FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Sep 28

What’s Sad — It’s Still An Old Boys’ Club In The U.S. Congress!

by bcurry

Watching Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testifying on September 27th before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee really brought home the image of the Senate as still being an old boys’ club.  There you had a cast of old Republican senators sitting in judgement of Dr. Ford, preferring to have hired an Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to ask questions on their behalf. This was of course a political stunt to avoid giving the impression of a bunch of old guys ganging up on a woman.  What’s worse, the whole circus was conducted as if it were a criminal trial instead of a Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

This event brings me back to a recent study by the Pew Research Center in the U.S. which looked at the proportion of women to men in senior positions in governors’ seats, state legislatures, Congress, businesses and education institutions. What the study found is that only 20 percent of Congress is women, although women make up over half of the American population.  Women represent about 22 percent of senators.  The density of women in the House of Representatives is just below 1 in 5.  In both cases, most women are Democrats.  Hopefully, there could be more than 60 women who assume new seats in Congress after this November midterms — most of those women being Democrats. In addition, the Center found that Democratic presidents have had more heavily female Cabinets than Republican administrations.  There are far fewer women in Trump’s Cabinet than there were in Obama’s.

Other Western countries have achieved much more equality of government representation than the U.S., and even Canada. Moreover, Judge Kavanaugh comes from a primarily white male environment, attending the right prep schools and having the accepted middle-class conservative pedigree.  What’s there not to like, especially within the old boys’ club in Washington.  There are currently only three female associate judges on the nine member Supreme Court, with the one existing vacancy.  Just for once, maybe the President could have considered nominating another respected female jurist to the Supreme Court, conservative or otherwise.  However, unfortunately we know what Donald Trump thinks about women!

Donald Trump Federal Government US US Politics Women's Issues

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Sep 21

Are We Heading Towards Another Global Recession?

by bcurry

After following numerous financial experts and economists aligned with various reliable sources, it has become clear that there is no real agreement or consensus on what will happen to the global economy in the next year. Ten years after the great recession, everyone agrees that the economies of most countries have bounced back, but are still somewhat tenuous.

But then comes along President Trump and his protectionist policies, including tariffs on products from China, Canada and the E.U. The trade war with China is especially dangerous. We must not forget that the continuous upsurge in the Chinese economy and their fiscal-monetary policies helped many economies to recover after 2008.  However, the Chinese economy’s growth has slowed down and trade is less a factor than it was 10 years ago.

Domestic corporate, government and consumer debt has climbed in most industrialized countries, including in the U.S. and Canada. Much of the debt increase has of course resulted from the continuing low-interest rates for borrowing used to stimulate economies, but potentially at a considerable future cost.  At the same time, any significant growth in wages has not occurred, leaving many people to rely on debt to maintain current standards of living.  The richest people have greatly benefited from capital tax policies and by corporations who have preferred to benefit their shareholders.  Most companies have also paid out big executive bonuses rather than reinvesting profits into their firms and R&D.  In the U.S., executive compensation now represents more than 400 percent of the average worker’s annual wages.

As if in some kind of self-denial, stock markets have continued to climb despite a number of recent ominous economic signs. Given that we are in unknown territory with little room for manoeuvrability, even central banks appear to be at a lost as to what to do next.  Most experts agree that there needs to be a major market correction given that the value of many stocks is out of whack with reality.  In addition, the economies of E.U. countries are still in turmoil, especially with Britain’s decision to leave the Union and other members possibly following suit. Moreover, all you and I can do is sit and wait and hope for the best.  After all, we don’t have the power of the American President to influence the global economy.

China Donald Trump Global Economy Protectionist Trade Policies US

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Sep 10

Populist Movement is on the Rise in Europe — Watch Out!

by bcurry

Populism is not easy to define since the roots of its success are varied, and its adherents do not represent a single ideology, even if they all criticize uncontrolled migration, especially of Muslims. However, the Europe Union (EU) is seeing a rise of populist movements in one form or another, unfortunately much of the ultra-right, nationalist and anti-migrant variety.  Four countries of the EU’s east that make one anxious — Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — are all now led by populists of one stripe or another.  Last year in Austria, Sebastian Kurz became chancellor after running a populist campaign that even co-opted the anti-immigration message of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party.  He wants to place EU border guards in Africa in an effort to stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.

Even in the socialist democracy of Sweden, there is a growing right-wing populist movement. Supported by almost 20 percent of voters, the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party with neo-Nazi roots, made major gains in the elections held on September 9th.  The party’s platform is representative of those of other European populist parties.  They focus overwhelmingly on migrants, mainly from Muslim countries, who they blame for a surge in sex attacks on women, riots in the suburbs and extra pressure on the welfare system.  They also want to follow Britain out of the EU.

This follows earlier election results this year in Italy where about half of the Italian electorate voted for populist parties once considered fringe. Italian voters appear to be disaffected and angry, fearful of hundreds of thousands of recently arrived migrants from the other side of the Mediterranean and fed up with a lack of opportunities, the perceived corruption of elites and the inefficacy of the ruling centrist government.  However, the fact that Italy has vast economic problems — including the largest public debt in the EU and very high youth unemployment — may have more to do with the rise in its populist movement.

Other EU countries are by no means out of the woods. President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany are in a tough fight politically to deal with the growth of populism within their own countries.  They both need support for fixing Europe’s fractured asylum and migration policies which are behind much of the popularity of the populist movements.  Unfortunately, the former region of East Germany has recently seen ultra-right neo-Nazi demonstrations which are illegal under existing German law.

In the meantime, while all this is going on in Europe, populist movements continue to grow politically in the U.S. and Canada following the election of President Trump. Moreover, Canada has recently seen the emergence of populist politics in some provincial electoral campaigns. Even at the federal level there is the potential of a new party questioning current support for policies encouraging multiculturalism and diversity.  Watch out Canada! Just pay attention to what’s happening south of our border and in Europe.

Canada European Populism Populism in Canada US

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