Category Archives: American Politics
Recognition of a Keynesian Moment
I rarely take a lead editorial from the Vancouver Sun seriously. This Canwest/Postmedia corporate entity is at the center of right-wing propaganda in BC, and is representative of the very conservative outlook from Canada’s media generally. Nevertheless, today’s editorial provides a sobering analysis of the American economy and its implications for Canada. It’s also a […]
Bill Maher recaps the summer
Bill Maher has returned to work after the summer hiatus, and offers this stinging recap of the past three months in American politics: Posted by Colin Welch at 1:17 PM Edited on: Saturday, September 18, 2010 1:21 PM
A Review of John Gray’s False Dawn
John Gray’s popular critique of globalization and laissez-faire capitalism, False Dawn*, was originally published in 1998. It has enjoyed a resurgence as a “prophetic” account of our current global economic problems, but I think the book is better viewed as an incomplete analysis, and one that is riven with contradictions and equivocations. Gray’s clearest and […]
OECD Measures Debt via GDP
One of the most important but confusing economic benchmarks is the level of debt carried by a nation. Is it in constant or inflated dollars? How do we account for population growth and inflation? Adding to the complexity is the different levels of government in a country like Canada. Probably the best way of measuring […]
Elizabeth Warren: The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class
The following lecture features Elizabeth Warren speaking about the current crisis in (and looming collapse of) the American middle class. This presentation is almost 58 minutes, but I highly recommend it for anyone interested in long term social and economic trends and the future of the middle class. Warren is a Harvard law professor who […]
David Harvey: Getting to the Heart of the Matter
For all of the discussion about the causes of the latest economic meltdown, it’s mystified me why inequality has been largely ignored. The blame is almost always laid at the feet of proximate factors like negative savings rates, ponzi-like housing bubbles, exotic debt instruments, deregulation and a neo-liberal faith in the corrective nature of unbridled […]
Firefighting: A Public Good?
In a 2008 speech for TVO, Naomi Klein discussed the shrinking public sphere in the United States. Already small by Western standards, America’s public sphere appears to be shrinking by the week. One of the few realms of American society that is still considered to be a public good is firefighting and disaster relief. But […]
Is it the “Surge” that’s worked?
While many conservative supporters of the Iraq War have quietly disappeared – Dick Cheney notwithstanding – many have taken comfort in the apparent success of George Bush’s “troop surge” of 2007. Nevertheless, a great number of commentators have pointed to other factors in the decline of Iraqi violence. The New York Review of Books has […]
Language Reveals Power
I’ve always been a fan of George Carlin. He was one of the first mainstream comedians to use humour against power, and there aren’t many comedians who have forced the US Supreme Court to consider laws on speech and obscenity. He was, in my mind, the great link from Lenny Bruce to present-day commentators like […]
Wheat from the Chaff : World Economic Forum
In a world where economic discussion is still overwhelmed by neo-liberal cant, it’s refreshing to see a generally pro-business organization capable of seeing competitiveness and productivity in (somewhat) broader terms than Milton Friedman’s disciples. The World Economic Forum is a Swiss-based think tank that promotes international dialogue on a variety of key global issues. Perhaps […]