Attacks on unions isn’t anything new, even when workers are asking for safer conditions or a little job security. What is new is that economists are starting to realize that we need stronger worker groups to advocate for labour or the economy as a whole suffers. Over the last few
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Things Are Good: Bank: Toronto’s Trees Worth $7 Billion
One of Canada’s largest banks has announced that their economic research has concluded that in Toronto alone the tree canopy is worth $7 Billion (CAD). The non-monetary value of trees is obvious to most people and usually that’s enough to justify keeping trees around. However, there are people who only
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Why an economist makes a bad leader
At least one of the reasons. Stephen Harper has an MA in economics, and he has other issues. You know what gives you a better background than economics? Camp counsellor. Alltop went to Camp Ha Ha.
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: The Unpopular Reason To Support A Popular Trudeau
Voting for a celebrity because he is a celebrity may sound superficial but it is made all the more substantial by the changing context of Canadian politics. Party membership in developed countries has been declining for years, surveys have shown that voters are identifying less with parties and more with
Continue readingFive of Five: Dan Savage and the Economist
A few days ago the Economist magazine ran a short opinion piece on the Dan Savage “bible bullshit” speech and the predictable reaction that followed from the religious right. A good number of atheist and humanist bloggers that I read were not entirely happy with the Economist’s comments. I think
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: A Genetic Justification For Liberalism
It’s little wonder that liberalism endorses science when no other ideology is more endorsed by it. Foundational liberal principles have been recently strengthened by new research, solidifying the ideology not just in abstract philosophy but empirically in human nature. The liberal belief in equality and that government has a role
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: China: Fear of its Rise is Fear of Ourselves
A recent Economist article, The dangers of a rising China, leads a 14 page report loosely discussing the dangers posed to the world by China’s eclipsing of the USA’s international economic and military order. The article attempts to draw parallels in the power-balance shift between Britain and Germany which led
Continue readingWorld Headlines Review: East eats West?
This week’s Economist magazine’s headlining articles and cover-page, ‘Buying up the world- The coming wave of Chinese takeovers’ highlight the process and nature of foreign takeovers by Chinese firms. The piece offers surprisingly little discussion or speculation as to China’s deeper motivations and timing in its recent takeover bids for
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