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For Your Information Seminar at the Parliament with Economist Dr. Joseph StiglitzThe direction the Liberals are taking in the approaching Throne Speech can be surmised from the event organized for parliamentarians on September 14. The advertisement for the meeting in the Hill Times used the same buzzwords as those which appear in the Biden campaign and the speeches of the experts which are advising the government on how to build a more resilient economy. "Rebuilding Better: Delivering a More Equitable and Resilient Canadian Economy -- Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel prize in economy, along with other internationally renowned economists will address Canadian Parliamentarians on the recovery. This first webinar of the 'Path towards relaunching the economy and protecting the health of Canadians series,' also featuring Dr. Cameron Hepburn of Oxford University and Dr. Peter Victor of York University, will include a Q&A session. It is a one-time only event that will not be recorded and for which spaces are limited. For parliamentary offices and key government officials only. Organized and moderated by ISG [Independent Senators Group] Senator Rosa Galvez (Quebec). Monday, Sept. 14, 1-2:45 p.m. ET. [...]" The main speaker promoted in this discussion Dr. Joseph Stiglitz is one of the main spokespersons internationally of the idea that the present neo-liberal system has given rise to a dangerous level of inequality which must be addressed in any program to relaunch the economy during the pandemic. While there is no report of his presentation and the event was not recorded, the message he was invited to present, with The Throne Speech in the offing, is well summed up in his latest book, People, Power and Profit; Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent, in which he asserts that to assess the wealth of a nation it is important to see the level of the advancement of science, the development of social science and the flourishing of public institutions which reflect the level of cooperation in the society. He makes the point that the level of individual wealth has no relation to the overall wealth of a nation because individual wealth can have various sources, such as theft, and different forms of exploitation that are taken advantage of by some individuals to accumulate personal wealth. He compares this method to the exploitation of "market power" by some of the largest corporations to dominate the market so that there is no real competition. He claims that in the U.S. these practices have given rise to growing levels of inequality and all the growth is for the people at the top. He blames this crisis situation on neo-liberalism or the "supply side economics" of the Thatcher-Reagan era which led to the stripping away of all regulations restricting the growth of monopolies. The so-called trickle-down theory has been a total failure so that in the past 40 years for the 90 per cent of the population at the bottom there has been absolutely no growth. He gives the example of China where he says that during the same period of 40 years, 750 million people have been lifted out of poverty.
It is likely that he spoke about the ineffectiveness of some of the programs of support the government has put in place during the pandemic which have mainly benefitted the richest corporations and led to further inequality in the society. What Stiglitz says is that government programs have been ineffective in injecting money into the economy. Governments need to assess what he calls "industries of the future," with special attention to green industries as well as educational institutions, and to reduce the burden on students. Essentially, what Stiglitz proposes is a more efficient way of paying the rich by getting money into the hands of people who must immediately circulate it and, at the same time, justifies this method of subsistence by saying that it is based on looking after everyone and ensuring equality in the system. This is essentially what Chrystia Freeland and her mentor Larry Summers have been promoting, which the Liberals espoused in their election campaigns in 2015 and 2019 as "looking after the middle class." It is a totally bankrupt and desperate attempt to disinform the polity into believing that the leopard can change its spots, and to divert attention from the new ways which are being invented to pay the rich.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
What he came to
tell the parliamentarians in Ottawa is that what is needed is
progressive capitalism. Phrasing it another way, he claims that what is
needed is to resuscitate social democracy. For the market this means a
new social contract between the state and civil society and the
establishment of public institutions like cooperatives, NGOs,
universities and other non-profit organizations that are needed for the
proper functioning of society, based on cooperation and not ruthless
exploitation. Others call this a matter of bringing together the best
and the brightest and creating an enlightened intelligentsia who can
decide what is good for society and "nudge" everyone to choose that.