Lockdown should make economic reform contagious
gregfelton.com (May 5, 2020)
One day, perhaps several months or a year from now, the 2 SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) pandemic will be declared over, but it will not be business as usual. The virus of 2020 is not something to be consigned to disease history alongside the Spanish Influenza, polio, SARS, MER, AIDS or numerous cholera outbreaks. It is a life-altering event that has rendered obsolete our concept of what is normal. Whether the pandemic is natural or man-made––a topic to be taken up later––does not alter the fact that it is making the earth conspicuously healthier..
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Christmas—The Blackest Time of Year
gregfelton.com (December 14, 2014)
“If the U.S. sneezes, Canada catches a cold,” such is the dominant and domineering influence of the virus factory to the south. Once upon a time (for it seems so long ago) Canadian governments believed it wise to immunize this country from anti-democratic pathogens like military aggression, economic determinism and anti-statist extremism. Today, these are not only officially embraced, but are presented to the public a national ethos. The very idea of Canada as an independent, moderate democratic state is unthinkable, if not unutterable. ...read more

Christmas—wasteful, extravagant and immoral
gregfelton.com (December 16, 2013)
On this date 360 years ago, Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of England. What does that have to do with Christmas, you may ask? Well, the parliament of puritanical Protestants that he led tried to ban Christmas for being un-Christian. In 1645, four years before the execution of King Charles I, which ushered in the Cromwellian republic, a group of MPs created the Directory of Public Worship to purge the calendar not only of Christmas but of all holy days, while enforcing strict observance of Sunday worship. This hard-assed animosity toward Christmas (and human revelry in general) did not arise in a vacuum; it reflected a distaste among the more austere elements of British society for festivities and general human enjoyment.” ....read more.

Bad news hides behind Chile’s good news
The Canadian Charger (October 22, 2010)
The rescue of 33 miners trapped for more than two months under Chile’s Atacama Desert gave the world a rare uplifting news story. The mobilization of an international effort to help people in dire circumstances made great copy, and helped everyone realize that human compassion is still alive. Despite the cheering and congratulations, the rescue is not the real story; it’s really just a fortuitous ending to a near tragedy. ....read more.

Degrowth—beyond the growth paradigm
Adbusters (July/August 2009) Go to original article
A new intellectual renaissance has begun, and it promises to do for the 21st century what the first one did for the 14th: reassert reason over dogma to redefine our collective frame of reference. The difference this time is that the dogma is economic not ecclesiastic, and the stakes for the planet are immeasurably higher. ...read more.

Lumbering dinosaurs fear extinction
Prince Rupert Daily News (July 8, 2002)
If asked to name the cause of the softwood lumber dispute, most would likely say Canada’s stumpage pricing system. The U.S. charges that stumpage amounts to an unfair subsidy for Canadian lumber producers at the expense of U.S. producers who have to pay market rates to harvest trees on private land. In fact, this is how the Canadian media, to its shame, has also cast the debate. ...read more.

Beware bearers of false security
Vancouver Courier (April 23, 2000)
Newspaper headlines speak of “panic” “meltdown” “staggering losses” and “free fall,” yet what did the world’s leading finance ministers say from their meeting in Washington, D.C.: “Everything’s going to be alright—there, there.” Well, not those exact words, but they might as well have been.... read more.

Book provides stock market crash course
Vancouver Courier (March 19, 2000)
I’ve been bothered for some time by the eerie similarity between events leading to the stock market crash of 1929 and the present eccentric state of North America’s stock markets. Problem is, I’m not sure how much faith I should put in this similarity, since history never repeats itself in exactly the same way. read more.

Fate of economy is in the stars
Vancouver Courier (February 13, 2000)
If you look up on a clear night you can see Betelgeuse, the red supergiant in Orion’s right shoulder—that’s his right, your left. It’s hard to miss. Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the northern sky—100 times the size of the sun. ... read more.

Canada can’t escape foreign domination
Vancouver Courier (September 5, 1999)
So far, the death of Eaton’s has elicited sadness for the passing of a national and family tradition, and castigation for founder Timothy Eaton’s inept grandchildren, who ran the department store chain into the ground. Isn’t that the way it always is? A man builds an empire, his sons enjoy it, and his grandsons squander it. ... read more.

Free trade’s benefits don't bear close inspection
Vancouver Courier (July 4, 1999)
This July 1, I felt particularly unenthusiastic toward Canada’s birthday. The reason is simple: each year there is less of Canada to celebrate. The conservative democracy the Fathers of Confederation established in 1867 is unrecognizable, yet ostensibly this is what we commemorate. ... read more.

Canada needs courage of its convictions
Vancouver Courier (February 7, 1999)
International agreements are best conducted among countries of relatively equal size and complementarity. This is especially true of bilateral agreements, because if one of the partners is substantially larger, the relationship can become exploitative for both parties. If you need proof, look behind the latest economic dust-up between Canada and the United States of Arrogance.
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Liberals prefer to freeload instead of lead
Vancouver Courier (September 13, 1998)
Braveheart, which won best-picture Oscar a couple of years ago, was notable for its scenes of unsparing violence. Yet for all of the portrayals of physical brutality, the most disturbing was the political violence the Scottish aristocracy perpetrated against its own people. ... read more.

Surrender of sovereignty an unfair trade
Vancouver Courier (January 18, 1998)
Consider the following observation by author Robert D. Kaplan from last monthís Atlantic Monthly: “The 500 largest corporations account for 70 percent of world trade. Corporations are like the feudal domains that evolved into nation-states; they are nothing less than the vanguard of a new Darwinian organization of politics.” ... read more.