According to his rabble.ca biography, economist Jim Stanford is "an Economist in the Research Department of the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada's largest private-sector trade union" and is "co-editor (with Leah F. Vosko) of Challenging the Market: The Struggle to Regulate Work and Income."
Also, he has a rabble.ca biography.
All of this would make him the perfect candidate for Dalton McGuinty's "Jobs And Prosperity Council." Yep, there he is, second name from the bottom. (Who'd think to look down there?)
But why is he listed as just an "economist"? Why not "the guy who wrote a chapter in a book called 'Replacing Capitalism'"? How about "the guy who recently protested a CPC Minister's constit office and enthusiastically tweeted about it?" And who could forget "a man who praised Dalton McGuinty for bashing the oil sands before Tom Mulcair made it cool to do so?"
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if Dalton wants to take advice on how to create jobs from people who are trying to pull the Ontario Liberals out into left field, he should be open about it.
It is funny, I met quite a few unionized welders who lover their jobs in Ft. McMurray -- the pay is great, the conditions are good, the benefits are good, they are basically happy they work 2 weeks on, 1 week off where the company cover their expenses back to where they live? They make more money than most engineers I know. -- did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteso why is this a bad thing?
Gerry from GTA
Welding is a trade, isn't it? What's Dalton done for the trades lately?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if Dalton had the testicular fortitude to admit he was taking advice from a union economist who is unabashedly left wing, I'd respect him a lot more for it. But no. He has to *hide* it.
I would love to eliminate all discrimination for jobs -- lets eliminate the mandatory quotas for visible minorities.
ReplyDeleteI applied for one position in an NRC research facility that had insane combination of qualifications and I knew I was one in 1 million as I had changed paths from my Masters to my PhD degree programs. These were dramatically different areas that nobody would combine the two.
I switched because of funding issues from my Prof. Where would I be surprised to discover such a requirement for a job -- I applied -- the bureaucrat in HRDC was excited as they had the same view of qualifications as I did. They were excited to just find a person with experience in both fields.
Well I was told an interview was being arranged. well -- the position was cancelled and the position was released again -- no changes on job requirement but with a clause -- visible minorities with no experience will be given preference over non-visible minorities. The person from HRDC was very apologetic. To add insult to injury 95% of the staff at the NRC lab were not Caucasian. I was banned from the position. I am also Canadian born -- everybody else at the NRC lab was not.
I also met a few personnel prior to that in another context and their abilities were lacking if not existent.
What is wrong with this picture?
As opposed the Economist who promised not to tax income trusts and that their would be no deficit on his watch or even botched up the costing for military equipment at every turn.
ReplyDeleteThat's a few of the immense economical messes our economist in charge, who has never worked in the real world in his life has put us through. But feel free to add your own.
If a conservative government didn't have to deal with a deficit every now and again, people on the left would never realize that deficits were a bad thing. That's why people like harebell get mad about the federal deficit but never about the provincial one. When conservatives try to cut spending to deal with deficits, that's also terrible.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe harebell is trying to say that governments shouldn't listen to economists who haven't worked in the real world, which means he doesn't agree with what Dalton is doing by appointing Stanford. I guess I can live with that.
There was no deficit prior to Harper. The previous governments had reigned in spending and were paying off the debt. (No madness here over spending control.)
ReplyDeleteWingnut welfare recipient Harper lied about income trusts and then lied when he promised no deficits. He also decided to cut taxes during a recession and while we were engaged in an overseas conflict. A bonehead move by anyone with half a brain.
Nice tap dancing and hand waving Mr J, but no cigar for an obvious partisan for whom the idiot in charge can do no wrong. He has never run anything of any consequence and it shows.
You ignore half of what I wrote and refuse to say a bad word about McGuinty, but somehow I'm the one tap dancing and hand waving?
ReplyDeleteGet it straight, my friend: I don't like deficits. Whoever's in charge is whoever's currently responsible. Does the fact that Ontario's credit rating got downgraded a couple of months ago bother you, or have you figured out a way to blame that on Harper too? http://business.financialpost.com/2012/04/26/moodys-downgrades-ontario-debt-rating/