Having been chastised for giving what I thought was faint praise to Iggy for moving on EI a couple of days ago , I’m going to really, really stick my head out here and wonder if Alan Greenspan has a point when it comes to potential positive linkages between the stock market and the real economy. http://blogs.ft.com/capitalismblog/2009/03/30/equities-show-us-the-way-to-recovery/ I think that […]
Read moreIn an op-ed printed in today’s Toronto Star, Ken Neumann (Canadian Director of the United Steelworkers) outlines how unions provide a better economic deal and more workplace rights for both union members and unorganized workers. Opinion – Even during downturns there is power in a union MARGARET SCOTT/NEWSART Unions not only win better wages but also help weave a stronger […]
Read moreAs an early booster of Jim Maloway’s private member’s bill, I am delighted to see it already achieving some results. Yesterday’s Globe reported that the airlines have countered by giving “new enforcement powers to CTA to serve as the industry watchdog on a range of consumer issues. They include ensuring airlines provide meal vouchers for four-hour delays, pay for hotel […]
Read moreAt long last, people are starting to get it. As recognized by the Globe and Mail in an editorial today (May 4) and by the TD Bank inthe study put out last Friday, our current EI system is leaving far too many unemployed Canadians out in the cold. Only four in ten unemployed workers currently even qualify for income support from […]
Read moreCanadian governments should revisit planned corporate tax cuts in light of President Obama’s proposals to more fully tax American firms operating outside the US. The basic argument for lower corporate tax rates is that they will attract multinational firms to locate operations here as opposed to other jurisdictions. This argument assumes that profits are taxed only where they are generated. But […]
Read moreBelow is a dispatch on bond rating agencies from my former CCPA colleague, Stuart Murray: Here is some more grist for the blog. Bloomberg just published a very interesting and informative article on the role of the bond rating agencies in the current meltdown. http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=au4oIx.judz4&refer=home The pitchforks are out for Moody’s and S&P, as they gave glowing ratings for the […]
Read moreTD Economics have provided a useful study on possible reforms to our inadequate EI system which has left tens of thousands of unemployed workers out in the cold, and indaequate benefits to those who do qualify. http://www.td.com/economics/special/gb0409_EI.pdf The focus of this report is on those excluded from the system by the variable entrance requirement or VER – the unemployment rate […]
Read moreYesterday’s Financial Post featured a rather strange op-ed by the Fraser Institute’s current and former directors of fiscal studies: Most Canadians are unfortunately not aware of Canada’s 15-year track record of reducing the size of government (1992-2007). Since peaking in 1992, the size of government in Canada – best measured by total spending at all levels of government as a […]
Read moreStatistics Canada has revealed that, adjusted for inflation, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 0.1% in February. This decline is on par with September and October, but far less severe than November (-0.7%), December (-1.0%), and January (-0.7%). There are grounds for hope in that a slower pace of decline is a necessary precondition for a return to economic growth. […]
Read moreWith my oped last week on the NDP platform making me less than popular over at NDP HQ, today the Sun published my take on the Liberals’ platform, thereby guaranteeing that the list of Christmas parties I get invited to dwindles to next to nothing. BC’s Economic Challenges and the Liberal Platform By Marc Lee The BC Liberal platform features […]
Read moreI’m posting below an interesting missive from Peter Bakvis, the Washington representative of the International Trade Union Confederation, on an intersting shift of position on labour rights by the IFI.s “The World Bank has issued a memorandum to its country and sector directors instructing them to stop using the “Employing Workers Indicator” (EWI) of its highest-circulation publication, “Doing Business” (DB). […]
Read moreCCPA Executive Director Bruce Campbell coordinated the following letter, published at rabble.ca, from a number of progressive economists (mostly academic and private sector, not from the trade union sector) about the growing risk of deflation in general and the federal government’s attack on auto workers in particular. Government pressure to cut wages will increase the risk of deflation It is […]
Read moreBC’s recession started in 2008. That is the upshot of today’s release of Statistics Canada’s Provincial Economic Accounts, which provides the first estimates of BC’s GDP for 2008. Unlike national data, which are provided quarterly and on a timely basis, we have to wait about four months to tally the various provincial beans. These numbers will inevitably be revised in […]
Read moreOne enormous myth that has been propagated (sometimes innocently, sometimes not) in recent debates over the future of the auto industry is the false notion that auto workers “make” $75 per hour. Autoworkers don’t remotely make that much money — yet the lie has been repeated often enough, I am amazed at how many people actually seem to believe it. […]
Read moreA lot of people I meet these days ask about the risk of a future surge in inflation, or even a return to “hyperinflation,” as a result of government’s efforts around the world to stimulate spending and demand — in part through large deficits, and in part through very loose and unorthodox monetary policy (including, in some jurisdictions, “quantitative easing”). […]
Read moreOn the first of this month, I appeared before the Senate’s Standing Committee on National Finance regarding the Employment Insurance (EI) provisions of the 2009 Budget Implementation Act. The Senate recently posted the transcript online. A fellow panellist was Michel Bédard, former Chief Actuary of the EI Fund. Last year, he and I appeared in the same panel before the […]
Read moreMedia coverage of the Bank of Canada’s much anticipated Monetary Policy Report inevitably focuses on the prospect of “unconventional” measures, such as quantitative and credit easing. But the verbs in today’s headlines – “may use” , “ready to” , “lays out” , “sets stage” – reflect how little was actually announced. The Bank provided three pages explaining quantitative and credit […]
Read moreBack in the 2005 BC election, a proportional representation system, known as Single Transferable Vote, or STV, was put to the people. It was recommended as an alternative to the current First-Past-the-Post system that has delivered some unusual and uneven results in BC and other parts of Canada over the years. STV captured a majority of votes – a larger […]
Read moreFor several months, it has been clear that there is no near-term threat of inflation and that the economy needs all the stimulus it can get. In this context, the Bank of Canada should cut interest rates as far as possible. Since January, I have been calling for a target interest rate of zero percent. We should applaud this morning’s […]
Read moreBelow is an oped of mine that was done at the request of the Vancouver Sun and that ran in today’s paper. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the last two paragraphs were cut off, leaving the oped hanging. I put them back in below, and have requested that the online version be changed. UPDATE: The online version […]
Read moreWe may all be Keynesians now in terms of the public discourse,  but governments are mainly posturing rather than delivering. That strikes me as a fair summary of a technical and rather dismal discussion of fiscal stimulus packages by the OECD (Chapter 3 of the Interim Economic Outlook relased just before the London G20 Summit.) http://www.oecd.org/document/59/0,3343,en_2649_33733_42234619_1_1_1_1,00.html The OECD calculate that […]
Read moreThe Consumer Price Index decline in March confirms that deflation remains a greater risk than rising inflation. The annual inflation rate fell to 1.2% nationally and turned negative in one province, Prince Edward Island. The recent revelation of the first annual decline in American consumer prices in half a century underscores concerns about deflation. While falling prices benefit consumers with […]
Read moreOne of the most striking contradictions in BC’s climate action plan is the oil and gas industry. Greg Amos in The Hook, quotes our “green” premier out on the campaign trail in the northeast: “Let me tell you what’s happened in the energy industry in British Columbia in the last eight years: thirteen billion dollars of investment,†Campbell told a […]
Read moreWith the BC election campaign now officially on, the carbon tax debate is back. Since the fall’s federal election, when the Prime Minister dropped in to beat up the carbon tax to solidify his support in BC, the carbon tax has dropped off the public radar, replaced by stories about the economic and financial crisis. Gas prices have also dropped […]
Read moreA year and a half ago I published an updated study on tax incidence in Canada. It found that the Canadian tax system is progressive up to the middle of the income distribution, then flattens out before becoming regressive at the very top. (Interestingly, a short piece on the US tax system by Citizens for Tax Justice just came out […]
Read moreStatistics Canada provides an “R8” unemployment rate which adds to the unemployed: – discouraged job searchers who have dropped out of the labour force – those working part -time due to unavailability of hours – those not looking for work because awaiting a return to work By this measure, the unemployment rate jumped from 11.7% to 12.4% last month — […]
Read moreJust in time for a heated election campaign, the latest unemployment numbers paint a grim picture for BC. Just a year ago, BC was coasting along with an unemployment rate of just over 4%. By the end of 2008 that had crept up to 5%. And now a truly brutal first quarter that saw the rate leap to 7.4% in […]
Read moreHere’s the quick analysis from my colleague Sylvain Schetagne. “61,300 jobs were lost in Canada in March. In fact, 79,500 full-time jobs were lost but some part-time jobs were added last month. The number of full-time jobs lost since October 2008: 386,500. Canadian workers who have lost their jobs since October 2008: 356,500. The unemployment rate has risen to 8.0% […]
Read moreHere is my take on today’s Labour Force Survey: National Unemployment Much attention will undoubtedly focus on the unemployment rate hitting 8% in March, which Statistics Canada notes is “the highest rate in seven years.” While technically correct, this presentation understates the situation’s severity. The unemployment rate briefly reached 8% seven years ago, in December 2001 and January 2002. However, […]
Read morePosted below is my Globe and Mail column this week raising questions about whether troubled companies can really “cut their way to viability.” When companies face trouble, the knee-jerk response is always to cut back: close plants, reduce headcount, cut compensation. Reflecting their shorter-term time horizon (and their consequent hunger for a faster payback), financial markets favour the most determined […]
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