Mock Democracy

Budget Implementation Bill To Be Studied By 9 Committees: via HuffPost http://huff.to/QGcI1W Big f.. .king deal. As if this sham process makes one damn bit of difference, but, hey, all those parliamentarians have to do something since real debate is impossible. Might as well have a make work project. It'll keep them busy and make them feel good. Lots of press coverage after meetings, etc. Good stuff, don't ya know. Pure mock parliamentarian democracy. Representational government under first past the post is failing us miserably.

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.

Bernake Would Seem to Get It. Does Flaherty?

http://goo.gl/CXd0Y Bernake would seem to get it: laying off government employees creates more unemployment. He also knows that any budget deficit should be constricted over a longer term, that cutting spending in the interests of deficit reduction too quickly will not help, and that the emphasis should be on fiscally stimulating the economy now to increase employment and thereby generate the economy and tax revenue in the process. Why doesn't Flaherty appear to get it with his steady as she goes stance instead of trying to get ahead of the curve?  He's calling for leadership in Europe. How about a little serious, smart leadership right here in Canada?  If commodities, which are the real engine of our economy,  go sideways and if the European crisis spills over to North America, as it is inevitably will, it may be more than a slowdown that will occur.  http://goo.gl/QcygU  Fiscal Austerity: Does it Work?: