations continue to be awash in money; the 2017 tax cuts just made it a lot easier for them to get that money. Yet the cash is not benefiting the economy in the form of increased investments. It is therefore unlikely that the gains promised by supporters of supply-side economics will trickle down to workers.

- Meanwhile, Jason Joseph offers a theory that nominal economic strength is failing to boost wages in part because workers are afraid to leave their jobs for potentially higher-paying alternatives.

- Susan Lund examines the corporate debt bubble which has been inflating since the 2008 financial crisis. And John Quiggin discusses the false promises - and harmful realities - of the privatization of public services.

- Finally, Jesse Norman offers a reminder that the real Adam Smith - rather than the caricature so often presented by laissez-faire zealots - was fully aware of the need for markets to be genuinely trustworthy, rather than granted blind faith. And Aditya Chakrabortty writes about a course designed to connect the public with the basics of economic theory - and the inability of what's generally taken as a given among corporatist economists to stand up to the lived experience of citizens.