by Gus Van Harten| Troy Media There is a lot of spin about the Canada-China investment treaty (or FIPA). Canadians should not be fooled into the deal. They should insist on an independent review of the government’s claims, before the treaty is …
Continue readingTag: markets
Politics and Entertainment: The citizen as consumer, as a mere "marketing target."
http://tinyurl.com/9nu7j9c Under a neoliberal regime such as ours, anything – including your very soul – can be commodified. (Ask those members of the evangelical church to which OGL apparently belongs.) The very concept of consumer assumes a market. Yet we’ve naturalized the concept so unconsciously no one questions the term
Continue readingHellberta: The speculation about speculators speculating about oil price
It’s becoming a recurring theme to blame the high oil price on “speculators”. This of course implies some sort of clear distinction between someone legitimately purchasing oil contracts or someone purchasing or selling them purely for profit. There is of course a difference. You might call the first one a
Continue readingHellberta: Canada and the fine line between reality and lies
Gone are the days of fairytale stories about Canada’s incredibly stable and safe banking system. These stories are now slowly being replaced by a stark reality: Canadians are carrying too much debt. It is now 2012, and the much promised economic security and stability isn’t here. Sure, many supporters of
Continue readingHellberta: February mid-month round-up: Greece burns, Alberta gambles & Canada trades soul for Pandas
Well it would appear that China has finally found a spot to park it’s unwanted USD. That would be here in good old Canada and all it cost them was leasing us two Pandas. What a deal! Back in 2011 I wrote a quick post about why Canada’s economy is
Continue readingHellberta: November mid-month round-up: Occupy dies, the New World Order is born, the revolution begins
The Occupy movement is dead. Seriously. In it’s place however is the new American revolution. They look similar, and the new American revolution is still calling itself Occupy, but they are very different. I’ll point out this difference for you in a very simple contrast of thought:1) Occupy: When it
Continue readingHellberta: Canada: A country in economic denial
Well the market since the S&P downgrade of U.S. debt has been a fun ride huh? Gold continues to set what seem like daily records while stocks are “only slightly higher than a decade ago“. But all of these lightning fast developments have not shaken the faith Canadians (and in
Continue readingHellberta: A conflict over ethical oil
By now anyone who follows energy, economics, or the environment has probably heard the term “ethical oil”. If you are not familiar with it; it was coined by Ezra Levant in his book Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands. It also coined a lesser known term “conflict oil”.
Continue readingHellberta: The next Alberta economic boom will be funded by faith
Good day to you Albertans. I haven’t written on this blog for quite awhile, in fact I wasn’t even sure if I was ever going to blog again. Things are moving too fast now to really spend any significant time on a particular subject however I feel Alberta’s economy needs
Continue reading