Smart Links 24 June 2012

Paul Summerville • June 23, 2012

Tags: Canada, China, Finance, Pacific Trade, Steve Harper, Yes

Commentary on the 2008 financial crisis and where we are today, where China may be heading, the math behind the Trans Pacific Partnership and even Canadian conservatives are starting to wonder about how radical the Prime Minister really is.

Don Coxe, Agnes Crane, Brian Milner and me discuss the financial collapse and its aftermath. (ed’s note – 51 minute video)

The Agenda -- Too Big to Fail Again
It's been four years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing financial crisis. Today, there may be fewer banks, but they are bigger than ever. Are we really in a better position, or is the concept of "Too Big to Fail" posing an even greater risk to global economics?

The Great Chinese Frenzy.

Times Literary Supplement -- Decision time for China
This spring in Beijing, I asked a businessman an obvious question about the risks to China of an economic crash-landing, to which I got a less obvious reply.

A stab at the economics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Thanks to Charley of Toronto.

Pdf below -- Trans Pacific Partnership and Asia Pacific Integration

The Devil, is in the details.

Chronicle Herald -- SURETTE: The conservative conscience is in turmoil
Are you among those baffled and alarmed by what’s going on with the Harper government — wild slashes to public services, every-thing connected to democratic process trashed, a bully-boy attitude that is soiling Canada’s international reputation, the attack on everything environmental, even the destruction of public records, all delivered in a dictatorial and malicious spirit?

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Trans Pacific Partnership and Asia Pacific Integration.pdf	980.9 KB

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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.