On self-serving claims

Others have pointed out a few of the problems with Stuart Thomson's hagiography of Jason Kenney. But let's take a look at one part of Kenney's spin which can be tested against other available evidence - and which highlights just how implausible his claims are.

Here's Kenney on the UCP's plan to slash taxes for corporations:

It may seem eccentric to stake the farm on a massive corporate tax cut even as populist politicians around the globe are taking aim at big business, but Kenney believed he had an ace up his sleeve: The party’s internal polling on the issue was absolutely off the charts.

“It was like, shocking,” Kenney said in an interview with the Post. “I was even shocked. It was like 70-30 in favour of this. There’s like 25 per cent of the population that wanted us to go deeper, wanted us to go to a 50-per-cent reduction in the business tax rate.”

Setting aside the folly of shaping tax policy based primarily on polling rather than the actual impact of rates and revenues, how likely is it that public opinion would actually be anywhere near what Kenney claims?

I'm not aware off hand of public polling on the exact same issue, and would certainly be interested to see what's out there. But there has been plenty of polling across Canada around related aspects of tax policy - with findings including:

• only 14% of respondents across Canada accepting the claim that we should engage in a race to the bottom against the U.S. (which is effectively what Kenney claims a large majority supporting);
• 69% of respondents nationally supporting increased taxes on the rich to support the poor (a number which matches Alberta's support for corporate tax increases in the past), and
• 90% of Canadians ("consistent across provinces") agreeing that it's wrong for corporations to dodge taxes and demanding legislative action to stop tax avoidance.

It would thus seem probable that Kenney is overstating public support for a scheme which serves him and his backers than that it's a remotely accurate statement of the public's position - particularly when it's paired with Kenney's concurrent argument that any dissenting voices need to be silenced. And Albertans who gave Kenney too much of the benefit of the doubt during the campaign will need to be wary of letting him make dubious claims as to what they want.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Kurtis Alexander points out how climate change is exacerbating the gap between wealthy and poor countries. Megan Mayhew Bergman highlights the importance of discussing climate change even where it's all too often treated as a taboo topic, while Jeff Sparrow points out that politicians are largely lagging behind the public's interest in climate action. And Kyle Pope and Mark Hertsgaard note that we also need to see more and better coverage of the impact a collapsing climate has on our lives.

- Meanwhile, Zach Dubinsky reports on new research suggesting that the tar sands are producing even more carbon pollution than previously assumed.

- Peter Walker reports on new research from the UK showing how first-past-the-post politics may tend toward extreme positions and poor reflections of public values by forcing voters into one of two camps. And the Canadian Press reports on Prince Edward Island's election and referendum which may finally bring proportional representation to Canada.

- The Financial Post points out a new survey showing an increasing number of Canadians - now 48 per cent - saying they're $200 or less per month away from insolvency. And Melody Judilla writes about the need for the rich to start contributing their fair share to a functional society.

- Finally, Julian Borger reports on the U.S.' plans to block any resolution prohibiting the use of rape as a weapon of war if it's taken to include any access to support for victims.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Robin Sears writes that it's long past time for Canada's wealthiest people and corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. And Leo Gerard points out how the U.S. has gone in exactly the wrong direction by slashing its corporate tax rates and revenues to no end other than the further concentration of wealth, while Alexandre Tanzi notes that the upper middle class up to the 90th percentile is suffering as a result of an economy designed to favour only the most privileged few.

- Meanwhile, Karina Roman reports on the Libs' pathetic response to the glaring lack of protection for pensions and benefits in cases of corporate restructuring.

- Stephen Leahy writes about the absurdity of expanding the environmental destruction wrought by the extraction of Alberta's tar sands even as the world grapples with imminent climate catastrophe, while Mike Doherty interviews Bill McKibben about the role Canada needs to play to avert disaster. And Brent Patterson discusses the Extinction Rebellion and its efforts to foster direct action in the face of governmental climate negligence.

- Sarath Peiris points out that after using the issue briefly to beg for federal money, the Saskatchewan Party has resumed neglecting the province's liability for abandoned oil and gas wells.

- And finally, Allison Jones reports on the Ford PCs' decision to slash flood management funding just as its importance is most readily apparent.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Morris Pearl and Pramila Jayapal make the case for raising more revenue from the people with the most to contribute. And Jayati Ghosh notes that a minimum effective corporate tax rate would go a long way toward avoiding the offshore sheltering of corporate wealth.

- Dan Traficonte and Ian Wells write about the need for public research and planning to support a Green New Deal. And Ellen Brown examines the potential for public banking to both better address underserved communities, and ensure that investment serves the common good.

- Meanwhile, Michael Leger points out how SNC Lavalin fits into the legacy of corporate and political cronyism reinforced by the Trudeau Libs - though I'd hope there's little doubt that we should expect more from our leaders than to accept self-serving spin about the economy depending on lawless corporatists never being held accountable for their actions. And Laila Yuile writes the SNC Lavalin is now trying to manipulate public opinion the way it's already pulled the strings in Trudeau's PMO.

- Dorothy Woodend interviews Phyllis Ellis about the hidden dangers lurking in poorly-regulated cosmetic and personal care products. And Sigal Samuel offers a reminder of the gender data gap resulting from the default assumption that consumers and patients are men.

- Finally, Omar Mosleh discusses the spread of violent white supremacy which is causing significant fear in Edmonton's minority communities. And Antonia Zerbisias highlights the need to fight the normalization of reactionary conservatism.

On full considerations

Max Fawcett is right to a point in discussing the need to acknowledge the political problems with carbon taxes as matters stand now. But there's a serious problem with the conclusion he tries to draw.

It's true that carbon taxes were originally - and understandably - pitched as the form of greenhouse gas emission reduction which fit best with laissez-faire economic theory. And there are still a few lingering aftereffects of that outlook, including the British Columbia tax which remains on the books after being implemented by the right-wing Campbell Liberals. 

But if the opportunity for a consensus has been lost, we shouldn't pretend that has anything to do with carbon taxation as a theory.

Surely we're past the point where anybody will pretend for a second that the oil lobby and its servants on the right will engage in good faith with any type of proposal which might cut back on the profits linked to dirty energy.

For the most egregious example, remember that it took approximately two minutes for the Liberals to abandon a carbon tax after the 2008 federal election. And as soon as that happened, Stephen Harper's Cons in turn started slamming a cap-and-trade system of the type included in their own election platform as being a carbon tax in order to try to capitalize on their existing line of messaging.

Likewise, Doug Ford's PC government in Ontario scrapped a cap-and-trade regime which served as a substitute for the federal carbon tax - only to go to court to challenge the federal system it volunteered to join.

Moreover, even as the political environment for all types of climate policy has worsened, so too has our global climate outlook.

Policies which might have been sufficient to rein in climate change on their own if implemented twenty years ago will be insufficient to turn matters around in the next decade from a far worse starting point. And even a strict regulatory crackdown on industries alone would leave a dangerous amount of carbon pollution untouched, as households have historically represented a substantial percentage of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

In sum, the effort to avoid climate breakdown needs to include all available tools. And we can't afford to let a group of manipulative arsonists-for-hire dictate how we're supposed to avert a future conflagration.

[Edit: fixed wording.]

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Matt McGrath reports on David Attenborough's warning of an impending climate catastrophe. And Moira Fagan and Christine Huang examine the widespread recognition around the world of the importance of averting a climate breakdown.

- Jonathan Watts reports on polling showing half of UK respondents are willing to pay more in order to avoid polluting our oceans with plastic. But Oliver Milman points out Donald Trump's attempt to push poorly-regulated offshore drilling - indicating that the powers that be are far behind the public in recognizing the importance of our natural environment.

- John Stapleton and Yvonne Yuan note that Canada's official poverty line doesn't take into account the higher effective food prices facing lower-income people.

- Joseph Stiglitz offers his diagnosis as to how our economy came to be grossly unbalanced in favour of the wealthy - and his suggestions as to how progressive capitalism might be possible:

Beginning with the Reagan era, economic policy played a key role in this dystopia: Just as forces of globalization and technological change were contributing to growing inequality, we adopted policies that worsened societal inequities. Even as economic theories like information economics (dealing with the ever-present situation where information is imperfect), behavioral economics and game theory arose to explain why markets on their own are often not efficient, fair, stable or seemingly rational, we relied more on markets and scaled back social protections.

The result is an economy with more exploitation — whether it’s abusive practices in the financial sector or the technology sector using our own data to take advantage of us at the cost of our privacy. The weakening of antitrust enforcement, and the failure of regulation to keep up with changes in our economy and the innovations in creating and leveraging market power, meant that markets became more concentrated and less competitive.
...
We are now in a vicious cycle: Greater economic inequality is leading, in our money-driven political system, to more political inequality, with weaker rules and deregulation causing still more economic inequality.
...
The prescription follows from the diagnosis: It begins by recognizing the vital role that the state plays in making markets serve society. We need regulations that ensure strong competition without abusive exploitation, realigning the relationship between corporations and the workers they employ and the customers they are supposed to serve. We must be as resolute in combating market power as the corporate sector is in increasing it.

- Finally, Murray Mandryk rightly questions Scott Moe's willingness to serve as Jason Kenney's lapdog rather than paying attention to the needs of Saskatchewan's residents.

Musical interlude

Goldie - Inner City Life

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content for your Friday reading.

- Paul Krugman offers a reminder that the gap between the 1% and the rest of us is far larger than most people are permitted to see:

(T)here’s also a big difference between being affluent, even very affluent, and having the kind of wealth that puts you in a completely separate social universe. It’s a difference summed up three decades ago in the movie “Wall Street,” when Gordon Gekko mocks the limited ambitions of someone who just wants to be “a $400,000-a-year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable.”

Even now, most Americans don’t seem to realize just how rich today’s rich are. At a recent event, my CUNY colleague Janet Gornick was greeted with disbelief when she mentioned in passing that the top 25 hedge fund managers make an average of $850 million a year. But her number was correct.
...
Why should we care about the very rich? It’s not about envy, it’s about oligarchy.

With great wealth comes both great power and a separation from the concerns of ordinary citizens. What the very rich want, they often get; but what they want is often harmful to the rest of the nation. There are some public-spirited billionaires, some very wealthy liberals. But they aren’t typical of their class.

The very rich don’t need Medicare or Social Security; they don’t use public education or public transit; they may not even be that reliant on public roads (there are helicopters, after all). Meanwhile, they don’t want to pay taxes.
...
(W)e should be able to understand both that the affluent in general should be paying more in taxes, and that the very rich are different from you and me ­— and Bernie Sanders. The class divide that lies at the root of our political polarization is much starker, much more extreme than most people seem to realize. 

- Sean Coughlan discusses how hollowing out of the middle class is destabilizing both our economy and our political environment. And Brent Patterson highlights the need to challenge an economic model based on selling what's shiny and new rather than building and preserving what matters.

- Crawford Kilian views the Notre Dame cathedral fire as a vivid example of the dangers of neglecting the maintenance of our social goods, while Aditya Chakrabortty notes that the ability of a few ultra-wealthy people to throw around hundreds of millions of dollars in response shows that there are plenty of resources available to actually take better care of ourselves and our world. And Carol Kroeger comments on the need for our political leaders to similarly pay far more attention to helping people, and far less to manipulating them to preserve their own power.

- Finally, Anne Kingston laments Canada's backsliding in lacking any female jurisdictional leaders, while noting that broken promises of proportional representation are a significant part of the problem. And Melanie Green discusses the harassment of Rubab Qureshi in response to her mere recognition that Islamophobia is a problem.

Thursday Evening Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katharine Hayhoe offers some suggestions as to how to reach people in talking about climate change. Karine Peloffy writes about the growing mobilization of support for real action to avert climate disaster, while Roy Culpeper comments on the importance of Canada participating in (and indeed leading) a global movement toward environmental justice. Alex Ballingall reports on Abacus' polling which found two-thirds of Canadian already favouring a Green New Deal funded by more revenue from the wealthiest few. And Dave Mills points out that GM's abandonment of Oshawa could be turned into a massive opportunity if its plant can be repurposed to build electric vehicles.

- Meanwhile, Amanda Stephen reports on the sustainable jobs which stand to be lost if Jason Kenney follows through on his threat to axe Energy Efficiency Alberta. And Sarah Lawrynuk reports on the efforts of librarians to preserve Alberta climate change data before Kenney's wrecking crew has a chance to destroy it.

- And as a reminder of what tends to happen once a know-nothing government is in full swing, Emma Paling reports on the shortfall being created in Ontario's health care system by Doug Ford's government, while Lauren Pelley highlights a billion dollars in direct cuts to public health. Fatima Syed points out the "pay-to-kill" scheme intended to allow developers to avoid accounting for risks to endangered species. Marieke Walsh focuses on Ford's refusal to offer any explanation at all for gutting Indigenous Affairs funding, while CBC News reports on a similar attack on library services. And to top it all off, Lucas Powers reports on Ford's plans to make it uniquely difficult for citizens to sue for the misfeasance and negligence which represent his signature governing style.

- All of which is to say that Tanya Talaga is absolutely right in noting that children plainly don't come first in the Ford PCs' plans - nor anybody aside from their cronies and their desire to distract the public from what actually matters.

- Finally, Jorge Barrera reports on the federal government's continued fight to avoid addressing the effects of its discrimination in funding child welfare. And Maura Forrest reports on the recognition by one case management judge of the apparent plan to avoid compensating residential school students until it's too late.

New column day

Here, wondering whether Alberta's lamentable election of Jason Kenney and his gang of regressive Conservatives might have been avoided if Rachel Notley's NDP had made an effort not to perpetuate the province's petro-politics.

For further reading...
- The Alberta NDP's 2015 platform is here (PDF), and doesn't so much as hint at the cheerleading for pipelines that eventually became one of Notley's main themes even as it strengthened the UCP's economic message.
- Carl Meyer reports on the massive carbon pollution being spewed out by the oil sands - including more than either of the provinces now under attack by Kenney and company. And Sharon Riley discusses what the UCP's election means for Alberta's long list of glaring environmental issues.
- Finally, while David Staples seems to have substantially the opposite take from my column, I'd argue that he helps to prove the point that absolutely no amount of self-flagellation and subservience to the oil industry was ever going to be enough for her right-wing critics - meaning that the lost chance to develop a provincial self-image as more than a petro-state looms all the larger.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Frank Clemente is the latest to point out how the Trump Republicans' tax cut scheme served only to further enrich the already-wealthy. And Bess Levin discusses the average one-cent bonus to workers that resulted from billions poured into corporate coffers.

- George Monbiot writes about the need for mass mobilization to push to avert an impending climate breakdown. Mark Cameron and Michael Bernstein point out that a strong majority of Ontarians are opposed to Doug Ford's high-cost, zero-evidence attacks on carbon pricing. And Richard Partington reports on Mark Carney's call for the financial sector to account for the costs and risks of environmental damage in making lending decisions. But Geoff Dembicki rightly notes that Canada as a whole has nothing to brag about in light of our continued fossil fuel subsidies and lack of progress reducing carbon emissions.

- Meanwhile, Joe Romm reports on the imminent inflection point where electric cars will be cheaper than combustion vehicles.

- Florence Stratton calls on the City of Regina to finally start funding Housing First to end homelessness, rather than offering only empty words. 

- Finally, Neil MacDonald discusses why white supremacy fits so neatly into Canada's right-wing political parties.

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cats with companions.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Andrew Phung highlights how important it is for younger voters to be heard in Alberta's election. Travis Benson offers plenty of suggestions as to why even people who aren't always NDP supporters should be happy to re-elect Rachel Notley. And PressProgress rounds up just a few of the ways in which Jason Kenney plans to enrich corporations and their wealthy shareholders at the expense of workers, while Emma Graney examines how Kenney's plan to slash the minimum wage for younger workers has done nothing but undercut wage rates when applied elsewhere.

- Emma Simpson writes about the dangers of "presenteeism" in workplaces which don't allow workers to take care of their physical and mental health. And BBC News reports on new EU rules intended to offer at least some protection to gig workers.

- Bridget Yard reports on the growing debts being foisted on Saskatchewan university students due to a lack of public funding. And Eleanor Busby writes about the growing number of UK students avoiding school altogether due to the consequences of conservative-inflicted poverty. 

- Francine Kopun reports on the warnings the Ford PCs received - and ignored - about the long-term costs of pulling funding from public health.

- Finally, Robert Borosage discusses the possibility that Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn could jointly revolutionize the political economy of the English-speaking world.

Monday Morning Links

Assorted content to start your week.

- Martin Regg Cohn discusses how workers are bearing the brunt of Doug Ford's budget. Joe Light offers a reminder that Donald Trump's populist rhetoric predictably gave way to a tax scheme designed to further enrich CEOs at the expense of everybody else. And Matt Bruenig points out that U.S. workers actually pay relatively high taxes and mandatory payments while receiving paltry benefits compared to other developed countries.

- Meanwhile, Marshall Appelbaum makes the case for public disclosure of the taxes paid by each citizen.

- Noah Smith notes that a growing body of evidence is showing how government intervention is key to economic development - even if that reality never gets acknowledged by laissez-faire zealots.

- Jeff Daniels reports on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' observation that climate delay and denial are the product of privilege and removal from the immediate consequences of neglect.

- Finally, Jerry Dias discusses the choice Alberta voters have between hope and fear. Sharon Riley offers a reminder of the province's continued reliance on one-time resource revenues. And Emily Leedham and Chloe Rockarts write about the future of worker power in Alberta.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Riley Yesno rightly calls out the Libs for telling Canadians they have no choice but to settle for a slight variation in tone from Andrew Scheer:

When we become comfortable with the idea that the best we can hope for is a government that is even marginally better than what we believe is the worst option, we allow ourselves to become complacent in the face of that party’s shortcomings and acts of injustice. We cede our ability to hold the government accountable beyond the most basic principles of decency and good governance. We give permission to those in power to fail in ways that are entirely unacceptable, out of fear that a different power will behave in ways that are also unacceptable — just different.
...

We must demand better. Demand champions rather than lesser of evils. Demand an electoral system that is truly multi-party where your vote can reflect your beliefs rather than a strategy or act of harm-reduction. Remember that as long as you let even a small act of injustice stand, then injustice has already won.
...
Holding the government accountable for its shortcomings is not an attack on the country. In fact, I believe it may be one of the most loving things one can do for the people living within it.

- Christo Aivalis offers responses to three of the Libs' most frequent and dishonest talking points:



- And Lana Payne recognizes that the Libs' broken promise on electoral reform is one of the reasons why we're stuck with politics rooted in anger rather than positive goals.

- Finally, Gregory Beatty examines the Buffalo Project as Canada's first major PAC - and as a means to try to reinforce existing disparities in wealth and power in Western Canada. Scott Sinclair writes about the importance of standing up to big pharma (among other corporate interests) rather than allowing their profits to take precedence over people's lives. And Robin Sears highlights the exploitation of lax tax rules by tech giants who are able to amass large profits in Canada without contributing anything.

Deep thought

Sure, on the surface one might expect refugee claimants to be displeased to be deported and subsequently killed based on Justin Trudeau's decision to outsource their assessments to the Trump regime. But won't they feel better for having received an empty reassurance they were welcome in the meantime?

(See also: Andrew Coyne and Martin Patriquin.)

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Alex Hemingway points out that British Columbia has a long way to go in raising readily-available revenue in order to provide even the essentials of life for its residents. And Toby Sanger examines the foreseeable distribution of Jason Kenney's tax slashing scheme - with the wealthy few (including foreign investors) predictably walking away with a windfall, while most people end up significantly worse off.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk argues that Alberta voters need to make their decisions based on realities rather than wishful thinking about the future of fossil fuels. And Kim Conway writes that current oil sector workers know better than to buy Kenney's line of spin.

- Arthur White-Cummey reports on the dozens of Saskatchewan schools which are being forced to operate over capacity due to the Moe government's refusal to provide adequate funding. And Stephanie Taylor reports on the Saskatchewan NDP's push to protect GSAs from meddling social conservatives.

- Sarah Ghabrial and Sheetal Rawal discuss the reality of Trudeauvian Liberalism which allows for diverse representation in theory only so long a single privileged white male remains entitled to dictate terms to everybody. And Karl Nerenberg examines the pitiful set of default options between Trudeau's fecklessness and Andrew Scheer's frightfulness. 

- Finally, Paul Willcocks offers five reasons to worry about the RCMP's secret monitoring of social media.

Musical interlude

Metric - Dark Saturday

Friday Morning Links

Assorted material to end your week.

- Nick Falvo writes that artificially low taxes at the expense of Saskatchewan's well-being are nothing to brag about:

(T)axes can help finance important social spending, such as poverty in First Nations’ communities, affordable housing and child care. The province’s on-reserve rate of child poverty is nearly 70 per cent, second highest in the country after Manitoba.
...
Second, taxes share the wealth, making a province more equitable. Increasing personal income tax rates can be especially effective at reducing income inequality. Yet, Saskatchewan’s top marginal tax rate is the lowest among all Canadian provinces, meaning its personal income taxes are the least effective in Canada at redistributing income.

Third, taxes can discourage undesirable behaviour, such as excessive consumption of energy, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. France tripled cigarette prices by raising taxes every year between 1990 and 2005. During this time, cigarette consumption in that country was cut in half.
Finally, taxes can reduce public debt. Saskatchewan’s public debt-to-GDP ratio currently sits at 25.8 per cent and is expected to hit 27.6 per cent by 2023.

And where do Saskatchewan taxes as a whole currently stand in comparison with other provinces? A recent report found Saskatchewan to have Canada’s lowest tax rate as a percentage of GDP, at just 27.1 per cent. Meanwhile, Quebec’s stood at 37.3 per cent. And therein lies thick irony: Premier Moe attributes Quebec’s more generous social programs to equalization, rather than to higher tax rates.

This should all make us all pause for thought. Do we want to pay low taxes if it means more poverty in First Nations’ communities, more homelessness and insufficient child care? For most residents of Saskatchewan, I think the answer is no.

- Murtada Haizer and Steven Moranis write that public investment in social housing produces substantial social and economic returns beyond the initial sticker price. And Chris Arsenault points out the need to update our infrastructure to account for climate change. 

- Karl Nerenberg calls out Justin Trudeau for his choice to legitimize the Cons' anti-refugee messaging. And Robyn Urback points out the lack of any factual basis to treat the number of asylum claimants in Canada as a problem at all.

- Finally, Erica Johnson and Ensa Uda expose the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's willingness to let banks rewrite a report into their own exploitation of consumers. Jen St. Denis reports on the lack of any RCMP resources being used to investigate money laundering in British Columbia. And the Canadian Press reports on the Libs' continued delays in establishing even a toothless ombudsperson to review the actions of Canadian corporations abroad.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Donald Gutstein examines the crucial difference between advancing toward a zero-carbon economy, and incentivizing further fossil fuel development through misleading terms such as "low-emission". And Arthur White-Crummey reports on Nic Rivers' response to the Saskatchewan Party's attempt to self-assess climate policy while avoiding any recognition of the province's emissions which contribute to a global climate breakdown.

- Meanwhile, Bob Weber points out the reality that the high oil prices relied on for past booms are almost certainly a thing of the past.

- Duncan Cameron highlights how Jason Kenney is relying on an authoritarian playbook in his quest for power in Alberta. PressProgress reports on a new analysis showing the widespread use of bots to influence the election in Kenney's favour. CBC reports on the voting fraud used to place Kenney in his current position as UPC leader. And David Climenhaga wonders how a party seemingly swimming in money and resources could have failed as badly as the UPC has in reviewing and vetting candidates.

- Finally, Erika Shaker discusses the importance of strength in numbers to challenge Doug Ford's attacks on education, while David Bush examines the role of the labour movement in fighting back against Ford. And Jon Henley reports on the success of Operation Libero in countering right-wing populism in Switzerland.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- George Monbiot contrasts the message of neoliberalism as freedom against the reality that it imposes severe corporate control on anybody short of the billionaire class:

(N)eoliberal theology, as well as seeking to roll back the state, insists that collective bargaining and other forms of worker power be eliminated (in the name of freedom, of course). So the marketisation and semi-privatisation of public services became not so much a means of pursuing efficiency as an instrument of control. Public-service workers are now subjected to a panoptical regime of monitoring and assessment, using the benchmarks von Mises rightly warned were inapplicable and absurd. The bureaucratic quantification of public administration goes far beyond an attempt at discerning efficacy. It has become an end in itself.

Its perversities afflict all public services. Schools teach to the test, depriving children of a rounded and useful education. Hospitals manipulate waiting times, shuffling patients from one list to another. Police forces ignore some crimes, reclassify others, and persuade suspects to admit to extra offences to improve their statistics. Universities urge their researchers to write quick and superficial papers, instead of deep monographs, to maximise their scores under the research excellence framework.
...
New extremes in the surveillance and control of workers are not, of course, confined to the public sector. Amazon has patented a wristband that can track workers’ movements and detect the slightest deviation from protocol. Technologies are used to monitor peoples’ keystrokes, language, moods and tone of voice. Some companies have begun to experiment with the micro-chipping of their staff. As the philosopher Byung-Chul Han points out, neoliberal work practices, epitomised by the gig economy, that reclassifies workers as independent contractors, internalise exploitation. “Everyone is a self-exploiting worker in their own enterprise.”

The freedom we were promised turns out to be freedom for capital, gained at the expense of human liberty. The system neoliberalism has created is a bureaucracy that tends towards absolutism, produced in the public services by managers mimicking corporate executives, imposing inappropriate and self-defeating efficiency measures, and in the private sector by subjection to faceless technologies that can brook no argument or complaint.

- Meanwhile, Kate Aronoff points out that a Green New Deal would enhance general well-being and foster genuine freedom while also protecting our planet.

- Damian Carrington points out that whatever choices we make, future generations will need to make do with far smaller carbon footprints than we've come to expect.  And Daphne Bramham highlights the influence millennial voters can have on this fall's federal election if they elect to participate.

- Nora Loreto calls out the Trudeau Libs for a federal budget whose treatment of refugees - including dismissing their claims in bulk, and playing up claims of nonexistent security risks. And Teresa Wright reports on the resulting outrage on the part of refugees and their advocates.

- Finally, Sally Bakewell and Lisa Lee report on the increasing level of risk being taken in the funding of corporate debt. And Richard Shillington studies how tax-free savings accounts have predictably favoured the wealthy over the lower-income people they were supposed to assist - with higher-income people taking advantage to a greater extent even as a percentage of income.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Clothed cats.

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.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Robert Reich offers a reminder that the Trump administration is just the most glaring example of the utter breakdown of any pretense of meritocracy in the U.S.

- Daniel Zamora interviews Niklas Olsen about the dangers of replacing the idea of government representing the outcome of communal decision-making with a series of consumer-style brand choices.

- Carla Santos Kandier writes that it's unrealistic to expect a climate crisis to be averted by the version of a market system that's biased heavily in favour of polluting industries. And Seema Syeda discusses the importance of the movement to get financial institutions to stop funding the destruction of a habitable climate.

- Duncan Kinney discusses how Jason Kenney's exclusionary social conservatism is far out of touch with most Alberta voters. And Jen Gerson notes that even small-c conservatives are understandably concerned about the UCP's questionable ethics and bizarre moral crusades.

- Finally, Andrew Coyne writes that the most important concern arising from the Libs' SNC-Lavalin scandal is their attempt to normalize political meddling in all types of independent decision-making. Tom Parkin argues that it will be impossible to see our constitutional order as safe without a complete about-face from Justin Trudeau - including genuine contrition under circumstances where's he's treated it first as a strategic possibility to be focus group tested, then something that's entirely beneath him. And the Ottawa Citizen's editorial board points out how the entire remaining Lib caucus opted for a cover-up, rather than maintaining any interest in discovering the truth behind a serious issue.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Ryan Meili writes about the need for leaders to listen to bona fide activists regardless of their cause - while drawing an important distinction where events are staged based on hate and/or misinformation.

- Jack Knox recognizes that the work of averting a global climate breakdown requires good faith action by all parties, not the oil-and-gaslighting we've become accustomed to from Andrew Scheer, Scott Moe, Jason Kenney and so many others.

- Ben Parfitt writes that the SNC-Lavalin scandal reveals the expectation by large corporations that their wrongdoing will be swept under the rug. And Charlie Smith points out how Justin Trudeau's typical Lib slipperiness is rightly viewed with skepticism by voters.

- Larry Elliott reports on the UK Cons' deliberate increases in poverty and inequality by stealth, as money cut from social benefits was handed to higher-income individuals in the form of tax goodies rather than being used for its stated purpose of reducing a deficit.

- Finally, Jane Cordy and Raymonde Gagne write about the urgent need to invest in reducing the harm caused by opioid addiction.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Crawford Kilian writes that Canada's Changing Climate Report should be a loud wakeup call about the need to avert climate breakdown, even as far too many people try to deny there's a problem or refuse to discuss meaningful solutions. Graham Thomson calls out Jason Kenney for lacking any plan other than an outdated attempt to hype carbon capture and sequestration as a substitute for practical emission reductions and industrial transitions. David Climenhaga notes that Preston Manning's conservative vision included "green capitalism" rather than the tar-coloured version currently favoured by Canada's right. Brendan Frank reviews the wide range of options available to governments in using carbon pricing revenue. And Mark Cameron offers a reminder that the federal carbon tax system - insufficient though it is as a climate policy - will actually result in a net financial benefit for households.

- Bob Weber reports on Environmental Commissioner Julie Gelfand's findings that the federal government doesn't even properly track - let alone follow up on - damage done to waterways due to pollution or site conversion. And Trevor Harrison and David Cooper rightly note that a remediation plan for abandoned oil and gas wells should be a major issue in Alberta's provincial election.

- Meanwhile, Teresa Wright reports on Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux' reminder that his office isn't receiving enough information to assess the "tax gap" between what the federal government should collect in revenue and what is actually received.

- Sharon Batt exposes the corporate money lobbying against a universal pharmacare plan in Canada (and apparently winning the Libs' ear in the process). And Danny Hakim, Roni Caryn Rabin and William K. Rashbaum discuss the Sackler family's scheme to simultaneously profit from deadly opioids and the treatment needed to try to free patients from their addictions.

- Finally, CBC News reports on Saskatchewan's latest Fight for 15 rally this week pushing for a liveable minimum wage. And Kati Pohjanpalo discusses the psychological and social benefits found in Finland's basic income trial when people can count on at least some secure income rather than relying on social programs designed to cut them loose at the first opportunity.

Musical interlude

Poor Nameless Boy - Argue

Friday Evening Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Will McMartin writes that if we needed more evidence that Jason Kenney's trickle-down economics are nothing but a scam to concentrate more wealth in the hands of the rich, British Columbia's own moves in the same direction produced none of the promised economic boost in exchange for tax giveaways. And Angella MacEwen exposes how Kenney's tax assumptions are riddled with holes based on Canadian experience.

- Meanwhile, Bob Barnetson examines how Kenney is planning to drive down wages while forcing workers into longer hours. And Aidan Harper discusses how a shorter work week could help to alleviate income inequality.

- Paul Krugman points out how Donald Trump's anti-regulation zealotry is needlessly putting people's lives at risk in the name of corporate profits.

- Jordan Health-Rawlings and Raizen Robin discuss the causes of continued hunger and poverty in Canada. And Tim Aubry, Geoffrey Nelson, Kevin Page and Claudette Bradshaw lament the lack of progress in reducing homelessness.

- Finally, Martin Patriquin comments on the anti-minority attitudes behind Quebec's ban on selected religious symbols. And Andrew Mitrovica rightly calls attention to Andrew Scheer's plan to court the far right as part of his path to power under an electoral system which rewards that course of action.

On double standards

Shorter Murray Mandryk:

I'd never be so unreasonable as to suggest Saskatchewan Party cabinet ministers could be expected to listen to protests against their own government. But for Ryan Meili, I won't be satisfied by anything short of showing up to rally in support of his political opponents - not to mention climate change denial.

New column day

Here, on how Jason Kenney, Scott Moe and other right-wing leaders make a habit of substituting futile complaints about other levels of government for action in the public interest in the jurisdiction where they pursue power.

For further reading...
- Kenney's Alberta campaign has focused heavily on whinging about pipelines and equalization - presumably to distract from the combination of tax gifts for the rich and wage and service cuts for workers which makes up his platform at the provincial level.
- And Moe is of course using the same themes with equally little plausibility behind them - as reflected in today's corporate-sponsored pollution-fest, and his party's selective interest in equalization.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- CBC reports on Canada's Changing Climate Report showing that we're facing climate change twice as severe as the rest of the world, while Phil Tank writes about the anticipated effects on Saskatoon in particular. And the Canadian Press reports on the latest report by Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand on the disturbing lack of effective climate policy.

- Wallis Snowdon discusses the effect increasingly smoky summers are having on Alberta children, while Fiona Harvey reports on new research showing that air pollution may cut years off the lives of children around the globe. And Nicola Twilley points out the dangers lurking in indoor air which haven't been the subject of any but the most preliminary of research.

- Meanwhile, George Monbiot raises the prospect that a concerted effort at rewilding might help to avert catastrophic climate breakdown.

- Jim Stanford points out how right-wing wage forecasts in Australia have proven to be entirely illusory, while Rob Ferguson reports on the findings of Ontario's Financial Accountability Office that low-income workers are far worse off due to Doug Ford's cancellation of a minimum wage increase (despite the offer of a tax bauble instead). And Next Alberta exposes Jason Kenney's plan to strip overtime pay away from workers if he gets the chance.

- Finally, PressProgress highlights the growing concentration of wealth in Canada's corporate sector, with one per cent of companies holding over two-thirds of all corporate assets. And David Welch discusses GM's closure of its Lordstown plant even after securing nine-figure concessions from workers as a prime example of the futility of trying to indulge corporate greed.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Kidding cats.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Roland Paulsen is rightly critical of the billionaire-funded take that we should ignore the ready availability of resources to end severe crises simply because they were worse on an absolute level in the past:

To exclusively discuss social progress based on a certain set of facts removes moral values from the debate. Facts only point to that which is and has been, but when we argue about values such as freedom or justice, we are considering the less measurable, counterfactual world of what might have been or what might be. This is precisely the world that the New Optimists refuse to acknowledge.
...
Oxfam reported in January that a 0.5 percent tax on the wealth of the world’s richest 1% would raise more money than it would cost to educate the world’s 262 million children currently out of school and provide healthcare that would save the lives of 3.3 million people. Instead, according to the British House of Commons Library, we are on a course that will concentrate two-thirds of the world’s wealth in the richest 1% by 2030.

Facts like these do not fit into the “optimistic ” TED Talk celebration of neoliberalism—the docile, yet enthusiastically marketed, resignation to business as usual. On the contrary, they point to potentialities that remain unrealized due to the exploitative relationships on which global capitalism relies. As Yale philosopher Thomas Pogge suggests, it is more morally conscientious to compare existing poverty “not with historical benchmarks but with present possibilities: How much of this poverty is really unavoidable today? By this standard, our generation is doing worse than any in human history.”

- Damien Gayle reports that UK Labour's needed shift toward movement politics includes supporting the efforts of activists to challenge bank support for dirty energy.

- The Star-Phoenix and Leader-Post editorial boards rightly point out the public demand for transparency into Saskatchewan's alarming rate of workplace injuries and fatalities. And David Burke contrasts Sweden's success in eradicating illness from salmonella against Canada's litany of failures.

- Emma Paling discusses how Doug Ford's reckless slashing of funds has plunged children's aid societies into crisis. And CBC News reports that the PCs' agenda of cruelty also includes the closing of overdose prevention sites, exacerbating the opioid crisis which has already resulted in an unmanageable workload for the province's social support system.

- Finally, David Climenhaga examines the Jason Kenney UCP's plans to save Alberta by destroying it.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jake Bittle writes about rural homelessness as a seldom-discussed issue which calls out for a strong policy response to ensure the right to housing is met regardless of whether one's community is urban or rural:

While the trigger events that cause homelessness are similar everywhere—foreclosure, unemployment, addiction, illness—small towns have far fewer job opportunities and mental-health resources. And although the housing shortage in rural areas is not as severe as in large cities such as New York City, Seattle, or San Francisco, rural houses are older and more dilapidated on average than urban houses, according to HUD data. As a result, even though the housing crisis left thousands of vacant homes in rural areas, service providers often have trouble finding housing that meets HUD’s standards. This leaves advocates with an uncomfortable choice: Work with the limited resources available in their area, or advise homeless individuals to relocate, which can mean leaving their families and social networks behind.
...
(U)nless the federal government makes an attempt to tackle rural homelessness as a distinct problem, the issue will only worsen. Roman said NAEH helped Congress sketch out a special HUD program to solve rural homelessness, but that Congress never actually gave the department money to set the initiative up. Under President Barack Obama, the department reversed a years long rise in homelessness, and homeless aid is one of the few parts of the HUD budget that the Trump administration has not slashed. Still, Roman says, without a concerted effort to tackle rural America’s “hidden homeless,” the question of shelter in the United States will only be partially answered.

- And Bernie Sanders notes that the gap between the rich and the rest of us applies to agricultural communities, as agribusiness giants are extracting massive profits from increasingly precarious farms.

- Luke Savage discusses how the real working class - as opposed to an all-white male version of the same - receives virtually no attention from the U.S.' media. Andrew Coyne comments on Quebec's blatantly discriminatory Bill 21, and wonders whether Canada's federal politicians will start talking about what can be done at the national level to restrain bigotry at the provincial level. And Salimah Kassam writes about the dangers of white supremacists and the politicians who enable them, while Chauncey DeVega highlights the connection between Donald Trump's campaign appearances and racist violence.

- Pamela Palmater points out how the Libs' budget has once again put off the urgent needs and glaring disparities facing Indigenous women and children.

- Finally, Lana Payne rightly calls out the Cons as being the most faux of feminists - though it's worth noting that their obvious lack of genuine interest in addressing inequality doesn't mean there isn't ample reason to criticize the Libs' track record.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Frank Graves and Michael Valpy discuss the contrast between Canadian voters who are rightly concerned about the gap in wealth and power between the rich and the rest of us, and the Lib and Con politicians who go out of their way to preserve existing inequality and privilege:

The public has arrived at a rare moment of agreement that populism has been unleashed by a stratification of income not seen since the early years of the last century. In a country otherwise incommensurably divided on the major political issues of the day like immigration, globalization, climate change and the role of the state, EKOS finds harmonious thought among most Canadians—regardless of party attachment—that extreme and growing concentration of wealth at the top is responsible for Canada’s current social and economic problems. For example, wage increases for 90 per cent of Canadians have remained stuck at zero in constant dollars since 1980 while earnings for the top 0.1 per cent have gone up 500 per cent (note that chief executives of Canada’s five largest banks collectively earned $55-million in 2018 in total direct compensation, up roughly 6.5 per cent from 2017). There’s strong agreement across partisan boundaries on addressing the issue by taxing wealth and raising the marginal tax rate.
...

Across the border, politicians declaring their candidacies for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2020 are advocating for both wealth taxes and rising top marginal tax rates to popular acclaim. They are talking about inequality and promising to level the playing field in militant language — they’re using the word socialism, for heaven’s sake — seldom heard from American legislators.

In Canada, at the same time, many of the very voters who have moved into the authoritarian populist camp agree with those taxation measures, providing a nearly singular point of unity in an otherwise hopelessly fractured public.

Suppose, on the march to Canada’s October’s election, our political leaders began stepping up to the public judgment by proposing the creation of a wealth tax, of an inheritance tax, of caps on executive remuneration, of legislated routes to encourage profit sharing with workers. That may change the country’s political conversation.

- Meanwhile, Alex Ballingall reports on Jagmeet Singh's plan to take a first step toward a more progressive tax system by including more capital gains as taxable income. And Dana Nuccitelli writes about the elitism involved in protecting wealthy oil investors over the people who stand to suffer most from a climate breakdown.

- Paul Krugman highlights the absence of any of the promised economic spinoffs from the Trump administration's giveaway to the rich. And Robert Reich points out how misplaced trust in corporate self-regulation - exacerbated by an administration which is neither willing nor able to act in the public interest - is endangering Americans.

- Dylan Penner discusses some of the reasons to pursue a Green New Deal in Canada. And Noah Zon and Adrienne Lipsey offer some suggestions to improve Canada's system of parental leave.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk looks in detail at some of the basic information lacking from British Columbia's belated review of the dangers of fracking. And Sharon Riley examines Alberta's failure to actually test the self-serving assertions of operators asserting they've reclaimed well sites.

Musical interlude

CHVRCHES - Gun

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ryan Meili points out the unduly limited view of climate policy arising out of political posturing over the federal carbon tax. Ed Finn writes about the importance of ensuring our only home remains inhabitable. Bruce Anderson and David Colleto examine the growing importance of our climate breakdown as a ballot box question for Canadian voters. And George Monbiot suggests that ecocide should be viewed and prosecuted as a crime against humanity.

- Meanwhile, Richard Blackwell reports that renewable energy already generates more employment for Canadians than the oil sands, while Sharon Riley discusses the risk of relying on an oil industry facing a predictable decline for future economic development.

- Paul Dechene writes about the connection between climate denial and right-wing bigotry. Andray Domise questions who so much of Canada's media is choosing to amplify racist messages rather than challenging them. And Kevin Metcalf discusses the attempt by self-proclaimed right-wing "speech warriors" to silence anybody who disagrees through the courts.

- PressProgress offers some suggestions from this year's Progress Summir as to what left-wing populism should look like.

- And finally, Raquel Rolnik discusses how poverty and inequality are only getting worse in the UK under a Conservative government which has pushed nothing but domestic deprivation and international isolationism.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Robert Borosage discusses why we shouldn't let conveniently one-sided calls for civility silence debate over progressive possibilities. And Alex Ballingall reports on the affordability anxiety which demands an effective political response rather than a contemptuous dismissal:

In a memo outlining the results, Coletto points to a “common concern” that life is getting less affordable in Canada, with 68 per cent of respondents saying the cost of things they use and consume daily has gotten “worse” within the last few years. At the same time, 59 per cent said they feel the difference between their personal salaries and those of the “richest one per cent” has gotten “worse,” while a majority — 62 per cent — said the profits of big corporations are better or about the same as they were a few years ago.

This “gap” between anxiety about everyday affordability and the perception the wealthy are doing well is “fuelling the angst that we see in the data,” Coletto writes — raising the question of whether Canada is increasingly fertile ground for anti-elite populism of the kind seen in the United States and Europe.
...
Coletto points to results that suggest avenues for political parties to tap into these sentiments. Most respondents who said they worry about affordability said they would choose lower costs over higher wages to assuage their concerns, indicating an openness to pocketbook policies that cut individual and household costs, Coletto writes.

Forty-six per cent chose the government forcing companies to reduce the cost of goods as one of three responses to affordability concerns, followed by 45 per cent who said it can cut taxes, and 42 per cent who said it can extend public health care to cover more services.

For Miller, some of this aligns with what a progressive party like the NDP — the party most closely associated with the Broadbent summit — can offer voters, whether it is creating a national pharmacare program or cracking down on tax havens used by the rich.

- Fox News (!) reports on polling showing that people's top priority on taxes is to make sure the rich pay their fair share. Meanwhile, PressProgress points out how Jason Kenney's plan for Alberta is to go in the opposite direction.

- Dennis Gruending responds to Republican nonsense by setting the record straight about Canada's health care system. And David Climenhaga examines how conservatives in Alberta and the U.S. alike are determined to take away health care as an end in itself.

- Emma Teitel writes that Andrew Scheer's embrace of hate makes him utterly unsuited to address the crime which arises from it. And CBC News examines the racism embedded in Halifax' policing practices.

- Finally, Dana Gee interviews David Moscrop about Too Dumb For Democracy? and the need for people to put time and effort into a responsive democracy.