Sunday, February 05, 2012

Sunday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Vivian Belik looks at the long-ignored outcomes from a guaranteed income experiment in Dauphin, MB - and finds that the positive results of of providing a secure income to all citizens were well worth the investment:
(T)he Mincome program was conceived as a labour market experiment. The government wanted to know what would happen if everybody in town received a guaranteed income, and specifically, they wanted to know whether people would still work.

It turns out they did.

Only two segments of Dauphin's labour force worked less as a result of Mincome—new mothers and teenagers. Mothers with newborns stopped working because they wanted to stay at home longer with their babies. And teenagers worked less because they weren't under as much pressure to support their families.

The end result was that they spent more time at school and more teenagers graduated. Those who continued to work were given more opportunities to choose what type of work they did.
- Thomas Walkom notes that the current focus of business and government alike is instead on attacking workers to the greatest extent possible, as epitomized by the Caterpillar shutdown in London.

- Roland Paris criticizes the Cons' strategy of fomenting fear wherever they go.

- Meanwhile, Bruce Cheadle reports that federal public servants have reason to fear they'll be punished for telling the truth rather than parroting government talking points. And that lack of trust looks to be a natural corollary when fraudulent PR stunts - like the false citizenship oath staged for the benefit of Sun TV - get singled out for praise.

- Finally, Murray Mandryk rightly slams the Sask Party for barring Saskatchewan PC leaders from the legislative building on the basis that their speaking to the media makes them a "security risk".

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