Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- David Roberts sets out the big picture surrounding the Green New Deal, as essentially nobody other than the activists supporting it has made any effort to deal with the reality of impending climate breakdown:

(T)hat’s the context here: a world tipping over into catastrophe, a political system under siege by reactionary plutocrats, a rare wave of well-organized grassroots enthusiasm, and a guiding document that does nothing but articulate goals that any climate-informed progressive ought to share.

Given all that, for those who acknowledge the importance of decarbonizing the economy and recognize how cosmically difficult it is going to be, maybe nitpicking and scolding isn’t the way to go. Maybe the moment calls for a constructive and additive spirit.

The GND remains a statement of aspirations. All the concrete work of policymaking lies ahead. There will be room for carbon prices and R&D spending and performance standards and housing density and all the rest of the vast menu of options for reducing emissions. None of those policy debates have been preempted or silenced. 

And yes, there are any number of ways it could go off the rails, politically or substantively. Everyone is free, nay, encouraged to use their critical judgment. 

But the circumstances we find ourselves in are extraordinary and desperate. Above all, they call upon all of us to put aside our egos and our personal brands and strive for solidarity, to build the biggest and most powerful social force possible behind the only kind of rapid transition that can hope to inspire other countries and forestall the worst of climate change.

- Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon highlights why the UK needs to stop subsidizing the extraction and burning of fossil fuels in developing countries.

- Adam Johnson calls out the lack of any scrutiny of an obvious scheme by the same people who have pushed wars and humanitarian atrocities on the U.S.' behalf for three decades to continue that pattern in Venezuela. And Kevin Tillman argues against yet another illegal U.S. invasion.

- Steve May comments on the willingness of Andrew Scheer and the Cons to join forces with avowed racists. labour

- Finally, Derek Thompson writes about the obsession with "workism" that pushes workers to accept perpetually deteriorating job conditions and lives based on the social expectation they'll see work as its own reward.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn and Stacy Anderson write about the lasting effects of racial and regional inequality.

- Samuel Stein discusses the lessons activists can take from New York's successful pushback against Amazon's demands for billions in public giveaways. And Joseph Stiglitz writes about the available means to ensure that multinational corporations pay their fair share.

- Von Mattias Punz points out Portugal's success after rejecting austerity in favour of social development. And Ian Hussey takes note of Alberta's increase in service-sector employment after it boosted its minimum wage (contrary to the spin of the corporate lobby).

- Finally, Christo Aivalis discusses the continued importance of unions, including their role in building democracy both in workplaces and in general:

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Matthew Desmond writes about the large number of economic and social benefits from paying workers a living wage. And Stephanie Akin reports on the significance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez walking the talk when it comes to her own staff.

- Andrew MacLeod discusses the losses the B.C. Liberals inflicted on the province's Crown corporations - and the sad reality that reporting at the time was largely ignored by the corporate media.

- Paul Willcocks highlights the absurdity of the complaints about land speculation taxes by wealthy property owners whining they have more homes and shell corporations than they can be bothered to track in the midst of a housing crisis.

- Andrew Coyne writes about the Libs' quibbling over descriptors as it becomes increasingly clear that the Trudeau PMO put the thumb on the scale to assist SNC-Lavalin in trying to escape prosecution. And Anne Kingston comments on the significance of corporate bullies and their Lib enablers refusing to take "no" for an answer.

- Meanwhile, Caroline Criado Perez points out how safety testing based on the average male creates a world that's extremely dangerous for women.

- Finally, Doug Cuthand weighs in on the rise of right-wing violence and extremism in Canada - including the role of conservative politicians in stoking their flames.

Musical interlude

PVRIS - Smoke

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jemima Kelly highlights the massive amounts of revenue lost to tax evasion and tax avoidance in the EU - while pointing out the importance of recognizing the larger scale of the former. And PIPSC makes the case for e-commerce titans to pay their fair share in taxes while profiting from their Canadian customer base.

- Brian Merchant examines how tech giants are automating expanded fossil fuel production, exacerbating both the climate crisis and the exodus of resource-sector employment. And George Monbiot discusses how to boost the efforts of the young activists leading the way toward long-delayed action to avert a climate breakdown.

- Bob Bell warns of the most recent push toward privatizing and corporatizing health care in Canada. Sherri Brown calls out the Ford PCs' callous treatment of children with autism in Ontario. Keith Gerein points out how Jason Kenney's plans to undermine public health care in Alberta are based on obviously false assumptions. But David Climenhaga wonders whether voters will be mollified enough by a meaningless headline phrase to let Kenney wreak havoc.

- David Armstrong exposes Purdue Pharma's deceptive marketing of OxyContin.

- Finally, PressProgress takes a look at the threats and broken promises underlying the United We Roll protest. And Nora Loreto warns of the dangers of a xenophobic group which has managed to unite right-wing politicians even if it looks to have been an utter flop within the general public.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Shawn Gude comments on the choice Democratic primary voters will have between candidates seeking to regulate the economic system as it stands, and those pushing to fundamentally changing it. Ian Welsh points out the importance of supporting candidates such as Bernie Sanders with a genuine commitment to the more progressive policies on offer from many corners.

- John Horgan discusses the backlash against the extreme concentration of wealth amidst increased precarity in the U.S., while Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley report on new polling again showing strong support for higher tax rates on the extremely wealthy. And Jordan Weissmann highlights how Elizabeth Warren's child care plan would boost both the economy generally, and the cause of shared and equitable development in particular.

- Larry Elliott reports on a new study showing how austerity has devastated families in the UK. And James Sillars notes that the result is a country set to reach record levels of child poverty even before it shoots itself in the foot through an attempt to distance itself from the world.

- Mat Hope exposes the disinformation campaigns used jointly by big tobacco and the oil lobby to attack any action to promote public health where it might affect short-term profits. And the Canadian Press reports on the CRTC's findings of misleading and aggressive sales tactics by the telecoms who are already overcharging Canadian customers.

- Finally, the CP also reports on new research showing that Canadian governments need to do far more to try to reduce the harm resulting from alcohol abuse - rather than promoting that harm through deregulation and downward pressure on prices as so many right-wing governments have chosen to do in the name of populist appeal.

New column day

Here, on how the choice of Scott Moe and other right-wing leaders to ally themselves with white supremacists and nativists (as seen most recently through yellow vest and United We Roll events) is as politically flawed as it is morally objectionable.

For further reading...
- Adam Hunter reported on Moe's initial willingness to have his cabinet members connected to yellow vest events. And Stephanie Taylor reported on his involvement in later events linked to the convoy which arrived in Ottawa this week.
- Samantha Beattie has examined the ensuing convoy in general, while Evan Balgord has focused in on David Selvers in particular. And Hamdi Issawi reported on the recognition of some involved that they were tied into unacceptable bigotry.
- As for what happened as United We Roll arrived in Ottawa, Issawi reported on the weak turnout and disproportionate number of right-wing politicians eager to be associated with a tiny and extreme group.
- Meanwhile, Zi-Ann Lum reported on Conservative Senator David Tkachuk's violent rhetoric. And Tamara Khandaker questioned Andrew Scheer's willingness to be linked to Faith Goldy among other hatemongers.
- And finally, Andy Toy looked into the funding which went to an organizer rather than to participants in the convoy.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Eugene Robinson writes about the need to respond to climate breakdown with ambition rather than undue hesitation. Martin Wolf rightly points out that pricing alone won't get us anywhere close to reducing carbon emissions to a sustainable level in time to avert catastrophe. And Simon Wren-Lewis argues that to the extent the cost of averting environmental catastrophe can't be funded through immediate tax revenue, it's worth dealing with through public debt.

- Daniel Aldana Cohen points out the role a massive investment in housing can play in securing both climate progress and social health. And Amy Lubik and Warren Bell make the case for a forceful move toward eliminating poverty.

- Jason Walls reports on New Zealand's plans to ensure that digital giants pay their fair share of taxes. But Elizabeth Thompson reports that the Libs instead can't be bothered even to examine their role in distorting electoral outcomes before Canadians next go to the polls.

- Nick Taylor-Vaisey highlights some of the actors complicit in SNC Lavalin's evasion of legal consequences for bribery and corruption, while Andrew Roman takes a closer look at the Libs' conflation of political decision-making and prosecutorial discretion. And Giuseppe Valiante reports on the stayed prosecution against one of the executives at the centre of its dealings in Libya.

- Finally, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions releases new poll data showing strong public support for a universal pharmacare plan.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Tucked-in cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Matt Bruenig offers up a set of proposals to help American families toward economic security. And Andrew Jackson has some suggestions to boost Canada's middle class:

(T)op-line statistics suggest that ordinary middle-class households are seeing little or no increase in their incomes even as many, especially young people, sink deeper into debt. This helps explain the rise of the populist right which has targeted (largely imaginary) tax increases as the problem, and proposes tax cuts as the solution.
...

What the Liberals have not done is improve public programs to significantly alleviate the cost burden on households through “in kind” benefits. A key example is Quebec’s child care program, which, according to a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, costs parents of an infant in Montreal just $175 a month, compared with $1,685 a month in Toronto. Yet the federal government has only very modestly increased its support for provincial child care programs based on the Quebec model.

The Liberals seem set to reject a “big bang” national pharmacare plan which would widen access to needed drugs for the uninsured, remove the need for private insurance, and lower the cost of current employer plans for employers and workers. Instead, they seems to favour a drug benefit narrowly targeted to the working poor.

When it comes to the acute shortage of affordable housing in our big cities, the best single option is to invest in high-quality, mixed income, social and co-operative housing which increases non-market supply. Yet the real estate industry lobbying to allow new buyers to go even deeper into debt seems to be gathering steam as the answer to “affordability.” The new national housing policy is not very ambitious and is just getting off the ground.

The stagnation of middle-class living standards seems set to frame the pre-election political debate over issues of affordability. Progressives should be arguing that bold public programs to meet basic needs outside of the market are needed to targeted income supplements, and certainly far preferable to tax cuts, which would inevitably mean cuts to the services we already have.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Mitrovica discusses how Justin Trudeau has fallen prey to hubris even more quickly and blatantly than his Lib predecessors. But Paul Adams warns that it will be especially difficult for a limited media presence to meaningfully challenge leaders' spin in the course of Canada's impending election campaign.

- Dennis Gruending has some questions about the "convoy" propagandizing for unfettered oil development and against minorities.

- Finally, Bob Weber reports on the combination of inconsistent analysis and convenient omissions accepted in lieu of any meaningful environmental assessment of tar sands developments.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Dion Rabouin examines the U.S.' unprecedented level of inequality and wealth concentration. And Orsetta Causa, Anna Vindics and James Browne highlight how worsening inequality around the globe has been the result of avoidable policy choices.

- But David Dayen writes that Amazon's failed attempt to extract billions of dollars as the price of setting up a headquarters in New York represents needed pushback against corporate handouts. And Jamie Merchant is optimistic that communities elsewhere will follow the precedent:

The absurdities of the Amazon deal, which enraged New Yorkers and motivated them to fight back, are globalized absurdities present in every factory, every office, every farm, and every export-processing-zone across the planet in which people are treated like cattle, offered by their governments to Amazon and other world-striding corporations as a cheap resource to be exploited. This outward looking, supranational view is already implicit in New York’s anti-Amazon movement, which, much to the company’s displeasure, broadened its perspective to encompass Amazon’s general attitude toward unionization, corporate welfare, and immigration policy. In other words, the movement’s was a holistic critique: rejecting Amazon’s values for a wholly different idea of the kind of world we want. 

Labor rights, tax justice, and the free movement of people are issues that go far beyond not just Queens, but also beyond U.S. national borders, potentially linking together communities who are struggling for the same goals in similar conditions across the world. By tying the local fight against Amazon to bigger structural problems, the Queens activists opened a window onto a transnational, anti-corporate politics in which laborers everywhere recognize their shared stake in a common fight against the corporate domination and crushing inequality of the present order.

- Susan weighs in on Jason Kenney's attack on people of "modest human capital" and the standard of living they can apparently expect - while noting the irony that Kenney himself is lacking in what his party claims should justify a higher minimum wage.

- Finally, Megan Mayhew Bergman questions why so much money is being spent purchasing and developing property which will be underwater if climate change continues on its present course. Will Bunch comments on the folly of pouring public resources into fracking which destabilizes land while polluting our planet. Christof Ruhl writes that the reduced use of plastic only adds to the foreseeable economic trends which are making oil development generally into a sucker's bet. And John Funk notes that even conservative voters in the U.S. strongly support investing in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Marshall Shepherd writes that the U.S. is facing a true national emergency in the form of climate breakdown. And Michelle Goldberg theorizes that the unlikely election and presidency of Donald Trump may open the door to a transformative response, including the possibility of the Green New Deal.

- Ed Finn argues that pharmacare should be a key issue in this year's federal election - though even before Justin Trudeau's decision to give in to big pharma, Finn would have been right to note the dangers of relying on a Lib promise to help people at the expense of corporate profits.

- Duncan McCue offers a reminder that Canada has long been a laggard in fighting corporate corruption.

- The CP reports on the Saskatchewan NDP's call to fight child hunger and poverty. Scott Moe of course couldn't be less interested when there are oil barons to be shilled for.

- Finally, Tabatha Southey comments on the Ford PCs' callous disregard for families with children with autism - both in their policy choices designed to leave children without the treatment they need, and their threats and attacks on anybody who dares point out that reality.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik and Gabrien Zucman write about the developing movement toward an economic discipline which recognizes the importance of human well-being, rather than being bound by neoliberal ideology and an assumption that GDP is the only end to be pursued.

- PressProgress examines the stranglehold on public policy enjoyed and exploited by a few major Canadian corporations. And Lana Payne discusses the problem with the concentration of wealth and power.

- Alex Paterson laments the Trudeau Libs' decision to add one more piece to a patchwork of prescription drug coverage rather than developing a national pharmacare program.

- Meanwhile, Theresa Boyle reports on the latest study showing that billions of dollars are wasted on unnecessary lab tests. And Bob Bell points out how Doug Ford appears set to hand increased profits to home care operators with no regard for the well-being of residents. 

- Finally, George Monbiot offers due credit to the young people now leading the way in building a mass movement toward action on climate change. But Jonathan Freedland argues that our reaction to the activism being led by high school students should be one of shame rather than admiration alone.

Musical interlude

The 1975 - Love It If We Made It

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The Courage Coalition makes the case for Canada to pursue a Green New Deal of its own. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood points out the intergenerational harm of leaving climate breakdown to continue unabated, while Alastair Sharp reports on a new paper as to the problem with oil companies rewarding executives for unsustainable fossil fuel dependence.

- Meanwhile, James MacLean sees the Saskatchewan Party's just-concluded carbon tax reference as a prime example of the problems with trying to use posturing in court as a substitute for reasonable policy-making.

- Laura Stampler reports that in the midst of its attempt to turn a new corporate headquarters into a reality TV show, Amazon is paying precisely zero in U.S. federal taxes. And Bryce Covert argues that other cities should follow New York's lead in rejecting corporate giveaways at the expense of the common good.

- But sadly, Tom Parkin writes that the Libs' willingness to sell out the rule of law for the benefit of SNC-Lavalin shows Canada is far from the mark. And Andrew Coyne comments on how Lib backbenchers used their committee votes to prevent any meaningful investigation.

- Finally, Hillary Hoffower and Andy Kiersz report on the yawning gap between the U.S.' minimum wage and the cost of housing. And PressProgress documents how Jason Kenney plans to make it even more difficult for Alberta workers to make a living, while Ariel Fournier reports on the particularly pernicious effects of artificially low minimum wages for young workers.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Chris Jackson presents a new Ipsos survey showing that the majority of American workers face stress issues at work. And Arthur White-Crumley reports on a spate of injuries at Evraz' Regina steel mill.

- Rob Ferguson reports on Doug Ford's attempt to ram through major health care restructuring (including a focus on privatization) without allowing the public a chance to fight back. And Elianna Lev talks to Danyaal Raza about the predictable harm from privatizing health care services.

- Meanwhile, Sherri Brown weighs in on Ford's appalling decision to limit per-child funding for autism based on the expectation that nobody deserves more of a chance than will fit into an arbitrary spending cap.

- Naomi Klein discusses the battle lines between advocates for a Green New Deal, and defenders of polluting the planet for the sake of further enriching present-day fossil fuel investors. And Marc Lee examines the future of carbon pricing in Canada.

- Finally, Craig Scott highlights how "trust us" is nowhere close to a sufficient response from Justin Trudeau as his government covers up its attempts to protect SNC-Lavalin from prosecution. And Adam Hunter reports on Ryan Meili's push for a review of Saskatchewan's dealings with SNC-Lavalin.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Patricia Cohen and Maggie Astor discuss what they perceive as the boldness of the emerging debate about taxing the wealthiest in the U.S. But John Nichols points out that even the most "radical" progressive tax plans under discussion would only restore the principles that applied through some of the country's most prosperous eras.

- Jonathan Watts reports on a new study from the Institute for Public Policy Research on the systemic environmental and economic threats posed by a climate breakdown, while Roger Harrabin emphasizes the multiple crises we're facing. And Damian Carrington takes note of the impending collapse of insect populations in particular. 

- Owen Jones highlights the need for UK Labour (among other progressive parties) to lead the charge in fighting to protect our planet from those clear and present threats. And Avi Lewis makes the case for a Canadian equivalent of the Green New Deal.

- Sharon Riley reports on the rapidly-increasing bills being foisted on the public as the Alberta oil sector abandons its responsibilities. And Justin Mikulka notes that the recent rail accident in Field, B.C. resulted from many of the same factors as the Lac-Mégantic explosion - signalling how much work still needs to be done to address threats that we know all too well. But Dawn Wolfe points out the lengths corporatist parties are going to in preventing the public interest from being considered by pointing out how Michigan Republicans have given corporate polluters a veto over any environmental regulations. 

- Finally, Anita Huberman and Hassan Yussuff offer a reminder as to how families and small businesses stand to gain from universal pharmacare. But Kelly Crowe reports on big pharma's lobbying efforts to ensure Canadians keep paying exorbitant prices out of pocket.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Toyland cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Keith Stewart writes about the determination of the oil industry to push people to vote for environmental destruction. But as an alternative, Ann Pettifor highlights the important economic and environmental progress on offer through the Green New Deal:

The Green New Deal demands major structural (governmental and inter-governmental) changes (not just behavioural change) in our approach to the ecosystem. In addition, and as in the 1930s, such change to be driven by radical structural transformation of the finance sector, and the economy. It was developed on the understanding that finance, the economy and the ecosystem are all tightly bound together. Protecting and restoring the ecosystem to balance cannot be tackled effectively without transformation of the other sectors. Financing the transformation of the economy away from its dependence on fossil fuels cannot be achieved without a transformation of the finance sector.
...
Its ambition is on a much grander scale than Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal. (Recall that his administration also faced an ecological catastrophe: the dust bowl). The climate threats we face are on a scale beyond the imagination of New Dealers. Still we must learn from Roosevelt’s administration. To tackle climate change we need simultaneously to tackle the root cause of growing toxic emissions: a self-regulating, globalised financial system that injects exponential supplies of unregulated credit into the hands of speculators and consumers. Credit that is used in turn to inflate the prices of existing assets, and to fuel consumption of the earth’s finite assets extracted via the energy of fossil fuels. Only once we switch off, regulate and moderate the “tap” of “easy money” will it be possible to regulate and “switch off” the toxic emissions of fossil fuels.

- Rebecca Burns comments on the U.S.' much-needed conversation about ensuring the rich pay their fair share. And Jonathan Chait chimes in on the failure of corporate tax slashing to provide any economic benefit.

- Meanwhile, Paul Krugman offers a reminder of the perpetual double standard on deficits and debt - which are always treated as acceptable as long as they're caused by tax cuts for the wealthy. And Robert Reich notes that Donald Trump is happy to bail out the rich while insisting that everybody else fend for themselves.

- Finally, Andrew Coyne points out the Libs' conspicuous refused to directly answer the accumulating issues with their free pass for corporate corruption. And Alex Boutilier and Alex Ballingall report on the tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts being handed out to SNC Lavalin.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Luke Savage comments on the need for progressive leaders to stand up to the interests of the uber-wealthy, rather than promising them that nothing will be done which could possible improve the position of the public. And Eric Levitz offers a reminder that the right-wing version is blowing up in the face of politicians who turned populist anger into an opportunity to tilt the balance of power even further in favour of the rich. 

- Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie offer a reminder of the dangerous effects of plastics which accumulate in bodies and ecosystems alike - including in ways most people wouldn't suspect.

- Andre Bear highlights the importance of addressing the combination of overt historical bigotry and ongoing discrimination which both places barriers in the way of Indigenous peoples, and stands in the way of nation-to-nation reconciliation. And Doug Cuthand points out the continued lack of action to address the welfare of Indigenous children.

- Meanwhile, Shenaz Kermalli calls out the Cons' politics of fear (particularly to the extent it's converted into violence) as the most important threat to Canada. And Kathleen McAuliffe examines the role of disgust as a predictor of political leanings.

- Finally, Andrew Coyne weighs in on the Libs' use of government power to hand SNC Lavalin a get-out-of-prosecution-free card.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Paul Krugman duly mocks Donald Trump's attempt to turn any discussion of social investment into a threat of "socialism":

Some progressive U.S. politicians now describe themselves as socialists, and a significant number of voters, including a majority of voters under 30, say they approve of socialism. But neither the politicians nor the voters are clamoring for government seizure of the means of production. Instead, they’ve taken on board conservative rhetoric that describes anything that tempers the excesses of a market economy as socialism, and in effect said, “Well, in that case I’m a socialist.”

What Americans who support “socialism” actually want is what the rest of the world calls social democracy: A market economy, but with extreme hardship limited by a strong social safety net and extreme inequality limited by progressive taxation. They want us to look like Denmark or Norway, not Venezuela.

And in case you haven’t been there, the Nordic countries are not, in fact, hellholes. They have somewhat lower G.D.P. per capita than we do, but that’s largely because they take more vacations. Compared with America, they have higher life expectancy, much less poverty and significantly higher overall life satisfaction. Oh, and they have high levels of entrepreneurship — because people are more willing to take the risk of starting a business when they know that they won’t lose their health care or plunge into abject poverty if they fail.

- Meanwhile, Aamna Mohdin reports on new research showing that nearly a million more young adults in the UK are living with their parents due to an economy which has kept wages stagnant while driving prices and debt upward.

- PressProgress points out the problems with the Libs' infrastructure bank which prioritizes corporate profits over the delivery and accessibility of needed services.

- Murray Mandryk discusses how Scott Moe is feeding into anti-immigrant bigotry by putting pipeline development above all else. And Sharon Kelly writes that the Keystone pipeline - one of the Saskatchewan Party's previous hobby horses - is once again spilling oil while failing to live up to promised environmental standards.

- Finally, Felicity Lawrence writes that our current food system is affecting both our health, and that of our planet.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Robyn Allan reports that the Trudeau Libs' set of Trans Mountain giveaways to the oil sector now includes billions to oil companies. And Sharmini Peries talks to Dimitri Lascaris about the Libs' willingness to enable SNC Lavalin's corruption, while Martin Patriquin notes the similarities between the latest corporate corruption and the Libs' sponsorship scandal. 

- The Center for Public Integrity examines the connection between the Republicans' tax giveaways to the rich, and payment for services rendered by major donors. And David Dayen points out how Donald Trump is continuing to attack the poor by making it easier for payday lenders to prey on the financially vulnerable.

- The CCPA's report card highlights how the Saskatchewan Party is failing families in need of accessible child care. And in case there was any doubt what we're losing as a result, Jenny Peng and Tessa Vikander examine the benefits for families from British Columbia's new provincial child care plan.

- Finally, Jay Pitter interviews Mirlo Liendo about the lasting effects of childhood poverty and precarity. And David Olive discusses how a basic income produces economic as well as social benefits.

Musical interlude

Omnia feat. Danyka Nadeau - For You

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Eric Holthaus writes that the Green New Deal which looks to be at the centre of Democratic policy development offers an important opportunity for the U.S. to make amends with a world bearing the brunt of its past pollution. But Rick Salutin discusses how the coup on behalf of the resource sector in Venezuela (with the U.S. and Canada playing major roles) is all about inflating corporate profits, rather than protecting human rights or democracy.

- Fatima Syed reports on Doug Ford's plan to stop tracking carbon pollution to paper over the inevitable effects of his elimination of any climate change plan. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board calls Ford out - albeit too late - for promising that slashing services will do anything but harm the public.

- Luke Savage highlights why any plan for vital public services needs to be aimed toward universal access, rather than stopping at "affordability":

The word “affordable” appeared some thirty-one times in the 2016 Democratic Party platform, in reference to policy areas ranging from housing and college tuition to childcare and finance (for comparison, “middle class,” that hallowed floating signifier, appeared only sixteen times).

Its omnipresence in political language makes a certain intuitive sense. Life for many Americans is, after all, dominated by institutions that make things more expensive by design: health insurers offering pricey packages for even the most basic coverage; telecom and energy giants imposing inscrutable new rates and fees on customers trying to maintain their cell service, keep the lights on, or not freeze to death in the winter; schools making themselves ever more exclusive through higher tuition; landlords raising the rents at each and every opportunity.
...
Pushes to make vital public goods such as health care or education “affordable” — whether well-intentioned or deliberately misleading — still invariably imply a transaction taking place between a seller and a consumer: the dynamic of the market in its most elemental form. Even if the good in question does become cheaper (and therefore easier for more people to access), the basic dynamic is maintained and the good remains a commodity to be bought and sold rather than a universal right to be guaranteed and enjoyed.

This is what makes the incrementalist attitude to health care (and innumerable other policy areas) favored by some Democrats so flawed: the Left’s push for universality isn’t just a more holistic version of liberal efforts that aspire to make things more “affordable.” Its ultimate goal is to democratize social goods, removing the market altogether and extinguishing the need for anyone to worry about whether they have the requisite funds to see a doctor, acquire education, put their children in a safe and caring environment during working hours, or sleep with a roof over their heads.

- Finally, Paul Wells discusses the need for a public inquiry into Justin Trudeau's interference in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin and its executives for illegal donations largely directed toward the Libs' own coffers.

New column day

Here (via PressReader), on the U.S.' long-overdue conversation about progressive taxes on extreme incomes and wealth - and the need for Canada to follow suit.

For further reading...
- Matthew Yglesias has offered useful background on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' high-end income tax proposal, Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal, Bernie Sanders' estate tax plan, and the strong public support for the ideas. And Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman respond (PDF) to critics of wealth taxes generally, while Noah Smith compares the options.
- Lawrence Martin discusses the U.S.' newfound interest in ensuring the rich pay their fair share. Farhad Manjoo questions whether the level of wealth and inequality inherent in billionaire status can ever be justified.
- Paul Krugman comments on Howard Schultz' laughable attempt to manufacture a populist presidential campaign out of explicit class war on behalf of the uber-rich.
- Finally, Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison offer a reminder of how wealth and privilege tend to be self-perpetuating. And Meagan Day points out how massive inheritances are particularly unjustifiable when far too many people face severely limited opportunities.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Iglika Ivanova discusses how British Columbia can move toward eliminating poverty in its next budget.

- Patrick Maze points out the need for Saskatchewan's education system to be able to rely on stable and sufficient funding. But Alex MacPherson notes that Scott Moe has refused to benefit people even when there's federal money available to provide such basic necessities as public transportation.

- Kelvin Gawley reports on the massive public benefits from the NDP's comprehensive and universal pharmacare plan (in contrast to the Libs' watered-down attempt at corporate appeasement). 

- The Star's editorial board calls out Doug Ford's bait-and-switch which will result in funding being pulled away from the children with autism who most need it.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis reminds us of Tommy Douglas' genuine socialism - and the continued importance of holding and conveying strong social values even when they're not seen as politicall convenient:

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Crashing cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jonathan Watts interviews David Wallace-Wells about the existential threat posed by climate breakdown - and our gross failure to act in the face of a disaster of our own making:

The sense of speed comes across very strongly. It is as if people have got used to seeing the climate crisis as an old horror film with slow-lurching zombies but, in your version, the zombies are the much faster, scarier ones you see in modern horror films. You address the risks of heat death, hunger, drowning, wildfire, dying oceans, economic collapse and conflict, and suggest the climate problem driving them has super-accelerated beyond what many people think.

That is the thing that first opened my eyes to the change. When I learned the astonishing fact that more than half of the carbon we have emitted into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels was emitted in the past 25 years, that really shocked me. This means we have burned more fossil fuels since the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) than in all of the centuries before – so we have done more damage knowingly than we ever managed in ignorance. That is a horrifying fact. It also means we are engineering our own devastation practically in real time. How much will depend on how we act, how we behave, how we respond.

- And Marc Lee calls for British Columbia to take the lead in ensuring that climate action matches the severity of the crisis.

- Simon Dyer, Christopher Ragan and Blake Shaffer point out how last week's Supreme Court of Canada decision on priorities in bankruptcy does little to address the broader issue of unfunded environmental liabilities. And Andrew Nikiforuk highlights the crisis in oil and gas liabilities resulting from Alberta's past willingness to let corporations avoid paying to clean up the messes they've made.

- PressProgress offers a warning about the regressive anti-worker policies we should expect if Jason Kenney ever gets a chance to govern Alberta.

- And finally, Martin Patriquin writes that we can't expect right-wing politicians who rely on fake news to be part of the solution in trying to combat it.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- David Leonhardt points out how the upward redistribution of income has radically reshaped the U.S. for the worse. 

- Josh Bivens writes about the importance of accurately measuring - and ultimately enhancing - the labour share of income. And Noah Smith notes that what workers are paid current bears extremely little resemblance to what they contribute, particularly on the far ends of the income spectrum.

- Michael Mann discusses how cynical petro-politicians are trying to use extreme weather as a basis to deny our ongoing climate breakdown. And Crawford Killian comments on a new Lancet study examining the connections between the related global epidemics of climate change, malnutrition and obesity.

- Meanwhile, James Whittingham points out how the Saskatchewan Party's excuses for trying to freeze electric vehicles out of the province are utter nonsense - though the one relevant economic factor worth adding to his column is that the governing party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the oil industry.

- Finally, Reverend William Barber and Rashad Robinson highlight how corporations are complicit in racist voter suppression. And Nick Cohen offers his take on why the wealthy need to pay their fair share in taxes in the public interest, rather than choosing whether and how to make private donations as a substitute.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jason Hickel challenges the spin that poverty and inequality are being meaningfully reduced around the world as our global economy is currently structured. Sarah Marsh reports on the reemergence of "Dickensian diseases" as a result of cuts to social supports in the UK. And Richard Reeves discusses how maternal depression (caused by poverty among other factors) serves as a barrier to social mobility.

- Meanwhile, Chuck Collins highlights how a wealth tax could simultaneously provide the U.S. with both a massive infusion of needed public resources, and a necessary rebalancing of political power.

- Gary Mason discusses how systematic money laundering may be even more prevalent in Canada than previously known. And Mathieu Galarneau examines our dubious position of paying more to telecoms for mobile data than any other country on the planet - though it's again worth noting that the provinces with public-sector options represent exceptions to the national pattern.

- Courtney Carlberg and Jen Budney examine Saskatchewan's woeful standing in Canada when it comes to child care. And Angela Brown reports on Ryan Meili's needed push for a mental health strategy - including both a greater focus on the causes of mental illness, and the availability of treatment for people who need it.

- Finally, Lana Payne calls out the focus of right-wing governments on punishing perceived enemies rather than serving the public.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Edward Luce writes about the reckless greed of the U.S.' billionaire class which includes far too many people willing to see Donald Trump re-elected as the price of avoiding paying a fair share toward a civilized society. And Noah Smith compares a wealth tax to other alternatives in the effort to restore some sense of fairness and justice to the U.S.

- Meanwhile, David Macdonald studies the effect of exorbitant executive pay, and finds that it bears no meaningful positive relationship to stock performance:

It’s far more likely that, like so many traditions, old boys’ clubs die hard. Evidence that higher numbers of female executives produce better corporate results are just not sinking in.

Well, it turns out the same can be said for the evidence about excessive pay for CEOs, whatever their gender. Paying your CEO more has no relation to your company’s stock market performance. In fact, it could be worsening it.
...
...(T)here is statistically no relationship between executive pay and company stock price in Canada over this period. Put another way, other factors explain 99.8% of variations in executive pay. So, you can pay your execs more, but this will either have no effect on your share price or possibly it will drive the price down, not up.

And yet executive pay has been rising far faster than worker wages for decades, partly to buy the better stock performance that it clearly doesn’t buy. Moreover, all this bonus pay seems to flow to male and not female executives, driving the key component of the executive gender pay gap.

Power, not merit, is driving income and gender pay gaps.

- Political Potshots offers a reminder of the secretive funding structure behind Canada's right-wing astroturf groups.

- David Ljunggren and Anna Mehler Paperny reports on the Libs' plans to discard any possibility of universal pharmacare in favour of a scheme designed to cater to pharmaceutical corporations.

- George Monbiot discusses the environmental disaster being dumped onto less wealthy countries - and particularly the UK's practice of sending tires to India to be burned with no regard for the resulting health implications.

- Finally, Naomi Lakritz implores Albertans not to let Jason Kenney drag the province back to Ralph Klein's austerian governing agenda.

Musical interlude

Now, Now - SGL

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Both Eric Levitz and Brian Beutler write that U.S. Democrats need to highlight and fight the class war being waged by the rich, rather than shying away from the real and justified anger it provokes among insecure workers. And Robert Benzie reports on the latest research from the Financial Accountability Office showing that low-income Ontarians are facing income stagnation.

- Karl-Petter Thorwaldson explains how inequality is contributing to both a climate breakdown, and an inability to address it through politics as usual. And Jessica Clogg responds to the attempt by foreign-funded corporate oil lobbyists to demonize Canadian environmentalists.

- The Pembina Institute responds to yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the effectiveness of provincial environmental law by pointing out the need to make effective use of that constitutional jurisdiction. And John Paul Tasker's report on the Libs' overpayment for the Trans Mountain pipeline reminds us how many public resources are still being wasted catering to the fossil fuel industry.

- David Climenhaga discusses a new Parkland Institute study (PDF) showing that NDP governments are more effective than alternatives in managing public health care, but also indicating that they too need to be more ambitious in providing resources for public health.

- Finally, PressProgress highlights a new CUPE study (PDF) into the corporate takeover of Canada's universities.

Say No to Bubble Boy

There are already more than enough galling stories circulating in Alberta's political scene to emphasize why Jason Kenney and his party are grossly unfit to exercise any power. But it's worth pointing out one more problem which matches the combination of deeply-rooted corruption and austerian disregard for the public good as a disqualifying factor.

Let's start with this story - which has mostly been discussed for the back-and-forth between Kenney and Rachel Notley on the issue of public service cuts, but which also contains this nugget:

In his speech Saturday, Kenney said that oil and gas had been a major driver of innovation in the Alberta. He argued that the province's economy has diversified in part because of, not in spite of, the energy industry.
...He said the energy industry could help bring cryptocurrency technology to Alberta. The computers used in the large-scale mining of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, require vast amounts of energy.

"Cryptocurrency could well be the backbone of the future digital economy. It depends on low-cost energy and we can provide that with our abundant hydrocarbon energy," he said.

And that's been followed up in turn with Kenney's call to eliminate any viability tests for Alberta real estate purchases as part of a general insistence on slashing public protections.

Which is to say that in a province too long defined by a dependence on resource bubbles as a substitute for any sustainable economic strategy, Kenney is bent on inflating more and worse if he gets the chance.
 
Even as Alberta wrestles with the long-term costs arising out of an oil industry which has refused to clean up its own messes, Kenney is pushing an industry whose sole purpose is to convert environmental destruction into captured wealth - and whose reliance on speculation in the absence of any substantive product makes regular busts an inevitable result.

And even after playing a role in government in the midst of the damage wrought by reckless mortgage lending which inflated both house prices and the risks assumed by people who ultimately couldn't afford them, Kenney wants to inflict exactly the same harm on Alberta.

So in addition to combining the worst elements of the PCs' entitlement and Wildrose's reactionary exclusion, Kenney also intends to tie the well-being of Alberta's citizens to the most reckless available forms of casino capitalism. And if voters choose to take such a foolish bet, the repercussions look to be felt far outside Alberta's borders.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Chris Hedges points out how the obscenely rich few are trying to distract from their accumulation of wealth in order to avoid what would stand to be a massive public backlash. Emily Peck discusses the question of why our economic system is set up to allow the concentration of billions of dollars in single individuals. And Bill McKibben writes about the importance of perseverance against entrenched interests in fighting for a just transition toward cleaner energy.

- Meanwhile, Marc Lee calls for expanded public transit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve accessibility and mobility for the people who need it most.

- Sebastien Jilke and Wouter Van Dooren comment on the dangers of trying to deliver veterans' benefits (and other public services) through privatized models which emphasize corporate profits over recipients' best interests.

- Nick Saul discusses how poverty is the most important barrier to healthy eating.

- Finally, Andre Picard weighs in on the need for improved public access to data in Canada, with particular emphasis on its importance in shaping health outcomes.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Upturned cats.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Josh Mound opines that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' call for a 70 per cent tax rate on ultra-high incomes is just the beginning of a needed conversation about the morality of the extreme concentration of wealth. And Vanessa Williamson writes that beyond raising public revenue, we should also value the improvement in equality generated by a more progressive tax system:

Progressive taxation should work as a corrective tax, like tobacco taxes or a carbon tax. Sure, tobacco taxes raise some revenue for the states. But their primary purpose is to curb smoking. While a carbon tax could produce a lot of government revenue, the real point is to limit global warming pollution. In essence, corrective taxes try to put themselves out of business; if tobacco tax revenues decline because people quit smoking, or if carbon taxes stop rolling in because the economy becomes fossil-free, that is victory, not defeat.

Taxes on the wealthy discourage a different societal ill: exploitative capitalism. Progressive tax policy is a powerful corrective to economic inequality and wealth concentration. As economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez concluded in their seminal paper on U.S. income inequality, “steep progressive income and estate taxation” helped prevent the accumulation of immense fortunes in the middle of the 20th century. In cross-national data, moreover, there is a “strong negative correlation between top tax rates and top 1% income share.” In other words, where top tax rates are higher, the income distribution is more egalitarian – not just post-tax, but even before taxes are taken out.

That’s because progressive taxes blunt the incentives for wealthy people to overpay one another and exploit the less privileged. For instance, contemporary CEOs are often financially rewarded for what is in essence good luck: changes in market conditions that have nothing to do with their individual performance. High tax rates discourage these CEO windfalls, leaving more money available for companies to invest productively. That means higher marginal tax rates make the economy fairer and more productive — and have no negative effect on growth, no matter what billionaires at the World Economic Forum prefer to believe.
...
Early proponents of progressive tax policy knew that it was not just a revenue source. In our contemporary Gilded Age, and as our political institutions feel pushed to the breaking point, we would do well to remember that progressive taxation is a democratic reform.

- Meanwhile, Liz McCormick, Saleha Mohsin and Alexandre Tanzi report on the U.S.' trillion-dollar borrowing to fund the Trump tax giveaway to the rich. And Richard Partington writes that the UK's corporate tax handouts have likewise proven far more harmful to the public treasury than promised.

- Oscar Guardiola-Rivera highlights why the corporate-driven push for a coup in Venezuela is dangerous for all concerned. But Joshua Goodman, Luis Alonso Lugo and Rob Gillies report that Canada has been at the centre of a secret push to install an unelected leader in order to facilitate resource-sector profit-taking.

- Chris Tollefson reviews three books documenting how Canada's petro-state is blocking climate progress. And Elizabeth Aguilera points out how environmental damage is inflicted on people who can't afford to leave polluted areas due to structural inequalities.

- Finally, Eric Andrew-Gee and Tavia Grant examine some of the gaps in publicly-available data about Canada and its citizens.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Bess Levin comments on the self-serving attempts of the Davos class to shut down any call for progressive taxes. And Keith Brooks points out the absurdity of a PR campaign on behalf of a largely foreign-owned fossil fuel sector attempting to vilify environmental activists for not stopping their connections at national borders.

- Brendan Maton discusses Stephanie Kelton's call for governments to invest in a balanced society rather than obsessing solely over their own balance sheets. And Roderick Benns examines how Ontario's small basic income project allowed people to seek out basic health care which had otherwise been unaffordable.

- Ben Beckett writes about the vital role played by U.S. federal workers in ending the government shutdown.

- CBC News reports on a renewed push for drinking water to be fluoridated - with provinces stepping in if necessary to ensure it happens.

- Finally, Jason Wilson talks to David Niewert about the dangers of the U.S.' increasingly bigoted and reactionary right wing.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Aditya Chakrabortty discusses the belated recognition among the world's most privileged few that they can't but their way out of the fundamental issues facing humankind. And Branko Milanovic highlights the Davos set's lip service to combating inequality as long as it does nothing to affect the imbalances in their favour.

- The London School of Economics points out Jonathan Mijs' work on the connection between social divisions and relative popular acceptance of inequality. And Polly Toynbee writes about the right's exploitation of that link:

Both rich and poor delude themselves that they are ordinary. But telling people the facts doesn’t change their attitudes: increasingly they cling to a moral belief that people rise by merit, sinking for lack of it. Spend time talking to people using food banks or in Citizens Advice offices knocked down by benefit sanctions, and too often you hear people absorbing the blame. “I should have tried harder at school,” is a frequent refrain, as if no other forces were at play. Talk to the mega-rich – I once conducted focus groups of earners up to £10m – and they are wilfully ignorant about their super-privilege, unshakable in believing their superior merit.

The right captured the story, the emotions, the moral framing: social democrats need to seize it back with a narrative of immorality that is more compelling. The British Social Attitudes survey suggests a swing back towards empathy with the swelling numbers of poor people – including more than 4 million children. But still inheritance tax remains the most reviled of all taxes. The right forever tries to prove poor people are more stupid by nature than the rich, but Professor Steve Jones, a celebrated geneticist, when asked about the heritability of intelligence, replies deftly that the most important heritable trait, by miles, is wealth.

- David Sirota interviews Anand Giridharadas about the pitfalls of relying on elite philanthropy rather than democratic decision-making.

- The Australia Institute examines how tax giveaways to businesses accomplish nothing. And the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy discusses how a wealth tax can and should work south of the border.

- Finally, Sammy Hudes reports on a report prepared for Calgary's city council showing how the privatization of public services creates massive new risks to the public while only benefiting the corporations who are able to extract profits.