Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Daniel Markovits argues for a wealth tax to fund the relief and rebuilding effort needed in response to COVID-19, while Paul Mason points out the need to not only tax existing wealth but build new economic structures which deter extreme wealth accumulation. Bill Bostock reports on the rightful refusal of Denmark and Poland (so far) to direct public support toward companies which have refused to keep up their end of any social contract. Amir Barnes writes that we shouldn't allow public bailout money to be diverted toward enriching executives or buying back shares. And Robert Reich notes that the real moral hazard in the U.S. involves the exploitation of both booms and busts by the rich.

- David McDonald discusses the need for stronger public institutions to meet the basic needs which have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And Marc Andreessen makes the case to start working on building the society we want, rather than accepting cuts and tinkering as the limit of our ability to alter the status quo.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on the continued use of temp agencies to avoid ensuring either secure employment or safe long-term care facilities. David Climenhaga points out how the UCP's willingness to run interference for dangerous workplaces - including both tar sands operations and slaughterhouses - has exacerbated the spread of COVID-19 in Alberta. And PressProgress questions why the Trudeau Libs have put a corporate monolith with a cavalier attitude toward the safety of its own employees in charge of storing and distributing needed supplies. 

- Catherine Kim writes about the U.S. cities which are only dealing with homelessness in the face of the coronavirus, while Emily Pasiuk reports that Saskatchewan has thus far fallen short of even that basic response.

- Finally, Lana Payne offers her suggestions to make Employment Insurance into a far stronger and more accessible income support.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Bruce Campbell writes that we have a needed opportunity to reimagine how our economy and society are organized, while Gregory Beatty rightly argues that we need to push for better than merely getting back to the previous normal. Alfredo Saad-Filho points out how the coronavirus pandemic has exposed many of the weaknesses of a neoliberal model. Mathew Lawrence, Adrienne Buller, Joseph Baines and Sandy Hager discuss the need for corporations to be restructured to serve the common good, rather than enriching shareholders and executives at the expense of communities and workers. And even Mark Carney recognizes the need for markets to reflect people's interests and values, rather than being given priority over them. 

- Sharon Riley discusses the Libs' plan to put the public on the hook for remediation costs which have been neglected by the oil sector. And Duncan Cameron writes about the futility of dumping ever more public resources into the fossil fuel money pit.

- Rebecca Smith reports on how UK residents are making do with less food - including by making better use of the food already produced - in the wake of COVID-19.

- Stephen Bush writes that the pandemic is highlighting the importance of having a means to deliver a basic income to everybody, rather than requiring the development of new distribution mechanisms. And Andrew Langille discusses how Canada's CERB is continuing to fall short of the needs of people with precarious work and low incomes.

- Finally, Melanie Bechard and Thara Kumar discuss the importance of universal medical care in a pandemic. And Ralph Benmergui interviews Katy Kamkar about the need to strengthen our mental health system as people face a traumatic reality without being able to seek out the usual social supports.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Andrew MacLeod writes about the importance of patience in the face of astroturfed demands to put more workers' lives at risk in the absence of effective vaccines or treatments against COVID-19. And Rachel Miller highlights the importance of taking social distancing seriously, rather than looking for loopholes and workarounds which put people at risk. 

- Andrea Yu interviews Aaron Orkin about the need for change in Toronto's shelter system to provide homeless people with viable options in the face of the pandemic. And Judy Fudge discusses how the long-term care system is still woefully inadequate to protect residents and workers alike.

- Rachel Sugar writes about the U.S.' belated efforts to ensure that school closures don't leave children to go hungry. And Mike Blake and Christopher Walljasper report on the deliberate destruction of produce by farmers lacking their usual restaurant customers, while Jessica Corbett juxtaposes growing food insecurity with the deliberate destruction of food due to the breakdown of private supply chains.

- PressProgress points out the health dangers of the scab work camp at the Regina Co-op refinery. And Charles Smith makes the case for anti-scab legislation in light of the protracted lockout.

- Finally, Bob Lord and Chuck Collins point out how the richest few Americans pay far less taxes as a proportion of their wealth than they did four decades ago. And Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman make the case for a progressive wealth tax to start bridging the gap between the plutocrats and the rest of us.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Amadeus Narbutt discusses the uncertain effect of the coronavirus on the global balance of power. And Adam Tooze notes that the U.S.' damaging response to COVID-19 included vetoing IMF support for governments around the globe.

- Andrew Langille examines how workers with low incomes and precarious work situations have been left out of Canada's coronavirus relief, while Chris Roberts discusses how COVID-19 has further exposed what were already glaring problems in the low-wage economy. And Althia Raj reports on Justin Trudeau's continued insistence that people with no income who have been deliberately excluded from the basic CERB benefit need to keep waiting for him to get around to providing any support.

- Avvy Go writes that the people already living on the margins of society have been displaced all the more by new rules and requirements which ignore their circumstances. And Brett Forester reports that communities in northwestern Saskatchewan have had to set up their own command centre due to the Moe government's complete failure to address their needs.

- Nathan Tankus comments on the merits of payment relief both in alleviating the effects of the pandemic, and generating a more fair economy as we emerge from it.

- Louise Kyle writes that the development of publicly-funded vaccines and treatments needs to lead to universal access, not exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry. And PressProgress reports on how Amazon is cashing in providing warehouse space to a federal government which already has plenty of its own.

- Finally, George Eaton writes that there's no reason for the UK (or any other country) to impose crushing austerity once we emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown.

Musical interlude

Matthew Good Band - Deep Six

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Mark Rowlinson points out how the obvious frailty of our current supply chains highlights the need to develop Canadian manufacturing. And Amanda Follett Hosgood notes the importance of localized food production in particular.

- Bill McKibben calls out the oil industry's attempts to use COVID-19 as an excuse to push through pipeline construction, while Mia Rabson exposes its intensive lobbying to undermine any action on climate change or environmental protection.

- Meanwhile, Rhiana Gunn-Wright offers a reminder that the climate change crisis is no less severe in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. And Brian Kahn reports that the group which worked on Jay Inslee's climate plan has developed a roadmap to ensure that the coronavirus recovery results in a just transition toward cleaner energy.

- Bruce Anderson discusses how the effort to achieve physical distancing has ultimately brought people closer together in a common mission. And the Globe and Mail's editorial board recognizes that the social cohesion needed to overcome the coronavirus shouldn't be used as an excuse for governments to claim extraordinary and unaccountable powers.

- Marc Lee argues that the higher levels of government need to provide immediate supports to local governments and regional authorities which were struggling under the weight of downloaded responsibilities and slashed funding even before the pandemic. 

- Finally, Simon Kuper writes about Thomas Piketty's call for wealth taxes to rectify gross inequality - a cause which is only becoming more important as the world's wealthiest few rake in billions of dollars more while the rest of the world is locked down.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Annie Lowrey writes about the long-term effects of the millennial generation facing a second economic shock in the years which would normally serve as the base for personal stability and growth.

- Polly Toynbee weighs in on the holes exposed in social safety nets by COVID-19, while recognizing that reality also raises the prospect of longstanding problems finally being remedied. And Amartya Sen likewise points out what lessons we should be taking for the development of access to food, health care and other necessities.

- But Morris Pearl and William Lazonick lament the U.S.' choice to funnel bailout money to the rich rather than offering any meaningful support to workers. And Patrick Falconer calls out Brian Pallister for taking a pandemic as an opportunity to inflict shock-doctrine cuts to non-profit service providers.

- Eric Grenier writes that a strong majority of Canadians recognize the need to ensure the coronavirus is under control, rather than having any interest in rushing back to the previous normal when lives are at stake. And Paul Krugman points out that the few voices demanding that we sacrifice lives to premature re-opening can be entirely ascribed to greed and misinformation.

- Sara Birrell comments on the emptiness of corporate declarations of friendship and social responsibility. And Tobias Klinge, Rodrigo Fernandez and Manuel Aalbers observe that we can't afford to let people's health be subordinated to pharmaceutical industry profiteering.

- Finally, David Webster discusses the Libs' choice to continue exporting violence and death to the Middle East. And Yves Engler criticizes the Trudeau government's willingness to again side with the Saudi regime against human rights.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Dan Gardner writes that the COVID-19 pandemic is exactly the type of rare but severe event which should be the subject of thorough public preparation. And Eric Neudorf explains why so many governments failed to appreciate and act on the severity of the coronavirus even after its dangers were publicly known.

- Adam Almeida notes that Canada's universal public health care has allowed us to fare far better than other countries who rely on private providers. But Kara Grace Hounsell, Marcella Jones, Melanie Spence, Nisha Kansal and Thrmiga Sathiyamoorthy write that COVID-19 also the need to fight to fill in the gaps in Canada's system.

- Robert Green writes about privatization as a pre-existing condition which has created intolerable dangers for people in long-term care. Bruce Arthur points out how COVID-19 was positioned to exploit our current nursing home structure, while Jonathon Gatehouse reminds us that there have been plenty of warnings which have gone unaddressed (or indeed been met with deregulation and declining standards). Andre Picard calls out the ageism involved in the appalling willingness of operators - and a growing number of right-wing politicians - to sacrifice the lives of older residents. And David Climenhaga discusses the need for improved pay and working conditions for long-term care workers both during and after the pandemic, while Scott Gilmore makes a similar case for all of the essential workers risking their own health to keep us supplied with necessities. 

- Jim Stanford discusses how the Bank of Canada could offer far more effective quantitative easing by investing directly in government bonds, rather than relying on bank-shot secondary funding through private financiers to produce desirable public outcomes. And Frances Bula highlights the difficulties faced by municipalities confronted simultaneously with reduced tax revenue and provincially-imposed obligations to balance their budgets.

- Finally, David Dayen points out that the U.S. is allowing banks to seize relief funding to individuals, meaning that the already-meager assistance on offer might never make it to recipients. And Ricardo Tranjan studies how payday lenders are positioned to exploit the dire straits facing Canadian workers to pad their profits. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cat amid mayhem.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Miles Corak weighs in on how COVID-19 is revealing and exacerbating existing inequality rather than serving as any leveling force.

- Jessica Yun reports on how the ability to work from home reflects existing privilege, while Sara Mojtehedzadeh notes that already-vulnerable migrant farm workers are being required to sign waivers against liability for coronavirus-related risk. But Steven Chase reports that Canada's union movement is pushing both to make work safer in the midst of the pandemic, and to improve wages and working conditions for essential workers in the longer term. 

- Caryn Lieberman reports on a call from hundreds of Ontario health providers to better provide for homeless people. And Mickey Djuric points out that hundreds of people in Saskatoon remain without a home even as they're being told to engage in physical isolation.

- Anna Dodd suggests that our willingness to follow expert advice in response to COVID-19 - even where it results in a break from the status quo - should push us in the same direction in averting a climate breakdown.

- David Climenhaga comments on the importance of Canada's public health care system in fending off invasive neoliberalism.

- Finally, David Moscrop writes that the Libs' latest decision to continue to arming Saudi Arabia - even in the absence of any ability to point fingers at the Harper Cons - demonstrates their willingness to trade lives and principles for corporate interests.

On absenteeism

The U.S. has seen some of its state elections turned into anti-democratic abominations by the absence of effective absentee balloting - with the lack of effective voting serving as an explicit strategy by Republicans to exclude people from exercising their right to vote.

Fortunately, Saskatchewan doesn't have the extreme exclusions against absentee voting which have been the source of the greatest controversy in the U.S. But voters should nonetheless take note of the limited availability of voting by mail - and ask what the Moe government plans to do about it.

Saskatchewan's elections are governed by The Election Act, 1996, which allows for any voter to request an absentee (mail-in) ballot nine or more days before the election by declaring that they "will be unable to vote at an advance poll or on polling day in the constituency": section 86(2). 

That means voters aren't required to meet a specific standard of age or absence in order to request a ballot by mail. But it does mean that by law, voting by mail is the exception rather than the rule. Even in the midst of a pandemic where any physical interaction creates foreseeable and avoidable risks to public health, Elections Saskatchewan doesn't appear to have authority to make mail-in ballots available in the absence of an individual request.

Other provisions also apply to homebound voters, but with similar limitations (the requirement for an advance request, and a substantial level of advance notice).

Those provisions may have been sufficient during an election period when going to the polls in person could be considered a reasonable default expectation. But it now looks likely - if not inevitable - that this fall's election will take place in the face of a continued need for social distancing.

Which means that it will fall to Moe and his government to decide whether to update the law to make sure that Saskatchewan's residents can vote without jeopardizing public health - or whether they'll choose to force citizens to choose between their votes or their lives as their Republican allies have done so callously south of the border.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Tobias Jones discusses how COVID-19 has emphasized the importance of social interaction to human well-being:

It seems callous to suggest that this tenebrous pandemic is letting the light in, and daft to offer immediate consolations amid so much grief. But there is a sense that, with the world having ground to a halt, our fantasies are finally taking flight.

Much of what we have always been told was impossible is actually happening: the homeless are (in some places) being housed in hotels while prisoners are (in others) being released. Kids are told not to go to school and to forget exams. Massive government spending is ensuring that people are guaranteed an income even if they can’t work. Private hospitals in Spain are being nationalised. A hospital has been built in London under a fortnight. In Portugal, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have been “regularised” and given full rights. It’s not quite a revolution, but it’s an epic conceptual awakening.
...
The penny has also dropped that wellbeing isn’t individual but social. We are not actually independent at all, but dependent. We can make each other sick and we can try to make each other well. We’ve understood that a healthy community (as Wendell Berry wrote in his essay Health Is Membership) isn’t merely human, but also “its soil, its water, its air”.

It has been fascinating to see the speed at which other attitudes have changed. The indignation expressed towards people not respecting social distancing (from those who would never normally describe themselves as moralists) has been understandably shrill: here too we’ve suddenly realised that the wellbeing of the group is endangered by indifferent individuals, and that community – for which we’ve yearned for so long – means originally simply a pooling of duties.

- Laura Spinney writes that inequality doesn't just exacerbate pandemics, but also plays a role in causing them. Don Pittis writes that the coronavirus pandemic offers an important test of a government's willingness to invest in avoiding impending catastrophe - and that the results so far look worrisome based on the even larger threat of climate breakdown. And Gregory Beatty discusses how the U.S. in particular is seeing greed and political posturing overwhelm even the most basic of responses to COVID-19.

- Robert Reich points out how many of the "philanthropic" announcements made by billionaires in response to COVID-19 represent little but self-aggrandizement on the part of people who are actively exacerbating the crisis through their mistreatment of workers. 

- PressProgress calls out the Fraser Institute's attempt to use a pandemic to justify the long-term use of environmentally-destructive plastic bags. And Regan Boychuk argues that the oil companies who have made billions polluting Alberta shouldn't be allowed to "dine and dash" as part of a recovery effort.

- Finally, Sara Mojtehedzaden reports on the payday lenders exploiting a mass crisis with the explicit encouragement of the Trudeau government. Rupert Neate and Jasper Jolly note that hedge funds are extracting huge amounts of wealth betting on chaotic markets, while Lawrence Delevigne exposes one investment firm's attempt to abuse relief funding to take in windfall profits. And J. David McSwane and Yeganeh Torbati report on the Trump administration's choice to dole out sole-source contracts.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.


- Lauren Leatherby and David Gelles examine how people are spending money differently in the midst of a pandemic, while Lucia Mutikani reports on a massive drop in prices as declining consumer spending outweights any disruption to supply chains. And Armine Yalnizyan comments how COVID-19 represents a brand-new economic crisis centred on service work, a disproportionate impact on women, and a limited prospect of rapid growth once the shutdown is done.

- Claire Cain Miller wonders whether our increased recognition of both the importance of service workers and the precarity of their work situations will be a first step toward righting what's wrong with the U.S.' system of labour relations. And Dr. Dawg's contributor ForgotToBuyTinfoil comments on the potential to shape a new economic system which actually puts people before profits, while Robert Green notes that the willingness of governments everywhere to spend whatever it takes to respond to a fast-moving crisis signals that they're equally capable of investing in the slower (but no less severe) fight against a climate breakdown.

- Tom Wall reports on the connection between subpar housing on the spread of the coronavirus.
Andre Picard discusses the importance of ensuring that the horrors of private long-term care which have been exposed in the face of a pandemic aren't repeated. And David Yaffe-Bellany and Michael Corkery write about the simultaneous rise of hunger and destruction of massive amounts of food due to a lack of coordination between production and needs.

- Finally, Tae Hoon Kim argues that South Korea's success in beating COVID-19 can be traced to a greater degree of government accountability to its populace. And Sarah Kendzior points out how the coronavirus is only exposing the disease pervading the U.S.' political system.

On antisocialism

Plenty of attention is rightly getting paid to the unabashed evil that is the Republicans' insistence on holding previously-scheduled elections at a time when it was certain to make. But how much worse is it then for a politician to actually treat the spread of COVID-19 as an excuse to precipitate an election which wouldn't otherwise have occurred?

And similarly, Republican governors have been called out for overriding public health measures taken by local authorities. But how much worse is it to stifle municipal steps to protect against the spread of COVID-19 in the name of consistency, while simultaneously complaining about the prospect of the federal government setting stronger common standards at the national level?

Fortunately, Saskatchewan's people have thus far been responsible enough to go a long way toward limiting the spread of the coronavirus - and Moe has eventually given in on most of his worst decisions (though it's worth noting that the effective ban on stronger municipal measures remains in place).

But Moe has demonstrated that his and most powerful instinct is toward exactly the kind of antisocial choices which have resulted in no end of rightful criticism for his Republican counterparts. And it's well past time for more of Saskatchewan's media to start holding him to the same level of scrutiny they've faced.

On private interests

So far, the COVID-19 crisis has offered plenty of lessons about the limitations of delivering public goods through self-interested banks. Any relief has flowed only slowly, while the crisis has been turned into a profiteering opportunity both in the form of fine print imposing higher long-term costs on people who ask for it, and standard policies imposing higher immediate costs for people who don't.

Meanwhile, the major public-sector effort to distribute a new form of relief has been an unabashed success in terms of speed and efficiency (even if it's still too limited in scope). 

Which is to say that we're seeing further evidence that a blinkered focus (PDF) on putting banks in charge of deciding who gets money and how can't actually be justified in the name of speed or business efficacy. To the contrary, they're far more likely to dangerously limit any distribution of resources, while making any decisions only through ponderous approval processes which delay the receipt of help even where it is made available.

Instead, if we want to ensure that money actually makes it where it's needed (however that need is defined), the past month has demonstrated that the public sector is far better suited to the job.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your Saturday reading.

- Henry Giroux discusses how the greatest risks arising out of the coronavirus pandemic can be traced back to neoliberal political assumptions. And Patrick Sharkey notes that the effect of the pandemic has been to reveal the U.S.' glaring inability to address collective action problems, as the not-quite-half of the population already conditioned to reject science and devalue the lives of others is able to undermine everybody else's efforts to limit the damage.

- Meanwhile, Moira Ness writes that the already-precarious lives of artists are even more challenging as a result of COVID-19.

- Rick Smith examines the environmental lessons we can draw from COVID-19 and the resulting social lockdown. And Ivan Penn highlights how renewable energy is becoming perpetually stronger from an economic perspective, while fossil fuels are proving to be unsustainable.

- Gwynne Dyer points out the next steps needed to bring COVID-19 under control - including a vaccine before it's possible to fully lift the restrictions which have become the new normal.

- Finally, Elizabeth Bruenig writes a post-mortem for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign even as his core principles and demands are being proven right by the events surrounding the U.S.' presidential election.

Musical interlude

Labi Siffre - I Got The...

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content for your long weekend reading.

- Andrej Markovcic discusses how the pursuit of profit above all else has contributed to the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating effects on people - while warning that we'll only make matters worse by keeping the same warped priorities now. And Ian Welsh writes that the coronavirus may not yet be the shock needed to jolt us away from corporate-driven politics, even as it demonstrates the obvious flaws of a system where power is exercised primarily to allow for asset accumulation by the already-privileged few.

- Warren Bell discusses the crucial role of political decisions in the obvious successes and failures in responding to COVID-19. Claudia Webbe focuses on Jair Bolsonaro's calamitous refusal to acknowledge and address the pandemic. And Michael Harris rightly criticizes Justin Trudeau for trying to turn a public health emergency into a power grab - though of course others have gone far further in that direction.

- Meanwhile, Kate Ng reports on Spain's use of a basic income to offer COVID-19 relief - and the prospect that it will be maintained past the immediate crisis. And Daniel Boffey takes note of Amsterdam's decision to use Kate Raworth's doughnut model in planning its next steps.

- Finally, Marc Lee points out the significance of food insecurity as one of most obvious areas where our social safety net is failing. And Alicia Bridges reports on Scott Moe's continuing failure to provide housing and basic care even to people with the symptoms of COVID-19. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on the connection between air pollution and more severe death rates caused by the coronavirus. Clyde Russell writes that there's every reason to expect clean energy to win out over fossil fuels as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, while Bob Weber reports on the path for Canada in particular. Wal van Lierop argues that what's been treated as a normal expectation of windfall profits for the oil industry will likely never return. And even the Globe and Mail's editorial board notes that Jason Kenney's willingness to dump billions of Alberta's dollars into the U.S. construction of Keystone XL is a reckless bet.

- Gil McGowan discusses how Kenney's austerity - including mass layoffs of education workers in the midst of the crisis - figures to prove disastrous for Alberta's economy. And Kyle Bakx reports on the tech employers fleeing Alberta due to the UCP's fixation on a dying industry.

- Matt Taibbi warns against providing yet another set of corporate bailouts that further incentivizes and institutionalized the reckless extraction of wealth by the richest few. And Grace Blakely discusses how to break the stranglehold of the financial sector while reviewing Anastasia Nesvetailova and Ronen Palan's Sabotage.

- Marc Lee examines the coronavirus relief package offered by British Columbia's provincial government. Angella MacEwen and Armine Yalnizyan (PDF) each point out who's included - and particularly who's left out - in the federal government's response so far. And Jacob Lorinc reports on the plight of students facing a locked-down economy and a lack of income supports.

- Finally, Anna Fifield reports on New Zealand's success in eliminating - rather than merely containing - the spread of COVID-19.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Brendan Kennedy discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be the last straw for far too many workers already facing precarious finances. And Theodore Schleifer warns of the dangers of counting on billionaires to save us from breakdowns in public capacity which they've done so much to cause.

- Christopher Ingraham writes about the reasons why essential workers are paid far less than they deserve, while Josh Eidelson takes note of the growing backlash against mistreatment. Joanna Frketich reports from the front lines in the fight against COVID-19, while Sheila Block and Simran Dhunna discuss the need to do far more for care workers at a time when they're facing greater pressures and risks than ever.  But Gil McGowan notes that Jason Kenney has chosen to kick public servants while they're down.

- Mark Hancock writes about the immense value of public services in a time of crisis. And Linda McQuaig makes the case to start manufacturing vital goods within the public sector, rather than relying on corporations to provide necessities.

- Brian Bank highlights how Canada will need to expand its manufacturing of electric vehicles in order to keep a meaningful place in the global automotive sector.

- Finally, Perry Bellegarde writes that the coronavirus pandemic is both reminding us of the existing deprivation facing First Nations, and creating an opportunity to finally remediate it. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Surrounded cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Duncan Cameron writes that while the COVID-19 pandemic has been catastrophic, we shouldn't pretend that it's at all surprising - or that the necessary responses are in doubt:

Though it has taken the world by surprise, the COVID-19 pandemic is a white swan event. It was predictable that a contagious disease without a standard treatment would strike the planet -- it is a periodic occurrence.
...
What is needed is to throw out the conventional thinking that dominates public policy, particularly in the wealthy G7 nations led by the U.S., that are suffering from COVID-19 illness and deaths.

Global co-operation does not arise from international trade deals that generate monopoly profits for corporations through enshrining intellectual property rights. Confronting a pandemic requires the ability to share knowledge about how to cure the virus, and eventually make vaccines and drugs for treatment widely available at the lowest possible cost, without price gouging through patent protection.
...
In an uncertain world, countries need a robust response to an uncertain future.

The out-of-control military spending of the U.S. and other G7 nations needs to be redirected to assure financial security, vital health and educational infrastructure, and a transition out of a fossil-fuel economy across the world.

Environmental activists, trade unionists, feminists and religious leaders have been pointing out for decades that at the planetary level, nations need to come together for common security.

Protecting citizens from climate change, famine, drought, forest fires and pandemics requires specific practices, investments and major policy shifts.

The main threats to human well-being are not military attacks that threaten national security: they emerge from the interplay of industrial society and nature; and responding effectively requires a new approach to global co-operation.

- Arwa Mahdawi writes about how the reaction to COVID-19 has highlighted the gap between celebrity culture and the reality facing most people. And Solhani Katkar writes about the cruel face of capitalism which has been exposed.

- Anelyse Weiler, Janet McLaughlin, Susana Caxaj and Donald Cole discuss the importance of protecting the rights of migrant workers in the wake of the coronavirus. But then, Stephanie Land points out that it shouldn't require a pandemic for us to care about people living in poverty and precarity.

- Alex MacPherson reports on Saskatchewan's mayors who are trying desperately to get Scott Moe's government to deal with a lack of housing and other supports in the face of COVID-19.

- Finally, David Moscrop wonders whether our democratic practices and institutions can survive the coronavirus. And Melinda Meng offers a reminder that a system of proportional representation would be far more responsive to public needs.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Mariana Mazzucato comments on the triple crisis facing our current economic system, and the importance of addressing health, environmental and economic disasters alike.

- Shannon Daub writes that it's entirely counterproductive to withhold coronavirus relief from charities and non-profits until their resources have already been depleted. And Nina Lakhani discusses the perfect storm facing both Americans now confronted with severe hunger, and the U.S. food banks trying to meet their needs.

- Jeremy Rigby points out how underlying inequalities make it impossible for a school division to provide equitable resources in the wake of the pandemic. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Denise Lu and Gabriel Dance note that the physical distancing being painted as a form of self-sacrifice is itself a luxury beyond the means of far too many. And Ginia Bellafante reports on the efforts of Amazon workers to secure some measure of safety and dignity as they're simultaneously treated as essential to their society, and disposable to their employer.

- Finally, Neil Macdonald highlights how the Trump administration - and Republicans and their allies generally - have gone out of their way to make people worse informed and less safe. Gary Fineout and Marc Caputo examine the disastrous effect of Republicans' efforts to destroy Florida's income support system. And Yeganeh Torbati and Isaac Arnsdorf discuss how the Tea Party and other purveyors of austerity politics ensured the U.S. wasn't prepared to respond to a predictable calamity.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jim Stanford writes about the need for a new Marshall Plan to rebuild once we've won the fight against COVID-19:

For many years to come, Canada’s economy will rely on public service, public investment and public entrepreneurship as the main drivers of growth. They will lead us in recovering from the immediate downturn, preparing for future health and environmental crises and addressing the desperate conditions in our communities. The chronic weakness of private business capital spending in recent years was already indicating a growing need for public investment to lead the way. After COVID-19, it is impossible to imagine that private capital spending could somehow lead the reconstruction of a shattered national economy.

What form will this public-led reconstruction plan take? There are many priorities for public resources and economic leadership. Any and all of them would create needed jobs, provide essential services and rebuild our capacity to work, produce and spend:

• Healthcare services and facilities. Canada’s public health infrastructure has responded courageously to the demands of COVID-19, but the crisis highlights long-standing weaknesses in our health system. We will need to invest tens of billions in repairing and improving health facilities (including related services like aged care and community health), training and employing more healthcare workers — and being better prepared for the next pandemic.
• Transportation. Airlines and other public transportation providers have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. They will need injections of public capital and other direct measures to recover and rebuild.
• Public infrastructure. Underinvestment in public infrastructure since the 1980s has badly undermined Canadian productivity and well-being. This is the time to commit to a sustained public investment program: increasing public capital spending by at least half (from under 4 percent of GDP today to 6 percent or higher).
• Other public services. All attention is on healthcare services at present, for good reason. But other public services are also in need of investment and expansion: including aged care, early childhood education, disability services and vocational training. As the post-pandemic economy works off an enormous overhang of underutilized labour, expanded public services will be an engine of growth, not just a “cost.”
• Energy and climate transitions. With the price of Western Canada Select oil falling to close to zero (and no reason to expect any sustained rebound to levels that would justify new investment), it is clear that fossil fuel developments will never lead Canadian growth again. Politicians and their “war rooms” can rage at this state of affairs, but they can’t change it: they might as well pray for a revival in prices for beaver pelts or other bygone Canadian staple exports. However, the other side of this gloomy coin is the enormous investment and employment opportunity associated with building out renewable energy systems and networks (which are now the cheapest energy option anyway). This effort must be led by forceful, consistent government policy, including direct regulation and public investment (in addition to carbon pricing). Another big job creator, already identified by Ottawa and Alberta, will be investment in remediation of former petroleum and mining sites.

In short, there’s no shortage of urgent rebuilding tasks in our economy and our communities. The case for mobilizing resources to meet those needs, under the leadership of governments and other public institutions, is compelling. We can put people to work, repair the damage of this crisis (and better prepare for the next one) and deliver essential and valuable services. All we need is a different model of organizing and leading economic activity — and some modern-day C.D. Howes – to help us imagine and implement that vision.

- David Suzuki takes note of the opportunity to change the way we live for the better. And the Financial Times' editorial board recognizes the need for more public planning and investment in the new economy.

- Meanwhile, Geoff Dembicki calls out Jason Kenney's foolhardy bet on a dying fossil fuel industry.

- Andrew Jackson discusses our options to finance the relief and recovery efforts, with emphasis on both the need to get past any obsession with deficits now and the importance of looking to wealth taxes rather than austerity once we've moved past that stage. And Camille Landais, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman comment on the need for a wealth tax in particular.

- Cam Holmstrom is rightly outraged at the Trump administration's order that 3M and other U.S. suppliers renege on their contracts to provide personal protective equipment to Canada and other purchasers. 

- Finally, Nicholas Casey discusses how COVID-19 has exposed the glaring inequalities underlying the seeming uniformity of college life. And Branko Milanovic examines the possible impact of the pandemic on inequality.

On stitches in time

It’s no secret that Canadians’ individual finances have been getting perpetually more precarious, with most people lacking the ability to fund even a single urgent expense.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed what happens when the fragile finances of large numbers of individuals shatter all at once. And while our short-term attention is rightly directed toward limiting the damage, our longer-term view should include working on both increased individual stability as a baseline expectation, and greater social capacity to respond in case of emergency.

At the individual level, the COVID-19 panic started with a combination of massive job losses, and large-scale panic buying as fears about the availability of essential goods became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And the latest stressor has arrived this week, as rent has come due for large numbers of workers who have lost jobs through no fault of their own.

For the moment, the best far too many people have been able to do is to keep the bare essentials in place, and try to plan toward the end of the crisis. But we’ll eventually need to reckon on a wider scale with lifestyles built on debt which is barely manageable at the best of times, and the assumption of ongoing income which has proven illusory.

And that need for action is only exacerbated by the deterioration of the government apparatus which should insure against what individuals can’t.

For far too long, buzzwords like “efficiency” and “lean” have been used as excuses to reduce public-sector capacity. And the lack of everything from income supports to hospital beds to personal protective equipment today can be traced to ill-fated calculations that they weren’t needed.

We’ve thus been reminded that the foundational principle of our government shouldn’t be to have the smallest possible footprint. Instead, it’s to be able to reach people who need help. And the extra effort and delay involved in trying to add capacity in the course of a public emergency does nothing but harm to the people who need help most - particularly when that means competing with other governments for the same resources.

On the federal side, the Liberals’ response has involved plenty of headline announcements by Justin Trudeau. But any actual followup has taken far too long to materialize, particularly for a government supposedly obsessed with “deliverology”.

Even the first wave of income support announced through the Employment Insurance system has yet to arrive. And while a brand-new program and application system have been developed to streamline the process, the result has been to put off even the acceptance of applications - let alone the distribution of benefits - until long after people have had to face severe losses of income.

Meanwhile, at the provincial level, we’ve seen a focus primarily on punishment rather than assistance. The Saskatchewan Party has eventually encouraged physical distancing backed by increasingly strong rules. But it’s punted any income support to the federal level, and taken only the tiniest of steps to even acknowledge how we’re all put at risk by failing access to housing and health services.

Eventually, voters will be able to draw our own conclusions as to who’s quickly and accurately identified what needs to be done, and who’s put off needed action at the price of human health and well-being.

And in the process, we should also expect our leaders to have the foresight to prepare for the worst before it’s too late. COVID-19 has radically disrupted the old normal - and we shouldn’t tolerate a return to the individual precarity and government decay that’s made it so difficult to respond.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Grace Blakeley points out the importance of putting our relief and recovery funding toward public investments, rather than the further enrichment of people with already-appalling concentrations of wealth:

We cannot rely on this crisis to undermine the ideology of shareholder value, which has become so entrenched within the UK’s – and indeed the world’s – largest corporations over the last several decades. If we want corporations to behave well – to treat their staff and suppliers well, to operate sustainably and to invest productively – then we must organise to demand more from both businesses and the state. 
...
(W)e must also organise to demand more from the state. At present, the government is simply dishing out free money to some of the country’s largest businesses with no strings attached – much as it did to the largest banks in the wake of the financial crisis. The government’s refusal to stipulate that the banks must lend to the rest of the economy in the wake of the crisis undoubtedly exacerbated the credit crunch. 

Government action is unlikely to stop at subsidies and loans – we will see a wave of corporate bailouts as this crisis progresses. We must demand that conditions be attached. Any companies in receipt of government support should be expected to retain as many of their workers as possible, cutting dividends payouts and senior salaries before undertaking layoffs. Longer term, they should be tasked with reducing pay differentials, promoting environmental sustainability and undertaking productive, rather than speculative, investment.

However this crisis plays out it is likely to transform both the UK’s corporate environment, and the governance of its major corporations. Either we will see the deepening of the logic of shareholder value, rendered much more powerful by the substantial support provided to large corporations by the state; or, we could lay the foundations for a new model of corporate governance – one that places the interests of stakeholders alongside, or even before, those of creditors and shareholders.

- Angela Carter and Keith Stewart extend the same logic to the fossil fuel sector, where we should be looking to support workers and communities rather than oil barons. But Kieran Levitt and Alex Boyd write about Jason Kenney's blinkered insistence on pouring money into shareholders' pockets, while Mitchell Anderson calls out the willingness of so many governments to facilitate the spread of the coronavirus through cramped work camps in the name of resource extraction.

- Kristen Pue writes that having failed to act to end homelessness before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we should be redoubling our efforts to make sure everybody has a secure place to stay (and distance themselves) now.

- On the bright side, Moira Wyton reports on British Columbia's move to boost the pay of long-term care workers.

- And finally, Jordan Himelfarb weighs in on the hopeful signs of improved social cohesion as we respond to a crisis.

Musical interlude

Texas King - Drifter

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Paul Wells highlights the futility in telling people to stay home when they lack a home to stay in. And Robyn Urback discusses the simple test of character involved in the choice of some leaders to abandon people at sea.

- Megan Linton discusses how neoliberal health care treats people as disposable. The Star's editorial board points out how we're currently sending our health care workers to war without adequate equipment, while Catharine Tunney reports on the federal government's recognition only after the fact that it didn't have sufficient personal protective equipment. And Jane Philpott comments on the need to protect the health workers working to care for people through the course of the pandemic.

- Michael Enright interviews Hugh Segal about the prospect of a basic income - and the extra value it would carry in a crisis (particularly as the federal government makes excuses about lacking information to distribute even the barest of benefits to people who need them). And Mark Blyth points out how the U.S.' debt-driven economy with few social supports or shock absorbers makes it particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Madison Hoff notes that a shutdown is calling needed attention to the U.S.' obsession with work over welfare.

- Owen Jones writes about the need to fight to ensure the new world which emerges from COVID-19 is actually an improvement on the one that's allowed it to cause so much damage. And Dorothee Benz takes note of the corporate media focused primarily on profits rather than lives.


- Finally, Ian Welsh offers a needed warning against the impulse to rally around bad leaders in a time of crisis.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jeet Heer writes about the class war already emerging in competing responses to the coronavirus epidemic. Ricardo Tranjan makes the case for rent forgiveness as part of COVID-19 relief based on the reality as to who owns the bulk of Canada's private rental housing stock. And Zoe Williams highlights why we need to focus on bailing out people rather than corporations, while Laurie Macfarlane discusses the dangers of replicating or even exacerbating existing inequalities.

- Nora Loreto and Alex Hemingway each point out their concerns with the Libs' wage subsidy plan. And David Macdonald finds that nearly a million unemployed Canadians have been excluded from any federal relief.

- PressProgress points out how refugees stuck in detention are especially vulnerable to the harm of a contagious disease. And Jane Philpott and Kim Pate argue that we're running out of time to avoid a disastrous outbreak among incarcerated people in Canada. 

- Eric Holthaus discusses how the choices we make in rebuilding from the shock of a pandemic will shape the world to come. And Damian Carrington, Jillian Ambrose and Matthew Taylor explore the possibility of a rapid transition to a clean economy.

- But then, Erica Cirino notes that dirty extractive industries are being treated as "essential" even as large segments of business as usual is shut down. And Sarah Cox reports on calls to shut down work camps which are thus far going unheeded.

- Finally, George Monbiot writes that contrary to the script presumed to apply in case of a crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a surge in caring and cooperation as part of people's daily routine.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Michael Valpy and Frank Graves take a look at public opinion in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, and conclude that Canadians are rightly eager to see our leaders do whatever is necessary to ensure our survival and health. And Laila Yuile notes that the failure to act quickly and strongly enough is far from a new one - as many of the difficulties we're facing in responding to COVID-19 were studied then ignored in the wake of the SARS outbreak.

- Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski discuss how the pandemic shows the importance of central planning toward the public good.

- Sheila Block and Simran Dhunna argue that we need to be doing far more to protect the frontline workers providing us with the essentials of life in a public health emergency. And Steven Greenhouse reports on the workers taking matters into their own hands by walking off the job to ensure their health and safety are respected by employers.

- Meanwhile, Toby Sanger points out some of the risks involved in the federal government's wage subsidy program.

- Karen Howlett reports on the provinces which are setting up temporary hospitals to deal with the rise of COVID-19. Drew Anderson reports on Alberta's stunning refusal to allow people in need of housing to have even a modicum of privacy, deliberately choosing convention centres over hotels in the midst of a contagious disease crisis. And Zak Vescera reports on the insufficiency of the Saskatchewan Party's belated response to the need for secure housing and incomes.

- Finally, Annie Lowrey makes the case for governments to provide income using a helicopter drop model, rather than delaying and restricting needed support when people can't afford to wait.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Active act.

FEEL THE COMPASSION!!!

Finally, a provincial announcement about how Saskatchewan's most vulnerable can meet their basic needs in a public health emergency which is depriving thousands upon thousands of people of income...

Individuals who have, or are suspected of having, COVID-19 and lack money to meet their basic needs should apply for any Federal Benefits they would be eligible for. 

And if the federal government isn't even taking applications for its main benefit program until next week - nor making payments until mid-April...

Well, that gets a hearty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Anton Jager and Steven Klein discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a particularly strong clash in rhetoric between people advocating for human lives and capital interests, while Siva Vaidhyanathan notes that the choice is a false one in any event due to the foreseeable social fallout from leaving large numbers of people to face avoidable deaths. And Paul Krugman points out some of the familiar zombie arguments being used to minimize social interests in the name of serving the corporate sector.

- Meanwhile, Patricia Callahan reports on a publicly-funded effort to develop affordable ventilators for the U.S. which was instead turned into a profit centre following a corporate buyout. And Paris Marx proposes that nationalizing Amazon may be the type of step needed to repurpose existing logistical infrastructure for the public good.

- The International Labour Organization sets out (PDF) some of the key labour obligations relevant to the pandemic, including income security, occupational health and safety and leave entitlements. And Zaid Noorsumar discusses how Canada's federal response thus far falls short of providing a full safety net for workers.

- The Globe and Mail's editorial board argues for an economic response which provides everybody with a bridge to the point where it's possible to resume a full-employment economy.

- Katharine Scott highlights how a pandemic has shown the weaknesses in a largely private and profit-driven system of long-term care. And Martha Friendly and Morna Ballantyne write that COVID-19 has demonstrated how child care is an essential service.

- Finally, PressProgress exposes the property management companies threatening renters with eviction even as the public good demands that people have secure homes. And CBC News reports on the desperate need for supports for homeless populations.

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Noam Scheiber, Nelson Schwartz and Tiffany Hsu point out how the social isolation required in response to COVID-19 is only confirming and exacerbating the U.S.' class divide. And Shawn Micallef highlights the vast difference between social isolation in a large home as opposed to a confined living space.

- David Naylor and Tim Evans offer their suggestions for a path back to normalcy. CBC News reports on the wake-up call the pandemic represents for Canada's prescription drug supply. Danyaal Raza and Hasan Sheikh discuss the importance of strengthening our health care system as part of our rescue from the coronavirus pandemic. And Miles Corak argues that the delay in responding to COVID-19 should push us to maintain more government capacity at all times - rather than relying on a "just in time" relief apparatus to assemble only once a crisis is already underway.

- Sara Birrell takes note of the extremely limited help for workers on offer from Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party government. And David Macdonald examines the all-too-gradually-improving federal relief package.

- David Dayen exposes a few of the U.S. lobbyists looking to turn a public emergency into a windfall for their well-connected corporate clients. Reuven Avi-Yonah makes the case for a war effort to include excess profit taxes of the type applied during World War II. And George Turner is rightly concerned about tax avoiders who have callously refused to contribute to society now cutting to the front of the line in the midst of a crisis. 

- Finally, Jonathan Watts looks at the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic which apply equally to our climate crisis.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- David Bush reminds us that the hoarders worth being concerned about are the ones accumulating obscene amounts of wealth at the expense of our society's ability to provide everybody with the necessities of life.

- Matthew Green makes the case that Canada's response to the coronavirus needs to focus more on the people who already had the least. And Tom Cooper points out how payday lenders are exploiting the pandemic (along with a lack of regulation and alternative income sources) to push people further into debt.

- Jonathan Freedland writes that Donald Trump's narcissism has definitively reached the point of costing the lives of his citizens. And Richard Wolffe comments on Trump's eagerness to sacrifice those lives for his own political ends.

- Kathleen Martens reports on the risk that ongoing pipeline construction will spread COVID-19 to communities along the way. And Paul McKay discusses why a fossil fuel bailout is the wrong response to the crisis.

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on the effort of scientists to ensure that climate change is met with as forceful a government push as the coronavirus. And Jeff Goodell writes that while we can't avoid some ongoing damage to our climate, there's still time to flatten the greenhouse gas emissions curve to reduce the eventual harm.