Despite newspapers being longtime supporters of Fraser Institute teachings that call for reduced public spending, they are now more than happy to get in line for corporate welfare. That’s not surprising. While many Canadian journalists are principled professionals, rather few of their employers share that virtue.
Taxes buy civilization
Neoliberalism has brought us extreme concentrations of wealth and power and a society governed by and for the rich. The Guardian reports America’s three wealthiest billionaires—Bezos, Gates and Buffett—have as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population combined. Funders—like the American Koch brothers and Fraser Institute directors who are connected collectively to around a trillion dollars in assets— do not want creative solutions to labour’s stagnant wages or growing inequality…
Economic illiteracy in Canadian media
The Fraser Institute declares Tax Freedom Day each year. It is an inaccurate trick to further interests of the millionaires and billionaires for whom the “charity” works. Many of those people use overseas tax shelters so their tax freedom day falls in January. Don’t expect Fraser Institute to mention Earth Overshoot Day, “the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year.” Do not expect Canada’s mass media to pay much attention either
Labour Day – Canadian heritage moment – Rerun
In modern times, the Canadian union movement has lost influence but not relevance. It is easy to forget that unions enabled a broad middle class. Workers in unionized company towns in BC’s 20th century resource economy set the bar for others. They showed how positive full employment with good wages enables high quality life for the entire community.
Actions inconsistent with innocence
During its years in power, BC Liberals remade British Columbia. While the provincial economy grew, the fortunes of ordinary people declined, for the first extended period ever. Beneficiaries of change had demanded redistribution of wealth to the disadvantage of all but a few. The end result was not incidental or accidental.
Fraser Institute. Who are they anyway?
From the beginning, the Fraser Institute has called itself a non-profit, apolitical research organization. However, it is instead a marketer of neoliberalism. The charity pays handsomely but only for research that reinforces notions and schemes serving its self-interested constituents.
Pot reproaches kettle for looking black, again
Christy Clark, 2011 edition: ” I think what British Columbians, and BC Liberals want from government now is not a leader who can grant access to people who already have a lot of access . . “
Wanna Raise a Kid, Cheap?
Lawyer, writer and wit Stephen Lautens has an eye for worthy stories and a deft way with words. This example can be found at his blog, Stephen Lauten’s Parking Space: According to the […]
Black Press proves its news instincts once again
A spy in the Prince Rupert region provided information that would probably surprise the unscholarly urban dwellers at the Koch brothers’ favourite Canadian policy institution: Fraser institute identifies Conrad Elementary as […]
Next we sell off naming rights for schools – REPLAY
This article first published September 2011 remains timely. Private business promoters aim to eliminate public enterprises through privatization, contracting out and outsourcing. They promote the myth that delivery of services by private, often […]
Make the news, then report the news
After The Fraser Institute reported it’s never been easier financially to raise a Canadian child, Business in Vancouver surveyed Twitter response to the think tank’s featherbrained newspeak and found “considerable” controversy, “Yesterday, […]
Unravelling the right, reframing the left
Donald Gutstein, professor in SFU’s School of Communication, writes frequently on the web, often about think tanks and the dogmatic, distorted postures we’ve come to expect from these groups. A piece he […]
Morton’s Fork, Alberta
In the politics of Alberta, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg vision has been bastardized to become “government of business, by business, for business.” April 23, voters can re-elect a tired, incompetent and corrupt Conservative […]
Ethically challenged plutocrat
SNC-Lavalin CEO resigns after review, Paul Waldie, The Globe and Mail Report on Business, March 26, 2012 “SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. has announced the departure of chief executive officer Pierre Duhaime amid allegations […]
Fort Chip people don’t believe in ‘ethical oil’
CKNW’s morning show featured Fraser Institute alum Kathryn Mitrow Marshall, who is now labouring for Ethical Oil, an ironically named lobby group with close ties to the Conservative Party of Canada and, […]
Dead folks (and women) do no peer reviews
With my head still spinning from research on other projects, I thought for relaxation I would take shots at an absurdly easy target: the independent, research organization called the Fraser Institute. The […]
Charity, redefined
CHARITY (Oxford Dictionaries):generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless. The Fraser Institute styles itself the most influential market research organization in Canada. It is certainly the best funded […]
Liberal scorn for sustainability
After examining Mihlar’s collection of writings, one may conclude that he holds a senior newspaper position, not for cogent analysis or deft word construction, but for reliable parroting of talking points from obscurantist ‘research’ facilities. Mihlar is not one to provide graceful penetration of complicated economic questions. Instead, we get repetition of chatter from the right-wing information machine.
Non-thinking tank
During the lead-up to the HST referendum, business advocate Fraser Institute complained, “…opponents of the harmonized tax have filled newspapers, broadcast media, and the blogosphere with inaccurate – and often outrageous – […]
For traditional media to avoid irrelevance
Ian Reid is back at his computer station this week and that is good news for blog readers. He wrote a piece at The Real Story last October that is worth reexamination because the […]
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