economics

There is nothing more cute, more heart filling, or tear-jerking than to see an honest politician consult and confer with the country to determine the course of the economy. Of course, I didn't see that today. History repeated itself today when finance minister and Mike Harris throwback #4 humiliated the Canadian public with his CEO's Pet approach to economic policy.

Firstly, I need to apologize for not having posted enough during the past month. Not only have I been wrestling with Blogging Dippers 2.0, but I've been jumping into my new role as Riding Association President for the Guelph NDP.

While things have been incredibly busy for the Guelph NDP, the work has been equally as satisfying. That is in large part because the executive is incredibly resourceful and competent, and I'm truly excited to work with them!

I've been working on a spreadsheet to clearly lay out the circumstances with regards to ATM fees. I feel, now that I'm entirely switched over to my credit union (Meridian), that I have some high ground on the big banks that I can condemn the profits they make. Yes, I do condemn profits particularly when they occur using interest as a means of generating excess, rather than to cover costs and overhead.

It has been at least a month or two since both the Ontario and Federal NDP introduced bills to increase the minimum wage to $10/hr.. While I'm still excited of the prospects of having such a minimum wage in place, I'm cautious of a few things.

Firstly, this may not pass. The Liberals and Conservatives represent the interests of big business far too much to support this lock-stock-and-barrel. The Liberals would like to argue that "they understand the economy" because they use archaic excuses for not doing things of this nature, and protect the petty profits of the worlds wealthiest. I expect if it makes it through, it will be tight; if it doesn't, it will be close with several MPs not bothering to show up.

• Think of no one as "them"
• Dont' confuse your comfort with your safety
• Talk to strangers
• Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
• Listen to music you don't understand
• Dance to it
• Act locally
• Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture
• Question consumption
• Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation
• Look for fair trade and union labels
• help build economies from the bottom up
• Acquire few needs
• Learn
  

Earlier this month, someone had mentioned they were supportive of the policies of the NDP, but felt that the other parties had a better grasp of the economy and therefore, with a strong economy, we could provide a better opportunity for the marginalized. This had me confused for a while, that there was some mysterious way in which you could possibly support the poor, the working poor, and the exploited by providing greater incentive for those who perpetrate the exploitation. Is that what a "firm grasp of the economy" is?

The Canadian socio-economic landscape is increasingly becoming contradictory, confused, and twisted. While statistics show that more and more Canadians are slipping into poverty, Canadian politics seems to be increasingly devoted to the myth that, "things are working out" under our system; we just need some touch ups on the environment. I'm loosing sleep because I'm wondering if our Nation has lost its ability to respond in a meaningful way to the injustices that are before us. Is the middle class "taking the bait" on free-markets, corporate control, and "upper management"-style government? This new identity of our Nation is much like that of the US; not a society of honest hardworking and compassionate people, but an economy of temporarily embarrassed and bankrupt millionaires.

This is yet another preview of the Massey Lectures from 2004, with Ronald Wright. I believe it to be one of the most relevant, and eloquent pieces of media in my hands at the moment, and I'd strongly urge you all to get a hold of it. Play it for your friends! It's amazing how passionate he is while remaining balanced and thoughtful.

The other preview I posted a while ago was the track which immediately followed this one, they are together the last two tracks of the whole lecture. I insist that I'm not giving away the strongest part though. Wright is incredible well spoken in his conclusions, but is even more brilliant in his evidence and account for history.

I've been listening to the Massey Lectures featuring Ronald Wright; a historian and author.

The complete 4.2 hour recording of his lectures are on my computer and I've managed to listen to all of it. Wright gets at many points, the most prominent is that we are at the crossroads similar to that of the inhabitants of Easter Island, or Sumer. In Easter Island, it's inhabitant's belief in their mythology lead them to consume even more under resource scarcity in the hopes that offerings to the gods would provide them once again with abundance. Within our context, modern society has placed extreme devotion to the mythology of progress, technology, and complexity of lifestyle. To that end, we similarly are committing ourselves to the hope of salvation when the attitude itself is what has created our dilemma.

This letter I sent following the vote

Dear Jack, Mrs. McDonough, and Mrs. Black,

I appreciate that you must have been inundated with emails regarding Afghanistan and the vote in parliament, but I wanted to express my concerns now that the vote has gone in favour of the two year extension. I have serious concerns that I feel deserve specific demands in parliament and require the support of the NDP.

Afghanistan is clearly divided as both a peacekeeping operation and a military occupation, with Canadian forces thrown into a grey area between the two. While our operations have been defended now as 'peacekeeping', our initial involvement was under the US's military invasion. Additionally, with the US continuing their military occupation, we are unfortunately subsidizing and legitimizing their role in Afghanistan. We must clearly distinguish (with actions, not words) our role from that of an invading force, if we can ever expect begin our role as peacekeepers.

[img_assist|nid=36|title=|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=240|height=316]I had trouble finding a working title for this post. Before I start I should briefly mention that I'm not really surprised, though this example does help to articulate a number of distinctions about the political realm in Canada.

On political donations, TD Bank breaks ranks (also pasted below)

The first is that I suppose I should be proud or happy or content that the NDP are set aside from this disgraceful behaviour. I was reading more about "Third Way" politics, and how the TD type might end up involved with transformative politics, and I'm excited to see that's not on the agenda at the moment. Paraphrasing Hugo Chavez on this one "the rich will do what they always have done, and what they do best... look after their own". So congrats to the NDP (and Bloc I suppose) for not being implicated in this demonstration of latent corruption and dishonesty.