The biggest problem the world faces should go without saying: climate change. Human behaviour is changing the climate to the extent that it will be harder for people to inhabit certain parts of the world, and that will cause all sorts of other problems. But that problem is long-term, no matter how immediate it seems …
Tag: Taxes
UBI Now
COVID-19 is causing all sorts of economic problems. Rather, reactions to COVID-19 are causing all sorts of problems. Behaviour that is good for reducing the spread of this virus is bad for the economy. Nobody is quite sure what to do or how to moderate the inevitable recession. Our government has a plan, this plan …
Status Rewards for Paying Taxes
As I have written elsewhere, I feel like tax avoidance/evasion is the second biggest problem humanity faces right now. The rich move most of their money out of the societies they earned that money in, and it sits in off-shore bank accounts, benefiting the account holder far more than it benefits the society where it …
Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite (2017) by Jake Bernstein
I think tax avoidance/evasion is the second most important issue of our time. So I wanted to be able to recommend this book highly. Alas, I can’t unequivocally recommend it, though I would say it’s worth reading if you are unaware, as I am, of a better book on the subject. (I’m sure it’s out …
We Need to End Inheritance
Life is unfair. However, life is more unfair for more of us than a small group of people who have less unfair lives. And there’s no good reason why it’s more unfair for some of us than others. Because none of us actually deserve to be here.
The Panama Papers (2018, Alex Winter)
This is a rather workmanlike documentary about the infamous “Panama Papers” which exposed a Panamanian bank’s tax evasion services for the super rich and for politicians. I watched it on a plane three weeks ago so I am not 100% sure of my comments.
A Fine Mess: The Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer and More Efficient Tax System (2017, T.R. Reid)
The Fiscal Cliff: Another triumph of rhetoric over policy
I am not economist and perhaps that’s why I have trouble understanding the panic and the political stubbornness around the non-crisis of the so-called “fiscal cliff. (On the other hand, it is perhaps because of the fact that I am a not an economist that I have perspective, something that seems to be sadly lacking in most …
The Conservative Majority: One Year Later (2011-12)
CBC had a very helpful little piece about what the Conservatives have and haven’t done in their first year. Here are my thoughts: What they have done so far:
Bar Stool Economics
I can’t pretend to have been following the wrangling between the NDP and the Liberals over the budget and the prospects of an upcoming election. I guess I just have better things to do. (If we accept that systemic reform at the federal level is the political issue in Canada then a squabble over tax …