Category Archives: Economic Issues
Chinese Labour Costs are Going Up
A number of recent newspaper articles (for example, here and here) have been published regarding the climbing costs of labour in China. For some, this is a worrisome trend that foreshadows lower profits and higher consumer prices, and a shift in manufacturing to even lower cost (!) countries. Others note that this is a typical […]
How Wall Street Lobbied Itself Into A Crisis
In today’s Globe and Mail (Dec. 31, 2009: B5), economics reporter Kevin Carmichael discusses a recent report from the IMF that draws a direct connection between Wall Street, political lobbying, and the current financial crisis. The IMF report has apparently caused quite a stir in the blogosphere and among the American political class. Here is […]
Is modern music going down the drain?
I recently came across an interesting article on the musical legacy of our current decade (2000-2009). The article, written by Kris Millet for Culture Magazine, takes a dim view of this century’s musical output. His central thesis is that the technological fragmentation of the last 10 years has destroyed our ability to follow a band […]
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 […]
Inequality Makes Us Ill
Across all the Western democracies, there is a consistent pattern in which outcomes worsen as inequality increases BY WILL KYMLICKA A Review of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Allen Lane, 331 pages http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wbkspirit16/BNStory/globebooks/home ……………………….. Will Kymlicka, a noted Canadian scholar on politics and […]
A battle-hardened James charges on, leaving her minders behind he
By Justine Hunter From Friday’s Globe and Mail April 24, 2009 at 5:40 AM EDT … Ms. James acknowledged she is facing more pressure this time around. And she sounded frustrated that she still is confronted at every turn with the baggage of former NDP governments. “We are a long way from getting past that […]
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 […]
Resource financing keeps Bay Street flush
Here are some telling statistics that help describe the magnitude of the American economic tailspin: ………………… BOYD ERMAN From Monday’s Globe and Mail April 6, 2009 at 4:19 AM EDT Take that, Wall Street. Bay Street bankers are finding themselves in the unprecedented situation of being just as busy selling stock as New York financiers, […]
With economy so bad, Bank of Canada may revert to printing money
Didn’t they try this in Germany after World War One? Perhaps I’ll need to be more cautious when I gloat about my variable rate mortgage! Of course, in Germany, there was a real shortage of goods and resources, as Germany was directly stripped of much of its resources by the Treaty of Versailles and by […]
Inequality As an Economic Problem for Capitalism
Here’s an interesting article that recognizes that inequality is not just a moral issue for bleeding heart lefties. It’s a very real problem for capitalism: too much equality might stifle innovation, but too little equality and the economic cycle will come to a grinding halt. Perhaps we should look deeper into the economic crisis, and […]