Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Steven Greenhouse discusses how the U.S.' economy is rigged against workers. And Eric Levitz writes that Donald Trump's giveaway to the rich worked only as a scam against the rest of the country.

- Matthew Townsend and Scott Lanman point out that minimum wage increases - both through legislation and through public pressure on large employers - have resulted in some meaningful improvement in retail worker pay. But Sask Mojtehedzadeh reports on the continued delay in any federal report on precarious work in Canada.

- Ryan Cooper writes that Democrats are beginning to recognize the dangers of pursuing trade agreements designed to enrich businesses at the expense of the public - though sadly we can't say the same for Justin Trudeau and his corporate Libs.

- Canadians for Tax Fairness presents (PDF) a set of proposals for Canada's leaders and voters to discuss as the federal election approaches:

We have proposals in four different areas, with details provided below.

A. Ensure corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share by closing regressive tax loopholes and making taxes more progressive
B. Tackle international tax evasion, avoidance and tax havens
C. Improve corporate transparency
D. Combat climate change and support sustainable development

The fair tax plan...could generate over $40 billion annually in additional revenues for the federal government (as well as additional revenues for provincial governments where they would benefit from a broader federal tax base with fewer loopholes).

These additional revenues could, for example, easily fund:

• Affordable child care for all plan, with a $1 billion investment in 2020 and an additional $1 billion each year for ten years to 2030.
• A national universal pharmacare for all plan, estimated to cost $10 billion more than what federal and provincial governments now pay, providing average savings of $600 per household.
• Free university and college tuition for all Canadians. Total tuition fees amount to about $9 billion (including foreign students, net costs would be lower without the tuition tax credit).
• Elements of a “green new deal”, such as energy retrofitting of buildings and 40%of Canada’s homes, reducing homeowner energy use and bills by an average of 30% each, and improving the efficiency of other buildings by 50% at an estimated cost of $6 billion annually(and generating over 80,000 jobs annually).

- The Beaverton offers this year's definitive response to the Fraser Institute's ludicrous spin on public revenue.

- Finally, Tom Scocca discusses the violence which has resulted from the U.S.' acceptance of the spread of racism and bigotry. And Jonathan Montpetit calls out Francois Legault for endorsing attacks against minorities.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Bob Hepburn discusses how Doug Ford has turned a populist campaign into government solely for the benefit of the privileged few. And Paul Krugman rightly notes that it's the Republicans who stoke resentment in the U.S.' rust belt who actually express contempt for the plight of the people living there.

- Meanwhile, Ross Belot points out how far too many Albertans were snookered by the unfortunately-unchallenged claim that the grim future of the oil sector is the result of a lack of pipelines, rather than the absence of a business case for dirty and costly energy. And Campbell Clark writes that Andrew Scheer has made clear that he too is serving the immediate bottom line of oil barons rather than the interests of the Canadian public.

- Rabble points out new research showing that people living in poverty have to pay more for housing.

- James Bowden writes that unlike (and in direct contrast to) Justin Trudeau, Francois Legault's cAQ government is on the verge of implementing a proportional representation in Quebec based on an electoral mandate. And Andrew Coyne offers a reminder as to how outdated and unfair a first-past-the-post system is in a multi-party world.

- Finally, the Globe and Mail's editorial board highlights how decriminalization of drugs would largely eliminate the epidemic of overdoses.