Leftnews.org » Economics/Trade

Migrant workers killed in crash were ‘breadwinners’ | CBC

Faiz — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:34:50 +0000

“Thousands of migrant workers come to Canada from the Caribbean and [Latin] America each year to perform seasonal labour, mainly in Ontario and British Columbia’s agriculture sector. Most have come under the federal government’s Season Agriculture Worker Program, and rarely have much contact with the communities where they spend as much as seven or eight months as labourers, often to earn money to send back home”

The families of the deceased labourers have no rights to pursue financial compensation for their loss.

“According to the Toronto Star, Health Minister Deb Matthews, while describing the crash was “a horrific tragedy”, said she was unsure whether the survivors’ health costs are covered. She promised to look into the issue.”

The war on salaries: Enough is enough

Jeff — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:55:06 +0000

US radicals came up a century ago with sound proposals for a maximum income, enforced through progressive taxation, to ensure that the rich couldn’t so easily buy political influence, as well as to adjust inequality | by Sam Pizzigati | Le Monde diplomatique

If the state can expropriate wealth, why not rather expropriate the means of wealth production and place them under public ownership with workers’ control? The distribution of wealth is ultimately the result of the distribution of the ownership of social production. The wealthy are rich due to their ownership of capital; therefore abolish private property in the commanding heights of the economy.

Nicaraguan Voters Deepen 21st Century Socialism on all Fronts

Jeff — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:42:42 +0000

By John Riddell interviews Felipe Stuart Cournoyer | Axis of Logic

Salaried bourgeois on “revolt of the salaried bourgeoisie”

Jeff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:27:05 +0000

A reply from Lenin’s Tomb to Slavoj Žižek’s recent article.

Selling austerity from Davos

Jeff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:15:36 +0000

By Duncan Cameron | Rabble.ca | When Harper was in Davos, Switzerland, last week to address the World Economic Forum, he did not talk about the subject of the conference. Instead he presented his austerity plan for Canada.

Reading Marx’s Capital Vol II – Class 1, Introduction

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:11:18 +0000

with David Harvey

Venezuela Announces “Irrevocable” Withdrawal from World Bank’s Arbitration Body

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:07:41 +0000

By Ewan Robertson – Venezuelanalysis.com

Proposed pension changes called ‘attack on seniors’ – Nfld. & Labrador – CBC News

Graham — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:02:11 +0000

–It is also an attack on the next generation of workers.

The world’s biggest ever strike, India, 28th February 2012

Jeff — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:53:35 +0000

On February 28th 2012 over 100,000,000 Indian workers will come out on strike. Workers from many unions and sectors are trying to gain improvements in areas such as, pay, pensions, and employment rights.

Neoliberalism and the End Of Shorter Work Hours

Jeff — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:39:07 +0000

Christoph Hermann | Socialist Project | While in previous crises shorter work hours were discussed as a measure to combat growing unemployment, an astonishing feature of the current economic downturn from 2007 on was that work time reductions were nowhere on the political agenda.

For Greece default is the only option

Jeff — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:38:34 +0000

The dreadful debt saga will only come to a close when Greece takes charge of its predicament | Costas Lapavitsas | guardian.co.uk

Wall Street, Small Business, and the Limits of Corporate Personhood

Jeff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:50:54 +0000

An Interview with Doug Henwood | by Sasha Lilley | MR Zine

The Revolt of the Salaried Bourgeoisie

Jeff — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:48:44 +0000

Slavoj Žižek | London Review of Books |”The possibility of the privatisation of the general intellect was something Marx never envisaged in his writings about capitalism (largely because he overlooked its social dimension). Yet this is at the core of today’s struggles over intellectual property: as the role of the general intellect – based on collective knowledge and social co-operation – has increased in post-industrial capitalism, so wealth accumulates out of all proportion to the labour expended in its production. The result is not, as Marx seems to have expected, the self-dissolution of capitalism, but the gradual transformation of the profit generated by the exploitation of labour into rent appropriated through the privatisation of knowledge.”

Canadian Labour At The Crossroads?

Jeff — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:28:24 +0000

Doug Nesbitt | Socialist Project

Real Estate Saves Capitalism Then Bursts – China Next?

Jeff — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:56:59 +0000

David Harvey: Chinese urbanization, construction and real estate speculation is saving global capitalism – will it burst as in the US? | The Real News

India Joins Scramble for African Farmlands

Jeff — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:19:22 +0000

By Devinder Kumar | Znet

Cut the working week to a maximum of 20 hours, urge top economists

Jeff — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:17:36 +0000

Job sharing and increased leisure are the answer to rising unemployment, claims thinktank | The Guardian

Contradictions of Finance Capitalism

Jeff — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:12:48 +0000

Richard Peet | Monthly Review | “Over the last thirty years, capital has abstracted upwards, from production to finance; its sphere of operations has expanded outwards, to every nook and cranny of the globe; the speed of its movement has increased, to milliseconds; and its control has extended to include “everything.” We now live in the era of global finance capitalism.”

Canadian Banks Hold More Risk Than Reward | Morningstar

Faiz — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:10:04 +0000

“For some of the Canadian banks, loan growth has averaged nearly 10% over the past five years. We think the slower macroeconomic environment along with historically high consumer debt levels will slow loan growth. … we have watched the Canadian banks make various acquisitions in order to increase revenue, especially in their fee-based businesses. With all of this acquisition activity, particularly in asset management, we think there is an increased risk that banks will destroy shareholder value by overpaying for assets.”

Copyright and the Academy — Citizens’ Press

Graham — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:42:03 +0000

–A rather long article on copyright and the academy and how we need to keep fighting for fair implementations of copyright and the “copyleft” alternatives to allow sharing of data and analysis in an increasingly commercialised academy and monopoly publishing world.
Oh, and I wrote it.