Category: Income Disparity

F-35′s/Misleading Household Net Worth Figures/Canadian Attitudes Towards the US

  Of course one of the reasons we rushed into an untendered agreement to buy the F-35 jets is because we need them pronto.  But now we learn the earliest our planes are likely to be ready will be 2016, in the unlikely event everything goes according to plan.  Who wants to bet  that we [...]

Rewarding War Crimes? / Canadians (Not The Right-Wing Pundits) Have It Right!

    If Donald Rumsfeld were to get a U.S. “Defender of the Constitution Award”, who do you think might be chosen to give the evil man the award?   Well, it’s none other than his old buddy Dick Cheney.  See Maureen Dowd’s excellent December 13th New York Times column for details.  Jillian will post [...]

Canada’s Welfare Trap / US Gun Mayhem

  Interested in poverty?  The distribution of income?  Our social policies? The new edition of Welfare Incomes is now available from the National Council of Welfare.  It’s full of interesting (and depressing) information.  Your public or university library will have a copy. Some brief quotes: “Most welfare incomes remain far below any socially accepted measure [...]

We’re becoming a Scrooge / Chronic Poverty

  In a list of 23 OECD donor countries, Canada has fallen to 14th place in foreign aid $ as a % of GDP.  In a World Bank list of 38 donor countries, we’re down in 29th place. So much for Canadian generosity! *     *     *     *     * A Calgary Herald editorial points out that Canada uses [...]

Monday December 27th, 2010 in Canadian Politics, Energy, Foreign Aid, Harper, Income Disparity, Poverty | Comments Off

US Income Disparity / Canada’s Disgraceful Child Poverty / No Thanks to a Common Security Perimeter!

  On November 1st the New York Times carried a column by their op-ed columnist Bob Herbert on the subject of inequality of income in the U.S.  It’s excellent, and much of what Herbert writes applies to what has been happening in Canada as well.  I’ll ask Jillian if she can provide a link. It’s [...]

America’s Super-rich

  Paul Krugman says that, ”long-term unemployment in the U.S. is now worse than it has been since the Great Depression.” *     *     *     *     * Frank Rich in the New York Times reports on a Republican senatorial hopeful  who told an interviewer “ I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it.:” Recession? [...]

Wednesday November 24th, 2010 in Income Disparity, US Deficit/Economy | 1 Comment »

Floundering US Economy / On Potash – It’s Looking Like Victory

You’ve probably seen my comments about how the average Canadian worker has done so poorly when compensation is compared to inflation during the past quarter century. Now the Conference Board forecasts that in 2010 and 2011, net wage increases will likely be non-existent, and, contrary to so much right-wing propaganda, public sector increases will be [...]

Desperate Pakistan Still Buying Fighter-Jets!

  The new edition of The Monitor (CCPA) has some very good stuff. In particular see the excellent articles on money-saving pharmacare and Bruce Campbell’s on neo-con economics. *     *     *     *     * Print journalists don’t seem to understand how much trouble Canada is in because of our steadily deteriorating current account balance which has [...]

Obscene Potash Deal / More Disturbing Indicators

  Sorry.  Been away.  Edmonton was great.  Mary Simon gave a first-class talk.  CBC’s Ideas will broadcast it. U of A Provost gave a very nice dinner.   All in all, two great days.  Off to Ottawa for celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the publication of The Canadian Encyclopedia. *     *     *     *     * [...]

Billionaires Bankrolling Tea Party

  A reminder: more than 75% of eligible Canadians did not vote for Stephen Harper in the last federal election. *     *     *     *     * Robert Reich points out that in the U.S.A., during the 1970s, CEOs made 40 times the revenue of workers. In 2010, it’s 350 times!!!!  The top hedge fund bosses made [...]

Sunday August 29th, 2010 in Democracy, Harper, Income Disparity, Oil, US Politics | Comments Off