I think the story today is not so much how the Western middle class has been screwed by globalism; but how Western elites not only lack empathy about this fact, but have joined in a project to frankly destroy the people that have been screwed.
I frankly believe that the “laptop zoom” class is what allowed this pandemic to entirely crush the middle class (saying this as someone who belongs in the laptop class but didn’t support lockdowns since may 2020). In 2009, before smartphones and widespread video calling/zoom, it would have been impossible for anyone to support lockdowns.
In Canada they're probably correct. Canada has no true left, it's a capitalist "left", in so much as The Laurentian Dynasty rule the country through their ties with the corporate rule. Corporations are the true rulers of Canada, and these are the people the "left" now defend.
If the "left" is capitalist, that leaves little wiggle room for the Conservatives, other than extreme traditionalist values which simply will never pass in Canada.
Basically, Canada needs a non capitalist party that prioritises workers' quality of life, rather than elites quality of life, and completely sets aside all identity politics, without falling prey to religious ethos and staying with long-term-evidence-based science, rather than knee-jerk-reactionary science.
This is a tall order, probably impossible. All I know is our parties as they stand are 100% corrupted.
In a previous conversation, I mentioned one small solution that might actually be quite useful. Parties these days allow basically anyone to vote in their internal decisions. The Green Party now even has 14 years old voting. WTF! how can our national priorities be set by such incompetence!
In fact, what is needed in a "party system" is that party members should have a 5 year membership before they're allowed to vote, and a prohibition of multi-party memberships. IMO, this is why the "parties" have become meaningless, because they've been penetrated by each opposition.
For example in the Conservative party, you only need to be a member for a month. So ANYONE can determine who is the Conservative leader, I think it's Liberal infiltration that got the Tool elected. American party elections is similar as far as I can tell. Pretty much anyone can vote for the leader of either party.
We think of parties as stable entities. They USED to be. But in past couple of decades, they try so hard to get extra members, that they take anyone.
It's like this in non-profit groups too. You can often join and vote within only a couple of days.
Democracy has been severely corrupted. It's why the American elections always end up 50:50, not just that, but it plays a huge role.
Oh, thanks, I understand what you’re saying and completely agree. I suspect that Singh was elected NDP leader because he was able to sign up new members faster than the other candidates. It didn’t appear to be a very robust way of selecting a leader!
Yes, the Sikh community is rather traditionalist. He got tons of people to sign on, but it was a superficial effort, those new members and donations seem to have been short-term.
In the Green Party, they now allow voting from age 14.
That should get us some pretty profound and brilliant policy! ;)
Tragically so! I feel extremely saddened by what I consider the demise of the NDP in this regard. My affiliation with this party was lifelong and has been shattered. I am flabbergasted that none of the NDP MPs stood up for the truckers’ right to protest or showed any recognition of their concerns, instead choosing to go along with the demonization. Who are these people?
I remember several years ago reading a short statement hidden away on the peripheral pages of a Canadian newspaper that income inequality in Canada was growing at a faster rate than in the US. It struck me as alarming at the time, but even more so by the lack of attention it garnered in the media to be considered such a minor item of importance. Well, the chickens have come home to roost!
Sorry but I have a very hard time following his logic. Very helter-skelter connection in my opinion trying to tie observations to causality. Populism is a very complicated physiological and sociological phenomenon. If you listened to what the majority of voices from the movement repeated, it wasn't about financial inequality or that the super rich got richer. They didn't complain about politics or even wokism.
If I may cast my own causality - the movement consistently expressed health policy displeasure. After two years of mandates and fear porn blasted at them, people are exhausted and said enough is enough. Listening and watching the organic swelling of people who just wanted to laugh and sing and dance and hug! What I saw seemed very reminiscent of the release seen at the end of WWI and WWII. The truckers read the room correctly!
Can't say I agree. When I listened carefully to the organizers at their news conferences, economic class issues were very much in the forefront of their thoughts, from the cost of truck parts to the WEF control of policy.
Excellent interview, thank you both! As someone who has felt acutely stigmatized around my vaccine choice, I have been naturally focused on the issue of mandates and passports, both of which I want to see eliminated. It looks like the passports will be soon, thankfully, as now I believe seven provinces have announced plans to end them. Unfortunately, the truckers did not get their mandate lifted, despite their courage and determination, and are still faced with losing their jobs, which is a terrible predicament for them. However, I found it interesting to hear Jeff say about the rise of populism that if it wasn’t around the vaccine issue, it would be about something else, as the unjust and inequitable social, political, and economic conditions of our time have given risen to this movement. It will be interesting to see how this translates politically in Canada, since, as he pointed out, there is no party, other than the PPC, that speaks to this unrest. A latest Nanos poll found a sharp increase in support for that party, now sitting at around 12%, roughly half of the NDP support, the party that prided itself in representing “ordinary” people and “standing up for the little guy,” but has, in my view, failed them miserably, myself included.
Now to get the money back to the people that were frozen. Freedland brains covid for the whole thing She is in denial. I watched her speech yesterday refusing that she wanted everybody frozen going back till they were bankrupt and she was really enjoying it
Maybe it's time to interview Catherine Austin Fitts. As far as record low interest rates, high inflation and supply shortages go - when the Bank of Canada adjusts their rates they know full well that an improvement in one area results in a decline in another. Most economist boffins say that 'inflation' is a direct result of easy money, a policy that happens to reward the wealthiest in society to buy up their smaller competitors as they are legislated against under Covid mandates.
Increasing interest rates to slow spending, as Rubin mentioned, will of course tank the economy. A situation North America has been trying to avoid for a decade or more. By selling out our manufacturing capacity since the Mulroney era, we by definition have a poor economy. The technocratic overseers of globalization want Canadian aspirations to die a slow death. The RCMP once arrested the Technocrat party members back in the 1930's when Canada was more independent and nationalistic minded. Today though, when the PM wears a grey suit to deliver his latest bad news, it's as errand boy for the bankers in Switzerland.
next is getting rid of the CBC. For some reason they are doing a deep search on nine hundred million Dollars that Trudeau hid. I'm glad your noy involved any more. Be Safe
The one issue I have with this is the impact of raising interest rates on the labor market. This, to be fair, hasn't materialized (yet), but the impact of high interest rates is slamming the brakes on the economy, leading fairly regularly to recession.
If our choices are an inflationary cost of living crisis, or a weak labor market and a recession, then we have to admit capitalism has failed to serve human needs.
Thanks for this. I was left behind by the 2008 economic crisis and haven't been able to build my way out since then with obviously negative consequences. And now the last 2 years is going to make things so much worse.
I think the story today is not so much how the Western middle class has been screwed by globalism; but how Western elites not only lack empathy about this fact, but have joined in a project to frankly destroy the people that have been screwed.
I frankly believe that the “laptop zoom” class is what allowed this pandemic to entirely crush the middle class (saying this as someone who belongs in the laptop class but didn’t support lockdowns since may 2020). In 2009, before smartphones and widespread video calling/zoom, it would have been impossible for anyone to support lockdowns.
In Canada they're probably correct. Canada has no true left, it's a capitalist "left", in so much as The Laurentian Dynasty rule the country through their ties with the corporate rule. Corporations are the true rulers of Canada, and these are the people the "left" now defend.
If the "left" is capitalist, that leaves little wiggle room for the Conservatives, other than extreme traditionalist values which simply will never pass in Canada.
Basically, Canada needs a non capitalist party that prioritises workers' quality of life, rather than elites quality of life, and completely sets aside all identity politics, without falling prey to religious ethos and staying with long-term-evidence-based science, rather than knee-jerk-reactionary science.
This is a tall order, probably impossible. All I know is our parties as they stand are 100% corrupted.
In a previous conversation, I mentioned one small solution that might actually be quite useful. Parties these days allow basically anyone to vote in their internal decisions. The Green Party now even has 14 years old voting. WTF! how can our national priorities be set by such incompetence!
In fact, what is needed in a "party system" is that party members should have a 5 year membership before they're allowed to vote, and a prohibition of multi-party memberships. IMO, this is why the "parties" have become meaningless, because they've been penetrated by each opposition.
I enjoyed your post but didn’t quite understand the last paragraph. I am interested in any clarification you can provide. Thanks.
For example in the Conservative party, you only need to be a member for a month. So ANYONE can determine who is the Conservative leader, I think it's Liberal infiltration that got the Tool elected. American party elections is similar as far as I can tell. Pretty much anyone can vote for the leader of either party.
We think of parties as stable entities. They USED to be. But in past couple of decades, they try so hard to get extra members, that they take anyone.
It's like this in non-profit groups too. You can often join and vote within only a couple of days.
Democracy has been severely corrupted. It's why the American elections always end up 50:50, not just that, but it plays a huge role.
Oh, thanks, I understand what you’re saying and completely agree. I suspect that Singh was elected NDP leader because he was able to sign up new members faster than the other candidates. It didn’t appear to be a very robust way of selecting a leader!
Yes, the Sikh community is rather traditionalist. He got tons of people to sign on, but it was a superficial effort, those new members and donations seem to have been short-term.
In the Green Party, they now allow voting from age 14.
That should get us some pretty profound and brilliant policy! ;)
The last time Canada's "left" defended workers was 2010 in Toronto at the anti-g20 demonstrations.
Occupy Movement tried to reignite Canada's left the next year, to more nothingness results.
Those were our left's last gasps.
Now the "left" has essentially abandoned any connection to the working class and is now completely obsessed with "identities".
Tragically so! I feel extremely saddened by what I consider the demise of the NDP in this regard. My affiliation with this party was lifelong and has been shattered. I am flabbergasted that none of the NDP MPs stood up for the truckers’ right to protest or showed any recognition of their concerns, instead choosing to go along with the demonization. Who are these people?
Ditto.
Thanks, Tara. Another home run.
I remember several years ago reading a short statement hidden away on the peripheral pages of a Canadian newspaper that income inequality in Canada was growing at a faster rate than in the US. It struck me as alarming at the time, but even more so by the lack of attention it garnered in the media to be considered such a minor item of importance. Well, the chickens have come home to roost!
Sorry but I have a very hard time following his logic. Very helter-skelter connection in my opinion trying to tie observations to causality. Populism is a very complicated physiological and sociological phenomenon. If you listened to what the majority of voices from the movement repeated, it wasn't about financial inequality or that the super rich got richer. They didn't complain about politics or even wokism.
If I may cast my own causality - the movement consistently expressed health policy displeasure. After two years of mandates and fear porn blasted at them, people are exhausted and said enough is enough. Listening and watching the organic swelling of people who just wanted to laugh and sing and dance and hug! What I saw seemed very reminiscent of the release seen at the end of WWI and WWII. The truckers read the room correctly!
Can't say I agree. When I listened carefully to the organizers at their news conferences, economic class issues were very much in the forefront of their thoughts, from the cost of truck parts to the WEF control of policy.
Excellent interview, thank you both! As someone who has felt acutely stigmatized around my vaccine choice, I have been naturally focused on the issue of mandates and passports, both of which I want to see eliminated. It looks like the passports will be soon, thankfully, as now I believe seven provinces have announced plans to end them. Unfortunately, the truckers did not get their mandate lifted, despite their courage and determination, and are still faced with losing their jobs, which is a terrible predicament for them. However, I found it interesting to hear Jeff say about the rise of populism that if it wasn’t around the vaccine issue, it would be about something else, as the unjust and inequitable social, political, and economic conditions of our time have given risen to this movement. It will be interesting to see how this translates politically in Canada, since, as he pointed out, there is no party, other than the PPC, that speaks to this unrest. A latest Nanos poll found a sharp increase in support for that party, now sitting at around 12%, roughly half of the NDP support, the party that prided itself in representing “ordinary” people and “standing up for the little guy,” but has, in my view, failed them miserably, myself included.
Politically "Canada" is whatever Toronto and Montreal vote. Every "election" is over by 6pm Pacific. "Canada" is a myth and now a fraud.
Populism without political expression inevitably turns right which our elites know hence the strategy to demonize them, and now criminalize them.
The masses know how this ends, but focus on more important issues.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/chip-shortage-canada
Now to get the money back to the people that were frozen. Freedland brains covid for the whole thing She is in denial. I watched her speech yesterday refusing that she wanted everybody frozen going back till they were bankrupt and she was really enjoying it
Maybe it's time to interview Catherine Austin Fitts. As far as record low interest rates, high inflation and supply shortages go - when the Bank of Canada adjusts their rates they know full well that an improvement in one area results in a decline in another. Most economist boffins say that 'inflation' is a direct result of easy money, a policy that happens to reward the wealthiest in society to buy up their smaller competitors as they are legislated against under Covid mandates.
Increasing interest rates to slow spending, as Rubin mentioned, will of course tank the economy. A situation North America has been trying to avoid for a decade or more. By selling out our manufacturing capacity since the Mulroney era, we by definition have a poor economy. The technocratic overseers of globalization want Canadian aspirations to die a slow death. The RCMP once arrested the Technocrat party members back in the 1930's when Canada was more independent and nationalistic minded. Today though, when the PM wears a grey suit to deliver his latest bad news, it's as errand boy for the bankers in Switzerland.
Neoliberalism is dead, long live neoliberalism
next is getting rid of the CBC. For some reason they are doing a deep search on nine hundred million Dollars that Trudeau hid. I'm glad your noy involved any more. Be Safe
well said Tara, Must leave, Dinner here . Be Safe Friend
Just finishing his book!
Such a great writer. Thanks for posting this too.
The one issue I have with this is the impact of raising interest rates on the labor market. This, to be fair, hasn't materialized (yet), but the impact of high interest rates is slamming the brakes on the economy, leading fairly regularly to recession.
If our choices are an inflationary cost of living crisis, or a weak labor market and a recession, then we have to admit capitalism has failed to serve human needs.
Who benefits from low interest rates... "the stock market". What nonsense. It's investors, i.e. the upper class.
Thanks for this. I was left behind by the 2008 economic crisis and haven't been able to build my way out since then with obviously negative consequences. And now the last 2 years is going to make things so much worse.