tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post2679711438833604548..comments2023-08-03T03:59:01.255-04:00Comments on Democratic Voting Canada: Neo-conservative economists try browbeating Canadians on FIPARon Wallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08120060083437508997noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-84139886389849341802016-08-08T12:58:36.489-04:002016-08-08T12:58:36.489-04:00Blah blah blahBlah blah blahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-29676530651128502812014-10-02T21:08:04.430-04:002014-10-02T21:08:04.430-04:00Australia shows that a living wage works. They hav...Australia shows that a living wage works. They have a $16.50 CAD minimum wage and 6% unemployment rate.<br /><br />Here in Canada a so-called "expert" manufactured evidence to claim a 13% increase in our minimum wage killed between 70,000 and 164,000 jobs for young workers. The facts show this is absurd.<br /><br /><a href="http://democraticvotingcanada.blogspot.ca/2014/10/neo-con-assault-on-minimum-wage-pure.html" rel="nofollow">DVC: Neo-con assault on minimum wage based on manufactured evidence</a>Ron Wallerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08120060083437508997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-36205170560213071762014-10-02T20:48:51.790-04:002014-10-02T20:48:51.790-04:00Good point. Over the past 30 years we have been su...Good point. Over the past 30 years we have been suckered into accepting free-market fundamentalism which basically states that greed is good: if people focus on their private interests this will work out for the public good. <br /><br />Given this absurd doctrine has led to soaring inequality, deteriorating living standards, financial meltdowns and boom-to-bust economic cycles, obviously it doesn't work.<br /><br />Now we are stuck in a never-ending slump like we were in the 1930s. Back then we realized we had to act in the public good for the public good. As Roosevelt said at the time:<br /><br />"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics."Ron Wallerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08120060083437508997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-56427016479843830402014-09-30T00:54:39.754-04:002014-09-30T00:54:39.754-04:00Great post and comments.
How to get more Canadian...Great post and comments.<br /><br />How to get more Canadians identifying and thinking as citizens concerned with the public good before private interest, seems to me the challenge.Sam Gunschnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-29746917721472405032014-09-29T12:00:51.552-04:002014-09-29T12:00:51.552-04:00There are some things that citizens might do in or...There are some things that citizens might do in order to halt the demise of our democracy. One of the key items is for under paid workers to stand up for their right to earn a living wage. The only way to accomplish this, in my opinion, is to form affiliations with some of the larger Canadian unions, then launch a campaign to have other citizens openly boycott the selected business until either the business offers a living wage or ceases to exist. For example, I wonder how many cups of coffee Tim Horton's would sell in China where workers make the equivalent of 18 cents an hour for most jobs. If large corporations such as Tim Horton's can not pay a living wage to their workers in our country, why would Canadians continue to buy their products? Due to demographic differences, the legislated minimum wage does not necessarily represent a living wage. Commodities usually cost the same, whether you earn 10 dollars an hour or 100 dollars an hour. The key difference is in quality of life or lack thereof. A surprising number of people earning "minimum wage" have to rely on "food banks" to sustain their existence.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15499698673930671026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-71436887194367296802014-09-29T02:35:05.803-04:002014-09-29T02:35:05.803-04:00Thanks for the insight. In my opinion, these free-...Thanks for the insight. In my opinion, these free-market ideologues are strongly anti-government. But what that means is they are strongly anti-democracy. They keep reducing the role of the democratic state, with inflation-targeting monetary policy, free-trade deals, investor-protection treaties, and "starve the beast" fiscal weapons of mass destruction: i.e. bankrupting democratic government.<br /><br />These businessmen are trying to establish a global plutocracy which balkanizes the international community preventing the people from establishing rules and regulations that protect the environment and prevent abuses of labor, including child and slave labor.<br /><br />The people are going to have to take their democracy back. This requires populism. The people have to rise up against free-market reforms that destroy democracy - and the economy - free trade being the most insidious. <br /><br />Let the elites sneer about populism and protectionism. But either we stand up to the name-calling or be herded like sheep. Free-market reforms have made a train wreck of the global economy. More poison will not lead to a cure. The liberal and conservative aristocracy is not better than democracy. Democracy, as Winston Churhill said, is the best of all worse alternatives, and that includes plutocracy and aristocracy.Ron Wallerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08120060083437508997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6257578024925559189.post-79115567659114733942014-09-28T20:29:14.585-04:002014-09-28T20:29:14.585-04:00Stephen Gordon appears to be an accomplice to the ...Stephen Gordon appears to be an accomplice to the wily fox (Stephen Harper) as he guards the chickens (citizens) in the hen house. FIPA is not a good deal. The investor-state mechanism has the ability to financially bankrupt our country across a few decades. I see something more sinister afoot. Currently, we have dozens of trade agreements around the world with investor-state clauses imbedded in them. Under FIPA , China has the ability to conjure up trade disputes, real or imagined and have them arbitrated by 3 arbiters in secret, behind closed doors. To provide context, one might suggest 3 arbiters could be resolving trade issues with Canada across 50 agreements. One of the problems is the same 3 unaccountable people could work on all of the trade issues from Canada at the same time. If the arbiters decide to modify, amend write or re-write current legislation our country has nothing to input into the process. In essence, Canada would be governed by an entity over which they can not exercise any form of control. In fact, a dozen people could eventually control global trade. Nations across the globe, locked into similar agreements, are prone to overt manipulation by an entity, which is not subject to legal controls of any kind. Being a bit of a cynic, it is not difficult to imagine that Harper is actively constructing the foundations for a world that is controlled by a single entity that is not amenable to any type of intervention. When you add in the role of the unaccountable international banks, the problem of control and domination is quite evident. It is not a far-fetched notion to believe we are being assimilated into a structure with only one unaccountable government body deciding all issues on our planet. It is worth noting that Germany realizes the folly of the investor-state mechanisms and may relegate CETA to the dumpster if those mechanisms are not removed. Canada ought not ratify CETA unless those mechanisms are removed. Just my point of view. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15499698673930671026noreply@blogger.com