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 readingTag: Money
Things Are Good: How Banks Destroy Your Future, And What You Can do About It
Money makes the world go round, but it can also make the world go burn. If you care about the planet, the people on it, or just life in general then you probably don’t want your investments to destroy what you care about. Investment funds that claim to protect the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Change Your Bank to Slow Climate Change
money Is your money being used by your bank to make your life worse? Hopefully not! A bank I used to do business with was literally funding the tar sands with my money, so I withdrew my money and took it to another institution. Wondering if your bank is trying
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: On Puritan-Capitalism: Money As The Measure Of All Things
The mechanistic materialist world view, which the West, beginning with Europe, adopted a mere 400 years ago, and then exported through economic, financial, military and cultural colonialism and neocolonialism to the rest of the world, has been nothing short of a cultural, sociological, political, economic, ecological, spiritual, public health and
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Money Cannot Buy Happiness But …
They say money cannot buy happiness but it certainly can buy food and shelter and education that can make the difference between misery and happiness, not to mention that health is directly related to economic status. Yet people still claim people are poor because they are lazy and all we
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Visiting Britain’s political prisoner By John Pilger
Visiting Britain’s political prisoner By John Pilger John Pilger November 28/29, 2019 “Information Clearing House” – I set out at dawn. Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh is in the flat hinterland Read more…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Solve the Global Housing Crisis by Recognizing Buyers
The cost of housing has skyrocketed since the banker-caused 2008 financial crisis and there are no signs of prices stabilizing. In Toronto we’ve seen the price of housing rise faster than wages and the same can be said for nearly every major city on the planet. A key reason this
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Panama Papers Worked
Tax evasion is a problem in every country and it’s up to teams of investigative journalists to expose mass illegal international operations. A few years ago the Panama Papers exposed an efficient tax dodging operation by a large group of wealthy people. The results of the exposure from the Panama
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Cost of Inequality: Davis 2019
This is a great video of some excellent speakers to listen to while you make dinner or, maybe, do your taxes. In a nutshell, governments need to stop taking out social programs since they cost so little of the GDP anyway, and they need to make sure the wealthy pay
Continue readingThings Are Good: Investing in Walkable Communities Saves Cities Money
Having multiple forms of transportation improves how people navigate the world. When people are provided with mobility options they will more likely leave behind a car. It turns out that not only is that good for people it’s also good for the finances of cities. If you’re sick of high
Continue readingThings Are Good: Even More Research that Raising Minimum Wage is Good for Everyone
Haters keep telling us that minimum wage is too high, which is really saying they would love free labour for private profits. Those haters are also not thinking about the economy at large. A new, massive, study on the impact of minimum wage concludes that minimum wage increases help people
Continue readingThings Are Good: Here’s an Optimistic Savings Chart
Retirement is a dream too far away for people to think about. We’re all really bad at thinking about the future and we often don’t want to think about money. Four Pillar Freedom put together the early retirement grid to address these concerns, and indeed retirement is something you can
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Yes, we get to vote. Super. Big Deal…
We have a long way to go to fix the democratic systems in the US and Canada. Paul Street, writing for Counterpunch gives a little insight into the ‘electoral process’. “Yes, we get to vote. Super. Big deal. Mammon reigns nonetheless in the United States, where, as the leading liberal political
Continue readingThings Are Good: African Development Bank is Going Green
Banks have a reputation for being too greedy for the good of anyone outside themselves; however, some banks are thinking in the long term. The African Development Bank has announced a partnership with Green Climate Fund to push renewable energy and resilient systems. They figure that Africa is the best
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: More Vague First World Problems
I made a large purchase last week Tuesday, and have had problems paying for it. Oh, I’ve got the money, I mean I’ve had some difficulty sending it to the seller. I put a deposit down instantly over the phone by credit card, that was easy enough, but sending the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: More Small Town Banks Closing in Saskatchewan
"Those people that sit with their pointed heads and their pointed pencils and tell us and take … the bank away from us — https://t.co/TYFDdJosUx — Saskboy (@saskboy) July 9, 2017 “they don’t think about what goes on in these small villages. All they can see is $ & cents
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: More Doctors and Nurses, Less Waiting
I went to the CCAC yesterday after my surgery on Tuesday – the Community Care Access Centre – an agency I only heard about when they had a local whistleblowing scandal a couple years ago questioning the decision to reduce case managers instead of front line therapists, and then more recently, when
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The SaskParty’s Deaf Ears & Dumb Cuts
It’s staggering that the province is willing to spend multitudes more money on redundant highway so people can avoid going to Regina, than they are to improve literacy. Don Morgan is out of touch, and wrong. The Saskatchewan Library Trustees’ Association said in a news release after the budget that
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Letter to MLA regarding STC Closure/Privatization
Dear Mrs. Beaudry-Mellor: I’m dismayed by your government’s cut of all rural SK bus service. This is a horrible decision that isolates people in small towns and cities, and harms people who cannot drive including people who are blind, or unable or unwilling to operate a private motor vehicle. It
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Moving Your Money
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead (maybe) Here’s a little video by comedian Sarah Silverman that suggests you can do your part to oppose Trump’s gains in the DAPL mess by,
Continue reading