As noted before on this blog, federal and provincial corporate tax cuts will redirect revenue from Canadian governments to the U.S. treasury. Today, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a short paper (PDF) I wrote on the treasury transfer effect. My executive summary follows: The U.S. government taxes American corporations on a worldwide basis. Profits repatriated from other countries are subject to […]
Read moreIt remains unclear whether or when Canada-US negotiations on “Buy American†policies might produce a deal. While such a bilateral agreement could serve both countries well, Canadians should resist pressure to have our provincial and municipal governments sign onto the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Government Procurement. A Canadian exemption from Buy American requirements makes sense given the integration of […]
Read moreI got speak on a panel for the BC Cooperative Association this week after a screening of Michael Moore’s new film, Capitalism: A Love Story. I thought it was quite well done, and better than I expected. Less of the MM kitsch and a fairly broad sweep over the history and current foibles of American capitalism. While this approach means […]
Read moreWhile some prices rose slightly and others fell slightly between July, August and September, the total Consumer Price Index has remained exactly the same through these months. The annual inflation rate declined by 0.9% in September, tying July for the largest rate decline since 1953. All provinces but Saskatchewan now have negative inflation. While the main story continues to be […]
Read moreFrom the on line issue of the Financial Times, Sunday. A Second Great Depression Is Still Possible Copyright Thomas I. Palley Over the past year the global economy has experienced a massive contraction, the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But this spring, economists started talking of “green shoots†of recovery and that optimistic assessment quickly spread to […]
Read moreI recently questioned whether Tim Hortons’ reorganization as a Canadian corporation would bring any additional jobs or tax revenue to Canada. Aaron Wherry since did something that journalists covering the Prime Minister’s photo-op on this issue should have done: he asked the company directly. Its response is now available on the Macleans blog. Of course, Tim Hortons hopes to expand […]
Read moreYesterday, the Prime Minister’s office put out a press release trumpeting Tim Hortons’ reorganization as a Canadian company as validation of deep federal corporate tax cuts. There was no real news: shareholders predictably ratified a decision that had been extensively reported back in June, when Tim Hortons management described it as “a pretty bland corporate announcement.” Nevertheless, far too many journalists […]
Read moreLast night, I saw the North American premiere of Michael Moore’s latest movie at the Toronto International Film Festival. Ironically, it was held in the Visa Screening Room, which grants preferential access to bearers of Visa Gold, Platinum or Infinite credit cards. (The unwashed masses who use MasterCard, AMEX or lower grades of Visa waited in a separate line.) While […]
Read moreThere are some really wonderful new young economists out of Canada. I just had to let folks know of a fabulous study “Coups, Corporations and Classified Informationâ€(find it via this list) done by one of them: Suresh Naidu (one of our own) and his colleagues Arindrajit Dube and Ethan Kaplan. (In the interest of full disclosure, Suresh is a buddy […]
Read moreMy friend and former union (AFL-CIO) economist colleague Tom Palley has produced a characteristically lucid piece on the macro economic roots of the US and global crisis for the New America Foundation. He interprets our predicament as a crisis of the neo liberal growth model and not as a failure of financial regulation or, for that matter, conventional macro economic […]
Read moreTo my surprise, the Harper Conservatives seem to again be breaking new ground in enforcing the Investment Canada Act. This afternoon, the Industry Minister announced that he is taking US Steel to court for violating its commitments. Back in May, my union argued that the federal government must be prepared to take US Steel to court. Terence Corcoran mocked this […]
Read moreErin Weir had a highly useful post on this subject a few days ago. Now here’s a chance to take some action: The Centre for Research on Work and Society at York is circulating the Open Statement below regarding the U.S. debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, and certain arguments that have been made in that debate regarding Canadian […]
Read moreThree months ago, Anne Layne-Farrar intervened in the US debate about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) with a widely-reported paper and Senate testimony. She used Canadian data to argue that the proposed legislation would eliminate 600,000 American jobs. As many critics have noted, Layne-Farrar works for a corporate consultancy and business funded this piece of research. Readers can take […]
Read moreThe second half of 2009 is shaping up to be one of the most important periods for international policy development. Ever. The fragile state of the economy, which continues to throw up worsening data with each passing period despite more optimistic talk in the media, will continue to be top of mind. But the collective response to that other deep, […]
Read moreCanadian newspapers have recently been flooded with negative stories about Buy America, largely focussed on a single scandalous incident at a Marine base in California. The potential damage to Canada’s economy has been vastly overstated. To the extent that Buy America shifts US government contracts from offshore suppliers to American manufacturers that use Canadian components, Canada actually benefits. Overall, Obama’s massive […]
Read moreCanadian governments should revisit planned corporate tax cuts in light of President Obama’s proposals to more fully tax American firms operating outside the US. The basic argument for lower corporate tax rates is that they will attract multinational firms to locate operations here as opposed to other jurisdictions. This argument assumes that profits are taxed only where they are generated. But […]
Read morePreliminary reports on this morning’s Labour Force Survey emphasize that the unemployment rate reached its highest level since 2003. However, the situation is far worse in absolute terms. The number of officially unemployed Canadians rose by 106,000 in February, pushing the total over 1.4 million. In other words, the ranks of Canada’s unemployed swelled to their highest level since February […]
Read moreI cannot say that I have ever wanted to quote Thomas Friedman. He has been such a booster for globalization, full of breathless praise for capitalism. I confess, I have never read any of his books for precisely those reasons. Someone gave me The World is Flat once and I could not stomach it, although I did love Ed Leamer’s […]
Read moreJeffrey Simpson has a good assessment in today’s Globe: Mr. Obama’s budget – hugely consequential for the United States and of importance to Canada, too – represents a U-turn from the disastrous policies of the Bush administration and of the Republican political revolution that began decades ago. Imagine a U.S. budget that simultaneously offends rich farmers, everyone making $250,000 a […]
Read moreObama’s speech to Congress laid out an excellent agenda: substantial investments in renewable electricity, healthcare reform without delay, increased education spending, enforced limits on carbon emissions and the end of Bush tax cuts for Americans making more than $250,000. However, there was one bug, which I fear the President may have caught on his recent visit to Canada: “creating tax-free universal […]
Read moreWhile the GM and Chrysler bailouts have prompted discussion of governments taking equity stakes in those companies, Business Week reports that Ford’s effort to restructure without government loans may make the United Auto Workers its largest shareholder. Henry Ford famously said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.†It seems unlikely that worker ownership is […]
Read moreJim’s posting of his excellent Globe column prompts me to review Canadian labour op-eds, and responses to them, on the “Buy America” controversy. The CAW’s Ken Lewenza was first out of the gate, writing in The Financial Post (Feb. 3) that Canada should mirror Buy America with its own “Buy Canadian” policy. My National Post op-ed (Feb. 5) argued that such […]
Read moreAs has been widely reported, Ron Bloom from my union’s Pittsburgh headquarters will serve on President Obama’s Task Force on Autos. One might ask why a Steelworker is involved in crafting the automotive bailout. There are at least three reasons. First, during his previous career as a financier, Bloom developed significant personal expertise on the auto industry. Second, while working […]
Read moreThis afternoon’s news that the American stimulus bill passed without a single Republican vote in the US House of Representatives seems to validate Paul Krugman’s skepticism of bipartisanship. The Democratic effort to compromise with Republicans limited the amount of stimulus spending (as opposed to questionable tax cuts) in the package. If this constrained package proves insufficient, the Republicans will be able […]
Read moreInternational Trade Minister Stockwell Day is claiming credit for an amendment to the US stimulus bill affirming that its Buy America provisions will be “applied in a manner consistent with US obligations under international agreements.” Canada tops the list of countries to which the US has such obligations. However, Day and his colleagues demanded the complete removal of Buy America […]
Read moreAlarmist media reports on “Buy America” rules for steel used in US public infrastructure projects have emphasized the value of Canadian steel exports allegedly threatened, but have largely ignored the similar value of American steel imported by Canada. In fact, in the most recent month for which data is available (November 2008), Canada bought more steel from the US than […]
Read moreEzra Klein at American Prospect has already commented on some footage that I just saw on CNN. Paul Krugman marshalled his critique of Obama’s stimulus plan from his blog onto the op-ed page of today’s New York Times. A front-page story in the same newspaper suggests that Democratic legislators have been reading Krugman. Obama responded by throwing down the gauntlet for […]
Read moreObama’s selection of pro-NAFTA politicians as his Chief of Staff, Commerce Secretary, and US Trade Representative worried those of us who hope that he is serious about renegotiating NAFTA. This afternoon’s news that Bill Richardson has withdrawn reopens the possibility of appointing a NAFTA critic to the Commerce portfolio. Anyway, hope springs eternal.
Read moreI always enjoy Gwynne Dyer’s commentary on world affairs, but do not read nearly enough of it. Very few Canadian newspapers print columns by this Canadian-born journalist. Exceptions include Dyer’s hometown newspaper, the St. John’s Telegram, as well as The Hamilton Spectator and Guelph Mercury. Dyer’s lengthy year-end column combines a review of events in most corners of the world with […]
Read moreWilliam Robson, President of the C. D. Howe Institute, mounted a rear-guard defence of the conventional wisdom against Keynesian fiscal policy in yesterday’s Globe and Mail. He argues that we should leave the economy to central bankers and monetary policy instead of calling on governments to use fiscal policy. There are at least four problems with his op-ed: 1.) Far […]
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