Two Monday Morning Links

There are two pieces on the Occupy Toronto situation that are worth reading in today's paper. The first is the editorial in the Toronto Star examining the possibilities for the future now that the occupiers will soon be decamping from St. James Park due to a judicial decision just handed down. It is a decision that need hardly sound the death knell of a movement that is resonating with millions of people.

The second piece, by Linda McQuaig, accords the Occupy Movement high praise indeed. Says McQuaig:

[T]hey’ve managed to change the public discourse, putting inequality front and centre — something activists and writers, myself included, have failed to accomplish despite decades of trying.

I'm hoping, and betting, that this is only the end of the beginning.

A New School Year Begins

There is no doubt in my mind that education is not what it once was. And no, this is not about to become a screed about the lowering of academic standards. Rather, it is only a recognition that like just about everything else, education has become a commodity, its value measured almost exclusively by its ability to lead to a good-paying job.

What's wrong with that, one might ask? While having a job that remunerates well is a desirable outcome, in my view, as a retired high school teacher, it should be one of the end results of a good education, not education's raison d'etre.

The classical notion of education, as a process whereby we gain the tools with which to interpret the world, is now considered a quaint notion, one that may be pursued by the wealthy, but one that has no practical place in the 'real world'. In other words, acquiring the tools for critical thinking, as opposed to the learning how to design something or to enter the business world, is largely considered to be a time-waster, something that will not serve one in good stead. That is how far we have deviated from and declined from real education.

And, at the risk of sounding like a wild-eyed radical, that departure serves the corporate agenda very well. Universities, once a breeding ground fermenting new ideas whose goal was to make us better as a society and as a species, has become so debased that it is now largely there to maintain the status quo, not to rock the boat. It no longer holds the potential for infusing society with new intellectual blood, but rather has become the silent enabler of the corporate aim, to serve the god of unfettered capitalism that masquerades as the friend to all.

So, on this first day back to school for so many, what can the average person do, hungry for change and challenge to what has become the status quo that has betrayed countless millions of North Americans? She and he can become educated and acquire critical thinking skills through the rigours of reading and informed discussion.

Here are a few suggestions to start off:

The Trouble with Billionaires – Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks
The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein
The Death of the Liberal Class – Chris Hedges

One warning to those who haven't read these works: approaching them with an open mind will inevitably lead to agitation, outrage, and a changed world view. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, you will now begin to see 'the man behind the curtain.' I do not advise perusal at bedtime, unless the prospect of insomnia inspires no fear.

An Incisive Analysis Of Broken U.S. Tax Policy

Although readily dismissed as a socialist by the right-wing, Linda McQuiag offers a fine analysis of the failings of U.S. tax policy in an article entitled Tycoons Laughing All the Way to the Bank. In it, she gives the example of hedge fund managers, the top 25 of whom earn an average of almost $900 million per annum, having to pay a mere 15% tax rate on their income. Others earn much more: David Tepper of Appaloosa Management made $4 billion in 2010, on top of the $4 billion he made in 2009, and he'll make about the same this year as well; George Soros made $3.3 billion last year.

Yet even that obvious insult to the working and middle classes is considered sacrosanct by the Tea Party true believers. Yet another instance of failed political leadership.

Linda McQuaig on Canda's Role in Africa

Although Canadians have traditionally regarded themselves as champions of the underclass, that image is challenged in yesterday's Toronto Star column by Linda McQuaig as she examines how the Candian Government's support of multi-national corporations is contributing to the fact that resource-laden countries such as Tanzania are getting a mere pittance for the gold extraction operations of Barrick gold.

As well, she talks about how a private member's bill that would have made Canadian companies more accountable for their actions (think of last month's killings of several Tanzanians at Barrick's gold mine) in the countries of their operations was defeated.

As is often the case, the image of Canada's benign influence on the world is at steep odds with the truth.