Category: economy
Ignatieff Hits the Ground Running?
| 5/7/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, economy |
Ignatieff was acclaimed as leader of the federal Liberals this past weekend and appears to have come out of the gate ready to run. During the convention along with moving the Liberals forward into a one vote, one member system, which most other parties use, he threw down a gauntlet to the Conservatives claiming he is willing to take the country to the polls if the government doesn’t change the IE program.
Every worker across this country contributes to IE while they are employed but only about 31% of those losing their jobs are able to collect. IE is meant to be bridge income while a person seeks a new job. In a recession like the one Canada is currently experiencing, jobs are increasingly scarce, the chances of a short gap between jobs becomes increasingly unlikely.
To qualify for IE workers have to have a minimum number of hours worked. This halts those who would rather draw ‘pogey’ than work from working briefly and then drawing IE. Currently the number of hours needed is varied across the country, there are some 54 different areas where the hours and even the amount of EI received varies. (more…)
Cooler Heads Need to Prevail in Trade Issues
| 2/3/2009 | Posted by Patti under economy |
OK, so US lawmakers have slipped in some “buy American” provisions into the stimulus bill that President Obama is trying to get passed into law. I expect that the people who had those provisions put into the package had the best of intentions towards the thousands (millions?) of Americans currently seeking work or on the verge of losing jobs.
In many ways the policy makes a lot of sense, when the people closest to you are hurting, why wouldn’t you want to move to give them a hand up? In fact, it is a bit hard to believe that any government wouldn’t have that approach as a first line of purchasing, buying from domestic sources if at all possible or even if it might cost the taxpayer a bit more in the long run. After all those firms don’t only pay taxes, they employ people who pay taxes.
I am inclined to think that the bigger problem the Americans might be taking on is determining what is ‘buying American’ in a global economy where American firms have moved production offshore to cheaper locales thus reducing their American workforce. (more…)
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