In 2013, the consulting firm Ernst & Young was hired to review trends in compensation across the BC Public Sector. It is now available through the Legislature’s public documents. Reports of this […]
Managers justify generous treatment of managers
Democracy myth exposed
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, Prof. Martin Gilens, Princeton University and Prof. Benjamin I. Page, Northwestern University. Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups […]
Investment in society and in human beings?
A paper published in the journal International Political Science Review considered if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “Democracy’s Friend or Foe.” It noted that reforms required by the American based IMF, […]
Unplanned encouragement of opponents
A TransCanada Corp. executive has advice for people who oppose pipeline projects such as Northern Gateway, Energy East and Keystone XL. He’s quoted by CBC News: “I used to believe if we […]
Royal Bank of Canada – exporter of jobs
CEO Gordon Nixon, 12.6 million dollar man The Royal Bank of Canada (aka RBC) is responding to public complaints that spread rapidly following reports the bank will be terminating Canadian staff who […]
Income disparity grows
Incomes of bottom 90 percent grew $59 in 40 years, Natasha Lennard, Salon.com “Pulitzer Prize-winner David Cay Johnston has highlighted yet more statistics that illuminate the spike in income inequality in the […]
A road to inevitable unrest
Libs’ ‘Job Plan’ not enough to tackle poverty, Trish Garner, The Province, Dec 2012 …B.C. has the largest gap between the rich and the poor, and the highest poverty rate in Canada. […]
A society doomed by greed
Is the future healthy when one company’s CEO draws a larger salary between breakfast and lunch, on one day, than a loyal 20 year employee earns in a year? Well, during the […]
Business genius talks
Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest man, appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart along with Carol Loomis, senior editor-at-large for Fortune and author of Tap Dancing to Work. A few quotes: […]
Trends
A Failed Experiment, Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Nov 21/12 “Since the 1950s, the top federal income tax rate has fallen from 90 percent or more to 35 percent. Capital gains […]
The real Welfare Queen
Walmart: America’s real ‘Welfare Queen’, Paddy Ryan, Daily Kos, October 2012 ” As many as 80 percent of workers in [U.S.] Wal-Mart stores use food stamps.” Inequality, exhibit A: Walmart and the […]
Take from the poor, give to the rich
Further to my comments about homeowners subsidizing industrial power, here is an extract from the blog of Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail, Site C and the Kitimat LNG Export Terminal: Christy Clark’s Program […]
Pay equity in British Columbia
Things that still make you go "Hmmm"
This is a replay of a piece from last spring. It fits today’s subject since it demonstrates that BC’s most senior public officias aren’t playing catch-up. Washington State schools enrol just over […]
Words to ponder
“In any society where wealth and income concentrate overwhelmingly at the top, the affluent will almost always come to sneer at public services and the men and women who provide them.” – […]
Tax avoidance, crippled services, monster deficits
“The Republicans have got the facts backward. A rising tide definitely raises all boats. They somehow believe that rising boats raise all tides.” William O. Beeman, commenting on Bill, Barack and Us […]
One reason why the rich stay that way
Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney ‘Didn’t Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years’, Huffington Post, July 31, 2012 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has what he […]
Liars believe their own lies
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes, Think Progress, July 20, 2012 “Over a four years period from 2008 to 2011, Corning […]
A bubble of deference and flattery
Pathos of the Plutocrat, Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 19, 2012 “…Mr. Obama always bends over backward to declare his support for free enterprise and his belief that getting rich is […]
It is an old and cruel tactic
The Battle of Blair Mountain, Chris Hedges, Truthdig: …Reduce wages and benefits to subsistence level. Break unions. Gut social assistance programs. Buy and sell elected officials and judges. Fill the airwaves with […]
Thanks for this article Norm. The BC Greens are breaking new ground this election by promising to introduce a wealth…