Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Andrew Coyne recognizes that there's no point in pretending that trade negotiations with the U.S. under the control of a mad king can be expected to produce any meaningful results. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has plenty of proposals to build our economy away from dependence on the U.S. - both through the results of its Elbows Up Economic Summit, and through its Alternative Federal Budget. And Jeremy Appel discusses how tax loopholes for billionaires are both a fuel for inequality, and a revenue sink keeping us from investing in our own future. 

- John Ganz discusses how the Trump regime is actively staffing up with the worst possible thugs to beat the U.S. into submission, while Zach Everson points out the blatant corruption involved in the shoveling of public money to unqualified contractors who have handed no-work positions to Trump's sons. And Liz Dye highlights how Republicans are not only taking Trump's nonsensical ramblings as gospel in setting policy, but expecting courts to treat them as evidence as well. 

- Ian James reports on a new warning from scientists that we're headed for climate ruin - and need to work together to the extent possible even as the likes of Trump and his Canadian puppets stand in the way. Lisa Song reports that U.S. air pollution is far worse that previously acknowledged, and will only be exacerbated by Trump's interference with any regulation. And Nick Bowlin reports on Oklahoma's acceptance of the flow of toxic wastewater from oil fields, while Brandi Morin highlights the efforts of Alberta First Nations to avoid having tar sands tailings being released into water sources. 

- Finally, Samatha Edwards reports on new polling showing that Canadians are highly dubious about AI - confirming that it's only business elites hoping to profit from it at the expense of labour and consumers who have any interest in keeping its bubble inflated. And Rank and File examines how the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has amassed surpluses by under-compensating injured workers, with the benefits denied to workers then being gifted to corporate employers instead by the Ford PCs.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- David Macdonald offers this year's report on CEO compensation in Canada - showing how company men are being handed obscene pay packages while workers on the ground are left to toil away for hundreds of times less. Paul Krugman points out the connection between enhanced worker power and reduced inequality which led to the U.S.' economic success after World War II - even as Donald Trump seeks to drag the country back to a gilded age which was far poorer for all but the wealthiest few. 

- Guglielmo Briscese and Maddalena Grignani study (PDF) the importance of public trust in public institutions - and the potential to substantially increase it by making useful information readily available. Don Moynihan writes that the Trump administration's plans are to make the federal government a toxic employer - and that there's precedent from his first term to see how that will play out. Jason Linkins discusses how the enshittification of the U.S.' civil service will harm the general public. And Jill Lawrence notes that the Republicans' determination to defund the IRS is the ultimate indicator of their phony populism - as the result is both to direct more tax enforcement toward those least able to pay, and to starve the government of resources as the wealthy humb their noses at their tax obligations. 

- Vijay Vaitheeswaran highlights how grid-scale storage is becoming readily affordable and feasible - making renewable energy into by far the most efficient option in places where governments aren't actively distorting power production to favour fossil fuels and other extractive industries. Holly Caggiano, Emily Grubert and Mark Paul discuss the strong U.S. public support to end dirty energy subsidies. And Eric Holthaus makes the case that the most meaningful climate action at the individual level is to opt out of the system that's superheating our planet to the extent possible. 

- Alexa Phillips reports that the fallout from Brexit includes the dumping of garbage ans sewage on UK beaches as the abandonment of EU standards led to a polluter free-for-all. And Walker Bragman points out how the alt-right is already seeking to politicize the avian flu - even as public health authorities shy away from both substantive action and public communication based on the contrived backlash to any and all responses to COVID-19. 

- Julia Metraux interviews Anita Say Chan on how techbros have become the new eugenecists. 

- Finally, The Groundbreaker makes the case for local-level organization as the necessary core of a progressive political movement. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the Copernicus Climate Change Service's findings that 2023 is on pace to be the hottest year on record, with October's temperatures at 1.7 degrees above the pre-industrial level. 

- Damian Carrington highlights a UN report warning of the destructive insistence of petrostates on increasing fossil fuel production even in the midst of an ongoing climate breakdown. And while the International Energy Agency's new World Energy Outlook is being spun as good news in projecting a decrease in the share of energy from fossil fuels, it too anticipates that carbon pollution from oil and gas will keep getting worse for the balance of the 2020s. 

- Ecojustice makes the case for Canada to actually live up to its climate commitments, rather than accepting a trajectory toward failure. And John Woodside reports on Quebec's call for the federal government to finally look beyond fossil fuels. 

- Hulya Gilbert and Marco te Brömmelstroet write about the norms of vehicular supremacy that make our communities needlessly dangerous for people in general, and children in particular. 

- Bob Weber reports on an academic assessment which calls out the pseudo-science of the UCP's harm exacerbation approach to drug policy. Which makes it all the more damning that the party is shifting even further away from reality-based policy (as Max Fawcett observes). And Phil Tank notes that the Moe government is going out of its way to impose destructive mandates on Saskatchewan residents. 

- Finally, Dean Bennett reports on the revelation (since confirmed as a matter of policy) that the UCP's plans include the demolition of Alberta's health care system. And Eric Stober reports on a new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study which reminds us that health privatization tends to both increase costs and harm service. 

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Alexander Haro reports on the scientific recognition that 2023 stands to be by far the hottest year in recorded human history (even compared to the elevated temperatures of other recent years). And Kate Aronoff wonders when the general public will start waking up to the glaring climate risks that are rendering massive amounts of land uninsurable. 

- Meanwhile, Nathasha Bulowski discusses how the federal sustainable jobs bill will would give labour some voice in the future of Canadian work - which represents one of the main reasons why the Cons and their provincial allies are determined to block it.

- Katherine Scott and Trish Hennessy examine how the low-barrier income provided through the CERB served not only as a temporary source of income, but also as a means for workers to improve their work circumstances. And Malone Mullin reports on Food First N.L.'s call for people to have the income they need to ensure a reasonable standard of living, rather than being forced to rely on food banks and other charities.

- Finally, Andre Picard discusses how the price of inaction and dithering in Canada's health care system is a deep decay. And the Canadian Health Coalition highlights why the NDP's push for pharmacare legislation is needed to ensure people don't face barriers to access to medicine.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Zak Vescera reports on the CCPA's new research showing how an increasing number of jobs in British Columbia are precarious - with already-disadvantaged workers especially likely to be affected. Don Pittis points out the Bank of Canada's continued attempts to hold wages below the rate of inflation, while offering much-needed space for Kaylie Tiessen to point out how that focus results in its being a soldier for capital in an ongoing class war. And Nick French writes that the essence of socialism is rooted in justice for workers pursuing what's rightfully theirs.

- Andrew Petter and Jim Rutkowski write about the value of progressive populism as a tool to make the case for an egalitarian society.  And Rowan Burdge, Jen Kostuchuk and Ismail Askin point out the importance of ensuring that social justice is embodied in any climate plan in order to ensure people see the benefits of a clean energy transition. 

- Meanwhile, Roberto Burgos discusses how the latest IPCC report is both alarming in its expectations, and unduly optimistic in its assumption that we'll manage a full transition away from carbon pollution.

- Finally, David Beers discusses the need to value journalism as a public good - particularly as the Cons and their provincial cousins attempt to stifle any reporting or commentary other than from their own side's propagandists.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Evan Xu, Yan Xie and Ziyad Al-Aly study the long-term neurological effects of COVID-19, finding elevated risks of numerous kinds of neurological disorders even following mild initial infections.  

- Crawford Kilian discusses the need for a prosocial revolution to deal with COVID along with other social ills. Jenalee Doom discusses how poverty translates into lasting effects on people's health and welfare. And the CCPA's Alternative Federal Budget offers a reminder of what could readily be accomplished if our federal government was focused on meeting people's needs rather than serving the interests of capital.  

- Americans for Tax Fairness documents how the U.S.' political system has been warped by the billionaire-dominated Club for Growth and its perpetual demand of free money for the rich. And Erin McCormick and Aliya Uteuova expose how the lead industry - in the wake of public awareness that it was poisoning people - pushed for the proliferation of lead water pipes which continues to be a public health disaster in the U.S. 

- Finally, Jeff Gray reports on the Ford PCs' privatization of jobs programs, with the immediate effects of both eliminating provincial accountability and making citizens' interests subject to the pursuit of profits. And Fatima Syed reports on the Financial Accountability Office's projections as to how a climate breakdown will increase the costs of maintaining infrastructure - even as Ford remains determined to destroy green space and subsidize carbon pollution. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jennifer Hulme discusses how long COVID is causing devastating long-term effects on women in particular, with little apparent prospect of treatment to improve matters. And Linda Gaudino's report on the prevalence of long COVID offers an important reminder that the damage is both economic and physical. 

- Emily Leedham surveys the response of Ontario's major unions to Doug Ford's attempt to claim to have workers' interests in mind. And Adam King argues that Canadian labour law should be changed to enhance the right to strike - particularly by ensuring that non-union workers are able to strike in order to effect change in the workplace. 

- The CCPA examines how Saskatchewan's minimum wage continues to lag far below the cost of living even for a two-income family. And Don Pittis discusses how Canadians generally are seeing a need to cut back on consumer spending.

- Mitchell Beer reports on Caroline Dennett's revelations about Shell's complete disregard for the need for climate action despite a glossy greenwashing campaign. Innovative Research Group examines Canadian public opinion on the need for a just transition - with the phrasing of a particular question having an outsized effect on many respondents' support for change. 

- Sharon Udasin reports on Massachusetts' move to sue manufacturers over the "forever chemicals" used in a fire suppressant. 

- Finally, David Moscrop writes that the planned Rogers-Shaw merger is just the latest indication that private telecoms can't be expected to serve as anything but profit extractors - strengthening the case for public providers to ensure people have access to information. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- George Monbiot writes that rhetoric about "learning to live with it" has become the go-to excuse to allow preventable tragedies - including the COVID pandemic and the deepening climate crisis - to go unaddressed. Joe Vipond, Kashif Perzada and Malgorzata Gasperowicz argue that Albertans (like citizens elsewhere) have never given informed consent to the mass infection strategy apparently being substituted for any reasonable public health policy. And Linda Geddes reports on new research adding a massively increased risk of deep vein thrombosis and blood clots to the list of effects of infection. 

- The CCPA offers its review of Saskatchewan's provincial budget, highlighting Scott Moe's attempt to use it as to stop talking about the ongoing pandemic even as the damage wrought by COVID-19 reaches new heights. Phil Tank points out how a continued focus on (misleading nominal-dollar) comparisons to a decade and a half ago shows that the Saskatchewan Party has never grown up. And Jessie Anton reports on the students taking direct action to push for adequate education funding - rather than cuts for an already-starved public system while new money is funneled to private operators. 

- Meanwhile, the CCPA's federal budget review recognizes that some important steps toward improving people's lives are ultimately being treated as secondary to keeping the corporate sector comfortable. Mike Moffatt notes that a belated federal return to the world of making housing policy falls far short of what people need to fulfil their right to a home. And Alex Ballingall reports on the rightly frustrated response of environmental groups to a budget whose main investment in climate change is a handout to oil companies for carbon capture and storage schemes which do little to reduce emissions while locking in fossil fuel infrastructre. 

- Fatima Syed writes about the Ontario NDP's complete and ambitious climate plan in an election where the other main parties are looking to downplay the future of the planet. And Paige Bennett reports on new research from the White House Office of Management and Budget showing a multi-trillion-dollar price tag attached to climate inaction.  

- Jacob Lorinc discusses the growing recognition that corporate greed is the main driver in life becoming perpetually less affordable. 

- Finally, Lauren Pelley explains why a national pharmacare program hasn't yet been implemented despite a myriad of promises and studies - with furious lobbying by profiteers of course ranking at the top of the list. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Shree Paradkar laments the folly of making the same mistakes over and over again throughout the course of a continuing pandemic, while Crawford Kilian offers his own list of lessons we should have learned by now. And Andrew Nikiforuk provides some suggestions to people navigating the newest wave - including going beyond the minimum (or lower) standards that have been established by governments who seem all too willing to let the Omicron variant tear through their populations.  

- Austin Landis and Reuben Jones report on Anthony Fauci's recognition that even cases classified as "mild" may lead to a lifetime of long-haul neurological and other symptoms. Peter Hall et al. find direct relationships between both infection and symptom severity, and cognitive dysfunction. And as COVID minimizers try to excuse their own negligence by distinguishing between health effects "with COVID" and "from COVID", Firas Raheman et al. conclude (PDF) that the coronavirus correlates with more severe outcomes even among patients with a condition as obviously unrelated as a hip fracture. 

- Stephen Maher writes about the importance of countering the flood of misinformation spilling out from the U.S. And Paul Frost, Marguerite Xenopoulos, Michael Epp and Michael Hickson discuss how to push back against antivaxxers and other bad-faith actors. But Richard Luscombe reports on Thomas Homer-Dixon's warning that propaganda may be the least of our worries if the U.S. comes under a right-wing dictatorship - as seems all too plausible over the next few years.  

- David Milstead reports on the massive bonuses taken by grocery executives at the same time they've raised prices on consumers and slashed any pandemic benefits for workers. And the CCPA points out another year of gross inequality between CEOs and workers generally, even as compensation structures were reconfigured to allow employers to take wage subsidies. 

- Finally, Anton Jager discusses how the supposed "post-politics" era has given way to "hyper-politics" in which issues are recognized to be political, but a lack of organization makes it impossible to actually give effect to people's preferences and interests. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- David Shield reports on the development of a new COVID-19 variant which is becoming dominant in Saskatchewan, while Zak Vescera highlights how public health experts are refuting the Moe government's spin about not being provided reasonable options to limit the catastrophic fourth wave. And Shannon Proudfoot discusses how the pandemic (and the decision to treat it as over for the purposes of people without real family responsibilities) has been breaking parents left to navigate it on their own. 

- Bruce Arthur writes that booster shots will help the effort to contain COVID, but won't represent a panacea any more than the first round of vaccinations. And Vidya Krishnan reminds us of the need to stop prioritizing big pharma's profits over global access to vaccines if we want to get the pandemic under control. 

- Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt write that climate activists have been waiting politely and playing nice far too long while rapacious fossil fuel barons and their political lackeys set our planet on fire. Kate Aronoff responds to Barack Obama as he tries to put the onus for climate action on the activists he ignored - or even implicitly treated as his adversaries - while in power. Yanis Varoufakis argues that the Glasgow climate summit has failed due to a focus on distant and empty "net zero" targets. 

- Karl Nerenberg reports on Oxfam's push to tax the rich in the interest of both economic and environmental justice. 

- Armine Yalnizyan, Laurell Ritchie, Marjorie Griffin Cohen and Pat Armstrong discuss the work that needs to be done at the federal level to build a functional and effective care economy. And the CCPA's alternative federal budget reminds us again how the federal government could develop a just and equitable society if it wanted to make the effort. 

- Finally, Anastasia French, Craig Pickthorne and Christine Saulnier write that a living wage is an essential element of any genuine economic recovery. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Claire Pomeroy and the Financial Times each highlight the likelihood that survivors of long COVID will be affected for the rest of their lives by a disease which governments have decided to allow to spread. And a group of health experts in the UK weighs in on the folly of condemning thousands of people to illness or death in the name of "personal responsibility" in response to a social threat. 

- Apoorva Mandavilli and Benjamin Mueller discuss how the Delta variant is exacerbating the gap in outcomes between the reality-based portion of the U.S. and the Trumpist death cult. And Jonathan Bernstein discusses the willingness of Republicans to sacrifice the lives of their supporters for political gain. 

- Umair Haque makes the point that none of the interlocking crises which are endangering our health and our living environment are anything close to normal - even as far too many people have accepted (at the behest of those in power) that we should normalize a state of catastrophe. 

- Ezra Klein points out the absurdity that we would let our natural environment burn even as we're experiencing the results of a climate breakdown. And Sofia Andrade reports that climate scientists are recognizing that they've underestimated the climate impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures so far. 

- The Associated Press reports on Greenland's decision to reject oil development which would provide temporary profits at the expense of long-term survival. Mike de Souza reports on new polling showing that oil and gas workers are more than willing to transition to work in the renewable energy sector as long as petrostates aren't standing in their way. But Noam Scheiber points out the need to ensure that green development actually results in the creation of good jobs, rather than following a corporatist model which suppresses wages and working conditions.

- Finally, Lisa Carter highlights how women stand to bear the brunt of yet another set of impossible demands in navigating a reopening after exhausting available time away from work and losing pandemic-related supports. And Arisa Valyear points out the CCPA's work showing how families would stand to benefit from a full national child care plan.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- John Michael McGrath makes the case for optimism about our potential to avoid further waves of COVID as long as COVID-19 vaccinations overtake the risk of community spread. Brian Platt reports on Nova Scotia's use of rapid testing to catch a substantial number of cases in its third wave (while far too many provinces continue to let rapid tests languish). And Kim Siever notes that Alberta's headline numbers primarily reflect a worrisome drop in testing overall. 

- David Moscrop notes that the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the problems with a first-past-the-post political system which doesn't require majority governments to be even remotely responsive to citizens between elections. Duncan Cameron writes that electing good people then failing to put pressure on them once in power is nowhere enough to ensure the kind of action we need to avert a climate breakdown. And Mitchell Thompson interviews Svend Robinson about the importance of the NDP providing a transformational option for voters and activists alike.

- The CCPA's presentation to the federal finance committee highlights the importance of collecting more revenue from the rich to ensure needed services are available to everybody. 

-  Pat Armstrong, Hugh Armstrong, Dan Buchanan, Tony Dean, Gail Donner, Arthur Donner, Sharon Sholzberg-Gray, Alex Himelfarb and Steven Shrybman point out the importance of investing in long-term care for people rather than profits for donors. And Karl Nerenberg discusses how corporate landlords - with the active participation of far too many governments - are putting the price of housing far out of the reach of the people who need it.

- Finally, Christine Ro discusses how overwork is killing many people (even as many others are told there's no work available for them).

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- In the absence of any leadership from governments, a group of experts has put together a "Canadian Shield" strategy (PDF) to rein in the spread of COVID-19 - featuring the seemingly indisputable ideas that the starting point needs to be controlling and ultimately reducing viral spread while supporting the people affected.  

- David Carrigg reports that British Columbia has finally decided (without fanfare) to limit the operation of industrial work sites which create massive outbreak risks.

- Jeeves Wijesuriya discusses how COVID conspiracy theories affect the health care workers risking their health and well-being to try to keep people alive through a pandemic, while Andrea Wu and Tu Thanh Ha highlight how the health care system may be swamped as a result of irresponsible actions over the holidays. Alexandra Robbins rightly questions why decisions about the school system include little regard for the teachers who keep it running. 

- Sonia Sidha discusses the rise of UK Conservative cabinet ministers who are treated as being too antisocial and incompetent to fail - a phenomenon which is all too familiar in Canada as well. 

- Finally, as part of the CCPA's latest issue of Our Schools/Our Selves, Erika Shaker argues (PDF, see p. 3) that we need to build back kinder. And Kenan Malik is hopeful that we're relearning important lessons about the importance of collective action - which Madhukar Pai notes is a precondition to reversing the concentration of wealth and power.

Wednesday #skvotes Links

Saskatchewan's election day is rapidly approaching (and indeed voting is already underway). And with plenty of content being generated, I'll plan to offer some link posts dedicated to news of interest to voters.

- PressProgress has been providing plenty of important election news - even if it has regularly been ignored by the mainstream media even after it's been reported and thoroughly documented. In particular, it's exposed how a SaskParty donor was handed a $60 million contract to take over services formerly provided on a profitable basis by STC, and highlighted W. Brett Wilson's shamelessness in insisting that outside money should be able to define Saskatchewan's political debate.

- The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has surveyed voters about their views on climate change and the environment, including finding a strong majority supporting a transition to 100% renewable energy over the next 20 years. And John Klein's latest update highlights the utter failure of the Saskatchewan Party to meet the emission reduction targets which it chose to set for this year. 

- Jason Hammond offers his take on tonight's leadership debate and what comes next.

- And finally, the Leader-Post and Star-Phoenix' editorial boards highlight the importance of voting, even as COVID-19 has made it more difficult to do so. (And I'll offer a reminder that the deadline to apply to vote by mail provincially is tomorrow.)

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- John Metta discusses how low-income workers have been barely treading water for decades even before the coronavirus collapse. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives points out how we can take the failure of EI during the pandemic as a signal that we need to build far stronger income replacements for the future. And Roberta Bell reports on how the pandemic - and the resulting strain on already-threadbare support systems - has exacerbated Regina's existing addictions crisis.

- Avery Zingel talks to Michael Miltenberger about the dangers of the choice of both the Kenney UCP and the Trudeau Libs to suspend water quality monitoring. And Ben Parfitt points out how governments will need to step in to remediate the environmental damage the natural gas industry has inflicted on Fort Nelson, BC.

- Linda McQuaig discusses how decades of giveaways to big oil have left Alberta poorer. Andrew Leach weighs in on the folly of the UCP's War Room. Bryan Carney digs into the public money spent by Alberta - and the dubious tactics used - in its propaganda blitz seeking federal approval for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. And Wallis Snowdon reports on the municipalities facing massive property tax hikes to paper over the handouts the UCP has gifted to the fossil fuel sector. 

- Finally, even the Globe and Mail's editorial board is recognizing the need to start talking about increasing public revenues as part of Canada's path toward recovery - while the Libs continue to insist nothing of the sort is under consideration. And Bill Campbell notes that both the potential to raise income from the uber-wealthy and the ability to carry debt represent important reasons not to obsess over temporary deficits at the expense of rebuilding.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Mike Konczal offers (PDF) a framework for responding to the coronavirus pandemic from a U.S. perspective. And the CCPA is providing ample analysis of the economic and social impacts of COVID-19.

- Dakshana Bascaramurty discusses how the pandemic is revealing and exacerbating Canada's class divide. And Shree Paradkar points out the difference in government reaction depending on the identity of the lives at risk.

- Michael Laxer notes that hoarding and panic buying are fully predictable within a capitalist economic framework. And Lee Fang exposes how Wall Street is putting pressure on medical suppliers to profiteer as a result of the crisis.

- James Meadway observes the need for an anti-wartime mindset which treats demobilization as the top priority. 

- Anne Gaviola makes the case for a national rent freeze to ensure that precarious housing doesn't exacerbate a public health emergency. And Nick Falvo examines the sorry state of housing policy in Canada in advance of the federal budget.

- Finally, Helen Lewis and Moira Wyton both point out how women are struggling with disproportionate burdens in the face of the pandemic.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Owen Jones writes that the coronavirus is offering a stark lesson in how inequality kills:

The coronavirus pandemic is about to collide with this engine of inequality. The super-rich are fleeing on private jets to luxury boltholes in foreign climes, while the well-to-do may deploy their private health insurance to circumvent our already struggling and soon to be overrun National Health Service. Meanwhile, Britain’s army of precarious workers have nowhere to hide, including from employment that puts their health at risk. Uber drivers, Deliveroo riders, cleaners: all in low-paid jobs, often with families to feed. Many will feel they have no choice but to keep working. While many middle-class professionals can protect themselves by working from home, supermarket shelves cannot be stacked remotely, and the same applies from factory workers to cleaners. How many could truly afford to live on £94.25 a week, which is our country’s paltry statutory sick pay?
...
We know that depression and stress weaken our immune systems, and the research is clear: those on low incomes are disproportionately likely to suffer from poor mental health. Poor diet is another factor, and one that is strongly linked to poverty. What, too, of our most impoverished, those who are homeless with poor nutrition, weaker immune systems and a lack of access to good hygiene? And what happens to the 1.5 million children eligible for free school meals if our education sector is temporarily closed? Many could soon find themselves with hungry bellies.
...
A decade of austerity, and a social order that deprives millions of citizens of a comfortable existence, will mean many more deaths in the coming weeks and months that could have been avoided. The government’s determination to discover a vaccine for coronavirus must be accompanied by a renewed commitment to addressing poverty. Like every crisis, this one is likely to affect working-class and poor people worst. That is not inevitable. It’s a choice – and one within our power to stop, if only we had the will to do so.

- Jon Parsons writes that our response to the pandemic needs to be based on an ethic of collective care. Ian Welsh offers his take on what we can expect from the coronavirus and its aftermath. Ella Bedard, John No and Amy Brubacher discuss the need for additional supports for workers in order for social distancing to be effective. Rossana Rodriguez, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Byron Sigcho Lopez, Daniel La Spata and Jeanette Taylor note that the holes in the social safety net being exposed now signal the urgent need for enduring systemic change.

- Both Campbell Clark and Jerry Dias highlight the need for our political leaders to do more rather than less in the face of a crisis which gets exponentially worse for every day it's left unaddressed. And Jacques Gallant and Alyshah Hasham point out how incarcerated populations stand to be particularly hard hit if the pandemic reaches them.

- Caroline Orr notes that the war on truth by the wealthy and powerful has made it all the more difficult to inform the public and get people to act in response to a pandemic. Andrew Nikiforuk connects corporate globalization to the spread of the coronavirus. Carl Meyer reports on the activist push to ensure that Canada's policy response doesn't focus solely on further enriching the wealthy. And Scott Duke Kominers discusses how big business is exploiting the crisis through price gouging on sanitizer and other needed products - and isn't seeing the same public opprobrium as the individuals doing the same.

- Finally, the CCPA's Alternative Federal Budget offers a plan to protect workers and the public, while transitioning to a more secure and sustainable society. And Avi Lewis points out how a Green New Deal represents an ideal plan for rebuilding and modernizing our economy in the wake of the coronavirus.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Nathan Robinson writes that there's every reason for younger people - in the U.S. and elsewhere - to support the principle of socialism based on a desire to achieve gains for everybody rather than only a privileged few:

A better definition, at least as far as the economic dimension of socialism, is the concept of “worker control.” What socialists have disliked is the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of people. What they have demanded is that ordinary working people get their fair share of the wealth. Some socialists have believed strongly in the power of government, others have believed that worker cooperatives or syndicates could give workers their share. Matt Bruenig of the socialist People’s Policy Project has proposed a large “social wealth fund” that would distribute returns on public assets to the people as a whole, while Bernie Sanders (now running for president again) has put forth a plan to give employees seats on company boards and give ordinary workers guaranteed shares of stock.

The specifics vary, but what all socialists have in common is a dislike for the class system, where some people work incredibly hard all their lives and end up with nothing, while other people get to make money in their sleep just by owning things. Socialists think that if you work for a company, you ought to reap rewards when it succeeds, and you ought to have a say in how it’s run.

But there’s more to it than that. In my book, ”Why You Should Be A Socialist,” I argue that what socialists have in common is a sense of “solidarity” with people at the bottom, no matter who they are. As the famous socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs said 100 years ago, “while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

That commitment may seem radical: who wants to be of the criminal element? But socialists think in terms of universals: we think everyone deserves healthcare and housing, not just the people who prove themselves morally worthy. Sanders was criticized when he said that inmates should be able to vote. But that was an admirably socialist thing to say: some rights should not have exceptions.

A lot of socialists’ day-to-day focus, then, is not on restructuring who owns the “means of production,” but on looking at the lives of people at the bottom and figuring out how to make them better. And we have this commitment because of solidarity: you want the same things for everyone else that you have for yourself.

- Meanwhile, the CCPA examines how Canada's wealthiest CEOs continue to increase the gap between their own pay and that of the workers who contribute to their riches. And Paul Willcocks writes that the gig economy serves primarily to transfer risks and responsibilities from corporations to workers.

- Paul Krugman discusses the immense damage done to the people who could least afford it by the U.S.' gratuitous austerity. And PressProgress points out the harm Jason Kenney has done by slashing taxes and services in less than a year governing Alberta, while Chris Turner comments on the $30 million bonfire that is the UCP's fossil fuel war room.

- Finally, Robert Reich writes about the sham of corporate social responsibility. And Ganesh Shitaraman declares neoliberalism to be dead, while surveying the wreckage it's left behind. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ainslie Cruickshank reports on new polling showing that most Canadians support a transition to a clean energy economy even without having received much information about the path to get there. And Yvonne Hanson writes that a Green New Deal will only work if it pushes us toward both social and environmental justice:

In order to make climate solutions realistically achievable, we must first address the social barriers that stand in the way of making them happen. If people can’t afford climate-friendly alternatives, we must raise wages and invest in social welfare to put more money in their pockets so that they can afford to factor environmental costs into the cost-benefit analysis they perform when deciding what to buy. If people are driving their cars to work instead of taking transit, we must invest in a robust public transit system that incentivizes them to leave the car at home by making it faster and cheaper to get to work via transit.
...
Put simply, the GND is a package of policy changes that would affect almost every aspect of Canada’s economy. The goal is to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs by using federal funds to stimulate the development of postcarbon social, economic, and physical infrastructure. Retraining fossil fuel industry workers, subsidizing the transition to renewable energy, funding community and co-op driven climate action projects, empowering Indigenous leadership, and guaranteeing fair wages, adequate low-carbon housing, and a robust social safety net for everyone financially affected by the transition away from fossil fuels.

Essentially, the GND would fund the transition to a postcarbon economy and mitigate the economic fallout that working class people may experience as a result of the transition. Climate action must create jobs for working people; no one can be left behind in the shift to a postcarbon economy.

- Simon Lewis warns against counting on sucking carbon emissions out of the air as a substitute for the steps we need to take toward a clean energy economy.

- Erica Alini reports on the continued concentration of wealth in Canada both within and across generations. And Steve Wamhoff writes that any claim about difficulty in collecting wealth taxes appears to be little more than self-serving spin on the part of the rich who don't want to pay their fair share.

- Thara Kumar discusses the need for additional investments in our public health care system, rather than a belief that for-profit corporate providers and individual self-funding represent the only option to add to our existing capacity. And Tammie Sutherland reports that Doug Ford's decree that students need to claim credits outside of school in order to graduate will only serve as a cash cow for corporate credit mills.

- Finally, Chris Selley writes about Ontario's miserable turn on the Lib-Con merry-go-round, as Ford wasted no time in matching the corruption of his ejected predecessors.