Author Topic: Economics Culture  (Read 9525 times)

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Offline Dia

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #166 on: August 15, 2020, 11:28:23 am »
Post-Work society: Fully automated luxury communism

I think people overall could benefit from shorter working hours.  I had a stint where my day was shortened by two hours per day, but my productivity did not change.  I felt much more focused while at work, and not increasingly tired as the week progressed. 

I agree that people need a reason to get up and busier people tend to be happier, but the "busy" doesn't have to be long hours at a job thst you tolerate or actively hate - especially when these jobs leave you too tired/stressed to really enjoy your off-time.

I think we can find a better balance between what's happening now for most people and "automated luxury communism".  I think we need to understand that an economic model built around unending "growth" has to fail at some point  In my opinion, a more realistic long term model would be to have an economic system where the goal is "comfortable" and not insanely wealthy.  Products would not be designed with replacement after two to four years, and the "newer better" would really be
better by a significant amount  not just a cosmetic change or a tiny upgrade. 

Offline waldo

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #167 on: August 22, 2020, 11:43:12 am »
per UBC Econ Prof Kevin Milligan: Don’t Worry About the Federal Deficit --- Politicians often argue that government debt will cause hardship for future generations. They’re wrong



Quote
But won’t taxes have to rise? At the risk of belabouring the analogy: if our children are saddled with the mortgage we take out now, won’t they need to raise funds to pay it down? No. When debt growth is modest and interest rates are low, the economy grows faster than the cost of servicing debt. This (though politicians would have you believe otherwise) is Economics 101: what matters is not the absolute size of the debt but its size relative to the country’s economy overall. As with the financing of your home, there isn’t such a thing as a “big” or “small” mortgage per se—it entirely depends on your income. Economists use the debt-to-GDP ratio, which measures a country’s debt burden relative to its national income, to assess this for Canada’s economy. When we think of the fiscal—or moral—consequences of our debt policy on the next generation, the debt-to-GDP ratio is the right guidepost. And a responsible fiscal policy ensures that the debt-to-GDP ratio does not grow, not that we have no debt, or run no deficits, at all.
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Over the five years from 2009 to 2014, Canada added $158 billion to the federal debt—which sounds like a lot, but our economy’s size was closing in on $2 trillion at the time, so the crucial debt-to-GDP ratio didn’t move much. We did add $71 billion of debt over the last four years—but the debt-to-GDP ratio actually fell by 1 percent over that period, since the economy grew more quickly than the debt did. Debts rise and fall, but there is no inexorable march to crisis that is unleashed by allowing some degree of discretion on deficit spending or the debt that ensues. We should just accept that the debt battle has been won and move on.


Offline kimmy

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #168 on: August 25, 2020, 12:17:48 pm »
Chrystia Freeland talks income inequality, wealth distribution, economic mobility, stagnant incomes for the 99%, and more in this TED Talk from 2013:

https://www.ted.com/talks/chrystia_freeland_the_rise_of_the_new_global_super_rich?language=en

This is the kind of thing that I was hoping for from the Liberals when they took office in 2015.


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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #169 on: August 25, 2020, 12:34:56 pm »
Chrystia Freeland talks income inequality, wealth distribution, economic mobility, stagnant incomes for the 99%, and more in this TED Talk from 2013:

https://www.ted.com/talks/chrystia_freeland_the_rise_of_the_new_global_super_rich?language=en

This is the kind of thing that I was hoping for from the Liberals when they took office in 2015.


 -k

OMG... it's LEFTY KIMMY !!! Welcome back
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Offline kimmy

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #170 on: August 26, 2020, 07:42:06 pm »
OMG... it's LEFTY KIMMY !!! Welcome back

Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years!


Here's an article about what may be in store as Freeland takes over Finance.  The theme of the piece is that Trudeau is interested in addressing rapidly rising income inequality, and Morneau apparently wasn't. But it's something that Freeland has been interested in for a long time, as her 2012 book and 2013 Ted Talk demonstrate. With the covid shitstorm, this might be a golden opportunity to change our economy.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-26/trudeau-plots-sharpest-turn-left-in-economic-policy-since-1980s

 -k
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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #171 on: August 27, 2020, 08:05:43 am »
Quote
Freeland, while not ultra-wealthy, has been part of that same globe-trotting elite since her career as an editor at the Reuters news service and the Financial Times. Her book’s acknowledgments include Eric Schmidt, George Soros, Jeff Immelt, and David Rubenstein on a list of people who “helped me to understand their world and some have become friends.”
  :D

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #172 on: September 14, 2020, 04:09:52 pm »


Richard Wolff on MMT

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #173 on: September 15, 2020, 12:58:38 pm »


Ok.

I think I have this a little clearer:

Instead of borrowing the money, we print it and save the interest rate.  The danger is that governments will go even more deficit mad than they are today.  ( Looking at YOU Trump )

Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #174 on: September 15, 2020, 01:51:55 pm »
Chrystia Freeland talks income inequality, wealth distribution, economic mobility, stagnant incomes for the 99%, and more in this TED Talk from 2013:

https://www.ted.com/talks/chrystia_freeland_the_rise_of_the_new_global_super_rich?language=en

This is the kind of thing that I was hoping for from the Liberals when they took office in 2015.

Agreed.   Where are the structural changes?  Why do house rices keep booming but incomes aren't?  How is this being paid for??  Why are banks and the finance industry still allowed to rip people off and not act in their best interests while taking hush-hush commissions from mutual funds they recommend to clients etc.  We've mostly been getting deficit spending, that's not much of a solution, it's just kicking the can down the road.

I think the CPC and Liberals have the banks, housing developers, and corporations in general in their pockets.  Same at the provincial level, and municipal.
"Nipples is one of the great minds of our time!" - Bubbermiley

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #175 on: September 15, 2020, 01:55:52 pm »
1. Where are the structural changes?  Why do house rices keep booming but incomes aren't?  How is this being paid for?? 
2. Why are banks and the finance industry still allowed to rip people off and not act in their best interests while taking hush-hush commissions from mutual funds they recommend to clients etc. 
 

1. Money laundering and government promoting speculation.
2. The middle class benefits tangentially due to rising house prices.

Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #176 on: September 15, 2020, 07:43:16 pm »
1. Money laundering and government promoting speculation.
2. The middle class benefits tangentially due to rising house prices.

2. If you sell your home for a profit, you still have to buy another ridiculously expensive house to live in.  Unless you move from a big city to the middle of nowhere, there's no benefit.
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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #177 on: September 15, 2020, 07:55:29 pm »
2. If you sell your home for a profit, you still have to buy another ridiculously expensive house to live in.  Unless you move from a big city to the middle of nowhere, there's no benefit.

That's called retirement.  There are also other benefits to having an expensive house, like renting out the basement for $1500/month and remortgaging and using the money to buy RRSPs.
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Offline waldo

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #178 on: September 19, 2020, 01:32:44 pm »


Offline kimmy

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Re: Economics Culture
« Reply #179 on: March 17, 2021, 12:38:51 am »
Has the pandemic done more to exacerbate wealth inequality than any other event in our lifetimes? 

If so, what can be done to change that?

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City