mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

  • Archives
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Sharing
  • Special Features
  • The Boutique
  • Who?
  • Presidents

socialism

Friday September 25, 2020

October 1, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 25, 2020

Feds begin new sitting by boosting COVID-19 recovery benefit

January 23, 2020

The federal government has announced it is increasing one of a trio of promised new COVID-19 aid benefits, to be equivalent to the amount received through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit that will expire at the end of the month, a move that may have secured the political support needed for the Liberal minority to stay afloat.

Kicking off the first full day of the new parliamentary session, the Liberals tabled Bill C-2 to implement the new benefits, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal minority seeks opposition support to avoid a snap election during a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The House of Commons began its as-normal-as-possible sitting for the first time since the pandemic put a pause on regular business back in March. Debate in response to Wednesday’s speech from the throne will continue throughout the day, offering more MPs time to speak to whether they liked what they heard, and if it’ll be enough for them to support the government in a confidence vote.

October 23, 2019

The minority Liberals will need to garner at least some support for the throne speech from across the aisle, or risk seeing their government fall. Early indications were that this support, may not be as secure as the Liberals might like. The Liberals currently hold 154 seats, the Conservatives have 121, the Bloc Québécois hold 32, the NDP have 24, the Green Party has three and there are two Independents and two vacancies.

The speech fixated primarily on how to keep supporting Canadians financially through COVID-19, while repairing inequalities the pandemic has exposed. Billed as “an ambitious plan for an unprecedented reality,” it included a commitment to keep up certain business aid benefits, to create a national child care and job creation plan, and emphasized that Canada has to tackle climate change, systemic racism, and gender inequity.

With the Conservatives already ardently against the speech, and the Bloc Quebecois sounding like they haven’t seen enough yet, but could come around if billions in new health funding is sent to the provinces, the Liberals are looking to the NDP for support.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh had said right after the throne speech that he wanted to see CERB extended and a form of paid sick leave implemented. (CTV) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2020-31, Canada, Jagmeet Singh, Justin Trudeau, Left, Liberal, map, NDP, socialism

Friday April 30, 2020

May 8, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 30, 2020

Coronavirus Proves Capitalism Has Always Been a Lie

April 2, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause mass death and upheaval around the world, there has been an unexpected side effect: it has unmasked capitalism. In the U.S., this unmasking can be seen in both the Federal Reserve’s actions as well as Congress’ coronavirus aid legislation, the CARES Act, both of which reveal critical truths about an economic system that has been sold to working people as one thing and as quite another to banks and corporations. To shed some much needed light on the intricacies of our financial situation during the latest crisis, “Scheer Intelligence” host Robert Scheer spoke with acclaimed economist and attorney Ellen Brown. 

There are plenty of parallels to be drawn between the last financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, with the clear exception being that now we’re not just dealing with a broken economy but with a deadly virus. Brown, who has written over a dozen books on economics and is the founder of the Public Banking Institute, explains how, unfortunately, the Covid-19 bailouts will once again betray Americans just as the 2008 stimulus did. 

November 14, 2008

“In 2008 the bailout was basically of the banks, or we had quantitative easing that went to the banks,” the author tells Scheer. “And then the idea was that the banks were supposed to lend that into the real economy, but of course, they didn’t do it. … But now we have even more credit facilities [and] the problem is, they’re all going to help the big corporations, and the hedge funds, and virtually every sort of shady business. Things the Federal Reserve couldn’t lend to before, [but] now they have new ways of doing it.”

The nefarious uses of the CARES Act have been blasted all over the press, and now news has emerged that the Federal Reserve is planning on handing big corporations a whopping half a trillion dollars with “no strings attached” and zero interest. As Scheer points out, however, this seemingly miraculous economic response at times of crisis, when money is suddenly conjured out of thin air, is nothing new. 

“The fact is, this is like what happens in wartime. You know, you had the Great Depression, [and when ] we went to war, suddenly [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt was able to really spend money,” says the “Scheer Intelligence” host, “And as a result, we got out of the Great Depression. In wartime, the government just prints money, finds it somewhere, and no questions asked. 

Living in a Pandemic

“And that’s what happened now,” Scheer goes on. “Because of this pandemic, Congress just said, OK, we’re going to find–what, you said $4 trillion; I’m sure it’ll grow to $8 trillion. They don’t do that ever about, say, dealing with poverty or education, or any of these things; they always are very tight with the dollar. But now, because we have this warlike situation, they can suddenly find this money, and they can spend it in a totally unaccountable way.”

March 7, 2020

But just as the deadly pandemic is becoming yet another opportunity for Wall Street and corporations to swindle the public with the help of the government, it’s also finally made one thing very clear: Universal Basic Income is absolutely possible. 

“As you say, if they could find the money for all that,” Brown tells Scheer in response to his summary regarding how money has always been funneled to the top, “they could clearly find the money for the people. My preferred option [is what] they call ‘helicopter money.’ Money that’s just created by the Federal Reserve and flown–theoretically, the original term came from flying helicopters over the people and just dropping the money equally on everybody. And we could still do that, and that’s called a Universal Basic Income.”

Brown goes on to explain in detail why it’s not only affordable, but won’t cause the massive inflation that critics so often write about whenever the measure is suggested.

“It’s not going to be inflationary,” she explains, “and that’s because of the way money comes into existence. We don’t really have a money system; we have a credit system. All of our money is credit; it’s created as credit on the books of banks, and it’s extinguished when the loans are paid off.” 

Perhaps her most shocking calculation is that were the current stimulus money to be divvied up and sent directly to families, it would end up being $13,000 per person, not the measly $1,200 the government is sending out as a one-off. Where, you may ask, did all the rest of that money go? As Brown and Scheer continually remind us, it’s been sent to the companies that pull all the strings in our rigged system. (KCRW) 



 

Posted in: Canada, International, USA Tagged: 2020-15, Coronavirus, covid-19, Economy, Karl Marx, May Day, pandemic, Pandemic Times, socialism, wealth

Thursday February 7, 2019

February 14, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 7, 2019

Health inspections, air ambulance won’t be privatized, minister says

December 3, 2002

Ontario’s health minister was forced to make assurances Monday that long-term care inspections and the province’s air ambulance service will not be privatized, as leaked documents appear to peg those services for “outsourcing.”

Christine Elliott’s comments came after the NDP released a second set of confidential government documents following the release last week of a draft version of the Progressive Conservative government’s upcoming health-care transformation legislation.

“The NDP have intentionally created confusion about the way care is delivered in this province,” Elliott said. “As we bring forward desperately needed and overdue change to health-care in this province, Ontarians will continue to access reliable, public health-care.”

December 21, 2016

The Ontario Provincial Police have been notified about the document leaks and the person responsible is no longer employed by the government, the head of the public service said in a memo.

Both sets of leaked documents show the government is creating a health “super agency” that would be in charge of managing health services, quality improvement, patient relations, digital health and tissue donation and transplants, among other responsibilities.

The draft legislation would allow the government to roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario, the Trillium Gift of Life Network and other government health agencies into the super agency. The local health networks are responsible for delivering home care, and one document warns of a risk of service disruptions.

Animated!

Elliott said the plan is not final and consultations are ongoing, but the NDP say the documents they revealed Monday include references to cabinet already approving the overall plan and appointing super agency board members.

One document, as part of a Dec. 13 workshop for assistant deputy ministers, references outsourcing laboratories — many of which are already privately run — inspections, licensing, devices and the province’s air ambulance service, Ornge.

Elliott said none of those services will be privatized. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2019-05, caduseus, health, healthcare, private, public, reform, socialism, universal

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • The Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys
  • National Newswatch
  • Reporters Without Borders Global Ranking

Brand New Designs!

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

Archives

Copyright © 2016 mackaycartoons.net

Powered by Wordpess and Alpha.