Smart Links 14 August 2012

Paul Summerville • August 13, 2012

Tags: Canada, Economics, GOP, Voices, Yes

Commentary on Romney’s new head, the five year slump, on being Jamie Diamond, and avoiding being Canadian.

Like that poor man in Scanners, Mitt Romney’s positions have changed so much that his head has virtually blown off. Enter Paul Ryan.

Financial Times -- A principled but doomed running mate
Introducing his running mate against the backdrop of the USS Wisconsin on Saturday, Mitt Romney flubbed his easiest line: “Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States.”

Scanners

Related.

New York Times -- The Romney Package
BRACE yourself for weeks of chatter about Mitt Romney’s running mate. Vice presidents matter, as we have been spookily reminded by the recent re-emergence of Dick Cheney on our TV screens.

The legacy of market fundamentalism.

Telegraph -- Five years on, the Great Recession is turning into a life sentence
Five years into the Long Slump it almost seems as if we are back to square one.

Quote worth quoting.

"Much of the debt will have to be written off. Whether this done by inflation (1945-1952) or default (1930-1934) will be the great political battle of this decade. Pick your side. Pick your history."

Time with Jamie.

New York Magazine -- 122 Minutes With Jamie Dimon
The JPMorgan Chase CEO is really, really, really sorry. Except when he’s not.

Shining a light on equalisation.

Globe and Mail -- Why Germany shuns Canada’s debt model
Angela Merkel may be thinking about the Canadian example right now, and not in a good way.

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Twin Virtues: Inequality of Outcomes & Equality of Opportunity©

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Ultimately, the most successful societies find the balance between the twin virtues of inequality of outcomes and equality of opportunity.

The new politics must marry the twin virtues of unequal outcomes and equality of opportunity.

When too few get too much everybody ends up with less.

Can it be that striving for equality of opportunity however imperfect the process not only benefits the individual but also creates benefits for the society as a whole that are unintended but wonderful?

Economics must be a 'moral enterprise' as much as politics claims to be. Economic outcomes need to be framed in terms of right and wrong not just efficiency if only because these often align in surprising ways.

My vision of Canada is that any Canadian child from a family of limited circumstance can expect to have a chance at lifetime of unlimited opportunities.

Tax policy should be founded on the principle of generating steady tax revenues sufficient to maximise environmentally sustainable economic growth in order to fund fair government.

Public policy should be designed to decrease inequality before the law and increase equality of opportunity.

Capitalism is not the problem; the problem is what we do with capitalism.

Content is always more difficult to argue than conspiracy.

Let the state regulate and the market operate (most things).

Welfare strategies are best designed as a hand up not as a hand out.

Political debate should not be fact free fighting.

Explanation lasts longer than eloquence.

Always favour empowerment over dependency.

The most enduring public figures are embraced for the causes they fought for and not the concept of themselves they hoped others would remember them by.

Find your voice and don't be the echo of somebody else.