Jim Stanford Profile picture
Sep 23, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
If actions match these words, this #SFT will be a historic step forward in Canadian social policy in several key areas: childcare, disability GIS, pharmacare, and a new EI system. All ambitious, and necessary. #BuildBackBetter #cdnpoli ...2
Somewhat reminiscent of Pearson's minority governments in the mid-60s, which brought in CPP, medicare, and the Canada Assistance Plan. Minority government can work well! ...3
Conservatives' predictable rant on deficits & debt will go nowhere, esp. as Canadians are losing sleep over COVD 2nd wave & continuing recession (not debt bogeymen). And CPC won't whisper about what they'd cut for a smaller deficit: they know that would be the end of them. #SFT
One important thing missing from #SFT: fulfilling Libs' promise to implement a $15 / hour minimum wage in the federal sector. Was supposed to happen this year. It is an important step, would reinforce provincial min wage goals, and doesn't cost govt much at all. ...
Perhaps that is another item for @theJagmeetSingh to raise in his discussions over the next week??

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Jim Stanford

Jim Stanford Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JimboStanford

Aug 20
OK sir, now let's do 2024.
Hourly wages (measured by the LFS) have grown twice as fast as prices (measured by the CPI) in the last 12 mos.
And by the way, there are several other serious problems with that original chart, in addition to it being 2 years out of date. #cdnecon /2
Image
A. You don't calculate change in real wage by subtracting the inflation rate from % wage growth. You must calculate an index (dividing wage by CPI) and measure how that changes.
B. The proper change in so-called 'pay' (more on this below) for 2022 was thus -4.0%, not -4.3% /3
C. The StatsCan report which Mr Poilievre cites explicitly states (in both text & charts) that the real income change was -4.0%, not -4.3%. (They can do the math right.) So the CPC chart-makers deliberately chose to use a higher (but false) number. They can't claim ignorance. /4
Read 12 tweets
Jun 26
This is an own goal: Grocery prices did not surge 1.5% on June 25, they grew by 1.5% over the 12 months ending in May 2024. That's *lower* than the rate when Freeland announced the capital gains reform, and *below* the Bank of Canada's optimal 2% target for inflation. #cdnpoli /2
Can we thus credit Freeland's tax reform for *lowering* the rate of grocery inflation? Of course not: it's ridiculous to link the two. Blaming taxes, instead of Loblaws, Cargill, PepsiCo, oil companies, and climate change for high food prices, is world-class bait and switch. /3
Also, this reform does not increase taxes on families who *run* farms. It counts 1/6 more of large gains made by people who *sell* farms--and only *after* exhausting $1.25m lifetime exemption, special reserves to avg one-time gains, & special rules for intra-family transfer. /4
Read 5 tweets
May 31
🇨🇦 consumers ride to the rescue!! 0.7% lift in real household consumption accounts for almost all the 0.4% rise in real GDP in 1Q24. That in turn was thanks mostly to a 1.5% rise in labour compensation, which grew 3x faster than consumer prices (consumption deflator). #cdnecon /2
Real wages are growing now at a decent pace, thanks to feisty unions, higher min wages, and workers demanding real wage repair. That has literally saved 🇨🇦 from a recession. This is the macroeconomic phenomenon of wage-led growth in action. #canlab /3
For those still losing sleep over wage-price spirals, don't worry: the GDP deflator fell slightly, and the consumption deflator (akin to CPI) rose just 0.5%. That's the slowest since COVID lockdowns, and pretty much equals the Bank of Canada's 2% annual target. /4
Read 6 tweets
Apr 16
Biggest non-story in #Budge2024 is the deficit. Fcst hardly changed from last year, despite new spending on several initiatives. That's partly cuz of new $$ from the capital gains change (which is great). But mostly cuz revenues keep outpacing pessimistic forecasts. #cdnecon /2
Those forecasts are still deliberately pessimistic, leaving room for positive surprises before the 2025 election. Conservatives who've invested so much in attacking govt for running bigger deficits will be disarmed. A smaller deficit does nothing to help with cost of living. /3
But direct help with necessities of life (dental care, drugs, child care, disability benefits, student lunches, PSE student loans/grants) will make an incremental difference. Most Canadians will receive something from one or more of those programs. /4
Read 5 tweets
Apr 13
Not the worst thing to fear this awful day, but important anyway: get ready for another burst of oil-led inflation. Orthodox central bankers will claim the only thing to do is keep int rates higher, for longer--punishing workers further for a crisis they didn't cause. /2 #cdnecon
Can we learn from the Feb 2022 price shock, and stop profit-led energy inflation (which quickly spread into the broader economy) before it starts? Here's my Dec'23 @TorontoStar column with ideas for how to prevent another oil-led inflation outburst: . /3thestar.com/business/anoth…
The idea of regulating strategic prices (like energy) to stop inflation from getting going (rather than dragging down the whole economy to stop it later), first ridiculed, is now widely accepted (even by places like the Bundesbank), thanks to work by @IsabellaMWeber & others. /4
Read 4 tweets
Mar 29
Carbon-tax fever is reaching a peak, as April 1 (when both the price and the rebate payments increase) approaches. So I'm re-posting my review of gasoline prices in calendar 2023. Key takeaway: the ups and downs of gasoline prices can't be ascribed to carbon pricing. /2 #cdnecon Image
Gasoline ended '23 5₵/litre lower than it began, despite a higher carbon price (worth about 3₵/l, offset by CAIP rebates). The ups & downs of oil prices are dominated by oil companies & futures markets, not carbon prices. The 2022 oil price surge added 40x more to gas prices./3
The federal Clean Fuel Reg (which Poilievre derided as a second carbon tax) had no lasting impact either. In fact, Cdns who followed Poilievre's advice to gas up before July 1 to avoid this 'tax' actually lost a few bucks (cuz prices *fell* afterward): . /4centreforfuturework.ca/2024/01/03/rev…
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(