Linda McQuaig

Getting a grip on greed

mgregus — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:27:37 +0000

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Don't get me wrong: I'm not against tarring and feathering those AIG guys who helped destroy the world economy with their financial manoeuvres, and then received million-dollar bonuses to undo their own handiwork.

But focusing just on them is like just going after the crude thugs who unleashed dogs on Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, without noticing that their actions were the product of a climate of lawlessness and vengeance fostered by the White House.

Similarly, for several decades now, the financial and corporate elite has championed an unbridled capitalism, and pressed for the removal of crucial regulations needed to protect the public. It has also championed an ethos of greed that justified extraordinary compensation, and very low tax burdens, for those at the top.

The impulse to resist unbridled capitalism -- with its resulting extreme inequality and economic domination by the rich -- is basic and has persisted throughout the centuries.

Those poor, persecuted rich people

mgregus — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:04:17 +0000

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

"This is a vision of a nation in which we're all in it together -- in which burdens are shared broadly, rather than simply inflicted upon a small minority."

More visionary socialist stuff from Barack Obama? Well, not quite.

In fact, the line is from conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks. And, in case it isn't obvious, the "small minority" whose burden he is urging everyone to share is: the rich.

Yes, we should all stop focusing so much on ourselves, and think more about the plight of billionaires.

Obama's decision to tax the well-to-do is no doubt creating nervousness among Canada's financial elite.

President needs to stiffen spine

mgregus — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:14:44 +0000

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The beaming face of Barack Obama -- whether surveying adoring fans on Parliament Hill or bestowing on Ottawa shopgirls an experience they can dine out on for the rest of their lives -- was oddly reminiscent of Hugh Hefner's line about feeling like a kid in the world's biggest candy store.

Ottawa may seem more like Canadian Tire than a candy store, but one could well imagine Obama thinking: And they pay me for doing this?

The real question is whether Obama can deliver. He can't satisfy the masses who love him and also satisfy the people responsible for the disastrous agenda of the last 25 years.

How much is a bank CEO worth?

mgregus — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:24:24 +0000

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

It's probably a while still before we see bank CEOs on street corners selling the homeless news.

But reports last week of bank presidents cutting their own pay were somewhat eye-catching. (For a little perspective: Rick Waugh of Bank of Nova Scotia will take home $7.5 million this year -- after his cut.)

Still, the pay cuts suggest that even inside the most well-fortified Bay Street towers there are jitters that the people down below may start questioning how the economic pie is divided and why they are getting such a small -- and shrinking -- slice.

Revelations of Wall Street hijinks have raised questions about the skewed nature of financial rewards.

Financial elite have no shame

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:51:53 +0000

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Let's imagine, for a moment, how different the public debate would be today if it had been unions that had caused the current economic turmoil.

In other words, try to imagine a scenario in which union leaders -- not financial managers -- were the ones whose reckless behaviour had driven a number of Wall Street firms into bankruptcy and in the process triggered a worldwide recession.

Needless to say, it's hard to imagine a labour leader being appointed to oversee a bailout of unions the way former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson was put in charge of supervising the $700 billion bailout of his former Wall Street colleagues.

It is odd that the financial community has emerged so unscathed, despite its central role in the collapse that has brought havoc to the world economy.

Canada has role to play in Mideast

mgregus — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:23:07 +0000

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Speaking on CBC Radio's Sunday Edition on the weekend, an Israeli commentator described the situation Israel faces as "agonizing."

This seems apt, given the horrific recent developments in Gaza. But Yossi Klein Halevi wasn't referring to the results of Israel's military assault - including Red Cross reports of Palestinian children found starving next to the corpses of their mothers. Rather, he was referring to the harsh criticism Israel is receiving from around the world.

For Halevi, the issue boils down to terrorism. With Hamas rockets falling on Israel, what alternative does Israel have but to strike back?

Since the Israelis show no willingness to stop the land takeover, countries like Canada have a vital role to play.

Facilitating a turkey shoot

mgregus — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:25:22 +0000

Monday, January 12, 2009

On Israel's 60th anniversary last April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Canada's "unshakable" support for Israel.

At the time, this struck me as odd. It would be understandable for a prime minister to offer Canada's "unshakable" support for principles - democracy, the rule of law, human rights, etc. But for a country? A country is led by a government, and a government is always fallible. Why would Canada promise its unqualified support for any country?

Such unqualified support is particularly problematic when the country is locked in a bitter struggle with millions of people whose land it has held under military occupation for more than forty years.

On Israel's 60th anniversary last April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised Canada's "unshakable" support for Israel.

Guns, butter and petroleum

mgregus — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:28:26 +0000

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I recall a little tale told by a U.S. general to illustrate the importance of oil.

Speaking to a military gathering at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto in January 2006, Lt.-Gen. Thomas Metz described how a man operating a chainsaw with a mere pint of gasoline could cut a great deal of wood in very little time.

By comparison, that same man could eat a large breakfast the next morning and head out to cut wood - using only a hand saw. The general noted that the man could spend the whole day cutting wood with the hand saw and end up with nothing but a tiny fraction of his previous day's efforts with the chainsaw.

The general's message was clear: Oil is what powers the modern world.

Ensuring America's access to oil is not only a vital goal, but one backed up by the full force of the U.S. military.

Good looks, noble lineage, spineless

alex — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:43:51 +0000

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

As a child, Michael Ignatieff probably wouldn't have sounded unreasonable saying he wanted to be prime minister when he grew up.

The newly crowned Liberal leader has always had some impressive trappings: good looks, noble lineage, verbal dexterity, an air of gravitas and an impressive CV of teaching human rights at Harvard.

His self-imposed, decades-long exile from his native land might pose a problem in some countries. But here, where our elite instills in us a sense of inferiority to great powers like the U.S. and Britain, Ignatieff has been forgiven for finding Canada a little confining.

Still, there are some problems.

As a child, Michael Ignatieff probably wouldn't have sounded unreasonable saying he wanted to be prime minister when he grew up.

Majority is heard at last

alex — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:28:47 +0000

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

When Barack Obama was elected president on that electrifying night early last month, it became clear - if it wasn't already - why Stephen Harper had rushed Canadians to the polls a few weeks earlier.

The last thing Harper would have wanted was to run for re-election after Americans had chosen a historic figure who promised to overturn the very Bush agenda to which Harper had so resolutely clung.

In particular, Harper was saddled with a history of lining up ever so close to Bush on two vital issues of growing importance - resistance to addressing climate change and an unwillingness to abandon discredited neo-conservative economic policies. Obama had talked eloquently during the campaign about overturning the Bush stance on both.

When Barack Obama was elected president on that electrifying night early last month, it became clear - if it wasn't already - why Stephen Harper had rushed Canadians to the polls a few weeks earlier.

Bush's willing accomplice

alex — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:46:21 +0000

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Isolated, repudiated by his people and even shunned by his own party, George W. Bush - the lamest of lame ducks - still seems able to count on the support of at least one world leader: Stephen Harper.

And so it was on the weekend, as it has so often been in the past two years, that our prime minister provided rare support for Bush as the soon-to-be former president battled against a chorus of world leaders urgently calling for a set of badly needed reforms.

Just as Harper backed Bush's effort to block global progress on climate change, this time he helped Bush stymie European-led efforts at the G20 summit in Washington to restore regulations to international financial markets.

Isolated, repudiated by his people and even shunned by his own party, George W. Bush still seems able to count on the support of at least one world leader: Stephen Harper.

'Common good' rediscovered

rabble archives — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:10:16 +0000

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The pivotal moment for me in the U.S. presidential campaign came during the Republican convention last August, when Rudolph Giuliani couldn't get the words "community organizer" out of his mouth without laughing.

After eight years of Republican rule — during which the rich happily trampled on the poor in their rush to the Wall Street trough — the notion that someone would organize the poor to assert their rights struck both Giuliani and his Republican audience as simply funny.

The pivotal moment for me in the U.S. presidential campaign came during the Republican convention last August, when Rudolph Giuliani couldn't get the words "community organizer" out of his mouth with

Bulking up Pentagon North

alex — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:12:10 +0000

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

With the prospect of a Harper majority hanging menacingly over the country, the mind inevitably turns to the question: Just what is the "secret agenda" lurking behind the friendly sweater?

Actually, I don't believe there is one. The truth is that Stephen Harper has already laid out an agenda that would fundamentally change this country - in ways most Canadians would oppose.

With the prospect of a Harper majority hanging menacingly over the country, the mind inevitably turns to the question: Just what is the "secret agenda" lurking behind the friendly sweater?

Tories push 'Alberta Agenda'

rabble archives — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:44:45 +0000

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Among the many ironies in this federal election is the notion of Stephen Harper as the man to turn to in an economic crisis.

Harper's economic tool box is limited, consisting of tax cuts and more tax cuts — a proven formula for funneling resources to the rich, but less reliable as a means of stimulating the economy.

The notion of Harper as economic fixer is particularly ironic in Ontario, where Harper has helped push the economy to the brink of — if not into the lap of — recession.

Harper has been a big supporter of the unbridled development of Alberta's oil sands, refusi

Among the many ironies in this federal election is the notion of Stephen Harper as the man to turn to in an economic crisis.

Real leaders are willing to take risks

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:40:54 +0000

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

We're told this federal election is going to turn on "leadership" — something Prime Minister Stephen Harper is said to be endowed with.

Apart from a deeper hole in the Afghan quagmire, I haven't been aware of any place Harper has "led" us to over the past two and a half years, so I found this concept of leadership puzzling.

We're told this federal election is going to turn on "leadership"  something Prime Minister Stephen Harper is said to be endowed