Trudeau’s contempt for Canadians & Labour…

Trudeau’s contempt for Canadians & Labour… 

 

A final report by UN investigator Tomoya Obokata concludes that Canada’s temporary foreign worker program is a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.

 

Prof. Obokata is the United Nations’ special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and a professor of international human-rights law at the University of York in Britain.

 

“The special rapporteur retains the view that the temporary foreign worker program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights,” states the final report, which is dated July 22 and was recently posted online.

 

-             Canada’s temporary foreign worker program a ‘breeding ground’ for slavery, UN reports concludes - Globe & Mail

 

By Gregg Wall (8-31-2024)

 

When I first moved to Canada, I noticed that parliamentary democracy is unique, relative to the American government, in its ability to actually get things done.  But like two-faced Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings, parliamentary democracy is also capable of exhibiting another side or face, incredible amounts of corruption from its leaders.  Mr. Trudeau has been caught in scandal after scandal, since his rise to power 2015, but his latest scandal, abusing Canada’s immigration and labour programs… essentially, abusing a flood of immigrants and Canadian workers… may prove to be his costliest scandal yet.  The final straw.

 

At issue, the United Nations has called out Canada for abusing immigrants, under its temporary worker program, calling it contemporary slavery … as reported in the Globe & Mail:  

 

“The special rapporteur received reports of underpayment and wage theft, physical, emotional and verbal abuse, excessive work hours, limited breaks, extracontractual work, uncompensated managerial duties, lack of personal protective equipment, including in hazardous conditions, confiscation of documents and arbitrary reductions of working hours. Women reported sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse.”

 

The program has exploded under the Trudeau government leading to 2.8 million immigrants (sizeable given Canada’s population of 40 million).  Trudeau having recently doubled the annual quota to 500,000 immigrants per year.  All this at a time when healthcare, affordable housing, and infrastructure have been underfunded and it clearly shows.  As pointed out by Tony Keller in the Globe & Mail, there were two primary - unspoken - purposes to the foreign worker program: the first, is crushing Canadian wages at the bottom of the wage scale; and two, employing desperate immigrants, who will pay colleges, employers, and middlemen for the privilege of working in Canada.   

 

But as pointed out by a younger Trudeau, back in 2014, when he was crucifying the prior Harper government for many of the same issues, it’s not just low wage workers impacted - when wages are held down by employers, exploiting a huge pool of desperate immigrant labour - but all Canadian wages are impacted.  And with the explosive growth in immigration, of course, came the middle men, the racketeers, the labour pimps…. Who exploit desperate labour for huge fees ($10,000 to $180,000 CAD, as reported in Bloomberg), sometimes an immigrant’s life savings, to get them into Canada and expedite the process with jobs that don’t pay a living wage and may lead to indentured servitude.  Absolutely appalling and disgusting conditions all too often accompany these jobs.

 

Even the Bank of Canada and its leader got in on the act.  Tiff Macklem, bank governor, called for growth in immigrant labor, for employers to suppress wages, and not cave into labor demands, when the inflation crisis started up during the COVID pandemic.  Tiff wholly subscribed to the nonsense that inflation was demand driven… but we now know, greed, monopoly power, and price gouging have played a huge role in soaring prices and profits.  The Bank of Canada’s and the Trudeau gov’s answer to the inflation crisis wasn’t to rein in greedy employers but crush labour, with an influx of immigrants, which juiced corporate bottom lines.  It seems that an immigration wave was no longer used to fill farm jobs, but low wage jobs across the economy (jobs many Canadians rely upon during times of high unemployment) … its seems that the resulting wage suppression for Canadians and immigrants didn’t translate into lower prices but greater greed, prices, and profits.   

 

It appears Tiff and his policy prescriptions were wrong.  Not only did wage-spirals not appear, but in fact, the entire episode points to at least two doom loops.  Part of the case Trudeau attempted to make to justify record immigration is lack of population growth… but why aren’t Canadians breeding?  Canadians aren’t breeding because the neoliberal economy is a disaster, wages are suppressed by monopoly and monopsony power, and labour and families are squeezed harder by outrageous profit taking and supply-side price spirals.  Lower wages, plus higher prices equal a baby bust.  Few younger Canadians can afford to bring a child into this world under the neoliberal regime, the Trudeau government, and the monopoly economy…. Successive waves of exploited immigrants, further suppressing wages, does little to help the libido of Canadian families or population growth.  And so, the loop is complete: more exploitable, grossly underpaid immigrants are allegedly required.   Thanks to Conservative and Liberal government mismanagement… and the BOC… 25% of Canadians now live in poverty.  At the moment, blame rests squarely on Trudeau and Tiff Macklem. 

 

The second doom loop concerns consolidation in the economy… one of my favorite topics, of course this is a problem seen throughout Western economies… and the totalitarian power of monopoly and monopsony.  Depending upon the elasticity of demand, Monopoly can and does dictate price; and depending upon the number of employment options, monopsony can and does dictate wages.  And guess who wins, guess who always wins… and guess who loses, guess who always loses: Canadian families, immigrants, and labour.  And the more consolidated the economy becomes, resulting in fewer employment opportunities and fewer places to shop, the more Canadians will become impoverished.  A process that has been underway for several decades, ever rising wage & wealth inequality.  The more the Trudeau government sides with business interests and wealthy donors, against labour and Canadian families, the more Canada will become impoverished (Liberals increasingly becoming known as the political party that transfers wages & wealth to a handful of greedy corporations).  The more Tiff Macklem feeds financial engineering, M&A, monopoly formation, and PE with easy money policies, the more Canadians will, again & again, become impoverished in increasingly greater numbers.  The more monopolies seek growth, from an impoverished public, the more they turn to & seek out further consolidation and arbitrarily jack up prices to achieve growth, inorganically.  A seemingly never-ending spiral or doom loop that folds in on itself, until it’s forced to stop, breaks the economy, or worse.  Seems that Trudeau, Tiff, and Canadian oligarchs really don’t care where Canada gets its labour, as long as it’s exploitable and highly inexpensive.

 

There’s not enough time today to get into Trudeau cutting the legs out from under the Teamsters Canada and Canadian railroad workers… just chock it up to another example of the Liberal Party screwing labour, Canadian families, and coming down in favor of Railroad monopolies & utilities.   Reminiscent of President Biden screwing railroad workers.  Coincidence?  Many of the problems described in this write up are alive, festering, and virulent in Europe, the UK, and the U.S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does it all add up to?  Trudeau, a scandal plagued government, screwing Canadian families, exploiting immigrant and foreign workers, slavery, indentured servitude… the Liberal gov siding with monopolies, oligarchs, & utilities, who already enjoy an economy entirely rigged in their favor?  Well, it points to a complete collapse in leadership, great ethical and moral failings by the Trudeau government.  To such an extent that Trudeau and the Liberal gov’s numbers are in free fall.  

 

Now, it’s really Mr. Singh’s call, the federal NDP’s call.  Trudeau and liberals are entirely dependent upon the NDP to remain in power.  With NDP numbers also in free fall, does Mr. Singh ride it out with a Trudeau government until the 2025 election?  Or does Mr. Singh pull the plug?  Mr. Singh having achieved all that he could apparently squeeze out the Liberal government, under a deal to keep the minority, Liberal government in power… To wit, incrementalism on dental care, incrementalism on pharma care.  Incrementalism being shorthand for ‘failure.’  I hope it was worth it, Mr. Singh.  Clearly, you don’t drive a hard bargain.  

 

Ultimately, I’m not sure that the Conservative government will be any better for Canada, Canadian families, and labour (likely worse) … but how can anyone allow the Trudeau government to continue to wear, like Janus, two faces, two masks: one as a pretend benevolent actor, the other as a fraud and no friend to the Canadian people, immigrants, or the nation?  The federal NDP is already smeared & tarred by its association with Justin, and the federal NDP is seen as Trudeau’s enabler and lackey.  A problem that is only going to grow worse with time. 

 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024

KAMALA

KAMALA

 

But Palestinian Americans like me are discovering something this year: the Democratic Party will bomb your homeland, kill your family, use your own money to do it, and still expect your vote.  More than that, Democrats will curse and shame you if you push back. 

-      _Democrats Need to Stop Trashing Palestinian Voters if They Want to Win, The Nation

 

By Gregg Wall (8-17-2024)

 

On July 21, 2024, Biden dropped out of the race.  And good riddance.  Biden’s inability to read the room, the nation, or barely a teleprompter seems to be key factors in his most timely political demise.  That and Biden’s inability to deliver much of anything for the people, but a failed status quo:  more welfare for the rich; shiny new wars in the Ukraine, Gaza, a Cold War with China; and a near complete failure on BBB.  Much like the multinationals & oligarchy that supported the president to the bitter end, Biden was a man entirely unsuited for the times and the nation’s needs.  Biden was quickly replaced by Kamala Harris.  Kamala’s rise is remarkable in that she dropped out of the 2020 race without a single delegate, with campaign money drying up, and obviously, very little support for her campaign.  But the party elite, the donor class, and multinationals clearly saw something in Harris, and she was appointed vice president (in support of the oldest president in the nation’s history).  

 

What did party eminentos see?  Clearly, judging from Biden and Trump, someone who is highly attentive, compromised, and flexible when it comes to addressing the needs of AIPAC, billionaires, Silicon Valley, and Wall St.  Let’s face it, as Kamala is only one demented heartbeat away from the top slot, the oligarchy wasn’t going to pick just anyone.  They needed someone who would not rock the boat, someone who would carry out the billionaire enriching status quo, and ignore a plethora of promises to the American people in 2020 and 2022; and yet, could hold her own against the GOP.  Kamala -- as an avowed defender of Israel’s right to genocide, a law & order prosecutor, and a mass incarceration attorney general -- clearly fit the bill.  And so, it came to be, without winning so much as a primary vote from the nation, Kamala was picked by party cadres and placed in nomination to replace Biden.

 

It's remarkable, the degree and role progressive politics and policies have played in getting every Democratic president elected post-Clinton.  Given progressive policies win elections, they are truly America’s ideological center.  As critical and essential as progressive policies are, it’s also equally remarkable that the Obama and Biden both tacked to a corporatist, neoliberal agenda once in office.  Obama’s signature achievements, include for-profit Obamacare, bailing out Wall St, expanding significantly oil & gas production, and a failure to wind down America’s wars on terror and perpetuating the empire.  Biden’s signature achievements, include spending record sums on fossil fuels infrastructure, swiftly discarding the bulk of Build Back Better, expanding significantly oil & gas production, and starting up new wars around the globe. 

 

Kam, continuing the trend, and further revealing how starved the American people are for public services and a functioning, well-funded regulatory state… once again, revealing America’s true ideological center… has chosen a progressive running mate.  Governor Walz from Minnesota not only talks the talk, but actually walks the progressive walk.  Doubling down further, Kamala announced a number of agenda items on Friday, among them:  building further on Biden’s BBB agenda; the elimination of medical debt; ban on grocery price gouging; caps on medicine; a child tax credit of $6,000 for babies; and a $25,000 subsidy for first time homebuyers.  Harris also talked up freedoms: reproductive, same sex marriage, and voting rights. But details on all these positions are scant with more to follow.  Given Obama’s and Biden’s track record, this all has a sense of déjà vu… wildly popular progressive policies, with little detail, particularly on the moves a Harris administration would make if congress stonewalls.  Kamala calls this the ‘opportunity economy’ because after all guaranteeing a worker’s economic right to a job, medical care, and a roof over their head smacks of socialism… and Americans all know, only billionaires and Wall St. receive guaranteed outcomes and socialism. 

 

At this point, Kam’s biggest obstacles -- going into the Chicago convention next week and with election a little over two months away -- are: affordability and greedflation, Biden’s failure to deliver on the preponderance of his BBB agenda, the border, and the war and genocide presently underway in Gaza.  Despite Biden, the Federal Reserve, and MSM desperate to declare inflation dead, millions of Americans know better, gas is 45% higher, rents 35% higher, and food is up dramatically.  Failure on BBB should cause prospective voters to ask what Kam intends to do in the face of congressional stonewalling to implement her agenda, as is almost certain to occur.  Most harmful to Kamala’s prospects is the genocide with photos and videos revealing the extent of the catastrophe and murder showing up in many social media platforms.  Endless ceasefire negotiations increasingly look like cover or an excuse for more genocide, more weapons for psycho, Bibi Netanyahu.  But so far, Kam is firmly committed to Israeli leadership and an arms embargo or cutoff is not in the cards.  We’ll see how firm Kam remains as November 5^th draws closer, a close race may cause Dems and Kam to reconsider.  In the meantime, Kamala is covered in blood. 

 

Further adding to the threat to Kam’s presidential aspirations are third party challengers, like Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.  If Jill picks up disaffected Muslim and Palestinians voters, or uncommitted voters, Jill could do serious damage.  Hence, Dem efforts to shut down democracy and Jill in a number of states. 

 

 

Lastly, there’s Trump, who, having campaigned all these many months, increasingly looks his age and somewhat winded.  Americans, the majority, don’t want a dictator, more welfare for the rich, theocracy, and kowtowing to President Netanyahu.  Americans also do not want congress owned by a foreign power.  And there’s something more, many Americans believed that Trump was an outsider in 2016, who would protect their interests.  But we’ve seen Trump in action and his policies were, and remain, more of the same.  The same neoliberalism as Trump’s predecessors, the same globalization, spoils system governance, and a wartime economy.  American lives didn’t get better under Trump.  The economy is more consolidated than ever with fewer and fewer well-paying jobs.  Now, in 2024, Trump is and often admits he’s captured by financial backers and interests, like his sudden fondness for Mr. Musk and EVs.

 

Trump is struggling to connect or come down hard on policy against Biden and Kamala, because the Biden administration actually adopted many of Trump’s policies and their fundamental economic policies are mostly the same.  Instead, Trump has largely avoided policy and policy details (instead, running on culture wars, immigration, personal grievance, and xenophobia) … rather than running a substantive campaign, Trump has pivoted to ad hominem attacks, personal invective and venom, racism, and McCarthyesque demagoguery.  (Why?  Because Trump and his wealthy backers like a crony, failed status quo just fine... thank you very much.) 

 

It's all a sure sign that Trump is no longer confident or in his stride, now that the Biden piñata has suddenly vanished. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024

Crypto 2

Crypto 2 

 

Who knows?  Maybe we’ll pay off our $35 trillion dollars, hand them a crypto check, right?  We’ll hand them a little bitcoin and wipe out our $35 trillion.

 

-             Former POTUS Trump, As Trump Suggests Crypto as a Fix to the U.S. Debt, Harris Camp Highlights His Remarks – Coin Desk

 

By Gregg Wall (8-3-2024)

 

Former POTUS Trump went from trashing crypto to becoming its biggest fan, after the Silicon Valley oligarchs and libertarians piled into his re-election campaign.  Then again, Trump has always been a salesman and a transactional sort of guy.  Trump historically has also gained notoriety as the Debt King and Bankruptcy King.  In all fairness to Trump, he’s in good company.  Larry Fink, Jamie Dimon have flipped or joined the club, and Kamala Harris’ campaign is said to be reaching out to the crypto community for a reset. 

 

It’s all reminiscent of celebrities and politicians who got sucked into the FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried scandal, is it not?   Where sticky fingers helped himself to investor crypto and showered it around powerful people and spokespersons to say nice things about crypto (and to make sure crypto received favorable treatment legislatively and from a regulatory perspective).  Sam was subsequently convicted of: wire fraud, conspiracy, securities fraud, commodities fraud, money laundering.  Then again, this has always been an industry in the shadows, the preferred cash or asset class of criminals and libertarians… who am I kidding, libertarians are criminals.   

 

So, in the span of a few months, we went from the FTX scandal and SBF behind bars (notice, the MSM couldn’t get that story off the front pages fast enough) to talk of making Bitcoin a Strategic Reserve Asset, with Trump declaring at a recent crypto conference the desire to hold crypto as a strategic reserve, held by the federal government, that cannot be sold.  Who would stand to gain with the U.S. government holding Bitcoin, crypto as a strategic reserve … take a look at who contributed to Trump’s campaign.  Silicon Valley venture capitalists, libertarians, and crypto enthusiast, Peter Thiel.  Wall St banks and bankers who have waded into the market, the crypto industry, Larry Fink at Blackrock… and of course, Elon Musk, who is now a big Trump backer and a holder of crypto.  Separately, there’s fossil fuels which provides the energy for the energy sucking blockchain technology that runs the industry.  Hell, maybe even the defense industry… instead of running around the planet, stealing oil and natural resources from the global south, perhaps America will go swashbuckling around the globe to steal crypto doubloons?   

 

Bottom line: With the U.S. government giving Bitcoin its seal of approval and holding it as a strategic reserve, the asset price should increase considerably (and certainly help establish a floor), and potentially, set off a crypto arms race to accumulate the coin among nation-states.  Trump's ultra-wealthy backers and Silicon Valley crowd could see their crypto holdings, potentially, exponentially increase in value.  The U.S. government, too, may have a vested interest in seeing crypto asset values skyrocket. 

 

Not bad for a currency, um asset, um thin air?   Not bad for bytes or digital code not backed by any asset, that only exists in the cyber realm… in fact, if we factor in the impact blockchain has on the environment, crypto or the phantom asset actually has negative worth or real value?  Truly, Bitcoin is a faith-based asset, not unlike Tulip bulbs, fiat currency, and other manias and get rich quick schemes that have spanned the centuries.  So how did we get here?  How did we go from this upstart asset or currency, prone to fraud and market manipulation, that was supposed to usurp the dollar, a libertarian pipe dream that was developed as a response to FED money printing (the preferred asset class, currency of the dark web and career criminals)… to an asset class favored by billionaires, Wall St, and now, promoted by at least one presidential candidate?  

 

To answer that question we need to examine America’s catastrophic national debt and who currently possesses the resulting wealth and windfall, as a direct result of the massive transfer of wealth -  from the public to the billionaire class, banks, boomers, and corporations -  that has spanned the last several decades.  The national debt, if we take the government at its word, is around $36 trillion; if we count the $4 trillion printed up to bailout Wall St back in 2020, under Trump’s watch, which was called a loan at that time, it’s $40 trillion. This national debt was printed up to bailout Wall St, finance tax cuts for the rich, fund corporate welfare, backstop all manner of corruption & giveaways in congress, and finance endless for-profit wars and empire… and create hundreds of billionaires by bailing out and inflating asset classes of the wealthy (see the stock market).  Mr. Trump himself ran up eight trillion dollars, during his time as president, not counting the aforementioned extra $4 trillion to help out his friends on Wall St. 

 

In short, this $40 trillion has made a handful of people extremely wealthy and powerful in a very short amount of time… power they’ve further used to consolidate entire industries into predatory cartels and monopolies.  As I’m fond of saying, monopoly or unaccountable totalitarian power over everything from the economy, to government, prices, regulators, and wages.  This monopoly power has also made the U.S. government exceptionally corrupt, crushed opportunity and living standards for the American people, and debased and significantly diminished the purchasing power of the dollar. 

 

It's that last point that is increasingly on the wealthiest one percent’s mind, the debasement of the dollar, and how exactly to pay off the looting of the U.S. credit line, ahem, I mean national debt???  Or make it go away.  The national debt standing now as a constant reminder… a flashing neon beacon of avarice, greed, fiscal irresponsibility, of the theft that has occurred, and exactly who gained from the looting of the U.S. Treasury & credit line. 

 

What to do, what to do?  The prudent thing to do would be a combination of taxation and a methodical, responsible debt write-down.  After all, why are the American people being taxed to service the debt load on this monstrous debt, while they suffer endless austerity, unresponsive & incompetent governance, and a violent economy with predatory monopolies constantly jacking up the price of basic goods and services (and simultaneously, strangling labor)?   No, the responsible thing would be for the banks, billionaires, and corporations -- who gained the most from the FED’s money printing orgy -- to pony up and pay significantly higher taxes.  Many nation-states find themselves in similar circumstances, as the U.S., with high debt to GDP ratios.  They too, would likely welcome a multilateral, gradual, methodical public debt write-down and their public would also appreciate higher taxes on the wealthy.   (The keys to success of raising taxes on the wealthy and a public debt jubilee would be making sure that politicians didn’t use the debt write-down to spend like drunken sailors, and for the libertarians and greedsters in boardrooms and C-suites not to take advantage of the situation and begin another round of price gouging).  This would be the prudent thing.  It would also take the austerity monkey off the public’s back, and might cause a reevaluation of each nation’s priorities, particularly the failed economic paradigms that placed us here: neoliberalism, laissez-faire, and globalization. 

 

But America doesn’t do the prudent thing, and oligarchs being oligarchs, they really aren’t into paying taxes, or admitting supply-side and trickle-down are a fraud.  Besides, writing down the national down, also means – possibly – a diminished money supply, debt, and leverage used to inflate asset classes of the rich and the stock market to nosebleed valuations.  Diminished national debt also means less social control… the national debt presently used as a cudgel to beat on humanity and tamp down any expectations of equity, social & economic justice, and a responsible social welfare state to backstop greed and crony capitalism.  

 

Hence, under the auspices of shielding the rich from any inconvenience, like taxation … we get the idea of the US government setting up a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, inflating said Bitcoin, and using those inflated assets to pay down the national debt.  Splendid.

 

Hence, preserving the natural order of things: out-of-control elites pigging out at the public trough; a pandemic of global corruption; money printing; endless state welfare for colonialism, speculation, and greed; the preservation of feudalism… and indentured servitude & slavery for the public; untold human misery; wars; man-made famine; and a planet in flames.  Basically, Bitcoin, at least in theory, as the savior of a status quo with zero redeeming economic and social value.  None, nada, zip.  No wonder Trump and libertarians love crypto.

 

Will it work?  Time with tell, but with government backing the scheme, the odds are better than not of some success (certainly in further enriching Trump’s wealthy crypto backers).  Right now, crypto is still going through a purification or rehabilitation phase… FTX and SBF are in the rearview mirror but many have not forgotten…and undoubtedly, will take some time to sell to the public.  Wall St and the government certainly are doing their part to normalize, regulate, and profit from crypto assets.  The key question is, will nation-states accept, play along, and bid up crypto and Bitcoin?  (The Global South may not want to play ball and prop up U.S. dollar hegemony?)  Trump, in true Trumpian fashion, has used China as a threat to sell his plan; but if we are completely honest, China’s government has been far more responsible in dealing with & strictly prohibiting and regulating crypto, as a rogue asset, than the American gov.  

 

If all else fails, the United States just might want to nationalize the Fortune 500 and the billionaire class…  and strip the companies & the elite of all assets and sell ‘em off?   This too, could pay down considerable debt.  Perhaps the empire could be put on the market… although I’m sure few nations will stand in line to purchase Boeing products or Lockheed’s F-35.

 

In the meantime, all hail Bitcoin.  Depending upon one’s perspective, the new financial messiah or yet another Ponzi scheme has arrived.

(Notice, all discussion on the FED issuing a digital currency, so far, has been shut down, which would mean Bitcoin appreciation accrues to private individuals & government holdings - not exclusively to the taxpayer; notice, this entire exercise could be a Trojan horse for a far grander agenda, like, depending upon the degree of appreciation, replacing the dollar altogether with private sector digital currency.)

  

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024