Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Abdullah Shihipar discusses why there's every reason to resist the pressure from self-serving politicians and business groups to succumb to COVID-19. Hannah Flynn discusses the long-term brain injuries traceable to long COVID in primates. And Steve Schering examines the hospitalization rates for children during the Omicron wave (with vaccinations offering some, but not bulletproof, protection). 

- Ian Welsh writes about the folly of the petrochemical age on a historical scale - even as so many of our politicians desperately try to avoid discussing how to shift to remotely sustainable forms of social and economic organization. And Deepa Shivaram notes that the U.S. has seen one important first, as wind power has exceeded that from coal and nuclear sources for the first time. 

- Nina Lakhani, Alvin Chang, Rita Liu and Andrew Witherspoon discuss how our food system is grossly unprepared for the effects of climate change. And Gisele Yasmeen notes that far too many people already face food shortages and insecurity - though due to inequality and war rather than a lack of sufficient production to feed everybody. 

- Jacqueline Best points out the problems with Pierre Poilievre's quack monetarism as an excuse to engage in austerity and economic self-sabotage in the name of fighting modest inflation. And Michael Roberts notes that most of the conversation around inflation ignores the reality of supply shocks which can be relieved through direct public investment in productive activity - with the added bonus of ensuring that what's produced best serves the needs of people. 

- Meanwhile, Umair Haque comments on the concentration of wealth and power that inevitable results when we allow - and even encourage - public goods to be put under private control. 

- Finally, Bill Blaikie highlights a few of the firsts in the supply and confidence agreement between the NDP and the Libs. And Aaron Wherry writes that the appropriate frame of reference in evaluating the deal is to assess whether and how it produces durable changes in policy.