Category: Political Eh-conomy Radio

As unions and workers suffered defeats over the past few decades, so has labor journalism dwindled from a mainstay of major media outlets across Canada and the US to a relatively niche reporting interest. The past few years, however, have seen a still small but noticeable resurgence of labor reporting. Large media outlets, both print and online, have once again started to hire journalists looking at workers’ issues and reporting from the perspective of workers. At the same time, independent media have continued to do the same and some have gained in readership and size. The staff at some new media outlets, most recently Gawker and Salon, have even unionized themselves. This week’s podcast looks at the state of labor journalism, trying to get a sense of the current rekindling.

It’s a big podcast, too, with four guests. First up, I talk to Sarah Jaffe, prolific freelancer who covers labor issues from a grassroots perspective. Sarah writes for The Nation, the Guardian, In These Times and many other venues; she is also co-host, with Michelle Chen, of the excellent Belaboured podcast. Next, I speak with Lydia de Pillis, labor reporter at the Washington Post, one of the crop of reporters rebooting the labor beat at major media. My third guest from the US is Mike Elk, labor reporter for the online magazine Politico. Mike is a former organizer and has long roots in the labor movement. My final conversation is with Sam Ponting, one of the editors of RankAndFile.ca, Canada’s new independent source for labor news and commentary. Sam provides some perspective on the situation of labor media in Canada and how worker-focused media can make a difference in labour campaigns.

Tags grassroots, labor beat, labor journalism, labor reporting, media unionizing, workers in the media, working class

Austerity Greece Political Eh-conomy Radio

Syriza’s John Milios on continuing the fight against austerity

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date July 20, 2015
3 Comments on Syriza’s John Milios on continuing the fight against austerity

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Greece continues to be in flux. Two weeks ago, the Greek people voted over 60% No in a referendum on further austerity. One week ago, the Greek government agreed to a new Memorandum in principle after an all-night negotiation, described at times as “mental water-boarding”. Finally, last Wednesday, the first pieces of enabling legislation were passed by the Greek Parliament with a large rebellion of Syriza MPs voting against the laws.

Since then debate has raged in and outside Greece about the future of the Eurozone, the political strategy chosen by the Syriza leadership and the future of this first government of the left in post-crisis Europe. This interview with John Milios is an important intervention into this debate.

John Milios is a long-time activist and prominent figure within Syriza. Until early this year, he was the party’s chief economic advisor. He is also a member of Syriza’s central committee and was one of the 109 out of 201 members of the central committee who signed a letter published last week opposing the new Memorandum. He is a professor of political economy and the history of economic thought at the National Technical University of Athens.

Tags Greek capitalism, Grexit, John Milios, neoliberalism, Oxi, Syriza, Syriza central committee, Third Memorandum

Climate change Political Eh-conomy Radio

Carbon politics: papal and more worldly

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date June 29, 2015
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Last week, Pope Francis released his encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si. The document speaks out strongly against environmental degradation in all forms and even calls for climate justice between the global North and South. My first guest is Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig, staff writer at The New Republic who writes frequently on the intersection of religion, politics and economics. She spoke with me about the the Pope’s encyclical and how it fits into political and economic debates.

One interesting detail in Laudato Si is a very specific injunction against carbon trading. This market-driven means of trying to fight climate change is one that is gaining popularity. Just last month, for instance, the Ontario government announced it would sign onto a scheme that already includes Quebec and California. In the second interview, I speak with Romain Felli, a research fellow in Politics and the Environment at the University of Geneva. Romain has looked extensively at carbon trading and gives a critical take on theses schemes. (Cancon quota: Romain joined me from Toronto, where he is on a one-year research exchange at York University!)

Tags cap and trade, carbon trading, climate change, energy democracy, EU ETS, Laudato Si, moral ecology, moral economy, Pope Francis, private property, public ownership, putting a price on nature

Canada First Nations Political Eh-conomy Radio

Truth, reconciliation and restitution

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date June 12, 2015
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The summary report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was released last week. The work of the Commission took seven years, gathering public and private testimony from survivors and families of survivors of Canada’s state- and Church-sanctioned residential school system—a system that forcibly removed from families, assimilated and often killed Indigenous children. The Commission’s conclusion was stark: Canada committed cultural genocide on Indigenous peoples.

My first guest is Indigenous scholar Vanessa Watts-Powless. Vanessa is Mohawk and Anishnaabe and teaches in Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. With Hayden King, a previous guest, she penned an important article in the Globe and Mail calling for action on restitution in the wake of the TRC report. The meaning of restitution was the topic of our conversation.

As my second guest, I’m happy to finally have the chance to talk with Greg Albo, who teaches political economy at York University and is the co-editor of the Socialist Register. I spoke with Greg to get a sense of how the arguments for restitution made by Vanessa fit into the context of Canada’s political economy.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Tags First Nations education, Indigenous, land claims, reparations, restitution, TRC, TRC recommendations, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Austerity Extraction Political Eh-conomy Radio Quebec

Austerity and economy in Quebec

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date May 28, 2015
1 Comment on Austerity and economy in Quebec

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Many in English Canada recognize the CCPA, but relatively few know of IRIS. Tucked away in an old Montreal school that has been repurposed as a home for a wide array of social enterprises and NGOs, IRIS, or the Insitut de recherché et d’informations socio-economiques, has now been producing important progressive research in French for 15 years. Sadly little known outside Quebec, IRIS and its researchers have explored everything from widening inequality to resource extraction to the damage that austerity has done to Quebec’s historically more robust welfare state.

This week, I sat down with Julia Posca and Eve-Lyne Couturier, two IRIS researchers. Our conversation spans everything from the austerity agenda in Quebec to the response from the province’s social movements to the renewed push towards resource extraction in the North. Julia and Eve-Lyne provide image of Quebec that has its particularities but is also coming to terms with many of the same issues facing the rest of Canada.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Tags Couillard, Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-economiques, IRIS, Liberal Party of Quebec, Maple Spring, Plan Nord, public childcare, Quebec economy, Quebec student movement, welfare state

Alberta Government Political Eh-conomy Radio

With NDP win, what’s next for Alberta?

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date May 14, 2015
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This episode focuses on what else but the recent Alberta provincial election that saw the social democratic NDP sweep into power after 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule. To gain some perspective on this rather remarkable result in Canada’s oil and gas heartland and see what lies ahead for Alberta, I speak with an NDP campaign insider as well as a long-time analyst of Alberta’s political economy.

My first guest, Adrienne King, was Rachel Notley’s Chief of Staff during the campaign and was just announced as the new premier’s Deputy Chief of Staff. She’s worked for the Alberta NDP since before the 2012 election and offer her point of view on the future from within the NDP. My second guest is Ricardo Acuna. Ricardo is the Executive Director of the Parkland Institute, Alberta’s major political and economic research institute. We spoke about the economic situation in Alberta, the role of the oil industry as well as the challenges facing the new government.

Tags Alberta election 2015, Alberta NDP, oil industry, oil sands, Parkland Institute, Rachel Notley, royalty review

Pensions Political Eh-conomy Radio Privatization

Pension tensions and power privatization

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date May 1, 2015
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Two guests today: Kevin Skerrett on the changing way pensions function today and Sheila Block the impending privatization of Hydro One in Ontario. Sadly, the two are linked: large pension funds are increasingly active in privatizations. My first guest, Kevin Skerrett, is a pension researcher at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Don’t let the word pensions scare you off, this is a conversation that gets to the heart of how workers relate to the market and to each other in a changing neoliberal economy. See this article by Kevin and the linked videos of a speaker series for more.

From pensions, the episode moves to privatization with my second guest, Sheila Block. Sheila is the Senior Economist at the Ontario office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. We spoke about the impending privatization of Hydro One in Ontario, a cynical and financially senseless sell-off of an important public asset. Sheila’s recent article on the topic is here.

Tags Canada Pension Plan, financialization, Hydro One, individual pension, labour movement, Ontario Liberals

Crisis Economic theory Political Eh-conomy Radio

JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date April 15, 2015
1 Comment on JW Mason on business not investing, still disgorging the cash

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This week’s podcast is a bit more economics-focused than usual but gets at the heart of what’s going on in the global economy where interest rates are near, at, or even below zero, but where investment, growth, wages and employment continue to suffer. My one guest, who joins me for a feature-length interview, is J. W. Mason. J. W. teaches economics at John Jay College, City University of New York, blogs at The Slack Wire and is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. It’s for the Roosevelt Institute that he wrote a recent working paper, “Disgorge the Cash: The Disconnect between Corporate Borrowing and Investment”, that is the subject of our conversation. In short, the paper traces how, as a result of the shareholder revolution, firms today invest far less, even when borrowing conditions are better than ever, serving instead largely as ATMs for owners happily pumping out cash. This shift has big implications not only for economic policy, but for our understanding of today’s capitalism.

Tags disgorge the cash, Investment, J. W. Mason, monetary policy, shareholder revolution

Austerity Europe Greece Political Eh-conomy Radio

The roots of the Greece crisis in European integration and what this means for the future

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date April 3, 2015
1 Comment on The roots of the Greece crisis in European integration and what this means for the future

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As the simmering crisis between Greece and the institutions formerly known as the Troika heats up again, it’s a good time to look once more at the roots of the European crisis and what they mean for the possibilities open before Syriza at the present juncture. Greece is being squeezed by Europe: it’s cash is about to run out, they’ve been limited from raising new funds on bond markets and are being asked for ever greater concessions in terms of the reforms. Indeed, the red lines for compromise are right under Syriza’s feet and it’s possible that Greece will be pushed out of the euro. More likely, however, Greece may attempt to issue some kind of quasi-money while staying in the Euro if the institutions do not back down. Regardless of what happens, it is important to understand the last few decades of European integration to fully grasp the costs and dangers of exit from the Euro and imagine a solidarity that could join workers across Europe.

To these ends, I’ve interviewed Riccardo Bellofiore and Ingo Schmidt this week. Riccardo teaches economics at the University of Bergamo in Italy. Ingo, on the other hand, teaches at Athabasca University here in Canada but maintains close ties with Germany, writing frequently for the press there. Both Riccardo and Ingo have written extensively about the nature of contemporary capitalism, the process of European integration and the crisis of social democracy. I’m happy to have had a chance to speak with both of them.

Ingo discusses the German economy, Germany’s role in the European crisis and the possibilities for Europe-wide solidarity. My conversation with Riccardo focuses on European integration, the roots of the Greek crisis and the costs of Euro exit — a strategy Riccardo cautions against pursuing deliberately based on an economic analysis of the degree of European integration and the tremendous social costs and risk facing a country choosing to leave.

Tags Euro crisis, Euro exit, European integration, financial integration, Germany, Greek crisis, Grexit, trade imbalances

Canada Inequality Political Eh-conomy Radio

Inequality, global and Canadian, with Branko Milanovic and Armine Yalnizyan

Post author By Michal Rozworski
Post date March 19, 2015
2 Comments on Inequality, global and Canadian, with Branko Milanovic and Armine Yalnizyan

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I have two guests to talking about inequality today. First up is Branko Milanovic, who speaks with me about global inequality as well as the rise of a global plutocracy. One of the world’s foremost experts on inequality, Branko is professor at the CUNY Graduate Centre, where he also heads the local affiliate of the Luxembourg Income Study Centre, former chief economist at the World Bank’s research unit and author of the The Haves and the Have-nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality. He blogs regularly; it’s always interesting.

I’m also happy to have Armine Yalnizyan back on the show as my second guest. Armine is a senior economist at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Ottawa. The Centre has done extensive research into inequality in Canada and that’s the topic of our conversation. To wit, Armine will be introducing the inaugural Sefton-Williams Memorial Lecture on March 19 in Toronto, which will be given by Miles Corak and also focus on Canadian inequality.

Tags democracy, global inequality, income inequality, inequality in Canada, plutocracy, plutocrats, two middle classes