News roundup, 22 Aug 2025

- Following another apparent suicide attempt at Winnipeg's Millennium Library on Wednesday, the top floor of the facility has been temporarily closed to the public while the city looks at possible safety upgrades. Reportedly a person was trying to climb over the railing on the top floor but was stopped by security.

- Lindsey Halligan, the Trump regime's official leading a review of exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution, is concerned that said exhibits portray slavery in an overly negative light. Halligan told the far-right news channel Newsmax that you "can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you talk about hope and progress". 

- Donald Trump says that his administration will not approve any new solar or wind power projects, despite the fact that the AI industry desperately needs more generating capacity and new new fossil fuel, hydroelectric, or nuclear plants can take many years to get online. They are, however, vetoing the closure of a coal plant in Michigan against the wishes of the plant's owner.

- Police in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario say that the man charged with aggravated assault on a home invader had stabbed the invader. Police do say that violently attacking someone who's already been subdued, for instance, would be an example of the use of excessive force. I don't disagree in theory, but part of me thinks it might be unrealistic to expect someone who's half awake and facing a situation they've never faced before to be capable of making a clear-headed decision about something like that. I hate to agree with the likes of Doug Ford, but maybe, just maybe something like the "castle doctrine" might be legitimate to enshrine in law for that reason. To be clear, though, I would very much oppose extending this to "stand your ground" laws, which end up being essentially legalized vigilantism (see for instance the notorious case of George Zimmerman).

- Job cuts at the Canada Revenue Agency have made it almost impossible to get through to the agency by phone. Over 3,000 call centre staff have been laid off since May of 2024, and now fewer than 5% of calls to the agency get through to someone. To make matters worse, the Carney government's austerity plans call for even more layoffs at the agency. Perhaps the government thinks that layoffs at the CRA will score them some populist points, but it's very short-sighted.

- Young adults in the US are dying at rates that far exceed those of comparable countries. Notably, this is true for many different causes of death (car accidents, overdoes, suicides, and death from disease are all higher in young Americans than in peer countries). This has been in the works for more than a decade. 

Conservative austerity - Not what the doctor ordered

Brian at Just Damn Stupid has found this Bloomberg article which shows the folly of cutting budgets when the economy is rocky:

Sorry, fiscal austerity doesn’t work. For evidence, look no further than the U.K.

This can’t be good news for the U.S. political right, whose mantra has been: cut spending, put a lid on deficits, and growth will improve.

All sorts of good things, it is claimed, will spring from a turn to austerity that stops all this stimulus nonsense and prevents the Federal Reserve from doing more quantitative easing. Reductions in spending, according to a theory known as Ricardian equivalence, will do no harm because lower borrowing will automatically lead to higher private spending. Plus, of course, there is the notion of crowding out, meaning that reining in the public sector leaves room for the private industry to step in and all will be well.

This is dangerous hogwash.

There is little historical precedent in the real world, though lots of fantasizing in the made-up world of economic theorists, to suggest that fiscal austerity works. The best example of austerity’s failure is the double-dip that occurred in the late 1930s in the U.S., when spending was reduced too soon in a nascent recovery. In contrast, the U.K. didn’t have a double-dip because it was engaging in classic Keynesian spending as it began re- arming.

And as Brian goes on to point out, Hugh McFadyen's promise to balance the budget on an annual basis would require ridiculous budget cuts... not what Manitoba needs by a long shot.