Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour

"Yes, the Conservatives are focused on what they call the economy. But their economy is a ruthless, inhuman task-master. It demands that the very profitable Royal Bank be even more profitable. It demands that 45 highly trained people lose their jobs. It demands that Canada’s visa system allow all of this to happen. The government serves this economy faithfully. Whom does this economy serve?"      - Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star
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Maybe its time to begin thinking about withdrawing our patronage from all retailers and services that offshore labour - including perhaps even call centres, which are the most inefficient offshore labour* of all. That might be hard to do, but choices can be made on the scale of evil, even though it’s true, as Phil Soubliere once told me, the lesser of two evils is still evil.

One could also continue to educate one’s family, neigbours, and friends about the exploitative practices that lie behind their shiny new mobile phone or computer, their wonderfully au courant clothing, their expansive new internet service, and their friendly neighbourhood bank. I find, however, that most people, wanting to get on with their necessitated drudge lives, could care less. Yes, of course you’re right, my dear fellow, but what can I do about it? So good luck with that. Maybe your mother will listen.
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*English is indeed the language of business and global commerce thanks to U.S. imperial control of global finance, but the cultural differences, the nuances, the subtexts, the connotations, the rhythms among English language speakers are significant when it comes to communication efficiency - which is what a call centre should be all about. An English-speaking German really doesn’t speak the same language as an Indian or Texan. This is why offshoring call centres in the interest of profit and wage cost cutting is a failed business practice. It frequently if not always alienates clients.  The neoliberal habit of displacing domestic workers is also of course in and of itself morally reprehensible.

Change will not come from government and this policy or that - only from extra-congressional, extra-parliamentary strategies.

Here is a two-part interview with Stephanie Seguino, who, though focusing squarely on income inequality and its racial and gender implications, is not a revolutionary transformer of capitalism but a technical reformer in the Krugman Keynesian tradition. Like  Krugman, she advocates closely monitored public spending as a way to stimulate the economy. An interesting argument - especially on how profoundly youth, blacks, Hispanics and single mothers are disparagingly affected by income inequality resulting from the 2008 crisis - but one, alas, that simply asks for better management, not change to the very system itself. It remains clear that change will not come from government and this policy or that -  only from extra-congressional, extra-parliamentary strategies.

The issue is not #capitalism under new management, but the transformation of #capitalism itself. #neoliberalism #cdnecon

More and more I tend to agree with George Monbiot that it is not neoliberalism in and of itself as an ideology or economic theory that is the root cause of our economic/political/social woes, but the ruling oligarchy’s alibiing use of that model to further their own wealth no matter the harm that results from that quest. (Is it any wonder they’re called “the feral rich.”) The distinction is important because it shifts the strategic focus to the plutocratic investor class itself and in turn their banking, regulatory, and corporate institutions - their agents of destruction -  which are served of course by compliant governments everywhere and nowhere more so than right here in Canada. Our banks are now “too big too fail.” This is, sad to say,  the point to which the financialization of the Canadian economy has descended: 80% of  financial assets are held in these institutions. Be prepared for the socializing of bank debt down the road now that the framework's in place; that is, you'll pay for any bailouts.

More and more too I find myself in agreement with both Greg Albo and Leo Panitch, who have argued persuasively that progressives groups here (including the Council of Canadians) and elsewhere are very big on tactics and “micro-politics” but woefully lacking in overall strategy and considerations of  long-term consequences. I would add to their basic argument that the self-interest of the progressive groups each with its own agenda determined largely by their executives - as is the case with political parties - will no doubt continue to inhibit any collectivizing co-operative movement towards a larger, focused pragmatic goal of institutionalizing social democratic controls.

For a brief moment, there was a ray hope with the establishment of CommonCauses, but apparently all they wish to do is replicate the actions of other progressive groups and to replace the Harper Regime. The issue of course is much larger than that simplistic goal. The issue is not capitalism under new management, but the transformation of capitalism itself. Else all is lost.

Is it hopeless? Perhaps not. Perhaps all that is required is patience, As Richard Wolff has said, "As has happened often in human history, what provokes change is less any clear vision of where we go next and more the intolerability of where we are. Capitalism is no longer "delivering the goods" for most people. The circle of its beneficiaries grows smaller and richer and more out of touch with the mass of people than ever."

To begin the process of democratizing the economy step 1 is to restore the banks to their status as public utilities

This is Part 2 of a three part discussion with James K. Galbraith and Leo Panitch on whether any sort of New Deal is now possible in America. This segment crystallizes for me the difference between Keynesian reformers like Galbraith and Krugman, say, and revolutionaries like Panitch. Galbraith  continues to have faith in regulation and the government institutions that are capable of controlling economic and financial policies, claiming in effect it’s just a question of reform, of having the right personnel in those institutions and a reasonable government in power. Panitch recognizes that the problem isn’t a mere issue of personnel or government.  It’s a structural problem because these institutions are embedded in Wall Street, maintaining the financialization of the economy and undermining thereby a real industrial economy based on supply and demand. These institutions in fact serve Wall Street. 

What we need, Panitch argues - and I  could’t agree more - is to begin the process of aggressively democratizing the economy. The first step would be to restore banks to their status as public utilities, for it is the oligarchical control of banking corporations with their destructive neoliberal policies that is the root cause of all our social and economic malaise. 

Premiers Goal to Increase CPP both Pragmatic and Desirable

“Flaherty said Friday the federal government is concerned about increasing CPP contributions at the current time because it would slap an additional financial burden on employers during fragile economic times, potentially threatening their ability to hire workers. The federal government can’t unilaterally change the CPP; amending it requires the backing of two-thirds of the provinces representing two-thirds of the population. “This is not the time to put another burden on employers and dampen employment prospects for Canadians. That’s my view. Not everyone agrees with that view,” Flaherty told reporters Friday in Ottawa.

Flaherty open to growing CPP — if all the provinces agree | canada.com Notice that Flaherty’s concern is the employer, the boss, the corporation, not the worker and certainly not the average Canadian whom most of the premiers actually want to help: “It is estimated six in 10 Canadian workers in the private sector have no private pension plan, while approximately only one-third of Canadians make contributions to registered retirement savings plans.” So far the premiers outnumber Flaherty and have the constitution on their side, and their goal is both pragmatic and desirable given the other pension options.

This will be the Regime's Primary Alibi followed by the EU crisis when the Canadian Economy Sinks into Recession

Canada faces near-recession if U.S. plunges over ‘cliff,’ Carney warns 

“Carney warns of risk from U.S. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has warned that a failure by U.S. politicians to reach a new budget agreement before time runs out would push Canada close to another recession… the bank warned that Canadi

ans are still borrowing at a faster pace than their disposable income, making them more vulnerable if they lose their jobs or home prices tumble. The ratio of household debt to gross domestic product now stands at a record high 163 per cent, up from 161.5.”

Let us not forget, however, that the Canadian economy in and of itself has not been managed well by this extreme neoliberal government that has consistently placed investors, the financial sector, natural resource exports, and free trade before the real industrial domestic economy. wage fairness, and job creation for the middle and working classes. A 163% household debt/GDP ratio is also indeed worrisome as is the fact that whatever equity most Canadians have is inextricably bound to their still mortgaged houses. Get ready.

Neoliberal Privatizing of School-yard Play

Capitalism Reaches its Ugly Claw into Recess

This is appalling:  capitalist invasion by way of neoliberal privatising of playtime at recess and noon. Isn't it bad enough that we have a class division for families outside the school yard between the haves and the have-nots?   Do we have  to commodify and commoditize our children and their playtime so intrusively in the name of capitalist enterprise too, thereby creating - because of their young age - a powerful ideologically conditioned class system at the childhood level? Class is already everywhere for a child in our neoliberal world. Why enhance it. Rise up, parents.

Reading Economic Health into the Recent StatsCan Jobs Data is An Exercise in Fantasy

Reading Economic Health into the Recent StatsCan Jobs Data is An Exercise in Fantasy

Here’s the reality in that data:

1) As Derek Holt points out, there is no hours worked increase. That remains static. But it is hours worked that “drive incomes, not body count.” Holt speculates that the already employed are working fewer hours, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest such a situation is probable.

2) The so-called new jobs have not increased labour productivity one iota. There is, in other words, no output growth, no real economic growth resulting from job increases.

3) All the job increases were in the low paying service sector, while jobs in both manufacturing and construction decreased significantly.

The Canadian economy under the weak neoliberal stewardship of the arrogant Harper Regime continues to stagnate, and, as a result, while the 1-10% continues to live well, the middle and working class suffer. A global economic implosion is on its way, and, given the average debt load of Canadians, we will be hit hard when that happens.

StatsCan:

Job Gains too Good to be true:

I support the lawsuit against the Bank Of Canada|Strikes meaningfully at the core of #neoliberalismfacebook.com/Support.lawsui… #cdnpoli #cdnecon
— Barry Cameron (@AppalledBC) December 2, 2012

Canada’s economy in a stall, StatsCan reports

There’s every chance we’ll have at least a technical recession in the fourth quarter given these statistics:

“The economy slumped to 0.6 per cent in the third quarter — below even the gloomy 0.8 consensus and about one-third what the Bank of Canada had predicted as recently as the summer — as trouble loomed on the export side, housing and business investment….

In addition, Statistics Canada revised downward the second quarter one notch to 1.7 per cent and September, the last month, was flat, meaning the handoff to the current fourth quarter was weak… The big shock in the third quarter report was that business investment, which the central bank has been counting on to support the economy, fell two per cent per cent annualized, and residential construction dived 4.4 per cent…As expected, net trade also weighed heavily on the economy in the third quarter as exports plunged 7.8 per cent on weak global demand and soft commodity prices.”

Only Christmas consuming will save the economy, he said facetiously. It will be amusing to see what propagandistic spin Flaherty and Co. put on this one. One thing's for sure: he won't ever admit that the neoliberal growth model is failing.

Canada’s economy in a stall, StatsCan reports

A Call for Direct Action: Is it Worthy of Consideration?

Your Anon News • A CALL FOR DIRECT ACTION 

Although there are facets of this perspective that are highly debatable, as many of the comments on Tumblr  reveal, this is an intriguing argument not without some merit because aspects of it are increasingly applicable to Canada as we continue to live under the repressive yoke of the #HarperRegime. Today’s revelation about the enabling of a completely undisguised neoliberal foreign aid policy designed to benefit corporation - the exploitative mining industry in particular - #banksters, and of course the investor class indexes the fundamental moral bankruptcy of our government. We saw harbingers of this shift under Smoking Lady. Now we see the big picture under Law and Order Man. This is an outrageous moral breach, a complete distortion of what foreign aid should be - namely, a fundamentally charitable endeavour -  and what makes it even more culpable, more dangerous, is that this is no political game. These people are unequivocally true believers fervently worshipping at the altar of #neoliberalism, spreading their gospel of “the market,” austerity, and free trade agreements that undermine our sovereignty and weaken the real productive economy in the interests of profit for the 1%. They serve more than Mammon. 

We will soon need serious civil disobedience if not some sort of non-violent revolution. I'm willing to give the Council of Canadians' initiative to bring progressive groups together to create an aggregated power base for progressives a chance,  but  some form of civil disobedience ought to remain on the table for debate in that effort. These are increasingly desperate times.

Foreign Aid Shifts Radically To Benefit Investors

Chris Hedges: Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All

Chris Hedges: Elites Will Make Gazans of Us All - Chris Hedges' Columns - Truthdig

We are well on our way to becoming Gazans under neoliberal rule as the 1%, the investor class and its corporate institutions, becomes more frightened of losing both their wealth and power. Look for subtle changes in military policy and increased presence domestically, especially in cities - a move Obama, for example, has been trying to authorize and one which, it would seem, the Harper Regime would approve given the G20 protests. The alibi will be either "domestic terrorism" or "security concerns" of some sort or other.

“Market forces and the military mechanisms that protect these forces are the sole ideology that governs industrial states and humans’ relationship to the natural world. It is an ideology that results in millions of dead and millions more displaced from their homes in the developing world. And the awful algebra of this ideology means that these forces will eventually be unleashed on us, too. Those who cannot be of use to market forces are considered expendable. They have no rights and legitimacy. Their existence, whether in Gaza or blighted postindustrial cities such as Camden, N.J., is considered a drain on efficiency and progress. They are viewed as refuse. And as refuse they not only have no voice and no freedom; they can be and are extinguished or imprisoned at will. This is a world where only corporate power and profit are sacred. It is a world of barbarism.”

Wakeup Call for Business Community?

From the very heart of the business community comes the magazine cover of the year. Get it, Big Oil?

Time for Real Resistance to Neoliberalism: Education, Coordination, Cooperation Leadership

Isn't it time to begin real resistance - actions and strategies beyond rallies and marches, beyond petitions for this or that worthy cause and letters to MPs and the editor, beyond conferences and discussion groups, beyond Facebook and Twitter? Isn't it time for all progressives to come together in a coordinated effort to start a real (non-violent) revolution against Neoliberalism? Every single issue with which progressives are concerned from climate change to income inequality can be traced directly to neoliberal policy, which of course is no simple set of practices but a tenaciously pernicious ideology that has penetrated the very fabric of our daily lives and that has been so thoroughly naturalized as a result that most people living inside the bubble fail to see the walls of the bubble. And many who do happen to recognize it, though well-intentioned, seek only reform within the neoliberal systems themselves, not real transformative change. There is a difference between reform and revolution, although reform can certainly serve revolution. While this may seem initially to be primarily an amoral economic issue, it is in reality a fundamentally moral issue that affects peoples everyday lives. More than an economic solution is thus required.

The only outstanding question in my mind is how to bring about a meaningful transformation on such a large and sprawling issue and thus what strategies to choose that yield real practical outcomes -  something beyond feel good satisfaction. How do we begin?  Coordination and cooperation with other progressive groups to generate real political power is the only viable strategy in my opinion - no easy task - though lots of solidarity generating things along the way to that strategic goal can still be implemented.  For that unprecedented communication to happen we need leadership from each progressive group - certainly not an easy achievement since each group has its vested interests. But if enough people in the rank and file of those groups call for such coordination and cooperation,  it just might happen. Identifying groups and constructing an all-embracing communications network is an obvious first step.

The other key factor is educating one's own people on the importance of understanding what neoliberalism is, how it works, and why it's necessary to concentrate efforts on it. One of the main failures of the progressive movement besides its insularity is a lack of focus - too many fires burning in different locales. We need one giant bonfire. You can't get help from your own organization if its members, staff and rank and file,  don't know what you're talking about.

In bringing together several youth progressive groups from across the country, PowerShift has led the way providing, that is, whatever excitement and momentum that has been generated can be sustained meaningfully and turned into real pragmatic strategies. My fear, however, is that PowerShift 2012 will be just like the Take Back Democracy Conference, a similar worthy event - that is, nothing more than another self-satisfying, insular feel good progressive bubble event. Prove me and all the other discouraged progressives out there wrong.

Addendum:

Apparently the Council of Canadians convene a summit of 50 progressive organizations in September - which at first blush looks like a powerful gesture in the right direction. It would be useful to know what actually happened at that summit.

Climate Change? Blame Canada | | It's Enough to Make You Weep [slightly revised]

Climate Change? Blame Canada | | AlterNet

Some really disturbing figures and trends gathered here.

It's enough to make you weep. We are responsible for much of the destruction of the planet under the Harper Regime and its neoliberal policies, yet the beat goes on. Sad to say, we let it.

What good do clever protest rallies on Parliament Hill, well-organized marches along main street Canada, signing this petition or that, witty posts to Twitter and Facebook, well-argued blog entries, intelligent essays in well-known to progressives alternate media, and cogent letters to the editor in the mainstream media - all of which we witness just about every day -  really do when there is little if any efficacy in these well-intentioned actions?  What transformational changes are effected with these various conventional protest gestures? What political value do they really have aside from - as important as these are - reinforcing the morale of participants and thereby strengthening solidarity a tiny bit more in the process and, if you're lucky, brief notice in the media for the next 24-hour news cycle?  Is that a sufficient political pay-off?  More and more everyday, I think not. More and more everyday, I think the conventional rhetoric of protest is frighteningly inadequate - protest,smotest; blah, blah, blah; and yada, yada, do.

As I've argued before, the left must deghettoize itself, step outside its progressive bubble, get over its elitist disdain for those less plugged-in and find meaningful ways to engage with mainstream Canadians as fuzzy as that concept is.  I'm not sure how to define the mainstream, but I do know this:  it's not progressive activists. The mainstream does not read The Monitor, New Internationalist, The Nation, Yes, The Guardian, Canadian Perspectives, or Canadian Dimension. They don't check Truthout, Truthdig, Democracy Now, Alternet, and The Real News Network on line.  They don't go to the CCPA or COC websites for the latest on new progressive Canadian actions and policy papers. Hell, the mainstream media don't even go to the these last.   And they certainly don't read this blog.

But without finding ways to have an open, urgent conversation with all Canadians, all is lost. The Regime and its destructive legacy cannot be undone.

There is, moreover, absolutely no hope for transformation from the left-centre parties, the NDP or GPC, since they too sit, consciously or unconsciously,  inside neoliberal ideology, seeking, alas, only reform, not real transformation. If either were to triumph, only self-deception and self-destruction would ensue. We need real substantial change, not tweaks to the existing neoliberal system.

PIPSC, Fat Cats, and Disturbing Dreams

I had the pleasure of attending the PIPSC Fat Cats game on Sunday - an exciting affair that the FCs won in the ninth with a sensational walk off steal at home plate by LaDale Hayes, who also made an extraordinary diving catch earlier in the game. Though American, he also represented the team in the before game ceremonies - which turned out to be fortuitous since he was clearly the player of the game. Still one wonders why one of the Canadian players was not a representative. Maybe Harper sent out a chill message or perhaps the Canadians thought they were being "neutral."

At any rate, I suspect the FCs gained a few more fans from the friends and family of those in attendance, which was substantial. And who knew Gary Corbett was such a rocker?

The mood at the PIPSC-Fat Cats game was festive, but beneath it was a depressive mumbling. This is my reading of that underlying mood, what I personally extrapolated from chit chats with several people, who may or may not have been members of PIPSC - I never asked. And so my comments in no way reflect PIPSC’s or any one member of PIPSC's position on these issues.

1) Managers have not suffered. Indeed, many have received or will receive bonuses for finding “efficiencies” - an extraordinarily perverse neoliberal incentive practice driven by greed.

2)Tony Clement in fact dreams of "efficiencies" at night when he's not counting gazebos - or electric sheep.

3) The PS has been increasingly politicized to the point where it is almost no longer even a nominal neutral non-partisan space but a mere extension of the ruling Regime, though the PS out of necessity has always had to bend to some degree to the party in power - never to this extent.

4) Harper has governed as a “dictator” in spirit if not in fact; and such an authoritarian rule has profoundly undermined the services and programs run by the PS, parliamentary democracy, and fundamental democracy. The current gutting of the PS coupled with the effects of the omnibus bill will only exacerbate this excruciating situation.

5) The Regime is looking for new young hires - at a reduced wage scale of course - the main requirement being a willingness to be moulded by the Regime’s ideology and thus a contributor to the neoliberal agenda.

6) Several PSs are resigning before getting axed simply because they can no longer tolerate working under the oppressive yoke of the Regime.

7) Unless progressive forces across Canada find a way to fuse their political strengths Canada will be lost. By the time the next election rolls around it will be too late since so many policies and laws will be so firmly established they may be impossible to remove - a scenario I’ve argued myself many times. Progressives have to step outside their respective bubbles and reach out to each other and, most of all, to the mainstream, as vague and challenging as that might be. They must abandon their comfortable, secure cocoons and enter the messy space of public discourse somehow.

Over 120 Lawyers Ask for Proposed Environmental Changes to be Removed from Bill C-38

You would think that such a significant resistance from the law community might have an effect on the Regime's thinking, but don't count on it. The goal is the full implementation of a neoliberal agenda in the belief that it will be next to impossible to reverse - even were there to be a regime change - because so firmly entrenched.

14 economic advisors Flaherty consults on policy and budgets are all from the financial sector: Fiscal contraction doesn't work

The 14 economic advisors Flaherty consults on policy and budgets are all from the financial sector, mostly banksters.

Here's what James K. Galbraith says about the implicit danger of such a stacked deck:

 "....economic policy should not be under the control of bankers, and any economic team which is dominated by the financial sector is going to be largely serving that sector's interest. Now, that, I think, is a very clear fact and something which everybody should be prepared to resist and to object to when it occurs and to protest until it changes. Until that happens, very little else will happen."  http://goo.gl/sMidp

 Let me reiterate by way of paraphrase that last bit:  we should be resisting, objecting to - whenever and wherever we can -  the Harper Regime's deep privileging of the financial sector through its overt neoliberal agenda. There's nothing remotely subtle going on here. As I've noted many times, it's such a classic neoliberal agenda it ought to be taught in university political economy classes. If we can't shift that ideological policy ground, none of the social and poltical transformations we seek has a chance. This should be our primary concern in our efforts to bring about system change. Everything else is a symptom.

And here's what even Larry Summers, Harvard professor, late of the White House advisory staff, has to say about misguided austerity such as that implemented by the Harper Regime:

"Fiscal contraction reduces incomes, limiting the capacity to repay debts. It achieves only limited reductions in deficits once the adverse effects of economic contraction on tax revenue and benefit payments are accounted for. And it casts a shadow over future growth prospects by reducing capital investment and raising unemployment, which inevitably takes a toll on the capacity and willingness of the unemployed to work."   http://goo.gl/GyZri

This is what protests around the world yesterday were really about.

J.K. Galbraith: Inequality and Instability

An analysis of the economic and political context prior to the initiation of the should-have-been-expected recession in 2008, in which the global community continues to find itself and will continue to do so for quite some time. A no growth, relative residual* global economy is the best we can expect until a full infrastructural move to sustainable local economies will be thrust upon us by the exigencies of our decreasing energy sources. No government and very few economists seem to have fully recognized the reality of a no growth overall global economy.

*By relative residual, I mean an unstable pattern of up one month, down the next, up in one region, down in another but with an overall effect of static growth. 

My Take-Away from the System Change Initiative

There are of course many different but complementary take-aways  from the Council of Canadians System Change Initiative:  systemchange.ca. 


This is a summary of what seems salient if not crucial to me:

Global Warming is caused by unsustainable economic production in the material world, a process that has been driven by an abundance of energy, the main component of which is oil, which has, unbeknownst to many, already peaked.  As a result, we will have to - whether we want to or not - move to sustainable local economies eventually in order simply to survive.

Neoliberalism (and liberalism before it) is the ideological (social and political)  economic ground of this phenomenon, which assumes that aggregate economic growth is the order of things and can go on forever without repercussions in the natural or social world in which we dwell. 

Global Warming in turn generates climate change, and these together are gradually destroying the planet and, with increasingly less subtlety - because of the necessity for environmental reparations and social adaptation - our socio-economic lives. 

And so our political efforts should focus on the “system" that is the root cause of this unsustainable, destructive set of conditions - on assaulting the particular policies of neoliberalism that facilitate the enabling of this pernicious way of thinking and acting into which the entire western world and much of the developing world as well have inscribed themselves. Neoliberalism's destructive effects extend way beyond the discipline  of economics as such.  

This is the political space in which we need to develop strategies to shift public discourse on our current economic-political-social system, for in 2012 this is the only place where change might actually happen.  As a co-operative endeavour, the occupy movement is a promising beginning, for it has already opened up a gap in public discourse for progressive voices to be heard in the mainstream. The forthcoming Occupy Handbook, which mixes progressive and mainstream voices together, is a testimony to that extraordinary effect - at least in the U.S. Would that we had that sort of revelatory opening up here in Canada.