Will Hutton on the Financial Crisis
From today’s Observer – http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2247583,00.htmlÂ
Read moreA Perfect Explanation of Sub Prime Lending
Check out this brilliant video on You Tube, everything you need to know about finance and the sub prime crisis. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=long%20johns%20sub%20prime&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1Â
Read moreSaskatchewan Rejects TILMA . . . Again
Saskatchewan’s new Premier, Brad Wall, addressed the Petroleum Club in Calgary on Monday to emphasize his willingness to continue giving away his province’s oil reserves for scandalously low royalties. Several media outlets reported that he also expressed interest in joining TILMA, which he had previously rejected. For example, The Globe and Mail reported, “He mentioned his desire to become part […]
Read moreCalm Amidst the Economic Storm – “Only in Canada, You Say?”
With outright panic sweeping global financial markets, the relative calm among Canadian economic policy-makers seems increasingly strange.  Today’s timid quarter point interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada was hugely eclipsed by the US Federal Reserve’s three quarter point cut, rushed out the door to try and soothe the savage beast known as Wall Street just before the much […]
Read moreThe Globe on TILMA
Ten days ago, The Globe and Mail’s online edition included an excellent op-ed by Murray Dobbin debunking the notion that supposed inter-provincial trade barriers necessitate TILMA. Unfortunately, The Globe followed it with an editorial endorsing TILMA in Friday’s print edition: How to bulldoze a wall The Globe And Mail Friday, January 18, 2008 Page: A14 The provinces do not have […]
Read moreIndicators of Well-Being in Canada
I’m really impressed by this web resource launched by Human Resources and Social Development Canada. It provides indicators across several domains – income, work, health, learning etc. to a total of perhaps 80 in all – charts major national trends, disggregates many indicators by gender and (bravely for the federal government) by province, and provides international comparisons within the OECD […]
Read moreProgressive Child Benefit Reform
This report from Ken Battle of the Caledon Institute was released today. I’ve not yet had a chance to read it in full but the approach seems bang-on to me – fold the two new badly designed Tory child benefits into the CCTB, with a new and much higher maximum of $5,000, phased out relatively slowly as family income rises. […]
Read moreCarbon Taxes, Imports and Jobs
I note that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called for a carbon tax on imports into the EU if Europe’s trading partners do not take actions to reduce emissions similar to those of the EU. (text follows.) The aim is to ensure that jobs in European heavy industry are not lost to lower-cost imports as costly nvestments are […]
Read moreNorthern Saskatchewan Ablaze with Controversy
As discussed here three weeks ago, Dion appointed Joan Beatty as the Liberal by-election candidate in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River just over a week ago. Since then, Ralph Goodale has tried to make much of the fact that other prospective candidates should have been aware of this possibility and opponents of the appointment have organized feverishly.
Read moreFlaherty responds to Marc’s report
The Finance Minister denies my charges that a slowdown could lead to a deficit, as reported on CBC: Flaherty rejects think-tank’s deficit warning Last Updated: Monday, January 14, 2008 | 2:50 PM ET Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday that there’s no substance to worries that the country will head back into a deficit situation if the economy slows. Flaherty was responding to a […]
Read moreToday’s Labour Force Release (January 11.)
Today’s job numbers show that fears of a looming recession are justified, and underline the need for immediate action. Labour has called for cuts to interest rates to help bring down the dollar, a national high level task force on the manufacturing jobs crisis, targeted measures to support new manufacturing investment, and job creation through Buy in Canada policies tied […]
Read moreA Primer on Pump-Priming
With a weakening US economy that may well spill over into Canada, it is time to start thinking about fiscal policy responses should recession rear its ugly head. To date much of the focus has been on monetary policy, with calls for central banks to lower interest rates. This is providing some relief, but as many economists have pointed out, […]
Read moreCityphilia
A good piece by novelist John Lanchester from the London Review of Books – on the City (London finance), inequality, and the credit crisis. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n01/lanc01_.html
Read moreManifesto Destiny
In my holiday reading were two manifestos – how often can you say that? The first arrived by mail just before the break, the Manifesto on Global Economic Transitions, published in September 2007 by the International Forum on Globalization, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Global Project on Economic Transitions (I will dub this the IFG Manifesto). The second […]
Read moreMichael Moore on the Democratic Primaries
Moore makes several accurate and entertaining points in today’s open letter. Although he stops short of officially endorsing Edwards, his final paragraph comes pretty close. Who Do We Vote For This Time Around? A Letter from Michael Moore Friends, A new year has begun. And before we’ve had a chance to break our New Year’s resolutions, we find ourselves with […]
Read more2008: Year of the Layton?
Duncan Cameron writes that it could be: What is needed to make 2008 Jack’s year to set the policy direction for Canada? How about: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something true. The something old is the concern for the less fortunate that has motivated New Democrats since the adoption of the Regina Manifesto in 1933 by its predecessor the […]
Read moreInvestment, Oil and the State
At least 79% of the increase in Canadian non-residential investment this decade has come from the oil industry and governments. Jim and others on this blog often note that, although corporate profits have ballooned, business investment has barely increased as a share of GDP. However, this fact means that business investment has grown along with GDP and it’s worth examining […]
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