SGNews Staff

This article was written by one or more SGNews staff members.

San Francisco gun buy-back overwhelming success

Dec 222012

Crowds lined up for two miles to turn in weapons including assault rifles.

by Lori Preuitt

A gun buyback day in San Francisco and Oakland brought out huge crowds Saturday as local residents turned over firearms for cash.

Each person turning in a working firearm to police was given $200 cash. The line was around the block in San Francisco where the group ran out of cash by early afternoon and started handing out IOU.'s.

Manitoba privatizes property registry

Dec 212012

Public services

Job losses and fee hikes are expected.

by SGNews Staff

Toronto-based Teranet will be taking over the Manitoba's profitable property registry service, the Manitoba government announced recently . The announcement prompted concern by the Manitoba Government Employees Union that the privatization will result in significant job loss and fee increases for Manitobans.

Featured videos December 19, 2012

Dec 192012

Uncategorized

Video gallery archives

[Gallery not found]

Africa for Norway

Dec 172012

Humour

Radi-Aid aims to bring warmth to a cold climate.

by Studentenes og Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond (SAIH)

African musicians donate their talents to raise aid for Norway.

SAIH is the solidarity organisation of students and academics in Norway. SAIH focuses on education in development cooperation, as well as North/South information and political advocacy in Norway.

Worried about the deficit?

Dec 142012

Public Values

The study by "Alltogethernow" found Canada is in the best fiscal position of all the richest countries in the world.

Worry about tax fairness instead.

by SGNews Staff

For decades, Canadians have been hearing that government spending and the deficit must be reigned in. A recent study produced by "allltogethernow", a campaign run by the National Union of Provincial Government Employees, invites Canadians to look at the facts.

Total government spending in Canada has dropped dramatically in the last 16 years. In 2002, total government spending in Canada as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 53 per cent. In 2008 it was 39 per cent — the third lowest of the G7 countries, and the 11th lowest of the 30-member Organzation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The deficit? Canada is in the best fiscal position of the richest countries in the world. In the G7, Canada has the lowest government debt. According to the Internation Monetary Fund, our deficit is 32 per cent, compared to 142 per cent for Japan, 91 per cent for the United Kingdon and 83 per cent for the United States.

Our total debt is less than half (32 per cent of GDP) of what it was under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (70 per cent).

The real problem, according to NUPGE, is a revenue problem — a drop of three per cent in government spending, from 36 per cent in 1995 to 33 per cent in 2008. That translates to a loss of about $50 billion in revenue that could have been spent on public services.

The drop in revenue can be traced to policies that upped the tax rate for lower income Canadians and dropped it for the wealthiest. The richest one per cent now have a lower total tax rate than that of the poorest 10 per cent.

The article refers to corporate tax rates as a "race to the bottom." Canada has the lowest corporate tax rates in the G7 — lower than those of the US by about 15 per cent.

Choose your own life for 2013

Dec 132012

Features

Author gives counterintuitive advice about choosing your priorities for the year ahead.

from Stepwise Press

FOXBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, December 12, 2012 — Overall, Americans [and Canadians] are just plain exhausted — and it isn’t surprising. Society tells us (not very subtly, either) that we need to perform to a certain standard, look a certain way, weigh a certain number, make a certain amount of money, and much more. Too bad that “perfect” lifestyle is impossible to achieve. Nobody can do it all, all of the time.