Have we ever lived outside of a system of pseudo-feudalism with peasantry, slavery, or the working poor labouring for the benefit of Kings, land barons, or factory owners? One perspective of the past thousand years or so might go something like this: Peasants lived on the King’s land, first for
Continue readingTag: Economics
A Puff of Absurdity: Avoiding Pathogens Benefits Babies
My mom was right after all: We really should do everything we can to keep babies from getting sick. When I was close to the due date of my first child, my mom warned me not to pass around the baby to people or let lots of people into the house
Continue readingExcited Delirium: The Creeping Conflicts of Corporate Contracts
With ArriveCan, Canadians catch wind of what’s supposed to be another scandal, but what if it’s just a repeat of a long-established trend of ripping of the public purse? The post The Creeping Conflicts of Corporate Contracts first appeared on Excited Delirium.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Pension fund investments lack transparency
Pensions are something that young people spend little time thinking about, while for seniors, it is an important subject. Individuals young and old have little knowledge of how pension funds are invested, and almost zero influence on the choices made by people who manage funds that measure in the trillions
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: How to measure prosperity
A 1953 speech by W.E.B. Du Bois discussed the fundamental injustices and shortcomings of the American economy. It includes one of his most famous quotes:
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Infection Control Measures Work
A Lancet study found that there’s little Covid transmission in schools WHEN infection control measures were in place. Since we stopped all mitigation efforts, hospitalizations for Covid in Ontario have increased year-round. We don’t need lockdowns for Covid, but we do still need N95s until we can clean the air.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Bendelormøkonomi, the tapeworm economy
Star columnist Armine Yalnizyan wrote about the tapeworm economy that emerges when governments finance private corporations to deliver services to the public. She says it “like introducing a parasite that slowly robs the body of nutrients and destroys its organs.”
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Capitalism works, but needs effective regulation
While walking through a North Vancouver grocery store owned by Jim Pattison, one of Canada’s richest billionaires, I was astounded by price changes imposed in the last few years. To get to […]
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Man exploits man
February 8, 2024 news item: BCE slashes 9% of workforce, puts blame at the feet of regulators and policymakers. The cuts affect about 4,800 jobs and follow the elimination of 1,300 jobs last June…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Money: It’s Value & Nature In A Time Of Collapse
Larning more about the nature and history of money, we eventually realize that money is simply a promissary note, valuable only because we agree it is valuable, a useful social fiction, or token system, useful for exchange of real goods or services, or possibly for savings (minus inflation, hyper-inflation and
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Is Canada Okay?
Dr. Mike Moffatt explained the six economic problems Canadians should worry about. He starts with red tape stopping things that would benefit us, a lack of state capacity, overlapping jurisdictions that allow things to slip through or remain undone, use of temporary foreign workers, risk aversion, and demographics. Below is all from
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Big Picture: Markers Of The Global Tectonic Shift, Now Underway
Or, The Big Picture: Economic Strength vs Economic Insolvency: US, Canada and Uruguay compared Uruguayan national debt in 2023:$40 billion USD(52% of GDP) Canadian national debt in 2023:$1.4 trillion USDOr$1,400 billion USD US national debt in 2023:Roughly $30 trillionOr$30,000 billion(Not including corporate and household debt, which brings the total to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Living in a Nightmare
“Many describe living in a sort of waking, powerless nightmare where an obvious catastrophe is unfolding but society just blithely ignores it.” That’s from this Guardian article from May 2022 that could have been written today, and possibly needs to be written every day to wake us up: “People have
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Progressivism As Social Engineering For Elite Control
“Progressivism” as social engineering for billionaire elites’ increased power and control – that is its history and origin, and that continues to be its nature today. But don’t take anybody’s word on things. Examine things for yourself. Think for yourself. Question everything. See also, my essay, When Liberals and The
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Liberals Are Right About Conservative Intentions
But the Liberals are wrong about the solution. Their betrayal on electoral reform has given the CPC’s PP power over them. They could be working collaboratively to implement things the NDP also want, instead there’s a sword hanging over their heads according to polling. Stability in our economy as it
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Greenwash, Lithium & Eco-Fascism
Proved: Greenwash Is Ecoterrorism, Eco-Fascism – and High-Tech, Neo-Feudal “Green” Imperialism Indigenous cultures in the “lithium triangle” of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia are being robbed, subjugated, poisoned and plundered, to make Teslas and cell phones. Corporate-state violence is the continuing norm, in response. Welcome to “Green” Imperialism. Cell phones, tablets,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: BLOWBACK – And Collapse
JFK, MLK, The CIA – And The Collapse Of The West Yes, the evidence is clear: the CIA killed JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X. They are the goons of the corporate-state oligarchy. What did you think they do? Defend freedom and democracy? Were you born yesterday? (Read, Killing Hope,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Rethinking Assets can Alter Our Political Equation of Climate Change
They emphasis the need to address asset revaluation concerns in the context of climate politics and suggests that a focus on domestic politics is crucial. They also discusses the role of obstructionist interest groups (like the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) and their influence on climate policy, pointing out that
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Limits of the free market
Whenever I do those quizzes that purport to reveal where you fit on the political/philosophical spectrum, they insist I’m a social democrat. This rather surprises me because I tend to think of myself as more of a liberal. Whatever. I am a strong supporter of the free market. In fact,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Precariat jobs could be good jobs
What is a good job? In most people’s minds I assume that would be something that pays well and provides good benefits, steady employment and satisfying work. In the post-war period that described manufacturing jobs. They weren’t good because of the benevolence of the free market. Quite the contrary. They
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