UNEMPLOYMENT IS LIKE THAT OLD “BAD NEWS/GOOD NEWS” JOKE. The bad news is there is nothing to eat but buffalo chips. The good news is that there are plenty of buffalo chips. Our current low unemployment rate is like that. What should be good news is actually bad news.

“The banks are made of marble
With a guard at every door
And the vaults are stuffed with silver
That the worker sweated for”

At present, of course, the banks are now more often made of glass and steel. Their vaults are largely virtual, just numbers on a screen. But the workers—and the unemployed—are still sweating. And the banks are still raking it in. Oh, are they ever.

MORE JOBS FOR WOMEN IS NOT GOOD NEWS. Sophie Webb explains why in her new study A Deal with the Devil: An analysis of the feminization of labour, the rise of the precariat and the effects of contract work on Canadians

ONE HUNDRED CEOs WANT DOUG FORD TO THINK AGAIN. They want the Ontario premier to change his mind about junking the province’s Universal Basic Income pilot project. They believe scrapping the pilot loses a real chance to gain insight into constructive ways to deal with real job destruction and income loss.

EDDY ALMEIDA PROMISED DOUG FORD A FIGHT. He had 8000 people ready to back him up. They were gathered on the lawn in front to the Ontario legislature on October 23 to warn the Ontario premier not to make cuts to their health care.

GEOFFREY RUBIN IS PLEASED WITH THE JOB HE’S DOING. The rest of us not so much. Not since we learned he’s investing some of our CPP (Canada Pension Plan) money in companies that profit from locking up immigrants crossing into the USA.

YOU CAN FORGET THE RUMOURS ABOUT ELECTORAL REFORM. A change to proportional representation (PR) does not bring instability, uncertainty, and political conflict. A quick look at countries using a PR-based voting system proves it.

NONE OF US WANTS TO WIND UP AS SHARK BAIT. But a lot of us do. Statistics show a lot of us get hooked by “payday lenders” with their loan shark interest rates. Susan Leblanc wants to use credit unions to make that unnecessary.

The “Pink Tax” makes Erum Khan see red. “It’s bullshit!” she says. “Women make less than men but we pay more for everything because marketers tell us we’re not good enough the way we are and we need something ‘special’ to improve us.