[no subject]

[Dickens, Edwin]

>it's unclear that the economy can sustain positive real short-term interest >rates.


I was thinking of Jim's assertion that there are speculative bubbles in some real estate markets, and my suggestion that the same might be true in some commodity markets.  A speculative bubble exists whenever a market is dominated by investors ("noise traders" in the economics literature) with short time horizons who have taken highly leveraged long positions.  Real positive short-term interest rates would force noise traders to unwind their positions.  The Fed's task, when it decides to raise interest rates, will be to goad noise traders into unwinding their long positions gradually, as opposed to the more likely panicked stampede for the exits.  An apt metaphor is trying to let some air out of a balloon without either popping or deflating it.  

Edwin (Tom) Dickens

[no subject]

[Charles Brown]

Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 09:09:37 -0500

From: dmschanoes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Subject: Re:

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First a little point for point

- Original Message -

From: soula avramidis

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2004 6:19 AM

Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Mark Jones Was Right



That oil is a finite resource is not a question; I hope. because if we

were to argue it is not, then that is a doosy per se. so what is the

problem here, that oil will peak in 2006, 2010, or 2015 etc. is

Hubbert's an imprecise forecast method. this is just like saying the

bubble will burst but I do not know when give or take five years.







dms: Or it's like predicting that the stock market is going to fall,

or that it's going to rain. Make the prediction every day and

eventually, maybe, you'll be right, but only half as right as a stopped

clock which is right twice a day, with exactly the same lack of meaning.





The point is not the predictive accuracy for yes, oil is indeed

finite. The point is whether or not the current actions of the

bourgeois order, of capital, are determined by the finite capacity of a

"natural" resource, or by those contradictions inherent to a system

where the means of production are organized as a property form requiring

the aggrandizement of wage labor.





In simpler language-- is the determinant of the current situation

based on the falling rate of profit in the oil industry based on the

growth of constant capital, or is the determinant some quickly

approaching depletion of the "natural" supply?

___









so what next, that production will peak and that bringing in new

capacity to past levels will cost more per unit of output. and that oil

price and control is relevant since oil is a principal commodity in all

production. it is precisely the point at which cheap oil production

evaporates when alternative energy sources are too costly to smooth the

transition from one mode of energy dependency to another in the process

if you like of capital accumulation.

it is not like as if we were going to wake up tomorrow and find that

oil is gone. it is like when it becomes more expensive to draw oil out

of the ground, going for control of high reserves of cheaply mined Arab

oil (1 dollar per barrel) makes for a hell business, both in itself and

insofar as you strangle others with it. that is why Iraq and the gulf

where cost of production is cheap is the big prize for US bourgeoisie







dms: There have been three OPEC price spikes since 1973. None of

them had anything to do with increased costs of production. In fact,

the latest one 1999 was in fact triggered by overproduction, itself a

result of the declining cost of production below the 1949 post WW2 low.

You can look it up.





Further, the historic trend for finding and lifting costs for US

petroleum majors has been downward since 1973, with an upturn around

1996-97 as more US effort went into deepwater drilling. The recent

trend has resumed its downward costs.





You are right. We sure aren't going to wake up and find the oil gone.

And the bourgeoisie and the markets do NOT react to predicted 30 year

scarcities. Capital does not allow that. It's all about fear and greed

for capital, today's fear and greed, today's cash. Markets have no

memory and less imagination. If it were otherwise, there would never be

overproduction, or bubbles, or the repitition of the same old same old

scams.

__





. that is why Mark Jones was not only right.. his little peace on the

castration of Japanese capital was one good piece of Leninist analysis,

but he like I fall into the trap of becoming natural scientist when we

are not.

the point is not about natural science however, it is about the

process during decline.







dms:

Don't know if I read that piece, but yes OPEC 1 in particular sure

smacked the Japanese around, and OPEC 2 had some impact, but moreso in

the 1986 price break, leading to the Plaza Accords, and the gutting of

the USSR>

__









And now for the another, perhaps, bigger issue:





The scarcity argument, and Mark Jones' argument was/is NOT about

cost--the depletionist argument, which Jones embraced, is about an

absolute zero of petroleum/hydrocarbon availability. That supposed

Marxists can endorse this assertion without considering its meaning for

all of Marx's work and critique, including that most important critique,

the necessity of proletarian revolution, is mind-boggling. The

depletionist argument is that the end is near, repenting won't help, and

the future looks a lot like George Miller's Mad Max ser

[no subject]

[Bill Lear]

My nephew asks: Do you know of any good articles or web sites that
comprehensively discuss the Romanian transition and expelling of
Ceaucescu?

I answer, "No, but I know lots of smarties on PEN-L who surely will".
If I remember, Ceaucescu was shot, not expelled, for starters...


Bill

[no subject]

[Julio Huato]

Gassler Robert wrote:

The problem is that concepts like heteroskedasticity refer to samples and
how well they reflect the total population. Here we have the total
population of US presidential elections, so we do not need statistical
inference.
Actually we do need statistical inference.  We do not have the "total
population."
In the context of this discussion, the "total population" is the "voters" in
recent U.S. electoral history *and* in the coming elections.  So these
"voters" include people who voted, people who may vote in November
(including those who will actually vote), *and* people who *might have*
voted (had some chance of voting) in previous elections but who actually
didn't vote.  That would be the "total population" and we don't have it.
David was using samples of this population (the voting frequencies in
previous elections) to draw inferences about the likely behavior of voters
in 2004.  Every time there's a presidential election (or every time there's
a poll) the random variable (voting choice of an individual voter) takes one
and one value only.  It's like drawing a sample from the population.  The
voting results in previous elections are samples of this population.  The
tricky part in David's exercise is that he was implicitly assuming that the
probability distribution of voting behavior was stationary or -- more
generally, if you forgive me for using this term -- ergodic, which is not.
"Stationarity" means that some characteristics of the probability
distribution remain fixed.  (What Sabri would call "homoskedasticity" or
same-variance is a strict case of variance-covariance-stationarity... ooph!)
In plain words, we don't have one and the same bucket with marbles of
different colors from which we draw samples every time there's a
presidential election.  No.  The bucket changes, the marbles change, the
colors change -- many things change in ways that we cannot easily pin down.
Julio

_
Charla con tus amigos en línea mediante MSN Messenger:
http://messenger.latino.msn.com/

[no subject]

[Julio Huato]

Louis Proyect wrote:

Well, who else is supposed to criticize the Democrats? Salon.com? The
Nation Magazine? Bill Moyers?
[clip]

I think that the point of Counterpunch (and PEN-L) is to address the
necessity of transforming the system. We are facing a downward spiral in
bourgeois politics that has been going on for decades. Richard Nixon's
domestic policies were far more "liberal" than either Clinton's or Dean's.


Yeah, everybody should slap the Democrats when they're screwing things up in
the relevant issue of the day.  How's Krugman doing?  Learn from him -- he's
trying to drive a wedge between the army (and their families) and the
administration.  That's trying to get the biggest bang for your buck.
To draw the proper economic and political lessons from the Clinton years is
an important strategic task.  But it's not the burning issue of the day.
You can seriously do it now without shooting yourself in the foot.  How
about picking on Greenspan?  He's the one who gave a free pass to the tax
cuts for the rich.
So, what's Counterpunch?  I suppose the name says it all -- it's definitely
not the Journal of Recent Economic History.  Only children and junkies need
not care about context.
As for PEN-L, I don't know, but it seems to me like a group of professional
conspirators bent on taking over the galaxy -- just look at the e-mail
address of their leader: [EMAIL PROTECTED]  Weird...
Julio

_
Las mejores tiendas, los precios mas bajos y las mejores ofertas en MSN
Latino.   http://latino.msn.com/compras

[no subject]

[Michael Hoover]

F A C I N G   S O U T H
A progressive Southern news report
September 4, 2003 * Issue 61

Published by the Institute for Southern Studies and Southern Exposure magazine. To 
join the Institute and get a year's worth of Southern Exposure and Facing South, visit 
www.southernstudies.org/support.asp 
 _  

INSTITUTE INDEX * If this is a recovery, don't show me a recession
Year that the Bush Administration says the recession ended: 2001
Amount by which the number of people in poverty grew last year, in millions: 1.4
Number of jobs that have been lost since the "recovery" started, in millions: 1
Number of manufacturing jobs lost in North and South Carolina since January 2001: 
180,000
Last time the country experienced a "hiring slump" this bad: 1939

Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies.
 _  

DATELINE: THE SOUTH * News Around the Region
THE TEXAS STALEMATE: IT'S ALL ABOUT RACE
The Democratic boycott of the Texas legislature over a redistricting battle isn't just 
about party politics -- it's also about race. As one Republican confides: "We have 10 
years until Hispanics take over." (Salon, 9/3)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090403F.shtml

GOP OWNS "NASCAR DAD" VOTE
They are middle- to lower-class white males, mostly from rural areas, who analysts 
call "NASCAR dads." They make up a demographic that Democrats want, much as they 
sought the suburban "soccer mom" vote in 2000. But their Republican leanings may make 
roadkill of the Democratic bid for the Whitehouse. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/31)
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0803/31nascardads.html

FLORIDA TOPS U.S. FOR LAW-BREAKING FARM LABOR BOSSES
Florida, America's citrus capital, is also America's capital for lawless and ruthless 
farm labor contractors. The state is home to more than four of every 10 farm 
contractors currently barred from doing business for skirting migrant farmworker laws. 
Florida is also home to the largest hub of these crew-boss contractors, more than one 
of every three nationwide. (Miami Herald, 9/1)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/108.htm

RECONSTRUCTION MONUMENT RILES SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS
An effort to highlight South Carolina's Beaufort County as the national birthplace of 
the South's Reconstruction era has stirred tension in the Lowcountry. The Sons of 
Confederate Veterans wants to stop the effort to federally protect several sites 
honoring the area's prominent historical roles in the post-Civil War period. (The 
State [Columbia, SC], 8/22) 
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/6591076.htm

VOTING MACHINE MAKER A MAJOR REPUBLICAN BOOSTER
The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in various states told Ohio 
Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio 
deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Walden O'Dell is chief 
executive of Diebold Inc., a company contracted to install machines in Georgia, North 
Carolina and other states. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/28)
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/106207171078040.xml?nohio

SOUTHERN UTILITY GIANT HIRES EPA REGULATOR
Georgia energy giant Southern Co. hired a new congressional lobbyist this week -- John 
Pemberton, chief of staff of the division of the federal Environmental Protection 
Agency that delivered a key Clean Air Act victory last week to the nation's coal-fired 
utility industry, led by Southern Co. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/4)
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0903/04southern.html

MORE THAN HALF OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOREIGN-BORN
Florida's largest county is the only county in the country where more than half the 
residents are foreign-born, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. Miami-Dade's 
foreign-born residents account for 51.4 percent of its population of 2.3-million. That 
tops counties in larger metro areas in New York and California. (St. Petersburg Times, 
9/3)
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/03/State/Born_in_USA_Not_in_Mi.shtml

THE TEXAS MACHINE
They brought you G.W. Bush, Karl Rove, and Tom DeLay, and other leaders of the 
country. Welcome to the story of the Texas Machine, or how a small group of 
politicians and corporations bought themselves a legislature and took over the world. 
(Texas Observer, 8/29)
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1434 

(no subject)

[Michael Hoover]

"We hold these truths to be self evident.  That all men are created unequal, and that 
the capitalist class is endowed with ceratin natural rights; that among these rights 
are the right to hoard, exploit, and market life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, air, 
water, food, clothing, shelter, and employment"

The Independent
23 March 2003

Activists rage against global 'water wars'

By Peter Popham in Rome

Campaigners met in Florence this weekend to condemn the notion that 
water is a resource to be bought, sold and monopolised by wealthy 
nations and corporations.

Disgusted with a World Water Forum in Kyoto that they say is "one 
more celebration of market forces, capital and private investment," 
1,000 campaigners and activists streamed into Florence to flesh out 
their vision of water as "the basic common good".

They have descended on the medieval castle in the city centre taken 
over last November by tens of thousands of participants at the 
European Social Forum.

The organisers say the forum showed that, "despite efforts over the 
past decade to discredit and marginalise alternative movements, their 
voices are part of a credible process".

Florence is a symbolic setting for the inauguration of the People's 
World Water Forum. Exactly 500 years ago, during a war between 
Florence and Pisa, Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci planned to 
divert the River Arno from Pisa, hastening that city's defeat.

That was an early water war. But speakers at the forum voiced their 
fear that the world is now heading for an endless succession of such 
wars to control access to "blue gold". They believe that participants 
at the official Water Forum in Kyoto, also taking place this week, 
are committed to the control of water by governments and corporations 
- at the permanent expense of the Third World poor.

One speaker at the forum, Riccardo Petrella, a professor of political 
economy at Leuven University in Belgium, defined water as "the basic 
element of solidarity. Sharing water is not something you do for 
others to make yourself feel good - it's something that shows you 
have things in common with that person. You don't assert that 
solidarity until you see yourself as part of the same biological and 
territorial unit."

The oppositional, bipolar perspective of the Cold War, he said, has 
been replaced by a growing sense of the inevitability of war. "They 
say that water will be the next object of conquest by the year 2020, 
when the world's population reaches eight billion," he said. "But 
water is not 'blue gold'. Water is just water, the greatest common 
good. We don't have to believe in the World Bank's scheme of 
permanent belligerency."

The forum's goal is to implant the notion of "a right to water for 
all - a global good - as a principle recognised universally", and to 
fight against "all forms of privatisation and merchandisation of 
water". They want to see the setting up of a World Water Authority 
with judicial, legislative and sanction powers - not the "purely 
technocratic approach of the disputes settlement body of the World 
Trade Organisation".

The forum's goals were unwittingly endorsed by research published 
this week showing that tap water in Italy's major cities is as good 
or better than the mineral water on which millions of euros are spent 
every year.

[no subject]

[Bill Burgess]

Hey Tom

I'm teaching Mike Lebowitz's old Marxist economics course at SFU this 
semester. Any chance you would enjoy coming to talk to 40 economics 
students about the world-historic issue of shorter work time on a Tuesday 
or Thursday between 1.30 and 3.30? I can't really offer any benefit other 
than as much beer as you can drink in one sitting and vague notions of karma.

Bill

(no subject)

[Michael Hoover]

from single payer quote of the day... 

Health Affairs 
November/December 2002 
How And Why The Health Insurance System Will Collapse 
By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of the Harris Poll 

Abstract 

The advocates of defined-contribution health plans extol the virtues of 
consumer-driven health care, consumer choice, and empowered consumers as 
solutions to the problems--particularly the rapidly growing costs--of 
employer-sponsored health benefits. This paper argues that the widespread 
use of defined contribution plans, with more consumer choice and more 
knowledgeable consumers, will lead to the erosion of the social contract on 
which health insurance must be based, with healthier employees subsidizing 
the care of older and sicker ones, and a death spiral of adverse selection. 
If unchecked by government intervention, these trends will lead to the 
collapse of employer-sponsored health insurance. 

http://www.healthaffairs.org/1130_abstract_c.php?ID=http://www.healthaffairs 
.org/Library/v21n6/s28.pdf 

[no subject]

[SA STUDIO]

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PAYMENT OPTIONS 
BANK TRANSFER - WESTERN UNION
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http://www.satattoo.com/menu/botoes/produtos/catalogodesenhosenglish.htm

(no subject)

[topp8564]

This is about Roberto Rodrigues, future Minister for Agriculture. The Minister 
for Development is Luiz Fernando Furlan, currently president of Brazilian 
agribusiness titan Sadia; foreign minister is Celso Amorim.

All of them are conservative economic nationalists, most of them aren’t even 
PT; the only sort of leftwinger in the government is the minister of the 
environment, Marina Silva…

This guys defends the right of property owners to take up arms against the MST.

Thiago Oppermann

Portuguese original at: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/
ult96u43530.shtml







Lula’s Minister was Secretary under Fleury and is Opposed to MST Farm 
Occupations

Sílvia Freire 
Folha Online

Agronomist Roberto Rodriges ,50, was nominated today for the Ministry of 
Agriculture by president-elect Luiz Inácio da Silva, and arrives at the top 
echelon of the new government bringing with him the experience of having been 
secretary for Agriculture and Supply in the State of São Paulo between 1993 and 
1994, during the governorship o Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho (ex-PMDB, now PTB 
[ie. Ex-centrist, now rightwing of the centre-left… *sigh*])

Rodrigues is an agricultural engeneer  with qualifications in rural 
administration obtained at the UNAERP in Ribeirão Preto, and professor in the 
Department of Rural Economy in the UNESP, in Joboticabal, where he currently 
leaves. The future minister is also an agriculturalist in the municipalities of 
Jaboticabal and Guariba, in São Paulo and in Balsas in the state of Maranhão.

Since 1999, Rodrigues has presided over the ABAG (Brasilian Association of 
Agribusinesses), and entity which represents 45 large businesses and 
cooperatives in the agricultural sectors, including Monsanto, the fertiliser 
and biotech enterprise; banks and agricultural cooperatives.

Rodrigues represents the private sector in the Foreign Trade Business Council, 
and between 1992 and 1993, was the sector’s representatie in the National 
Monetary Council.

In an article published by the magazine Agroanalysis, of the FGV (http://
www.abagbrasil.com.br/) in march, Rodrigues criticised the farm occupations 
under the “respectable, but debatable flag of agrarian reform” and argued a 
defense of the property-ownders “who end up arming themselves to defend 
themselves”.

In the text, Rodrigues criticises the worker’s rights legislation which 
construes rural employers as debtors, as victims of specialist lawyers.

In another article, published in august in the same magazine, the future 
minister defended the association of government and private enterprise to 
increase the competitiveness of Brazilian products in the international arena, 
so as to increase exports.

In this text, Rodrigues says that the federal government has been “timid” in 
its actions in the funding, logistical and in international negotiations and 
criticises the Government for having refused to presen the WTO with a document 
composed by the Ministry of Agriculture about losses caused by American 
protectionism.

Rodrigues was one of the organises of the first national congress of rural 
economy, which for 18 years has defined the trajectories for development of 
agrobusiness in Brazil. This year he organized the first Brazilian Congress of 
Agribusiness, which will discussed policies to increase the competitiveness of 
the country internernally and externally.





-
This mail sent through IMP: www-mail.usyd.edu.au

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[Michael Hoover]

[no subject]

[Devine, James]

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

[no subject]

[Devine, James]

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

(no subject)

[Waistline2]

Unsubscribe. Thanks 

(no subject)

[Bill Rosenberg]

SIGNOFF PEN-L

[no subject]

[Work from home in your own free time]

(no subject)

[Anthony D'Costa]

unsubscribe

[no subject]

[Gil Skillman]

Where I wrote
>There's no reason
to think that Marx understands "a bourgeois system of ethics"
to embrace the notion "that every commodity sells at its [labor]
value," and some significant reasons to believe to the contrary.
First, Marx associates the former primarily with *formal* (as opposed to
quantitative) equality in the exchange relationship (and the bourgeoise
political economist par excellence, Adam Smith, did not insist that
commodities should exchange at their [labor]
values);<
Jim responds
what Smith thought is
indeed a non sequitur, since Marx was dealing with mid-19th century
bourgeois thought (especially Ricardo, with Lockean moral overtones, as
when the businessman asserts that his property arose from his own
labor).  Marx himself cited obscure thinkers such as Mercier de la
Riviere who represented the crude political economy of his
time...
Uh, Jim, Mercier de la Riviere published the work cited by Marx in 1767,
9 years before Smith published the Wealth of Nations.  And the other
"contemporary" economists Marx cited in his Ch. 5 discussion
are Condillac (1776) and Le Trosne (1777).  You were
saying...?
Anyway, my basic point still holds--there is no evident basis for
believing that Marx associated any ethical connotations, bourgeoise or
otherwise, with the condition that commodities exchange at their
respective values.
Later, where I wrote
>In KI, Chapter 5,
Marx advances arguments *justifying* his subsequent assumption that
commodities exchange at their respective values. He doesn't actually
invoke this assumption analytically until the beginning of KI, Ch. 6,
[i.e., immediately after the quote above.] that is, *after* he's
justified this stipulation. The passage that Jim quotes here is the
conclusion of the argument intended to justify this assumption, not the
assumption itself. <
Jim responds
I don't think that
Marx presents his ideas that way, like some sort of deductive process. As
I've said before and for brevity's sake will not repeat at length, that
part of CAPITAL should best be seen as written like a
mystery.
I won't dispute that this part of CAPITAL reads like a mystery to you,
Jim.  But the fact remains that Marx *is* making a deductive
argument here, and he advertises it as such. He isn't simply asserting
that surplus value *can* be explained on the basis that commodities
exchange at their values, as you suggest; he's insisting that the
explanation *must* be made on this basis. This reading is nicely
corroborated in the sentence just before the passage you cite from
Chapter 5:
"The transformation of money into capital *has to be developed* on
the basis of the immanent laws of the exchange of commodities, in such a
way that the starting-point is the exchange of equivalents." [I,
268-9, emphasis added]
The claim is reiterated in the final footnote of the chapter, where Marx
says
"If prices actually differ from values, we *must* first reduce the
former to the latter, i.e., disregard this situation as an accidental one
in order to observe the phenomenon of the formation of capital on the
basis of the exchange of commodities in its purity..." [emphasis
added]
Now, clearly Marx isn't saying this assumption "has to be"
made, "must" be imposed, to satisfy the demands of etiquette,
or on ethical grounds, or because somebody will break your legs if you
don't; Marx is saying that this conclusion is *logically* entailed by the
argument he develops in the chapter.  And as I pointed out, this
argument is logically invalid.   
Gil




>And for what it's
worth, as he painstakingly spells out in the final 
footnote of Chapter 5, Marx justifies this assumption on the
basis that 
price-value disparities are "incidental" to the
existence of surplus value. The warrant he gives for this conclusion,
developed at length in the body of Chapter 5, is that price-value
disparities are not of themselves *sufficient* to account for the
existence of surplus value.<

I'm quite familiar with that quotation. He doesn't see
value/price deviations as contradicting his theory of exploitation.
Instead, he ignores them as part of his mode of presentation.

>One could, with exactly parallel logic, conclude that
the presence of 
oxygen in the earth's atmosphere is "incidental"
to the existence of human life on the planet, since it is not of itself
sufficient to account for the existence of human life... 
<

no, that's a false analogy, since in CAPITAL volume I, Marx
shows that exploitation can exist _despite_ an assumed price/value
equality. No-one has shown that life on earth can exist despite a
hypothesized lack of oxygen. 

JD 

(no subject)

[PERROTINI HERNANDEZ IGNACIO]

unsuscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[no subject]

[Richardson_D]

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2002:

A sharp decline in food prices out-weighed the increase in gasoline and
tobacco prices, causing the producer price index to drop 0.2 percent in
April, compared with a 1.0 percent increase in March, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The prices of consumer foods dropped 3.2
percent in April, compared with a 0.6 percent increase in March, BLS said.
The so-called core rate of wholesale inflation -- finished goods minus food
and energy -- increased 0.1 percent in April.  Over the year, the core PPI
has risen 0.4 percent (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

Wholesale prices fell 0.2 percent in April, led by the biggest drop in food
costs in nearly 3 decades.  The decline in the producer price index was a
big turnaround from the sharp 1 percent increase registered in March, the
Labor Department reported.  Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the
"core" rate of wholesale inflation rose 0.1 percent for the second straight
month (The Washington Post, May 11, page E2).

Producer prices fell unexpectedly in April as food costs showed the biggest
decline in almost 3 decades and sluggish demand made it harder for companies
to charge more, the government reported today.  The Producer Price Index,
which measures prices paid to factories, farmers, and other suppliers of
goods and materials, dropped 0.2 percent after gaining 1 percent in March,
the Labor Department said.  Excluding food and energy, the index rose 0.1
percent, the 11th consecutive reading of that size or smaller (Bloomberg
News, The New York Times, May 11, page B2).

April's unexpected decline in U.S. wholesale prices, which includes the
biggest drop in food prices in 28 years, suggests inflation is abating even
as the economy rebounds.  The Labor Department said Friday the producer
price index for finished goods fell 0.2 percent, the first decline in 4
months.  The drop largely reflected a 3.2 percent fall in food prices and a
slowdown in the growth of energy prices:  When food and energy items are
excluded, the "core" index rose 0.1 percent, the same rate as in March.
Excluding a 3.9 percent increase in tobacco prices, core prices declined 0.1
percent; according to Morgan Stanley (The Wall Street Journal, page A6).

Writing on trade unions Mary Ellen Slayter (The Washington Post "Career
Track" feature, page E4) says "Although a 1999 survey by Peter D. Hart
Research Associates, Inc. found that young adults (18 to 34) are twice as
likely to think positively about unions than negatively, many young workers
don't quite understand how unions work."  In her article, she quotes Bureau
of Labor Statistics' data, saying "...union members made 15 percent more
than nonunion workers in 2001, according to the U.S. Labor Department.  On
average, union workers made $718 a week in 2001; nonunion workers made
$575."  One commonly cited complaint (about union membership) is the cost of
dues.  "Most unions set dues as a percentage of pay.  Those who make more,
pay more," says Slayter.  Another common objection is that unions aren't
suitable for "professionals" or intellectual workers, that they are only
appropriate for factory workers.  White-collar workers generally believe
they should negotiate individually based on their talent and skills, not
based on where they fall under the union contract.  This is one reason why
there are fewer union workers today than 10 years ago.  In a service
economy, individual talents, which are often hard to judge objectively,
allow some to advance in their careers faster than others. In 2001, 13.5
percent of wage and salary workers were union members, unchanged from 2000,
according to the U.S. Labor Department.  This is a significant decline from
the high of 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year such statistics were
reported. 

Maintaining a gradual rate of improvement, hiring plans for most industries
are stronger for the third quarter than they have been in more than a year,
the latest Manpower, Inc. survey shows. It was the second consecutive
quarter in which job prospects improved.  In its second-quarter survey,
Manpower projected a turnaround as many industries pulled out of recession.
Manpower's survey of nearly 16,000 firms showed that 27 percent plan to add
employees in the third quarter, up by 6 percentage points from the
second-quarter reading of 21 percent.   Only 8 percent of employers said
they plan layoffs for the third quarter, down from 10 percent reporting such
plans for the second quarter.  Manufacturing employment gains projected by
the latest survey are especially encouraging, given the long-running
downturn in that sector, Manpower Chairman Jeffrey Joerres said (Daily Labor
Report, page A-9; Melissa McCord, Associated Press,
http://www.nypost.com/apstories/business/V4788.htm).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2001 High School
Graduates


<>

[no subject]

[Steve Diamond]

Unsubscribe

(no subject)

[Paul Phillips]

set pen-l mail ack

(no subject)

[Waistline2]

It is not that Engels misunderstood Marx. Marx unfolded a new law system. 
Marx ame first. Engels agreed to the best of his ability. To continue. 

>MIYACHI TATSUO
>PSYCHIATRIC DEPARTMENT
>KOMAKI MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL
>KOMAKI CITY
>AICHI Pre.
>JAPAN

[EMAIL PROTECTED]


>>Below is from "Capital"
>>"The specific economic form, in which unpaid surplus-labour is pumped out 
of
>direct producers, determines the relationship of rulers and ruled, as it
>grows directly out of production itself and, in turn, reacts upon it as a
>determining element. Upon this, however, is founded the entire formation of
>the economic community which grows up out of the production relations
>themselves, thereby simultaneously its specific political form. It is always
>the direct relationship of the owners of the conditions of production to the
>direct producers -- a relation always naturally corresponding to a definite
>stage in the development of the methods of labour and thereby its social
>productivity -- which reveals the innermost secret, the hidden basis of the
>entire social structure and with it the political form of the relation of
>sovereignty and dependence, in short, the corresponding specific form of the
>state. This does not prevent the same economic basis"

>>Brenner's reductionism is clear. He only analyze market, finance, or 
credit.
>This tendency can ascend to Stalin's formula that economic process is
>natural and to proceed without people's will. Certainly capitalist system is
>reversed world in which Sachen (commodity, money and capital=== In any
>English translation of " Capital" there is no distinction between Sachen and
>Ding, but the two are different category, Sachen means occupying property,
>and Ding is mere physical matter, and identifying Sachen with Ding, we can
>not distinguish Versacherling and Verdinging, which is important to
>understand Marx's critique of fetishism) rule people, and people
>unconsciously and collectively produce Sachen which produce self-destructive
>power for people.

>>And finally Marx described

>>"In capital -- profit, or still better capital -- interest, land -- rent,
>abour -- wages, in this economic trinity represented as the connection
>between the component parts of value and wealth in general and its sources,
>we have the complete mystification of the capitalist mode of production, the
>conversion of social relations into things, the direct coalescence of the
>material production relations with their historical and social
>determination. It is an enchanted, perverted, topsy-turvy world, in which
>Monsieur le Capital and Madame la Terre do their ghost-walking as social
>characters and at the same time directly as mere things. It is the great
>merit of classical economy to have destroyed this false appearance and
>illusion, this mutual independence and ossification of the various social
>elements of wealth, this personification of things and conversion of
>production relations into entities, this religion of everyday life. It did
>so by reducing interest to a portion of profit, and rent to the surplus
>above average profit, so that both of them converge in surplus-value; and by
>representing the process of circulation as a mere metamorphosis of forms,
>and finally reducing value and surplus-value of commodities to labour in the
>direct production process"

>>We works with will, although its result is self-alienated. It is clear. But
>Stalin neglect this fundamental fact.
>"Crisis theory" was produced from experience of Marx, and Lenin. Marx
>firstly expected economic panic as condition of revolution, but in Capital,


>>"As soon as this process of transformation has sufficiently decomposed the
>old society from top to bottom, as soon as the laborers are turned into
>proletarians, their means of labor into capital, as soon as the capitalist
>mode of production stands on its own feet, then the further socialization of
>labor and further transformation of the land and other means of production
>into socially exploited and, therefore, common means of production, as well
>as the further expropriation of private proprietors, takes a new form. That
>which is now to be expropriated is no longer the laborer working for
>himself, but the capitalist exploiting many laborers. This expropriation is
>accomplished by the action of the immanent laws of capitalistic production
>itself, by the centralization of capital. One capitalist always kills many.
>Hand in hand with this centralization, or this expropriation of many
>capitalists by few, develop, on an ever-extending scale, the co-operative
>form of the labor-process, the conscious technical application of science,
>the methodical cultivation of the soil, the transformation of the
>Instruments of labor into instruments of labor only usable in common, the
>economizing of all means of production by their use as means of production
>of combined, socialized labor, the entanglement of all peoples in the net of
>the world-market, and with th

(no subject)

[Stephen E Philion]

This is too much, but for a suggestion from a reader in Honolulu's
Honolulu Advertiser: Then again, it beats 'retaliate with the  military'
ideas that have been floated thus far...

Fighting terrorism with our checkbooks

The nation sat riveted to the television on Sept. 11 as news of terrorist
attacks reached homes, offices and schools nationwide. Rage, sadness, fear
and helplessness ensued. What could we do? Desperately call friends and
family members in New York and D.C.? Sit and watch the television
coverage? Send a check to the Red Cross?

I say, go shopping. It's obvious that the terrorists were intent on
disrupting the biggest, most powerful economy on Earth.

Perhaps the terrorists thought they could strike a fatal blow to an
economy already injured by the dot-com crash, the layoffs, the so-called
"downturn."

Fatalistic economists say the attacks could push the United States into an
official recession. And because our economy is so powerful, we could take
the rest of the world down the tubes with us. The only thing that had been
keeping us in the black, they tell us, was consumer confidence.

We can't afford to have our confidence shaken. The world can't afford it.
Citizens were the victims in this act of war, and citizens must be the
soldiers fighting back ... with our credit cards and checkbooks.

Keep the economy alive. It's the patriotic thing to do.

Monique Cole





Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

(no subject)

[Stephen E Philion]

from the Boston Globe
Train stopped in Providence

Man arrested not connected to attacks, authorities say


PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A man allegedly carrying a knife aboard an Amtrak train
was arrested Wednesday, but authorities said he had no apparent connection
to this week's terrorist attacks.


Train No. 173 heading from Boston to Washington, D.C., was stopped by
local authorities in Providence, its passengers were ordered off, and city
police arrested the unidentified man. Police said three other men were
released after questioning.


A man with a long beard was taken in handcuffs from the train station at
about 3:20 p.m. The man, who was wearing a green turban, green shirt and
dark pants, was put into a Providence police cruiser.


In Washington later, FBI Director Robert Mueller said individuals had been
detained and questioned but there had been no arrests by investigators
probing the terror attacks.


Col. Richard Sullivan, the police chief, said Providence police were
contacted by Boston police, who said there were some people on board the
train they considered suspicious.


Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. said police told him they were looking
for as many as four suspects who eluded authorities in Boston. Two of the
hijacked planes that crashed Tuesday took off from Boston.


"I don't know if any of these people have anything to do with the events
that happened yesterday," Cianci said.


The train was due in Washington at 8:50 p.m. After being stopped for about
90 minutes, it resumed service.

Ê
Ê
 Stephen
Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822

Re: (no subject)

[ravi]

ravi wrote:

> 
> set pen-l mail postpone
> 
> 

terribly sorry about that (and for this email also). that was supposed
to go to the list processor, not the list. to not entirely waste this
message, here's an interesting piece of news regarding EU investigation
of microsoft.

--ravi


http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=MyLycos&pitem=BUSINESS%2DTECH%2DMICROSOFT%2DEU%2DDC&rev=20010830&pub_tag=REUTG

EU Probes Microsoft Use of Media Player by David Lawsky

Thursday, August 30, 2001 12:46 a.m. EDT

[Reuters] BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is investigating
whether Microsoft Corp is trying to damage rivals by embedding its
proprietary audio/video software, Media Player, into its Windows
operating system, it said on Thursday.

The Commission, announcing an expansion of an earlier investigation
into Microsoft, said Media Player cannot be readily removed by computer
makers or consumers.

It said that places at a disadvantage rivals in the market for watching
video and listening to audio over the Web like Real Network's
RealPlayer or Apple's QuickTime.

The Commission said it is also investigating whether one version of the
firm's operating system, Windows 2000, is designed to work better with
its own servers than those of rivals.

The Commission said it was combining the newer case, in which it issued
a formal Statement of Objections, with a similar case covering Windows
98.

For now, however, the Commission said it was stopping short of
expanding its investigation to cover a new Windows version, XP. A
number of firms say that Windows XP excludes them in the same way -- or
worse -- than earlier systems did.

"At this stage the Commission is not conducting an investigation into
Windows XP," Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said in response to a
question at the Commission's daily briefing. No interim measures would
be taken against the company while the probe went on.

The company expressed confidence it would be cleared by the Commission
of any wrongdoing.

"We are confident that once it has completed its investigation, the
European Commission will be assured that we run our business in full
compliance with EU law," said Jean Philippe Courtois, president of
Microsoft in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Microsoft stock was down nearly $3 in morning trading to $57.26 in a
weak market.

Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said the investigation was
necessary to create a fair marketplace in an arena vital to computing
and communications.

"Server networks lie at the heart of the future of the Web and every
effort must be made to prevent their monopolization through illegal
practices," Monti said in a statement.

"The Commission also wants to see undistorted competition in the market
for media players," he said.

Spokeswoman Torres said the Commission's case was unrelated to actions
in the United States, where an appeals court ruled unanimously that
Microsoft illegally abused its monopoly power.

The appeals court threw out a plan to break up the company in part
because a lower court judge made procedural errors. Next month in
Washington a new judge will consider what actions should be taken to
remedy the firm's illegal practices.

SERVER COMPETITION

Microsoft is competitive but not dominant in the market for inexpensive
servers. Servers are computers that help run PC networks, storing
files, printing documents, operating Web sites and providing Web
access.

A large number of servers use one of the Unix family of operating
systems, such as Linux, but experts say Microsoft's share has grown
steadily, from about half the market to nearly 60 percent.

Microsoft designed its systems to work well with Microsoft server
software but the Commission said it has withheld necessary information
from rivals. It said those who want to use rivals' products must still
buy Microsoft servers.

"If customers choose not to use an all-inclusive Microsoft scenario for
PCs and servers, but decide to use competing server products they are
forced to bear a double cost," the Commission said.

The company's strategy may "artificially drive customers toward
Microsoft server products, reducing choice to the detriment of the
final customer," the Commission said.

Media Player is software that permits the viewing of moving pictures or
listening to audio, without waiting for it to download first.

The Commission said Microsoft is depriving "PC manufacturers and final
users of a free choice over which products they want to have on their
PCs, especially as there are no ready technical means to remove or
uninstall the Media Player."

John Frank, an associate general counsel with Microsoft in Paris, said
his firm's Media Player uses a format that is "far more open than our
competitors due to our broad licensing."

He said it was helpful for programmers to have Media Player built into
the system.

(no subject)

[ravi]

set pen-l mail postpone

No Subject

[Charles Brown]

Anti-racism Conference Expected to Reach Agreement on
Slavery Compensation: Official

Xinhua News Agency
2001-08-14

Sipho Pityana, director-general of the South African
Foreign Affairs Department, said on Tuesday he was
certain the World Conference Against Racism would find
an agreement on the issue of apology and compensation
for slavery and colonialism.

"The divide between the different parties has been
narrowed substantially," he told reporters in Pretoria,
briefing them on the outcome of the third preparatory
committee meeting recently held in Geneva, Switzerland.

"If we had more time in Geneva, we would probably have
agreed on more issues. On one of the most difficult
issues, that of the reparation and compensation for
slavery, we came very close to an agreement," he said.

The United States earlier threatened it would not
attend the conference if the issue of reparation for
slavery and that of equating Zionism with racism were
put on the agenda.

On the latter issue the preparatory committee had
agreed to abide by a decision of the United Nations not
to equate Zionism with racism, Pityana said.

However, the conference still had to find a way to
reflect on the situation in the Middle East in a way
acceptable to all parties concerned, he added.

According to the director-general, as far as he knew,
the U.S. government was sending a delegation of about
50 people to the Durban conference, which will be held
from August 31 to September 7.

The preparatory committee invited and encouraged all
countries to take part in the conference, but did not
try to persuade anyoneto do so, Pityana said.

Those gathering in Durban had different views which
they could express there. If all agreed, there would be
no need for such a conference, he explained.

At the Geneva meeting, 60 of the 131 paragraphs of the
declaration and 85 of the 106 paragraphs of the program
of action for the conference were adopted. The rest
remained to be resolved,according to Pityana.

But Pityana said the groundwork done so far had laid a
good basis to reach agreement at the conference.

"We are looking forward to a successful conference," he
said.

The two issues dogging the process were that of the
Middle Eastand of slavery and colonialism.

Pityana said there was a reluctance from former
colonial powersto extend an apology for slavery and
colonialism on the grounds ofthe legal implications, as
well as implications for compensation and reparation.

In a so-called non-paper -- a document which could be
withdrawnif agreement is not reached on it -- the
African countries excluded demands for individual
compensation, but elaborated on trans- national
compensation.

The African non-paper played a central role in bringing
partiestogether, Pityana said.

The African bloc, he said, wanted an acknowledgment
that slavery, slave trade and colonialism played an
important part in laying the foundation for the kinds
of racial discrimination stillseen today.

Colonialism, which was often down-played, involved the
take-over of countries, dispossessing and displacing
people and their regimes, segregating communities and
creating inequality among them, he said.

"The legacy of this persists," Pityana noted, adding
that "colonialism was also the take-over of resources
which contributed to the enrichment of the developed
North."

"It is not just about aid; but about altering the
structural relations between Africa and the developed
world," he said.

As it now stood, the former colonial powers were
willing to express themselves in language of regret and
remorse, in what cameclose to an apology, the South
African official said, adding "the debate is whether
that constitutes sufficient apology. That debatewill
continue in Durban."

Another debate is on whether slavery, slave trade and
colonialism can be regarded as crimes against humanity.
Some hold the view that at the time these actions were
committed, they were not regarded as such, but now they
are.

"I am certain we will reach agreement on all of these
issues," Pityana said.

No Subject

[Perelman, Michael]

I am still cut off from my normal access to e-mail.

I was thinking this morning about what would happen in the power of the US
relative to the IMF and World Bank were reduced by 99%.  What would a
structural adjustment plan for the US look like?

Also, I thought that one good thing about the US abrogating treaties was
that it would make retreat from WTO, NAFTA, etc. easier.



Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

(no subject)

[LeoCasey]

Mark:
<< Did you read them? >>

I don't imagine any of us have read them yet. Just going by your publicists' 
synopsis.

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

(no subject)

[LeoCasey]

<< Leo, what on earth are you trying to say? >>

I has thought that the parallels between the oil/energy crises of your novels 
and the imminent energy crisis you have been predicting here were pretty 
obvious. Seems like fiction and social analysis seem to seamlessly fade into 
each other...
 
Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

(no subject)

[LeoCasey]

<< so if Zhirinovsky says it's bad, it must be good? >>

I can think of worse rules of thumb.

But what I find so interesting here is how the Mark of fiction and the Mark 
of social analysis so closely follow each there. Why it is almost down right 
lit-crit pomo, to invoke a much overused stereotype. It makes you wonder: is 
the Mark of fiction really the Mark of social analysis, or is the Mark of 
social analysis really the Mark of fiction?

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

No Subject

[Charles Brown]

No Subject

[Andrew Hagen]

John Landon wrote:
>[...] I have made no inductive 
>leap, because I have read old Popper and don't use historical law theory, or 
>predictions of the future. Therefore the status of these intervals is 
>analogous to, say, the economic cycle. We look backward, measure economic 
>facts, and see a periodicity in them. []

Every time you assume that a periodic occurrence observed in past
events will continue in the future, you've made an inductive leap. In
fact, maybe it's not a "leap." Maybe it's just a step. I prefer to say
leap, however.

>[...]  Take a long close look at Classical antiquity 
>ca. -600 plus and minus, by my method. It will surprise you. Really surprise 
>you. Darwin-style thinking is so far off it isn't funny.  [...] 

What _is_ your method? I'm begging you. Please explain it. I don't
understand it. What is "Darwin-style thinking?" I honestly don't know
what you mean.

>[...] the current Darwin regime is nosediving. 

What is the Darwin regime? Is that the same as Darwin-style thinking?
By nosediving, are you suggesting that the theory of evolution is
dropping in popular acceptance? Or that the theory of evolution is in a
Kuhnian crisis?

Thanks.

Andrew Hagen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

(Fwd) (Fwd) Fwd: No Subject

[phillp2]

--- Forwarded message follows ---
From:   "Paul Phillips" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date sent:  Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:44:09 -0500
Subject:        (Fwd) Fwd: No Subject
Priority:   norma

>Bush should pull troops from Balkans
>
>By Marjorie Cohn
>
>Despite President George W, Bush’Äôs rhetoric about withdrawing our forces
>from
>the Balkans, we can expect a strong U.S presence there.
>Why? It’Äôs all about the transportation of massive oil resources from
>the
>Caspian Sea through the Balkans, maintaining U.S. hegemony in the region.
> Although NATO ostensibly bombed Yugoslavia to stop ethnic cleansing, the
>bombing was actually part of a strategic containment, to keep the region safe
>for the Trans-Balkan oil pipeline that will transport Caspian Sea oil through
>Macedonia and Albania. The pipeline is slated to carry 750,000 barrels a day,
>worth about $600 million at the current prices.
>Cooperation of the Albanians with the pipeline project was likely
>contingent on the U.S. helping them wrest control of Kosovo from the Serbs.
>The U.S. seeks to contain Macedonia as well supporting both sides in the
>conflagration there.
>Military Professional Resources International, a mercenary company on
>contract to the Pentagon, has trained both the Kosovo Liberation Army and the
>Macedonian army. MPRI also supplied and trained the Croatian army in 1994 and
>1995 before the Croatians cleansed more than 100,000 Serbs from Krajina
>region.
>The bombing was not aimed at ethnic cleansing. It was part of U.S-run
>NATO’Äôs eastward expansion as a counterweight to Russia, which wants the
>Caspian oil pipeline to run through its territory. NATO, created during the
>Cold War to protect Western Europe from the Soviets, should have disbanded
>after the breakup of the USSR.
>But a 1992 draft of the Pentagon’Äôs Defense Planning Guidance continued
>U.S. leadership in NATO by ’Äúdiscouraging the advanced industrialized
>nations
>from challenging our leadership or even  aspiring to a larger regional or
>global role.’Äù
>Secretary of State Colin Powell recently said, if we decide to expand
>NATO, ’Äú we should not fear that Russia will object; we will do it
>because it
>is in our national interest’Äù.
>Bush is walking a delicate tightrope.  He calls for Europe to do the
>grunt work in the Balkans, but also wants to prevent European Union to become
>more powerful than the U.S.-led NATO. A U.S. Army officer stationed in
>Bosnia, speaking anonymously to The Los Angeles Times, observed dryly, ’Äú
>The
>only thing the Europeans need us Americans is the leadership’Äù.
>The United States has invested too much into the region to pull out.
>After the NATO bombing campaign, The United States spent $36.6 million to
>build Camp Bondsteel in southern Kosovo.
>The largest military base constructed since the Vietnam, Bondsteel was
>built by the Brown & Root Division of Halliburton, the world biggest oil
>service corporation, which was run by Richard Cheney before he was tapped for
>vice president.
>NATO’Äôs bombs, never sanctioned by the United Nations, were not
>’Äúhumanitarian’Äù intervention. The alleged mass graves were never found
>by the
>FBI, and the 10,000 to 11,000 bodies NATO touted turned out to number about
>2,000 to 3,000 mostly ion KLA strongholds.
>Even the Marine Corps Gazette concluded after the bombing
>That the ’Äúresulting deaths of thousands of Serbian soldiers, civilians and
>Kosovar Albanians can hardly be viewed as humanitarianism.’Äù
>
>It is the purview of the United Nations, not the United States, to
>authorize humanitarian intervention. If the United States really wanted to
>provide humanitarian assistance  to the people of Yugoslavia, it would
>encourage the International Monetary Fund to forgive $14 billion in loans
>from prior regimes, finance reparations to rebuild the infrastructure
>destroyed by its bombs, and remove  U.S. troops from the region.
>
>
>Marjorie Cohn is the associate professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of
>Law in San Diego.
>

_
Dr. Jovan Jovanovich, Professor of Physics (retired and adjunct)
Office: Physics Department, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Man., Canada  R3T 2N2
Phone: (204) 474-6201  Fax: (204) 474-7622
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home:   66 Fordham Bay, Winnipeg, Man., Canada R3T 3B7
Phone/Fax: (204) 269-2255
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_



--- End of forwarded message ---
--- End of forwarded message ---

No Subject

[Brown, Martin (NCI)]

Is this Aristotle or Proyect? Worms and spiders are insects?

Computer science - A
Biology - F

Within insects, you have worms, spiders, moths, etc.

Re: No subject was specified.

[david landes]

With your growing CV, you should apply for the City College job!

David


>From: Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: Pen-L Pen-l <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [PEN-L:8912] No subject was specified.
>Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 11:30:08 -0800
>
>Below is a review I just published in the Jan 2001  BLS' "Monthly Labor
>Review."
>
>
>Gene Coyle
>
>
>
>Work-time reduction
>
>Sharing  the Work,  Sparing  the Planet.  By  Anders Hayden.  New York,
>St.
>MartinÕs Press, 2000, 234 pp. $65, cloth; $22.50, paper.
>
>Canadian author Anders Hayden  adds a powerful new dimension to the
>array of
>arguments for  reducing hours of work. Sharing  the Work, Sparing the
>Planet
>stands  out for  that  reason from  the  recent stream  of books
>advocating
>cutting the  hours of work.  Hayden shares the concerns  of many
>writersÑjob
>creation,  improved quality  of life  for the  employed, balancing  work
>and
>family,  and   equity  between   North  and  SouthÑbut   adds  a
>compelling
>environmental  basis for  cutting working  time. It  is among the  very
>best
>books on the subject of working time.
>
>Many recent books have  offered work-time reduction as a single solution
>for
>multiple problems.  Unemployment, declining  quality of life,  and
>stress on
>the  family and  individuals have  each been  the focus of  books
>advocating
>cutting hours of work. HaydenÕs is a more encompassing vision, taking in
>all
>these  issues and  more,  and his  voice adds  a rich  new dimension  to
>the
>symphony.
>
>The  book focuses  on the  role of  reducing time in  achieving
>ecologically
>sustainable  development, addressing  at  the same  time equity  between
>the
>North  and the  South.  Hayden demonstrates  a wide-ranging  command  of
>the
>multiple  issues that  reduction  of working  time can  address, and
>adds a
>mastery of the literature.
>
>Hayden  begins  by recalling  that  since  the beginning  of the
>Industrial
>Revolution, people  have had  two motives for  a reduction in  working
>time,
>getting more  hours away from work, and creating  more jobs through a
>better
>distribution of the available  work. These remain every bit as
>pertinent, he
>says, but this focus  is on the ecological gains to be achieved by
>work-time
>reduction.
>
>The stress that consumption  in the North puts on the earthÕs ecology is
>the
>main concern  of the book, and Hayden develops  a powerful thesis to
>address
>it. Acknowledging  a rift in  the environmental community about  how to
>deal
>with   ecological  problems,   Hayden  draws   a  distinction   between
>two
>campsÑ"sufficiency" and "efficiency." The  latter group, he argues,
>believes
>that environmental  impacts can be reduced by better  use of inputs, so
>that
>material  sacrifice  is  unnecessary,   and  unlimited  economic
>growth  is
>possible.  In contrast,  the "sufficiency"  camp of  the green
>movement, to
>which  Hayden clearly  belongs, believes  that reducing  inputs per
>unit of
>goods and  services, while good in itself, must  ultimately fail to save
>the
>earth. He asserts that "although the ecological crisis does clearly call
>for
>a  more  efficient  use  of  non-human  nature, this  response  has
>serious
>limitations.  Growth in  GNP  without input  growth  is little  more
>than  a
>theoretical possibility at present, and in any case zero input growth is
>not
>enough.  Significant reductions in  input in  the North are  necessary."
>The
>author argues that achieving that end can come through reductions in
>working
>time.
>
>Make no mistake, this  book is about work-time reduction, though sparing
>the
>earth is a main goal. The headings of the remaining chapters make the
>bookÕs
>scope  clear: "Working  Less, Consuming  Less, and Living  More";
>"Work-time
>Reduction  and an  Expansionary Vision";  "Why ItÕs  So Hard to  Work
>Less";
>"Work-time Policy and Practice, North and South"; "EuropeÕs New Movement
>for
>Work-time  Reduction"; and  "With or  without Loss  of Pay? With  or
>without
>Revolution?"
>
>It is outside the scope of the book to provide a history of the struggle
>for
>the  shorter work  dayÑfor  that, in  the  United States,  see Roediger
>and
>FonerÕs Our  Own Time: A History of American Labor  and the Working Day
>(pp.
>44?49.) But Hayden does  trace some important voices who have spoken out
>for
>work-time reduction over the  past two centuries. This enriches his
>argument
>and provides a brief background for t

No subject was specified.

[Eugene Coyle]

Below is a review I just published in the Jan 2001  BLS' "Monthly Labor
Review."


Gene Coyle



Work-time reduction

Sharing  the Work,  Sparing  the Planet.  By  Anders Hayden.  New York,
St.
MartinÕs Press, 2000, 234 pp. $65, cloth; $22.50, paper.

Canadian author Anders Hayden  adds a powerful new dimension to the
array of
arguments for  reducing hours of work. Sharing  the Work, Sparing the
Planet
stands  out for  that  reason from  the  recent stream  of books
advocating
cutting the  hours of work.  Hayden shares the concerns  of many
writersÑjob
creation,  improved quality  of life  for the  employed, balancing  work
and
family,  and   equity  between   North  and  SouthÑbut   adds  a
compelling
environmental  basis for  cutting working  time. It  is among the  very
best
books on the subject of working time.

Many recent books have  offered work-time reduction as a single solution
for
multiple problems.  Unemployment, declining  quality of life,  and
stress on
the  family and  individuals have  each been  the focus of  books
advocating
cutting hours of work. HaydenÕs is a more encompassing vision, taking in
all
these  issues and  more,  and his  voice adds  a rich  new dimension  to
the
symphony.

The  book focuses  on the  role of  reducing time in  achieving
ecologically
sustainable  development, addressing  at  the same  time equity  between
the
North  and the  South.  Hayden demonstrates  a wide-ranging  command  of
the
multiple  issues that  reduction  of working  time can  address, and
adds a
mastery of the literature.

Hayden  begins  by recalling  that  since  the beginning  of the
Industrial
Revolution, people  have had  two motives for  a reduction in  working
time,
getting more  hours away from work, and creating  more jobs through a
better
distribution of the available  work. These remain every bit as
pertinent, he
says, but this focus  is on the ecological gains to be achieved by
work-time
reduction.

The stress that consumption  in the North puts on the earthÕs ecology is
the
main concern  of the book, and Hayden develops  a powerful thesis to
address
it. Acknowledging  a rift in  the environmental community about  how to
deal
with   ecological  problems,   Hayden  draws   a  distinction   between
two
campsÑ"sufficiency" and "efficiency." The  latter group, he argues,
believes
that environmental  impacts can be reduced by better  use of inputs, so
that
material  sacrifice  is  unnecessary,   and  unlimited  economic
growth  is
possible.  In contrast,  the "sufficiency"  camp of  the green
movement, to
which  Hayden clearly  belongs, believes  that reducing  inputs per
unit of
goods and  services, while good in itself, must  ultimately fail to save
the
earth. He asserts that "although the ecological crisis does clearly call
for
a  more  efficient  use  of  non-human  nature, this  response  has
serious
limitations.  Growth in  GNP  without input  growth  is little  more
than  a
theoretical possibility at present, and in any case zero input growth is
not
enough.  Significant reductions in  input in  the North are  necessary."
The
author argues that achieving that end can come through reductions in
working
time.

Make no mistake, this  book is about work-time reduction, though sparing
the
earth is a main goal. The headings of the remaining chapters make the
bookÕs
scope  clear: "Working  Less, Consuming  Less, and Living  More";
"Work-time
Reduction  and an  Expansionary Vision";  "Why ItÕs  So Hard to  Work
Less";
"Work-time Policy and Practice, North and South"; "EuropeÕs New Movement
for
Work-time  Reduction"; and  "With or  without Loss  of Pay? With  or
without
Revolution?"

It is outside the scope of the book to provide a history of the struggle
for
the  shorter work  dayÑfor  that, in  the  United States,  see Roediger
and
FonerÕs Our  Own Time: A History of American Labor  and the Working Day
(pp.
44?49.) But Hayden does  trace some important voices who have spoken out
for
work-time reduction over the  past two centuries. This enriches his
argument
and provides a brief background for the reader new to the issue of
work-time
reduction.

For readers more conversant  with the issue, the long chapter on steps
taken
by European countries for  reducing hours of work will be very useful,
as it
goes into  great detail on what is happening  now outside the United
States.
France, where a series of laws over the past 10 years have made real
changes
in work  time, gets 11 pages of reporting.  Germany, where changes have
come
more  through collective  bargaining,  also gets  full coverage,  as  do
the
Netherlands, Denmark, and other European countries.

In  short,  Sharing the Work  is engaging  reading for both  specialists
and
neophytes.  And  as concern  with  global  warming takes  its  place on
the
international agenda, HaydenÕs book provides an input to the discussion
from
a different perspective than  the usual tax and carbon-trading schemes
being
put forward.  Not that Hayden ignores 

(no subject)

[prak-hz001]

unsubscribe

Re: (no subject)

[Jim Devine]

I wrote:
> >>One of the reason why economics is bombarded by so much worthless 
> research is because people do it simply to climb up the academic ladder 
> rather than because they're genuinely interested in it.<<

Saith Ian:
>Isn't it more accurate to say that economists "bombard" one another with 
>useless theory driven facts because they [male bashing alert] enjoy 
>setting up arguments in order to try and win them? The term academic 
>ladder says it all. Productive dialogue/multilogue is rare, esp. in the US 
>'cause the king of the hill model of communication is so internalized.

In my experience, most female academics have totally been acculturated. 
Maybe as the female/male ratio rises, the nature of academia will change, 
but I haven't seen that yet. Maybe I'm excessively pessimistic.

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

(no subject)

[Lisa & Ian Murray]

>>One of the
reason why economics is bombarded by so much worthless research is because
people do it simply to climb up the academic ladder rather than because
they're genuinely interested in it.

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine

*

Isn't it more accurate to say that economists "bombard" one another with
useless theory driven facts because they [male bashing alert] enjoy setting
up arguments in order to try and win them? The term academic ladder says it
all. Productive dialogue/multilogue is rare, esp. in the US 'cause the king
of the hill model of communication is so internalized.

As for interdisciplinary dialogue...political ecology for 100 please, Alex.

Ian

(no subject)

[Mikalac Norman S NSSC]

i'll be back armed with the collective wisdom of Friedman and LaRouche to
roll back the Red Tide at PEN-L.

norm


-Original Message-
From: Rob Schaap [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 12:29 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:6010] Re: still trying to unsub 


Whatever made you think we'd let a sleeper within the trenches and
fortifications of the bourgeoisie, the very seat of the state apparatus,
leave us, comrade Mikalac?

To quote a great revolutionary anthem: you can check out any time you like
but you can never leave.

MWAUHAHAHA!

Love and reeducation,
Comrade Commissar Rob.


>still getting PEN-L posts.
>
>moderator or poster: please tell me how to unsub.  also, how to sub again
>next year.
>
>have a nice holiday season.
>
>thx, norm
>
>

Re: (no subject)

[Charles Brown]

>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/04/00 07:52AM >>>
thx, charles, for the lenin comments on Marx.

i've printed and collected a bunch of poster comments like yours, printed a
bunch of essays from louis's marxmail last night and ordered about 20 books
on the subject via the internet.  also, i started to read about marxism in
some philosophy books that i have at home over the last weekend.

my intent is to put all other reading aside for the time being and
concentrate on my "unfinished business" of understanding the marxist and
socialist positions in depth.  i'll be taking my mass of reading material
with me over a 10 day Xmas vacation when i can develop a large part of my
time to this subject.

when i sub back onto pen-l on 1/2,  (i'm unsubbing on 12/22) be prepared for
lots of questions!

norm

(((

CB: Nice going , Norm. Did anyone mention _Value, Price and Profit_ yet ? It was 
explicitly a popular lecture by Karl Marx on the fundamental's of his approach to 
political economy. 

(no subject)

[communards]

subscribe digest

(no subject)

[Mikalac Norman S NSSC]

thx, charles, for the lenin comments on Marx.

i've printed and collected a bunch of poster comments like yours, printed a
bunch of essays from louis's marxmail last night and ordered about 20 books
on the subject via the internet.  also, i started to read about marxism in
some philosophy books that i have at home over the last weekend.

my intent is to put all other reading aside for the time being and
concentrate on my "unfinished business" of understanding the marxist and
socialist positions in depth.  i'll be taking my mass of reading material
with me over a 10 day Xmas vacation when i can develop a large part of my
time to this subject.

when i sub back onto pen-l on 1/2,  (i'm unsubbing on 12/22) be prepared for
lots of questions!

norm


-Original Message-
From: Charles Brown [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 2:29 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [PEN-L:5267] RE: Re: Marxism-Socialism-Capitalism reading list
(rev A) (historical laws? you gotta show me!)




>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/01/00 01:51PM >>>



norm:  "no, but "  

we're reasoning by analogy here and therefore we have to be careful.  when i
compare two supposedly identical, controlled scientific or social scientific
experiments that test a single and simple hypothesis, it is easy for me to
see whether or not the analogy between the two tests is valid and therefore
that they can be declared "identical" for supplying evidence for a
hypothesis.

in contrast, there are few historical analogies that i would accept as
analogous enough to submit as sufficidnt evidence for testing a hypothesis
about forecasting human behavior.  i'd have to be shown the specific ones
before giving my opinion, of course.  your extract of Marxian "dialectic"
does not do that, but i recognize that it is out of context and i have the
further disadvantage of being unfamiliar with the terminology as described
below.  maybe on further study i'll change my mind.  hence, my "short"
reading list.



CB: Here's a reply from Karl M. to the epistemological issues you raise.
Interestingly, with historical science, abstraction must substitute for
artificial experimentation. But ultimately, Marx is famous for demanding
that practice must be the test of theory ( will get the theses on Feuerbach
for you).

Karl Marx
Capital Volume One





1867
PREFACE TO THE
FIRST GERMAN EDITION




 
-clip-

Every beginning is difficult, holds in all sciences. To understand the first
chapter, especially the section that contains the analysis of commodities,
will, therefore, present the greatest difficulty. That which concerns more
especially the analysis of the substance of value and the magnitude of
value, I have, as much as it was possible, popularised. [1] The value-form,
whose fully developed shape is the money-form, is very elementary and
simple. Nevertheless, the human mind has for more than 2,000 years sought in
vain to get to the bottom of it all, whilst on the other hand, to the
successful analysis of much more composite and complex forms, there has been
at least an approximation. Why? Because the body, as an organic whole, is
more easy of study than are the cells of that body. In the analysis of
economic forms, moreover, neither microscopes nor chemical reagents are of
use. The force of abstraction must replace both. But in bourgeois society,
the commodity-form of the pr!
oduct of labour — or value-form of the commodity — is the economic
cell-form. To the superficial observer, the analysis of these forms seems to
turn upon minutiae. It does in fact deal with minutiae, but they are of the
same order as those dealt with in microscopic anatomy. 

(



my comments should not really be surprising.  think of all the spilled ink
over various "justifications" for social forecasting that failed.  why?
because the analogies weren't worth much.

another problem with "interpreting" historical events is that, unlike a
controlled scientific experiment, historical events have multiple causes.
that is what makes reading polemical writers (e.g., Chomsky) so frustrating
for me.  in the case of Chomsky, whose 5 books i have i'm now re-reading for
closer scrutiny, his facts are impeccable, but he chooses the causes among a
multitude of causes for historical events that suit his conclusions.  same
with Howard Zinn in his People's History, IMO.  that's standard practice for
ideologues, of course, but it's unsat for me in arriving at my beliefs.
 


CB: When you say "too abstract for me", do you mean you don't use
abstractions or the terminology is unfamiliar to you ?

---

norm: i mean the terminology is unfamiliar to me.

of course i use abstractions (and generalizations), but in a

(no subject)

[Richardson_D]

> BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2000:
> 
> A new study of Internet use by job seekers shows that in 1998, about 15
> percent of all unemployed people actively looking for new jobs turned to
> various World Wide Web sites in conducting their search.  About 7 percent
> of employed persons had used the Internet to look for a new job in 1998, a
> higher proportion than shown in earlier studies of traditional job-search
> methods, according to economists Peter Kuhn and Mikal Skuterud in an
> article published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The economists find
> little impact so far of increasing use of the Internet on public
> employment agencies (Daily Labor Report, page A-3.  Text of the article,
> "Job Search Methods:  Internet vs. Traditional", from the October 2000
> issue of BLS's "Monthly Labor Review" is on page E-1.  Kuhn is described
> as professor of economics, Department of Economics, University of
> California at Santa Barbara.  Skuterud is described as a graduate student,
> Department of Economics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada).
> 
> Employees can look forward to about as much paid time off this Christmas
> and New Year's season as last, according to the Bureau of National
> Affairs' latest annual survey of year-end holiday plans.  Almost half of
> the responding employers (49 percent) will grant 3 or more paid days off
> for the holiday season this year, little changed from 50 percent in
> 1999-2000, when the national holidays fell on Saturdays, and slightly more
> than the 47 percent of employers in 1995-96, when Christmas and New Year's
> landed on Mondays.  Employers' holiday scheduling continues to be slightly
> more conservative than a decade ago, when, in 1989-90, a year when the
> national holidays also fell on Monday, 6 out of 10 firms gave workers at
> least 3 paid days (Daily Labor Report, page B-1).
> 
> "While doing research on teenagers a few years ago, I left a question on
> an Internet message board, asking young people who work about their
> on-the-job experiences.  The replies were overwhelmingly positive," writes
> Thomas Hine, author of "The rise and Fall of the American Teenager"
> recently published by HarperPerennial, in The Washington Post (November
> 26, page B5).  But the arrangement has less appealing and sometimes
> serious consequences, which even the most enthusiastic student workers and
> their parents should consider, Hine continues.  These young people come
> largely from families with middle class incomes or better, in which
> parents make few demands on their children's earnings.  But these high
> school students are putting in long part-time hours and constitute a
> distinct American working class, one that receives low wages and few
> benefits. According to a 1999 study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
> nearly a quarter of 14-year-olds and 38 percent of 15-year-olds have
> regular scheduled employment (as opposed to casual baby-sitting or yard
> work) during the school year.  By the time they are seniors, another BLS
> study found, 73 percent of young people work at least part of the school
> year.  A few of these young people, the ones who get featured in news
> stories, are making good money in challenging high-tech and Internet jobs.
> But the great majority are working for low wages, doing just about what
> you would expect.  The top three jobs for boys, according to BLS, are
> cook, janitor and food preparers.  For girls, they are cashier, waitress,
> and office clerk.  These jobs may help teens understand the value of work,
> but they have little intellectual content, with electronic cash registers
> and scanners, even cashiers hardly have to deal with numbers.  The average
> employed American high school student works 17 hours at week during the
> academic year. (Partly because of the proximity of jobs, the students who
> work the most tend to come from higher-income areas).  During the holiday
> season, many young people find themselves under pressure from their
> supervisors to work extra hours.  And since school vacations don't start
> until the shopping season is nearly over, many students will be juggling
> final exams, term papers, and a heavier work schedule.
> 
> As the ranks of the rich grow, the business of "wealth management" is
> reaping huge rewards, with fat fees and loyal customers, says The
> Washington Post (November 26, page H1). The nation's 18.4 million affluent
> households -- defined as those with an annual income of $100,000 or with a
> net work of at least $500,000, not including primary residence -- control
> 80 percent, or $14.6 trillion of the estimated $18.1 trillion in
> investable assets in the country, according to the Spectrem Group, a
> research and consulting firm specializing in affluent markets.
> Millionaires, a subset of the affluent group, have more than doubled in
> the United States since 1994, to more than 7 million households, according
> to Spectrem.  And "pentamillionaires,"

(no subject)

[Louis Proyect]

I am not sure when Michael Hoover and I discovered that we shared a passion
for Hong Kong cinema but it probably dates back to the time of the wild and
woolly days on the original Marxism list when I announced in the middle of
a fight with some sectarians that I had perfected the drunken Tai-Chi
Marxist style of polemics, inspired by the great Jackie Chan movie.

Shortly thereafter Michael informed me that he had begun work on what would
turn out to be the definitive study of Hong Kong cinema. Written with Lisa
Stokes, who teaches with Michael at Seminole Community College in Orblando,
Florida, "City on Fire" is sensitive to both the esthetic and
socio-political side of what appeared to be a cult phenomenon. Their
exploration of the genre is a virtual guidebook for how Marxists can shed
light on popular culture. Indeed, the book convinces you that this is not a
cult phenomenon at all, but one of the more important contributions to film
art in the 20th century that deserves to stand side by side with Italian
neorealism or American silent movie comedies of the Chaplin era.

A Hong Kong movie festival in NYC last weekend prompted me to give Michael
a call and share impressions. It was the first time I had spoken to him
since his trip to NYC last year promoting "City on Fire". To make sure he
wouldn't prejudice me against any of the films I would be seeing, he told
me that he would reserve judgement until I spoke to him on Sunday after the
festival was finished. As it turned out--not surprisingly--we were both big
fans of the films I was to see. Before giving you a brief overview of what
I saw, it would be useful to give you a flavor of the Hoover-Stokes oeuvre,
which mixes together in bravura fashion insights into the art-form with
knowing references to the Marxist classics:

"Chang Cheh’s One Armed Swordsman (1967) is generally acknowledged as the
movie that launched the 1970s’ martial arts phenomenon. While the film’s
title announces that this is a swordplay movie — nothing new in itself —
the hero’s disability (his sin’s jealous daughter has chopped off his right
arm) produces a different type of character. Forced to undergo a strict and
tough rehabilitative training program, the protagonist (Jimmy Wang-Yu)
becomes a ‘lean mean fighting machine’ with a blade. Notably brutal for its
time, Chang’s picture ushered in an era of the self-reliant individualist
that, according to Sek Kei, simultaneously destroyed the image of the weak
Chinese male by featuring ‘beefcake heroes in adventure and violence.’
Within a few years, ‘flying fu’ swordplay flicks gave way to ‘kung fu’
movies. The transfiguration of the martial ‘hero’ from a mythic character
endowed with magical powers to a mortal fighter engaged in personal
hand-to-hand combat was consonant with the post-World War II generation’s
economic materialism as well as with its growing suspicion of traditional
values. Both more individualistic and competitive, the 1970s’ variant
expressed capitalist modernity, what Engels called 'a battle of life and
death ... fought not between the different classes of society only, but
also between the individual members of these classes. Each is in the way of
the other, and each seeks to crowd out all who are in his way, and to put
himself in their place.'"

The film festival was organized by something called Subway Cinema, a
collective of New Yorkers who sought to maintain a venue for Hong Kong
movies after the closing of the legendary Music Palace in Chinatown.
Because of the emergence of home videos and changing immigration patterns,
the theater could no longer stay in business. This was the only theater in
NYC in which smoking was tolerated and where soy milk and dried squid could
be purchased at the concession stand.

The movie industry in Hong Kong seemed to be on the downward spiral as
well. When Michael and Lisa spoke to an audience last year at the Anthology
of Film Archives, where the festival was being held, they worried about the
viability of the industry in face of the Asian financial crisis. As it
turns out, the evidence of the films shown at the festival last weekend
points to the artistic health of the industry, even if belt-tightening
might result in fewer films being produced. All of the films being shown
dated from 1997 and later. They were all produced by Milkyway Studios,
which operates within the stylistic parameters of the genre while pushing
it to the limit.

1. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Directed by Patrick Yau, this film is a cops-and-robbers yarn set on the
streets of Hong Kong. There are two gangs being pursued. One from Hong Kong
and the other just arrived from the mainland and regarded as harmless
amateurs by comparison. There is a memorable scene in which the top cop
gets a confession out of one of the mainland criminals by softening him up
with a hot meal (he hasn't eaten in over a day.) He has been driven to
crime by economic necessity. No longer able to farm, nor support his wife
and 8 children, he 

(no subject)

[Nicole Seibert]

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[Peter Bohmer]

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Population, racism and capitalism (no subject) (fwd)

[md7148]

>From a Marxist piont of view, Steven Rosenthal comrade responds to
defenders of over-population thesis, one them being, I may include,
_Bartlett._..

Mine

- >I agree with most of what Andy and Mine have said during the debate
about >population.  The problems of the world today are due to capitalism,
not >to >overpopulation.

>During the past week,  the New York Times ran several stories that
>substantiate this point.  First, U.S. president Clinton has been
unable to get European government leaders to agree with any of the
military or economic proposals he brought with him on his current
trip.  The Europeans want the U.S. to discontinue its $5 billion a
year tax subsidy to exporting US corporations.  The Europeans don't
want the U.S. to break the anti-missile treaty by embarking on a
missile shield for protection against "rogue states."  The U.S. wants
Europeans (especially Germany) to increase military spending but only
within a NATO framework led by the U.S., while Europeans want to take
steps toward building a more independent military force.

>These developments illustrate the continued development of
inter-imperialist rivalry.

>Second, the World Bank released a report acknowledging the immense
decline in living standards in sub-Saharan Africa during the last
decades of the 20th century.  They noted that, even if some progress
is made in checking the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which accounts for
some 70% of all AIDS cases worldwide, the epidemic will reduce life
expectancy by 20 years.  The World Bank acknowledged that its
policies and those of the IMF have contributed to some extent to the
worsening conditions.

>Nothing more profoundly illustrates the devastating effect of racism
in the world capitalist system.  Imperialist exploitation of Africa,
with the collusion of local capitalist elites in African countries,
is destroying more lives in Africa today than during the height of
the slave trade.

>A note of clarification here:  I'm not suggesting that the AIDS
virus was created by imperialists to inflict genocide on Africans.
It is possible that the AIDS virus crossed over into the human
population during imperialist experimental programs in sub-Saharan
Africa during the early or middle part of the 20th century.  What is
more important, however, is that the epidemic has been shaped by
contemporary imperialism and capitalism in Africa.  Migrant labor,
prostitution and sex slavery, wars and the creation of large
populations of refugees, the decline of already small health budgets
at the insistence of IMF structural adjustment plans--these are
factors that have concentrated the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

>Third, UNICEF reported in "Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls"
that up to half of the female population of the world comes under
attack at some point in their lives from men.  The report estimated
that there are more females than males infected with AIDS in Africa.

>What connects these three developments?

>First, global capitalism is the most racist and sexist system the
world has ever known.  Despite all the hype about the efforts
capitalist countries have made during the past century to reduce
racism and sexism and to end colonialism, capitalism is worse than
ever today.  This is proof that the system cannot be reformed, which
means that its central problems cannot be ameliorated.

>Second, as inter-imperialist rivalry sharpens--as illustrated by
the first point--imperialists are driven to intensify racist and
sexist super-exploitation of the working class.  This deepening
crisis demands the growth of revolutionary organization of the
working class as the only solution.

>Third, leading biological determinists--including many proponents of
the overpopulation thesis--have promoted the ideological argument
that male domination of women, racism, nationalism, and wars are
naturally evolved genetic traits of human nature.  This ideology
represents an attempt to portray inter-imperialist conflict, racism,
and sexism as natural, rather than as part of capitalism in crisis
and decay.

>Steve Rosenthal




--

Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 1

(no subject)

[md7148]

Apologies for cross posting.

Fu'ad, this article provides a partial response to your question about
the social status of Arab women and the recent economic restructuring in
the Middle East..

Mine

Al-Ahram Weekly
11 - 17 May 2000
Issue No. 481

http://www.allnewspapers.com/middeast/

Women's work

 By Fatemah Farag

It is 7.00am in front of a ready-made garments
factory in Shubra Al-Kheima. Droves of young women, clutching
little money purses tightly in their hands are making their
way through the factory gates to begin a long day's work. "We
must be at our machines at 7:30am and work goes on to seven
or eight at night. Each one of us is responsible for a specific
section in the garment, such as a hem or a button, and I
usually process 700 to 800 pieces per day and make between one to
two piastres a piece," explained 23-year-old Fatheya.

  Fatheya is part of a new generation of women
workers who
 have found job opportunities in the new private sector textile
factories. "It is good to have
 the opportunity to make some money, but I hope that once I am
married my husband will
 make enough money to keep me at home. My back hurts all the time
from bending over the
 machine for such long hours," she said.

 According to the most recent Human Development Report issued by the
UN, in
 1998/1999, women constituted 15 per cent of the labour force. This
indicates a decline
 from figures published by the Central Authority for Mobilisation
and Statistics (CAPMAS)
 in 1996, which show that, between 1984 and 1994, women represented
22 per cent of the labour force. Further, according to the 1996 Labour
Sample Survey, issued by CAPMAS, the highest unemployment rates are
among women. The survey documented that between 1988 and 1995, for every
five unemployed men, there were 20  unemployed women.

 "The highest unemployment rates are among women despite the
government's policy to encourage women's work.
 The general environment is against her working and reflects a very
different attitude from that of the sixties, when
 women were very much encouraged to become prominent players in
development," said Aisha Abdel-Hadi,
 member of the executive council of the General Federation of Trade
Unions (GFTU) for women's affairs.

 The context of this change in attitude is provided by Fardos
El-Bahnasi, social researcher and director of the
 Women's Development and Empowerment Association in the working
class district of Manshiet Nasser. "When
 women were encouraged to work in the sixties, social services to
help her out in her role within the family were not
 provided. The result was that women took on a double burden. This
has not been a positive experience and young
 girls who have seen their mothers carry this burden will feel that
the better option is to choose only one of these
 roles," explained El-Bahnasi. Add this to working conditions such
as those described by Fatheya and the attitude
 cannot be expected to be very positive.

 But, of course, what drives people into the job market is not so
much prevalent attitudes as material need.
 According to official statistics, the largest percentage of women's
work is in the informal agricultural sector, while 32
 per cent is in the government, with the private sector accounting
for only 16 per cent. "Much of women's work is
 unpaid, such as when she works in agricultural fields for the
family. It is also difficult to determine the exact number
 of women actually working outside the home," explained Samia Assal
of the Union for Agricultural Workers.

 El-Bahnasi adds that even in the formal sectors, since employers do
not always register the total number of workers
 to evade social security payments, the figures available are bound
to be inconclusive. "Still, we can see that there are
 factories, such as those for ready-made garments, which employ
women almost exclusively. These are the women
 who are driven onto the job market as a result of extreme poverty,"
said El-Bahnasi. Abdel-Hadi completes the
 description of the vicious circle faced by female labourers, "With
high unemployment in women's ranks and because
 of their need, there is bound to be violation of the law which
stipulates equal wages, social and health insurance for
 both genders."

 The women interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly on their way to work in
Shubra Al-Kheima had not heard of legal
 protection, or even the GFTU, for that matter. "In the security
room, there is a framed copy of the Ministerial
 Regulation for Women's Work. It has nothing to do with our lives,"
one said.

 El-Bahnasi points out that women are treated as inferior on the job
because they are, for the most part, unskilled
 labour and also because their work is considered only a supplement
to family income. "This last point is of particular
 importance since official statistics show that one qua

(no subject)

[michael]

No Subject

[Michael Hoover]

Interested listers might check out below website for documentary
entitled "Roll on Columbia: Woody Guthrie and the Bonneville Power
Administration."  Film explores great piece of musical, political,
& economic history.

My friends Denise Mathews and Bill Black were involved in the project.
Denise was co-producer/director on the film and Bill designed the
website.  

http://libweb.uoregon.edu/med_svc/wguthrie/index.html
 
Michael Hoover

Re: (no subject)

[Timework Web]

Michael Perelman wrote,

> I think that none of the three bachelors succeeded in their quest. 

I guess I was expecting some sort of a twist on the cinderella tale.


Tom Walker

Re: (no subject)

[Michael Perelman]

I think that none of the three bachelors succeeded in their quest.

Timework Web wrote:

> Michael Perelman wrote,
>
> >Didn't Churchill and Roosevelt refer to him as Uncle Joe?  As I recall
> >the inventor of the condom left his estate to the Bolsheviks.  His family
> >appealed and his estate went to his three daughters.  In order to reclaim
> >their rightful wealth, the Bolsheviks dispatch their three months
> >eligible bachelors to court the young women.  Stalin was one of the
> >three.
>
> And the punch line is . . . ?
>
> Tom Walker

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

(no subject)

[Timework Web]

Michael Perelman wrote,

>Didn't Churchill and Roosevelt refer to him as Uncle Joe?  As I recall
>the inventor of the condom left his estate to the Bolsheviks.  His family
>appealed and his estate went to his three daughters.  In order to reclaim
>their rightful wealth, the Bolsheviks dispatch their three months
>eligible bachelors to court the young women.  Stalin was one of the
>three.

And the punch line is . . . ?


Tom Walker

[PEN-L:12783] (no subject)

[Max Sawicky]

More poop on the tax cuts the Repugs have folded
into the minimum wage bill.

http://www.cbpp.org/10-19-99tax.htm

mbs

[PEN-L:10150] (no subject)

[Rod Hay]

Michael Perelman has asked me to introduce my web site and post new
additions.

About five years ago I while teaching the history of economic thought at
McMaster, posted a number of readings for my students. With the
encouragement of Michael and Tony Brewer, I made the text available to
everyone. Subsequently that grew into a large collection of texts. (Now
over 200 titles) The goal was to accumulate material of interest to
those studying the history of economic thought. This is defined very
broadly.

About one year ago I was burnt out and stop posting new material. Now
rested and ready to get back at it I have posted four new titles.

I can continue to announce new postings to pen-l if there is sufficient
interest. And of course if any one would like to contribute a text
please let me know.

I have added the following books to the History of Economics Archive at
McMaster. I have not made the connections to the page yet, but these
URLs do work.


John Acton, Lectures on the French Revolution
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/acton/FrenchRevolution.pdf

Harold Laski, Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/laski/Sovereignty.pdf

Catharine Macauley, Observations on the Reflections of Edmund Burke on
the Revolution in France
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/macauleycath/Observations.pdf

John Figgis, Political Thought From Gerson to Grotius
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/figgis/PoliticalTheory.pdf




Rod Hay
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The History of Economic Thought Archives
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html
Batoche Books
http://members.tripod.com/rodhay/batochebooks.html
http://www.abebooks.com/home/BATOCHEBOOKS/





__
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

No Subject

[Anthony D'Costa]

rev pen-l

[PEN-L:7883] (no subject)

[Frank Durgin]

Thursday June 10 7:05 AM ET 

U.S. Marines Face Anti-NATO Protest In Greece

 By Karolos Grohmann EVZONI, Greece (Reuters) - A huge
banner saying ``U.S. killers go home'' greeted
 U.S. marines heading for Kosovo when they landed in
Greece Thursday, but there were no other
 anti-American incidents as they traveled across the
country.

 Greece is a member of NATO but it is also a
traditional friend of the fellow-Christian Orthodox Serbs and
 has contributed no troops or aircraft to NATO's
Yugoslav campaign, which has been highly unpopular
 among the Greeks.

 ``The first thing we saw on the beach was a giant
banner which had 'U.S. killers go home' written on it,''
 a marine told Reuters as members of the 2,200-man
force entered Macedonia at this frontier post after
 travelling through Greece.

 ``We are a peacekeeping force. There is a
misunderstanding here,'' the marine said.

 Previous protests blocked the passage of U.S. troops
heading through Greece for neighboring Macedonia
 for a time.

 Greece this week blocked the disembarkation of the
2,200 marines for several days, saying they could
only cross its territory when it was certain they would enter Kosovo as
peacekeepers only.

The government in Athens has been particularly wary of letting the U.S.
troops through this week, seeking to win favor with
voters before European Parliament elections Sunday.

The marines had been kept waiting since last Sunday aboard three U.S. ships
off the port of Thessaloniki.

Before they landed on Litohoro beach near Thessaloniki, the main transit
point for NATO troops and supplies into Macedonia,
hundreds of Greek riot police pushed about 500 demonstrators back from the
beach.

The protesters, mostly from the Greek Communist Party, chanted slogans like
``Yankees go home'' and ``American murderers''
as they were pushed back.

The marines traveled some 175 miles across northern Greece to the
Macedonian frontier to join the NATO-led force of some
50,000 troops preparing to enter Kosovo. There were no more protesters at
the Greek-Macedonian border and the marines'
progress through Greece appeared to have gone without a hitch.

Reporters at the border saw two convoys cross with marines in buses and at
least 12 of the amphibious assault craft they had
earlier used to land at Litohoro beach near the port city of Thessaloniki.

``These marines will be among the first to enter Kosovo,'' a NATO official
told Reuters as the first members of the 26th Marine
Expeditionary Force waded up the beach at Litohoro. 

Earlier Stories

 U.S. Marines Land In Greece On Way To Kosovo (June 10) 
 Yugoslavs Sign Kosovo Pull-Out Terms (June 9) 
 Bombing Set To Stop As Kosovo Peace Signed (June 9) 
 Yugoslavia To Start Pullout In Hours -- Minister (June 9) 
 Serbs To Start Kosovo Pullout Thursday-Yugo Formin (June 9) 



 

[PEN-L:6797] (no subject)

[Michael Eisenscher]

>From New Scientist, 15 May 1999
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 20:39:41 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Camp Responsible Tech <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (by way of Michael Eisenscher 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)
Subject: New Scientist: The chips are down
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


 =A9 Copyright New Scientist, RBI Limited 1999






=20

,,The
chips are down



,,Rob Edwards



ZACHARY RUFFING was born almost blind.
The bones in his head and shoulders are deformed and he has difficulty
using his mouth, but according to his lawyer, Amanda Hawes, he's bright.
"He wants to be an astronomer," she says.=20


Thirteen-year-old Zachary and his parents are trying to pin the blame on
one of the world's most powerful corporations. When he was conceived and
born in 1985 both his parents worked at an IBM semiconductor plant in
East Fishkill, New York, where they claim they were exposed to a variety
of solvents and other toxic chemicals. Along with 140 other workers and
children, they are now suing Big Blue for compensation. Their case, the
first of its kind, will come to court this October.=20


Across the Atlantic in Scotland, Grace Morrison, aged 57, blames another
American company, National Semiconductor, for the cancers that killed her
sister and her friend--and nearly killed her. She is leading a group of
70 women who say they were exposed to chemicals at the company's plant in
Greenock. The women are launching a legal battle in Scotland for
compensation. "The manufacture of semiconductors is a dirty, dangerous
business," Morrison says.=20


Birth defects=20



Both IBM and National Semiconductor deny responsibility for birth defects
and cancers amongst workers and their children--and it will be hard to
prove them wrong. But there is mounting evidence that women in the
chip-making industry do suffer an increased risk of spontaneous abortion
and that exposure to solvents may cause congenital deformities.=20


The increasing use of computers over the past few decades has fuelled an
explosive growth in the microelectronics industry. From its origins in
California's Silicon Valley, it has spread throughout Europe and Asia,
and now employs more than a million people worldwide. There are 900
chip-making plants and a further 100 planned, supplying a worldwide
market worth more than $150 billion a year. "Because of its growth and
size," says Douglas Andrey of the US's Semiconductor Industry
Association, "the chip industry is the pivotal driver of the world
economy."=20


The semiconductor industry may also be a world leader in another way,
according to Joseph LaDou, director of the International Center for
Occupational Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco.
"What was once thought to be the first 'clean' industry is actually one
of the most chemical-intensive industries ever conceived," he says. In
the process of making, etching and doping silicon chips, workers can be
exposed to hundreds of chemicals, including solvents, LaDou says.=20


Campaigners fear that as the industry expands rapidly in the Far
East--where safety standards are generally slacker--birth defects will be
the unfortunate growth industry following right behind. Ted Smith,
executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a campaign
group in California, says: "The dirtier and more labour-intensive
processes are increasingly being shuffled to underdeveloped countries
throughout the global South, creating a whole system of environmental and
economic injustice." LaDou points out that many of the chemicals present
in the factories, such as arsenic and benzene, are known carcinogens.=20


In a semiconductor plant, much of the work takes place in "clean rooms"
in which everyone has to wear head-to-toe bunny suits. Unfortunately,
this environment is designed to protect sensitive chips, not the health
of employees. The air in such rooms is usually recirculated through
filters to remove dust, but not replenished with clean air from outside,
says LaDou. Toxic fumes are simply recycled. He thinks this may explain
why US Department of Labor statistics show that rates of occupational
illness in American semiconductor plants caused by "caustic, noxious and
allergenic substances" are three times as high as in other manufacturing
industries.=20


The most recent study to raise doubts about the safety of semiconductor
workers is one of the most dramatic. In Canada, doctors at the Hospital
for Sick Children in Toronto reported in March this year that 13 out of
125 pregnant women exposed to workplace solvents gave birth to children
with major congenital malformations, such as spina bifida or deafness.
This compares to only one out of 125 women in jobs where they were not
exposed to solvents (The Journal of the American Medical
Association, vol 281, p 1106).=20


Hawes says this evidence will help Zachary Ruffing and her other clients
in their claims against IBM because many of the solvents t

[PEN-L:6555] (no subject)

[John DiNardo]

Hi.


The Journal of Economic Perspectives (from the American Economic
Association) is considering a symposium on topic in econometrics. Part of
my job is to get input from a subset of *non--econometricians* on topics
that they might actively choose to read about if published in the JEP.
That is, this is not intended to be interesting to *econometricians* -- it
is intended to be interesting and accessible to JEP readers (a tiny subset
of which are econometricians).  I would welcome any suggestions
at [EMAIL PROTECTED]

John DiNardo

[PEN-L:6536] (no subject)

[Henry C.K. Liu]

China Protesters Attack US Embassy

..c The Associated Press

 By JOHN LEICESTER

BEIJING (AP) -- More than a thousand demonstrators attacked the U.S.
Embassy in Beijing with rocks, smashed up embassy cars and scuffled with
hundreds of police officers today in a protest over the accidental NATO
bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Police pushed back demonstrators who tried to ram a van and hurl a
burning 
American flag through the embassy gate. Protesters used pieces of
concrete 
that had been left in piles by workers rebuilding sidewalks to break
many of the windows in embassy buildings spread over one block.

A group of protesters tried to set a car on fire and started shoving
police who stopped them. Several cars were smashed with chunks of
concrete.

AP-NY-05-08-99 0917EDT

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the
AP news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise 
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press.

[PEN-L:6326] (no subject)

[ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224]]

[PEN-L:4610] Re: (no subject)

[michael]

Nathan, you have to send the request to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:4599] Re: (no subject)

[J. Barkley Rosser, Jr.]

 Thanks.  I continue to find the near silence in
the media about this "stealth" vote rather amazing.
It appears that there were three Dems voting no,
Bingaman, Feingold, and Hollings, of whom only
Feingold can be said to be at all on the left.  Of
course one could get cynical and say that it was
an appeal to the non-trivial Serb vote in Milwaukee,
but then Feingold was the only Dem in the Senate to
oppose Byrd's "end the impeachment" motion.
Barkley Rosser
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 9:03 PM
Subject: (no subject)


> Barkley Rosser wrote
>  >There was a vote about this in the US Senate, approving
>>it by 58-41.  Somehow in the midst of all its stories the W. Post
>>failed to say who voted how, although obviously this was not
>>party line.  I gather most (if not all) of the 41 were Republicans.
>>But, is there anybody out there who knows what the actual
>>lineup was?
>
>Here is the vote from the Senate webstite:
>
>***
>
>  (Rollcall Vote No. 57 Leg.)
>
>March 23, 1999, 7:55 PM
>
>BILL NO.: S.CON.RES.21
>
>TITLE: S.Con.Res. 21
>
>REQUIRED FOR MAJORITY: 1/2
>
>RESULT: Concurrent Resolution Agreed to
>
>   YEAS---58
>
>Abraham  HagelMikulski
>AkakaHarkin   Moynihan
>Baucus   HatchMurray
>Bayh Inouye   Reed
>BidenJeffords Reid
>BoxerJohnson  Robb
>Breaux   Kennedy  Rockefeller
>BryanKerrey   Roth
>Byrd KerrySarbanes
>Chafee   Kohl Schumer
>Cleland  Landrieu Shelby
>Conrad   Lautenberg   Smith Gordon H
>Daschle  LeahySnowe
>DeWine   LevinSpecter
>Dodd LiebermanTorricelli
>Dorgan   Lincoln  Warner
>Durbin   LugarWellstone
>Edwards  Mack Wyden
>FeinsteinMcCain
>Graham   McConnell
>
>   NAYS---41
>
>Allard   Enzi Kyl
>Ashcroft Feingold Lott
>Bennett  Fitzgerald   Murkowski
>Bingaman FristNickles
>Bond Gorton   Roberts
>BrownbackGrammSantorum
>Bunning  GramsSessions
>BurnsGrassley Smith Bob
>Campbell GreggStevens
>Collins  HelmsThomas
>CoverdellHollings Thompson
>CraigHutchinson   Thurmond
>CrapoHutchisonVoinovich
>Domenici Inhofe
>
>   NOT VOTING---1
>
>Cochran
>
>***
> K. Mickey
>

[PEN-L:2206] (no subject)

[michael]

pen-l will be down over the weekend until 5:00 pm California time.
-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:1181] (no subject)

[michael]

I just forwarded an article on the y2k and military.

Maybe Clinton is in a rush to send the missles to Iraq or N. Korea rather
than having them reprogrammed.
-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:947] (no subject)

[Eugene P. Coyle]

I've been asked the following question re Southern California Edison, a
California electric utility which has operations in Australia, is building
coal plants in Indonesia and Thailand, and other plants around the world.

>Edison says, in its lliterature, that it is the first fossil-fuel plant in
>the world to receive accreditation under both iso 14001, a rigorous
>international environmental standard, and iso9001, a certification for
>operations and maintenance.
>
>is this significant? what does it mean?

I don't know the "ISO" rules and what they mean.  Can anyone help,
particularly on the environmental standard part of the question.  Is
iso14001 equal to, say, USA standards, better, worse?  How does it compare
with a better European country?

Gene Coyle

[PEN-L:113] [Fwd: (no subject)]

[Mark Jones]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--1DE524154FC48680DA10BE9F

There is a big and quite miraculously interesting debate going on on
H-World about the Frank v. Landes thing. While I agree with James Devine
and others complaints about cross-posting (Lou Proyect is the worst
offender: and Doug H sends a zillion posts a day to his own list,
including implorings of us to be more restrained... come on, boys! Play
the game!) I think this may be an exception. Anyway, Michael has
promised to respond so that's reason enough.

Mark
--1DE524154FC48680DA10BE9F

Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 17:54:50 +0100
From: Mark Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: H-W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: (no subject)

From:   Mark Jones 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

I am grateful for this debate, which has more than just
historiographical significance. 
The EH-Net threads on Re-thinking 18th Century China marked a
turning-point in general preconceptions. 

Gunder Frank's thesis has done more: it has put the provenance of the
Industrial Revolution firmly back centre stage. Nevertheless, it is 
flawed. Frank has not managed to hypothesize the dynamic producing 
the punctuation-point he has again  dramatised, and the result is 
the debate is sidetracked into a discussion about 'institutions', 
the residual left when trade winds, coal, steam and 
British brutishness are factored out. 

Institutions *are* important. An evidence of the vitality of European
culture before even the English, never mind French, revolution, is 
in the stance of imperial Russia, whose ambiguous east-west orientation 
was a litmus test of contemporary valuations of the merits of Europe 
and the orient.

Why, if Chinese science, productivity, technology and culture was
superior, did Peter the Great (1672-1725) open his window on 
the world facing the Baltic? He was  aware of China and Russia 
was the first western state to undergo sinification of trade, 
adoption of eastern dress, manners, colloquialisms, trade
practices etc. Even Peter's grandfather, the moderniser tsar Alexei 
Mikhailovich (1645-76)sought European assistance, importing Dutch 
engineers and shipbuilders like Kashtren Brandt in 1680s. 
 
The Romanov urge to modernise transcended traditional fear and envy 
of the east, so the choice of Europe is instructive. 

Despite this evidence of European institutional dynamism, the real 
issue was not the specificity of institutions but their *negation*. 
This is what Frank and Landes and the schools they front, totally 
fail even to understand let alone acknowledge. 

This absolute failure of historical vision is connected in Frank's case
with his dismissal of Marx. Marx was not eurocentric either by 
inclination or as theorist. Marx saw capitalism as a global 
phenomenon. British capitalism was all there was in 1857, by when he'd
completed his theorising of the phenomenon. It was not as clear than 
as later [after Marx!] that industrial capitalism which emerged 
*first* in Britain, was the future-wave. Marx was therefore neither 
eurocentric nor an orientalist. His achievement was in his  
characterisation of the dynamics of the capitalist accumulation-regime. 

Frank never  addresses this in his [erroneous] dismissal of Marx. To
substantiate it Frank needs to do deconstruct Marx's holistic 
analysis not merely attack Marx's claims at universality. Marx 
never saw capitalism as a euro-phenomenon, speaking 
of 'capital-in-general' and seeing it as ONLY a world-system. This is
why all the world-sytem theorists without exception as well as their 
world-history camp-followers owe such a huge intellectual debt to 
Marx even while denying it. 

Pomeranz's wonderful analyses remind us there was nothing in Chinese 
development of irrigation, aquaculture, solutions to energy-deficits
[efficient stoves] -- which is not -- ESPECIALLY today -- at 
the forefront of our imaginings of a post-capitalist, sustainable 
future. Marx wrote similarly for example in his correspondence with 
Zasulich in which he lauded the example of the Russia peasant 
commune, the zemstvo seen as a short cut to a humane, sustainable
socialism, without a detour thru capitalism. A progressive civilization 
did not require either the savagery or the institutions of European 
capitalism. Marx was prepared for the kind of thought-experiments 
Pomeranz encourages. There are always alternatives. 

This is so even though capitalism is unique in being the first social
formation in which accumulation is not  a by-product of secular 
productivity trends, but the main aim of the social actors, and 
an institutionalised matter of life and death. For the institutions 
of capitalism: the banks, discount-houses, commerce, technology, 
state, even the academy, are not supports of a settled way of life 
and its received truths, but market mechanisms, bankrupting failure, 
thru stock markets in particular making it impossible

[PEN-L:117] Re: [Fwd: (no subject)]

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

I for one missed Mark's posting on this to this list.  
Perhaps this had something to do with the list problems 
and a repost might be in order. 
 However, this discussion raged at some length and with 
some intelligence not too long ago on 
marxism-international, a list that Louis P. now derides and 
which the creation of his list has helped to weaken.
Barkley Rosser
On Tue, 19 May 1998 14:30:25 -0700 michael 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Mark Jones's post is extraordinary.   The history list has been throbbing with
> this debate.  Mark does an excellent job of putting it into perspective.
> 
> Where he goes wrong is in expecting me to have anything to add.  I can only
> throw out a few comments.
> 
> I believe that historical, geographical and social accidents might well
> explain why capitalism took root in the west.  There were hints of an emergent
> capitalism in India, and probably elsewhere although I am not aware of where
> that might be.
> 
> Once it took hold, as Mark/Marx shows very well, it took on a logic of its
> own, but a contradictory logic that runs into limits.
> 
> Mark is doing an excellent job in discussing those limits on Doug's list.
> Capitalist technology is [economic] growth enhancing and ecologically
> destructive.  The latter factor is increasing faster than the former.
> 
> Even if the destructive part does exceed the productive part, the way this
> technology fits into the economy, still gives the masters of capital an
> increasing surplus with which to play.
> 
> So our globalizers are busy taking out the forests, the minerals and the
> fossil fuels of the far flung corners of the world.  The debate on the history
> list still smacks of capitalist triumphalism.  We are the exception ones.
> Others must follow.
> 
> Mark offers a welcome corrective.
> 
> 
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
> 
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:116] Re: [Fwd: (no subject)]

[michael]

Mark Jones's post is extraordinary.   The history list has been throbbing with
this debate.  Mark does an excellent job of putting it into perspective.

Where he goes wrong is in expecting me to have anything to add.  I can only
throw out a few comments.

I believe that historical, geographical and social accidents might well
explain why capitalism took root in the west.  There were hints of an emergent
capitalism in India, and probably elsewhere although I am not aware of where
that might be.

Once it took hold, as Mark/Marx shows very well, it took on a logic of its
own, but a contradictory logic that runs into limits.

Mark is doing an excellent job in discussing those limits on Doug's list.
Capitalist technology is [economic] growth enhancing and ecologically
destructive.  The latter factor is increasing faster than the former.

Even if the destructive part does exceed the productive part, the way this
technology fits into the economy, still gives the masters of capital an
increasing surplus with which to play.

So our globalizers are busy taking out the forests, the minerals and the
fossil fuels of the far flung corners of the world.  The debate on the history
list still smacks of capitalist triumphalism.  We are the exception ones.
Others must follow.

Mark offers a welcome corrective.


--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: -- No Subject --

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

Boddhi,
 The fact that the T-bill sale by the Japanese went 
through the New York Fed in a single block proves that it 
was coordinated.  Essentially the Fed incorporated this 
sale, which could have been spread out, into its own open 
market operations which are carried out by the New York Fed.
Barkley Rosser
On Fri, 17 Apr 98 5:02:45 EDT boddhisatva 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   C. Rosser,
> 
> 
> 
>   I don't think that there is a shortage of treasuries out there. 
> Selling treasuries doesn't do the Yen any good unless you then use the
> proceeds to buy Yen.  If treasury sales raise U.S. interest rates, the
> spread between Japanese and American yields gets wider.  I think the
> Japanese were using the big sale to threaten the markets with their
> immense reserves. I'm sure Washington approves of anything that keeps the
> Yen higher (note recent earnings reports' citing for-ex losses), but I
> don't think this is coordination. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   peace
> 
> 

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: -- No Subject --

[boddhisatva]

C. Rosser,



I don't think that there is a shortage of treasuries out there. 
Selling treasuries doesn't do the Yen any good unless you then use the
proceeds to buy Yen.  If treasury sales raise U.S. interest rates, the
spread between Japanese and American yields gets wider.  I think the
Japanese were using the big sale to threaten the markets with their
immense reserves. I'm sure Washington approves of anything that keeps the
Yen higher (note recent earnings reports' citing for-ex losses), but I
don't think this is coordination. 





peace

Re: -- No Subject --

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, the likely story to 
watch is the BOJ selling US government securities, of which 
it holds several hundred billions worth.  It is now clear 
that the 12.1 billion sale through the New York Fed the 
other day was very much a coordinated deal.  It not only 
served to prop up the yen, but apparently with the new 
surplus in the US budget, there is now an actual SHORTAGE 
of US government securities in the financial markets.  
Apparently they get used as collateral for all kinds of 
transactions, and there are now not enough.  So, the BOJ's 
sales were most welcome.  No wonder the New York Fed helped 
out.
Barkley Rosser
On Thu, 16 Apr 98 2:37:25 EDT boddhisatva 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
>   To whom...,
> 
> 
> 
>   Late night reports of official Japanese reaction to the G7
> communique on for-ex make the Japanese mind-set a little clearer.  Either
> they are playing it extremely cute or they are living in a dream world.
> The latter seems more likely.  The communique quite clearly emphasized the
> view that the Yen should be strengthened through Japanese internal
> economic policy. While it left open the possibility of concerted
> intervention, it did so only in the case of imbalances in the market.  The
> Japanese officials, however, emphasized the very small opening left for
> concerted intervention and expressed surprise that Japan's situation was
> the focus of so much discussion.  I fear these guys are living in a
> fantasy where staying the course will produce renewed Japanese economic
> strength.  That seems to include staying the strong Yen course, but the
> BoJ seems to be alone in that effort whether it knows it or not.
> 
> 
> 
>   The Yen was bid to as low as 131/dollar, but moved back up a bit
> to around 130.  It's 2:00 a.m. EST and the trend on Globex has been
> bearish since I first checked it at midnight, however no break-out is
> evident at the moment and I don't know what the actual exchange rate was
> at midnight since I was getting the June future.  Reuters reported of a
> poll of economists which was interesting, showing a bearish trend on the
> Yen despite BoJ intervention and suggesting that Yen outflows could offset
> downward pressure on dollar/Yen caused by the current account deficit.  It
> is a brave new world in Tokyo. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   peace
> 
> 

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[boddhisatva]

To whom...,



Late night reports of official Japanese reaction to the G7
communique on for-ex make the Japanese mind-set a little clearer.  Either
they are playing it extremely cute or they are living in a dream world.
The latter seems more likely.  The communique quite clearly emphasized the
view that the Yen should be strengthened through Japanese internal
economic policy. While it left open the possibility of concerted
intervention, it did so only in the case of imbalances in the market.  The
Japanese officials, however, emphasized the very small opening left for
concerted intervention and expressed surprise that Japan's situation was
the focus of so much discussion.  I fear these guys are living in a
fantasy where staying the course will produce renewed Japanese economic
strength.  That seems to include staying the strong Yen course, but the
BoJ seems to be alone in that effort whether it knows it or not.



The Yen was bid to as low as 131/dollar, but moved back up a bit
to around 130.  It's 2:00 a.m. EST and the trend on Globex has been
bearish since I first checked it at midnight, however no break-out is
evident at the moment and I don't know what the actual exchange rate was
at midnight since I was getting the June future.  Reuters reported of a
poll of economists which was interesting, showing a bearish trend on the
Yen despite BoJ intervention and suggesting that Yen outflows could offset
downward pressure on dollar/Yen caused by the current account deficit.  It
is a brave new world in Tokyo. 






peace

No Subject

[PHILLPS]

Date:Sun, 29 Mar 98 16:39 LCL
From:PHILLPS
To:  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]<
Subject: Kosovo (corrected)

I had trouble with my e-mail and the previous post was cut
off and the last part garbled.  So let me please correct it.

But this relates back to Barkley's message.  From what I have
been able to find out from anecdotal evidence so far there has
been little change in Yugoslavia from self-management institutions
(though I don't know aabout the state of property relations.)  I
suspect that part of the American antipathy to Serbia is due to
the lack of reforms in the economic system.  Yet, our evidence is
that it is (at least in part) the retention of much of the self-
management institutions in Slovenia which has eased its transition
without the gutwrenching declines that some of the other transitionary
economies have experienced.  If that is the case, then to what extent
is American policy willing to accept that maintenance of some form
of self-management and workers' control or will it require an
abandonment of worker participation as an ideologically acceptable
constraint before the US will abandon sanctions.  What worries me
is that when I was in Slovenia in December I attended a seminar
with the US ambassador who was leaving to take up the Yugoslav
Desk in Washington.  In his talk he basically said, if I
interpreted him correctly, that even Slovenia which 'had made
great strides' had not liberalized (i.e. privatized) sufficiently
to satisfy American goals -- that is, worker participation in
management had to go!  If that is the case, then one can understand
the basic 'cold-war' mentallity that is driving US-Serb relations
and the US intervention in Kosovo.

Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba

No Subject

[David Laibman]

The winter issue of SCIENCE & SOCIETY contains:

  John L. Stanley, "Marx's Critique of Hegel's Philosophy
of Nature"

  Alan Shandro, "Karl Kautsky on the Relation of Theory
and Practice"

  Jerry Harris, "First Reaction: U.S. Communists & the
Khrushchev Revelations"

  John Callaghan, "Colonialism, Racism, the C[ommunist]
P[arty of] G[reat] B[ritain] and the Comintern"

  A debate about elite and class in Poland, by Jacek Tittenbrun and 
Francisco Gutierrez Sanin; Jie-Hyun Lim, Left Historiography in 
Poland Today 

  Books reviewed include Alan Wald's RESPONSIBILITY OF
INTELLECTUALS, 2 biographies of William Morris.
Peter Beckman's and Francine D'Amico's
WOMEN, GENDER & WORLD POLITICS; David Kettler's
& Volker Maja's KARL MANHEIM & LIBERALISM; Cathy
Schneider"s SHANTYTOWN PROTEST IN PINOCHET'S
CHILE; David Wellman's THE UNION MAKES US
STRONG: RADICAL UNIONISM ON THE SAN FRANCISCO
WATERFRONT; Fobert Zeiger's CIO; Kevin Anderson's
LENIN, HEGEL & WESTERN MARXISM; Melvin Olivers's
& Thomas Shapiro's BLACK WEALTH/WHITE WEALTH;
Donald MacKenzie, KNOWING MACHINES: ESSAYS ON
TECHNICAL CHANGE.

  -- SCIENCE & SOCIETY
 John Jay College
 City Univ. of N.Y,
 445 West 59 St.
 room 4331
 New York, NY 10019
 212/246-4932
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[ROBERT SAUTE]

--=_886623136==_


--=_886623136==_




***1998 SOCIALIST SCHOLARS CONFERENCE***

A World to Win:
 From the MANIFESTO 
to New Organizing for Socialist Change

***CALL FOR PANELS***

http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc


Dear Friends, Scholars, Activists,


 The 1998 Socialist Scholars Conference will take place this
year from Friday March 20 to Sunday March 22, at Borough of
Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City. 
This year's theme is "A World to Win: From the MANIFESTO to New
Organizing for Socialist Change," and we encourage panels to
address issues covered by it.  We are also eager to have panels
on any and all subjects of interest to socialists, radical
democrats, activists and intellectuals who want a better world.

 Last year 1800 activists, scholars, socialists, and radical
democrats from more than a dozen countries met for a weekend of
dialogue and debate about changes in the labor movement at the
top and bottom; independent politics; struggles for survival and
justice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; bringing culture back
in; and dozens of others on race, ecology, gender, class, and the
struggle for liberation. At more than 120 panels speakers and
participants exchanged ideas, honed tactics, and discovered new
ways to look at old problems.

 This year the aim of the Conference is modest: we would like
to reintroduce organizing into the socialist project.  The recent
Teamster victory in the U.P.S. strike illustrates the efficacy of
rank and file organizing: educating, agitating, and persuading. 
Yet, in this increasingly fragmented and complex world where
virtual communities supplant face-to-face communication, where
membership implies no commitment, organizing is a radical act.

 Two anniversaries will be important components of this
year's Conference: the one hundred and fifty years since the
birth of the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, and the thirty years since the
events of 1968 -- the Prague Spring, Paris, Chicago, the
Tlatelolco Massacre. 

 We encourage wide-ranging discussion.  Debates are more
interesting for speakers and audience.  Diversity of opinion and
experience, as well as in race, class, and gender, give your
panel and the Conference strength.  We have participants organize
panels rather than submit papers because panels with coherent
themes are more interesting; they allow for meaningful debate and
encourage participation from the audience. 

 Panels are an hour and fifty minutes long and typically have
three to five speakers, sometimes including a moderator.  Talks
of less than twenty minutes per speaker work best.  They allow
for exchange among and between panelists and the audience. 
Videos, slide presentations, and/or overhead projections can be
accommodated with advance notification.

 
 **Deadline for panel submissions is February 27, 1998.**


 To submit a panel, please include a panel title, a list of
panelists with one -and only one- affiliation per panelist, an
address with email for each panelist, a sponsoring organization
(if applicable) and a contact person with address, phone number,
and email.  Panels take place on Saturday March 21 and Sunday
March 22, from 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM, 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM, and 3:00
PM to 5:00 PM.  Please let us know your preference, and, given
early notification, we will do everything possible to meet your
needs. 

 The cost of a panel is $100.  The fee includes admission for
each of the panelist for the entire three day conference.  There
are no additional charges for panelists.  Please make your checks
payable to:

   Socialist Scholars Conference
   c/o Dept. of Sociology/ CUNY Grad Center
   33 West 42nd Street
   New York, NY  10036-8099

 If you have further questions, please look for our web page
at:

http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc

or contact us at the above address, phone us at (212) 642-2826,
or email us at:
 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

--=_886623136==_--

No Subject

[Thomas Kruse]

Vox populi, according to the NYT: 

But most people here said private sin has little to do with public
statesmanship. "I might not think of him[Clinton] as a good husband," said
Scott Inman, a 36-year-old warehouse worker, "but I approve of him as a
president." 

And some might judge Clinton more harshly, they acknowledged, if the economy
was in trouble. "As long as he's running the country and I'm working and
making money," said Arthur Johnson, a 49-year-old carpenter, "he can do
whatever he pleases in his spare time." 

Tom Kruse / Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia
Tel/Fax: (591-42) 48242
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[Steven S. Zahniser]

Dear Conrad:

Rose Ann and I enjoyed seeing you in Chicago, and we hope that you will
find meaningful and lucrative employment to follow your stint at Simon
Fraser. Be sure to check the job postings on the web site of THE CHRONICLE
OF HIGHER EDUCATION every Friday, and most of all, don't give up!!!

Best wishes,

Steven Zahniser
POB 9936
Oakland, CA  94613-0936
tel. 510-567-8727
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[Doug Henwood]

Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 15:34:05 +1100
From: WISE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Tracy Quan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: In a NUTshell

Dear Tracy,

Please forward my comments on to the appropriate list.

Jim Craven wrote:
> >So of course a few hookers who attempt to sanitize it all with the
> >title sex worker as part of the entertainment "industry" can work
> >under conditions and with protections that few if any prostitutes and
> >sexual slaves will ever know; it is they who are the truly insulated
> >and even arrogant ones. To the extent to which they attempt to
> >generalize and rationalize from their very limited and privileged
> >market niches, conditions and sentiments simply not found among the
> >many involved in prostitution, they play the same role as the rich
> >Jews who purported to extrapolate and rationalize from their
> >insulated and privileged positions what the vast majority of Jews
> >would likely face when dealing with Nazis as they purport to speak to
> >the issue of what the vast majority of prostitutes will face and
> >endure under the normal conditions and with the usual clientele and
> >extreme risks with which they have to deal.

I find Craven's self-proclaimed knowledge of the sex industry laughable!
It could have come straight from the pages of a moral majority propaganda
tract.  Likening whore activists to Nazi jews is not only extremely
insulting and offensive, but so totally incorrect that I wonder what his
real agenda is here.
I am a whore.  I am a whore activist.  I live in Canberra, Australia, where
we have a decriminalised sex industry.  Brothels, outcalls to clients
homes/hotels, and working as a prostitute from your home are all legal.
Street soliciting is not legal, but Canberra has never had a street scene
(for many reasons, but largely because we don't NEED it - so many other
forms of viable prostitution - street working is not a favoured option for
Canberra whores).
In our legal industry, only 10% of the workers use illegal drugs.  Notice I
said, "use" illegal drugs (not abuse - I have no figures as to which of the
10% actually find their drug use problematic).  Sex workers in Canberra
come from every background - many are students working their way through
tertiary education, many are parents whose partners are absent or
unemployed.  Some are working as whores because they do not think they have
any other choice - but not anywhere near the majority.  Most work as whores
because they enjoy the financial freedom, flexible work hours, client
contact, improving communication skills, sex, dressing up, being desirable
and a host of other reasons.  To cast the majority of us as poor exploited
creatures may fit into Craven's masturbatory fantasies, but it is far from
the truth.
As a whore activist who works for a sex worker rights organisation, I
access every single brothel in Canberra on a weekly basis, providing
condoms, lubricant and other tools of the trade, as well as offering
education and information on STDs, laws in Canberra and other states,
industrial issues etc.  If ANYONE is in a position to provide accurate
information about the reality of the sex industry, it is me.  The members
of Workers In Sex Employment in the ACT (WISE), my employers are sick and
tired of justifying their decisions to work where they choose.  How dare
someone who has never turned a trick in his life come and tell us how sad,
sick and sorry we are?
The real victims of prostitution - and there are victims - are there
because of the outdated laws that fail to protect us while lining the
pockets of the lawyers, police and other anti-prostitution folk.  Here are
some facts:
In Canberra, a city where prostitution is decriminalised but has no rigid
regulations about where, who, and how whores ply their trade (ie. it is an
offence to coerce someone to work as a prostitute, or to employ a minor, or
to knowingly infect - either as client or whore - someone with an STD), we
have rare incidences of violence towards sex workers, not one single case
of a sex worker infecting a client with HIV or vice versa, discrimination
legislation that makes it offence to discriminate against someone because
of their "trade, occupation or calling", and by far and away the large
majority of whores happily and gainfully employed.
Canberra is not unique.  The main reason that whores are unhappy, IN ANY
CITY, is anti-prostitution laws and self appointed moral guardians who make
it their business to put us down.
What offends me most about Cravens's blithe assertions is the notion that
we are selling out our sister whores by forming sex worker rights
organisations, providing peer education, information, advocacy and support.
 I will not be told I am a pseudo nazi for sticking up for the basic civil
rights of my sister whores!  WE ARE THE SEX EDUCATORS OF THE WORLD- and we
demand and deserve your respect!

Sera Pinwill
WISE Whore

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[Thomas Kruse]

Regarding LatAm reaction to FT defeat, I made the following notes for Doug
H.  It might be of interest for the rest of the list, so here goes.

>Tom -
>
>Hmm, this might be interesting. How much attention is Bolivia paying to the
>fast track thing? How does Bolivia fit into proposals for LatAm integration?
>
>Doug
>

Doug:

Bolivia (read: elite managers, owners and operators of Bolivia) is a member
of Mercosur, and as such is very interested in questions of integration,
trade, etc.  The past president (favorite of Wall Street, U Chicago educated
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada) rushed the country into the pact before we (read:
NOT the owners/operators of Bolivia) knew what it was or might mean. The
impact is still unclear.  Bolivia's tarrifs are already very low, and we're
flooded with Argentinian, Brazilian, Chinese, etc. imports (largely
contraband).  So the impact will probably be more in terms of access to
Brazilian, Argentinian, Peruvian and Chilean markets.

A note on Mercosur.  As you may know, it's basically a tariff union (shared
rules of the game) the involves about 50% of the population of South
America, 60% of the region's gross product, and 40% of the region's foreign
trade.  Members are allowed to enter into other trade agreements, of course,
as is the case with Chile, which has been bucking for entrance to NAFTA.
Thus, of the region's countries, Chile is perhaps the hardest hit by fast
track going down.  Various business sectors here were opposed to joining
(often those used to comfy govt. subsidies), but the Bolivian chapter of the
transnationalized economic elites (lots of MBAs from the US and Chile,
Mitsubishi 4x4s for city driving, cell phones and Christmas shopping in
Miami) carried the day.

In thinking about all this, a couple of basic points need to be emphasized.
First, while Bolivia (read: ...), like the rest of LatAm and the
"developing" world, is staking its future on export led growth, free trade,
etc., it is very small country (under 7 million pop., $770 GNP/cap in 1994),
with very few products the world is interested in (except coca/cocaine), and
loaded with a good deal of debt. For 1996 Debt/GNP was 61.4%; Debt/Exports
408.2%, in 1995 the debt grew by 12.4%, in 1996 by 2.6%.

Bolivia's exports are still over 40% minerals.  If you add oil and gas, over
50% are extractive products.  1996's exports were (estimates):

Minerals40.2%
Oil and Gas 11.8%
Soy 14.2% (much goes to feed Brazilian cows)
Wood 6.6%
Jewelry  3.6%
Other   23.6%

"Other" includes all sorts of stuff: furniture, ceramics, artesanal goods,
rainforest products (oils, nuts), and -- get this! -- coffins made from
precious hardwoods.  The value added in such goods varies a lot, but is
assumed to be higher than for just wood, say.  Thus, Bolivia remains
overwhelmingly an exporter of raw materials and low value added goods.

Point 2: Thanks to the work of Rhys Jenkins, we now have a somewhat clearer
picture on trade's impact post struct. adj.  He found that trade
liberalization has NOT led to improved export performance and has NOT led to
increases in productivity.  Improvements in trade performance are instead
attributed to "more realistic and more stable real exchange rate[s] after
1985, while the trade policy reforms [tariff reductions, etc.] have had
little impact."  (Note: this was before entering Mercosur.)  As for
productivity increases, he concludes simply that "there is no evidence that
the Bolivian trade reforms [again, pre Mercosur] have led to improved
productivity performance."  There were productivity increases in the period
studied but is was attributed largely to "increased intensity of work and a
result of reduction in personnel." (Jenkins in Journal of Intl. Dev., 7(4)
1995:594).  Informed opinion would, presumably, consider such things in
thinking about integration, export led growth models, etc.

Point 3: Living here I sometimes feel like I'm in a dreamland when presented
with econ. data.  Reason: the coca/cocaine economy is enormous, ubiquitous,
and largely unmeasured and perhaps unmeasurable -- if one fancies living.
Still, every reasonable economist, sociologist or anthropologist here (and
the US Embassy) admits that the impact is enormous.  Most commonly it is
suggested that without coca/cocaine, the structural adjustments of the mid
1980's would have resulted in upheaval.  Reform of the financial sector in
1985-6 allowed for unhampered buying and selling of dollars (in fact, it
produced a complete "dollarization" of the banking system -- CDs bought and
sold in dollars, checking in dollars, and scads of dollar changers on every
downtown corner, moving $10-30,000 daily) and, most significantly, the
*repatriation of capital no questions asked*.  The latter has kept Bolivia
liquid through the ups and downs of savage restructuring in the 80s and 90s.

Thus, the implications of integration, trade, etc. are rather complex.  At
the same time, some old patte

No Subject

[ROBERT SAUTE]

--=_878781881==_


--=_878781881==_




***1998 SOCIALIST SCHOLARS CONFERENCE***

A World to Win:
 From the MANIFESTO 
to New Organizing for Socialist Change

***CALL FOR PANELS***

http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc


Dear Friends, Scholars, Activists,


 The 1998 Socialist Scholars Conference will take place this
year from Friday March 20 to Sunday March 22, at Borough of
Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York City. 
This year's theme is "A World to Win: From the MANIFESTO to New
Organizing for Socialist Change," and we encourage panels to
address issues covered by it.  We are also eager to have panels
on any and all subjects of interest to socialists, radical
democrats, activists and intellectuals who want a better world.

 Last year 1800 activists, scholars, socialists, and radical
democrats from more than a dozen countries met for a weekend of
dialogue and debate about changes in the labor movement at the
top and bottom; independent politics; struggles for survival and
justice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; bringing culture back
in; and dozens of others on race, ecology, gender, class, and the
struggle for liberation. At more than 120 panels speakers and
participants exchanged ideas, honed tactics, and discovered new
ways to look at old problems.

 This year the aim of the Conference is modest: we would like
to reintroduce organizing into the socialist project.  The recent
Teamster victory in the U.P.S. strike illustrates the efficacy of
rank and file organizing: educating, agitating, and persuading. 
Yet, in this increasingly fragmented and complex world where
virtual communities supplant face-to-face communication, where
membership implies no commitment, organizing is a radical act.

 Two anniversaries will be important components of this
year's Conference: the one hundred and fifty years since the
birth of the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, and the thirty years since the
events of 1968 -- the Prague Spring, Paris, Chicago, the
Tlatelolco Massacre. 

 We encourage wide-ranging discussion.  Debates are more
interesting for speakers and audience.  Diversity of opinion and
experience, as well as in race, class, and gender, give your
panel and the Conference strength.  We have participants organize
panels rather than submit papers because panels with coherent
themes are more interesting; they allow for meaningful debate and
encourage participation from the audience. 

 Panels are an hour and fifty minutes long and typically have
three to five speakers, sometimes including a moderator.  Talks
of less than twenty minutes per speaker work best.  They allow
for exchange among and between panelists and the audience. 
Videos, slide presentations, and/or overhead projections can be
accommodated with advance notification.

 
 **Deadline for panel submissions is February 27, 1998.**


 To submit a panel, please include a panel title, a list of
panelists with one -and only one- affiliation per panelist, an
address with email for each panelist, a sponsoring organization
(if applicable) and a contact person with address, phone number,
and email.  Panels take place on Saturday March 21 and Sunday
March 22, from 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM, 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM, and 3:00
PM to 5:00 PM.  Please let us know your preference, and, given
early notification, we will do everything possible to meet your
needs. 

 The cost of a panel is $100.  The fee includes admission for
each of the panelist for the entire three day conference.  There
are no additional charges for panelists.  Please make your checks
payable to:

   Socialist Scholars Conference
   c/o Dept. of Sociology/ CUNY Grad Center
   33 West 42nd Street
   New York, NY  10036-8099

 If you have further questions, please look for our web page
at:

http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc

or contact us at the above address, phone us at (212) 642-2826,
or email us at:
 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

--=_878781881==_--

No Subject

[ROBERT SAUTE]

--=_878781820==_


--=_878781820==_



   1998 Socialist Scholars Conference
   March 20-22

"A World to Win:
>From the MANIFESTO
to New Organizing for Socialist Change"

http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc



 The sixteenth annual Socialist Scholars Conference will be
held at Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers
Street in downtown Manhattan from March 20 to 22, 1998.  The
theme of the Conference is "A World to Win: From the MANIFESTO to
New Organizing for Socialist Change."  One hundred and fifty
years after the "Communist Manifesto" first appeared the call for
"workers of all countries, unite" is as compelling as ever.  The
unparalleled strength of capital along with the concomitant rise
in inequality, insecurity, and environmental degradation demands
a response.

 The aim of the Conference is modest: we would like to
reintroduce organizing into the socialist project.  The recent
Teamster victory in the U.P.S. strike illustrates the efficacy of
rank and file organizing: educating, agitating, and persuading. 
Yet, in this increasingly fragmented and complex world where
virtual communities supplant face-to-face communication, where
membership implies no commitment, organizing is a radical act.

 Organizing is NOT simply a question of technique.  Whom we
organize and for what shapes how we organize.  Can socialists
build solidarity around universal interests, and which ones?  Are
particular identities -- class, race, gender, generation, and
nation -- mutually supportive or antagonistic to building a
better world?  What sorts of organizations lend themselves to
political independence?  Who are our allies, our adversaries? 
How do we organize in a globalized economy and culture?

 Two anniversaries will be important components of this
year's Conference: the one hundred and fifty years since the
birth of the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, and the thirty years since the
events of 1968 -- the Prague Spring, Paris, Chicago, the
Tlatelolco Massacre.

 Join us as we discuss and debate strategies and tactics for
socialist change.  Learn from those who are struggling against
domination, both here and abroad.  Share your successes.  Ask
hard questions about failure.  Help sustain a culture of
communication and activism.

 Last year 1800 activists, scholars, socialists, and radical
democrats from more than a dozen countries met for a weekend of
dialogue and debate.  At more than 120 panels, speakers and
participants exchanged ideas, honed tactics, and discovered new
ways to look at old problems.

 The Socialist Scholars Conference is a great place to renew
old acquaintances, meet new comrades, and share ideas.  We hope
to see you there!

DETAILS:

When:  6:00 PM Friday March 20 to 6:00 PM Sunday March
   22, 1998
   Conference material will be available only at the
   door.

Where: Borough of Manhattan Community College
   199 Chambers Street
   New York City


Cost:  Pre-registration (postmarked by March 6, 1998)

  Regular Income  $30
  Low Income  $20
  Undergraduate/HS $8
  One Day $15


  On-site Registration

  Regular Income  $45
  Low Income  $30
  Undergraduate/HS $8
  One Day $20


Checks should be made payable to:

  Socialist Scholars Conference
  c/o Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
  33 West 42nd Street
  New York, NY  10036

For further information look for our web page at:

   http://www.soc.qc.edu/ssc


write to the above address, or call (212) 642-2826, or email us
at [EMAIL PROTECTED]



+

PLEASE REGISTER ME FOR THE 1998 SOCIALIST SCHOLARS CONFERENCE

Name:

Address:_

_

City:  State:__  Zip:

Amount Enclosed:__

For one day admission, which day?   Fri:   Sat:   Sun:___

Return registrations with payment to:

 Socialist Scholars Conference,
 c/o Sociology/GSUC
 33 West 42nd Street
 New York, NY  10036-8099.

Early registrations must be postmarked by March 6, 1998. 
Registration material to be picked up at the door.

 The majority of panels each year are put together by
participants and not the organizers.  Here is your chance to
combine theory and practice. Write to us for further details.
--=_878781820==_--

No Subject

[Steven S. Zahniser]

On Mon, 13 Oct 1997, James Devine wrote:

> I thought that Heilbroner's NATION commentary on Mankiw was in many ways
> More interesting (to me, at least), was the criticism of Mankiw in BUSINESS
> WEEK: Mankiw leaves recessions, inflation, etc. to the end because he
> thinks they're unimportant and sees Keynesian economics as having a weak
> scientific basis. (Barro did this kind of thing in an intermediate macro
> text about 15 years ago. 

One of the Ph.D. macro classes that I took utilized Barro's text.  I found
the book's exposition of its "scientifically grounded" alternative to be
somewhat muddy. It is interesting how supposedly superior economics often
is bogged down in clumsy pedagogical tools.

   But Mankiw has described himself as a "New
> Keynesian"!) Mankiw's focus is long-term economic growth, based of course
> on the ultra-scientific Solow growth model (irony intended). 

I guess one can only go "So-low."

To the strains of "Roll Out the Barro,"

Steven Zahniser
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

No Subject

[Louis Proyect]

Doug Henwood:

>
>Of course South Korean growth wouldn't have been possible without support
>from the U.S., and even before the Vietnam war - Korean firms learned how
>to do large construction projects in part by building bases for the U.S.
>military in Korea itself. I share your admiration of Cuba, Lou, but it's
>very hard to hold up North Korea as much of a model for development; yes it
>did grow for a while, but not all that spectacularly.
>

The problem in making any kind of comparison at all in this context is that
is altogether impossible to isolate the countries in question from the Cold
War and its impact on economic development. For example, on the face of it
West Germany "proves" that capitalism is superior to socialism, given the
example of East Germany. At least that was what I was taught in high
school. What I wasn't taught is that Stalin stuck to the letter of the law
and prohibited re-industrialization of the East under terms of the treaty
ending WWII. Furthermore, East Germany was primarily agricultural. Also,
there was nothing quite like the Marshall Plan for East Germany and other
European East Bloc nations. The Soviet Union had lost all of its industrial
infrastructure in the Western 1/3 of the country and the death of millions
of its citizens.

This is the same sort of discussion we were having a while back on judging
the success of the East Asian tigers. There are all sorts of mitigating
circumstances that have to be taken into account when judging Singapore,
for example. Jim Devine pointed out that a lot of Singapore's success is
related to the exploitation of Malaysia.

One of the unique features of an economic system such as the kind that
prevailed in East Germany is that it not plunder or pillage other
countries. Instead it donated trucks, printing presses, medicine,
fertilizer, etc. to Cuba and the African National Congress in exile.
Meanwhile, West German banks were bleeding Yugoslavia dry during the 70s.

Louis Proyect

No Subject

[Max B. Sawicky]

Tim Stroshane wrote:
> 
> anyone have any information on privatization of health care in
> prisons?
> On prisons, see John Donahue, The Privatization Decision (book), and
his report for EPI.  A public administration prof, Van Johnston (can't
dance, as far as I know) at the Air Force Academy has done work that
is worth getting.  Also check into Janet Rothenberg Pack (U of P) for
non-ideological research.

I'm writing about privatization in local public education myself.
My book with Craig Richards (Columbia Teachers) and Rima Shore
will be out this summer, God willing.
 

Max B. Sawicky  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Economic Policy Institute   202-775-8810 (voice)
1660 L St., NW, WDC, 20036  202-775-0819 (fax)

No Subject

[Tim Stroshane]

Forwarded mail received from:

Anyone have ideas for this inquiry from another list?

anyone have any information on privatization of health care in 
prisons?

thanks in advance


> Date:  Thu, 2 May 1996 13:10:27 -0500
> Reply-to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From:  FM   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject:   Re: privatization data base

> > You may recall that a few weeks ago I suggested that it might be possible
> > to put together a data base which could be drawn upon when people are
> > dealing with privatization issues.  Putting together a useful data base
> > would require expertise and credibilty, a position the AFL-CIO, as
> > the umbrella organization of most US unions occupies if no one else.
> >
> > I spoke with Paul Hughes of the Public Employee Department of the AFL-CIO
> > a week ago about this project.  He has just come over to the AFL-CIO from
> > SEIU and is trying to determine what projects would be useful.  He
> > professes agnosticism on this idea for the moment. It might be useful if
> > those interested in getting such a project going would contact Hughes and
> > discuss it with him.  Giving him a sense whether unions could or could
> > not make use of information and what information they might need would be
> > helpful to his decision whether to commit resources to this project.
> > ---ellen dannin
> 
> REPLY:
> I think it would be useful as a national database.  However, we might want
> to check our own national unions to see if a like-base is being considered.
> If so, maybe those national unions could agree to co-build and share a
> national database through the AFL-CIO.  What do you think?
> ---Federico
> 
> 
***
j o h n  e l f r a n k - d a n a
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (personal/business)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (school)
http://www.bway.net/~elf/ (personal)
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us (school)

No Subject

[D Shniad]

Forwarded message:
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 96 19:17 CDT
From: Robert W McChesney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Sid,
 
I couldn't figure out what this guy's email address was to reply to him. Could
you dorward this reply?
 
Tim,
 
In 600 words I could only focus on the theme of corporate concentration. That
doesn't mean I am unconcerned about the censorship issue. But it does mean that
in this case I think the censorship issue ranks beneath the corporate
concentration issue in importance. Why? Because the global communication
oligopoly that this bill sanctions will impose a commercial censorship over
communication vastly more significant than Henry Hyde's anti-abortion move. It
will directly effect the range and nature of political debate and the rise and
fall of governments across the planet. As bad as censorship is, it is not at
this time the
primary threat to freedom in the United States or much of the western world. The
primary threat to democracy in the area of communications comes from a corporate
set-up that has implicit biases against ideas critical of the existing order. A
question we might want to ask is why a society with very little formal state
censorship has such a stilted political culture. The
anti-censorship plank of this bill will probably get tossed out by the courts;
the green light to unfettered corporate domination (as much as can be
accomplished, that is) will not only fail to be rejected by the courts, it will
scarcely receive comment in our political culture. It might be interesting to
ponder why that is.
 
Bob McChesney
 
 
>From:IN%"[EMAIL PROTECTED]"   "D Shniad"
>To:  (robert mcchesney) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Forwarded message:
>From: Tim Stroshane  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>MMDF-Warning:  Parse error in original version of preceding line at 
>ci.ci.berkeley.ca.us
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>MMDF-Warning:  Parse error in original version of preceding line at 
>ci.ci.berkeley.ca.us
>Date: Fri Feb  9 15:00:59 1996
>Message-ID:  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Content-Type: text
>Content-Length: 241
>
>McChesney doesn't even touch on the encroachments on free speech
>contained in this bill.  It's not just for the owners of large
>mass communications companies, computer giants, etc.; it also
>dramatically curtails speech through these media.
>
>

[PEN-L:2801] ...no subject...

[NJWollman%Faculty%MC]

Forwarded to:  smtp[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
  cc:  
Comments by:   NJWollman@Faculty@MC

   -- [Original Message] -  
 MUST DEMOCRATS MOVE TO THE RIGHT TO WIN IN '96?
  NOT ACCORDING TO A NEW ANALYSIS OF THE 1994 ELECTIONS

Contrary to the perceptions of the public and many political observers, a 
recently completed study reveals that it was not because Democratic 
incumbents were too liberal that they lost the U.S. House in 1994.  Being a 
liberal, as opposed to a moderate Democrat, actually enhanced significantly 
one's liklihood of election success.  It is true, however, that those 15% of 
Democratic incumbents who would be considered conservative also fared better 
than moderates, though not as well as liberals.  Thus, at least for 
Democrats, "moderation in all things" is not a wise policy. (A separate 
analysis for Republican incumbents revealed a near negligible relationship 
between liberal/conservative ideology and election success.)  Statistical 
analyses had correlated incumbent political ideology (using ratings by the 
conservative American Conservative Union and liberal Americans for Democratic 
Action) not only with incumbents' wins and losses, but also with their 
percentage of votes received.

So why did the Democrats lose in '94?  There is no one easy explanation.  
Consistent with other studies, our analyses did find that Democratic 
incumbents lost in districts in which they were vulnerable or in which 
President Clinton had done poorly in '92.  Certainly other factors were 
important too--regional differences, the economy, and cynicism about 
government, to name a few.  But the important point is that, while Republican 
challengers did make significant gains in 1994, it was not because the 
Democrats in office were too liberal. Recent polls showing dissatisfaction 
with conservative legislation is consistent with such a conclusion.

Many political observers said that the lesson of '94 was that Democrats must 
move to the right to win.  While that strategy might work for moderates, 
they'd actually be better off, other things being equal, becoming more 
liberal.  However, since all things are not equal, other factors actually 
correlate even more strongly with election success than does political 
ideology.

This study was conducted by two professors at Manchester College.  Leonard 
Williams has published work on political ideology and campaign ads.  Neil 
Wollman has written on the application of psychological principles to the 
political process.

Leonard Williams, Ph.D.  Neil Wollman. Ph.D.
History & Political Science Dept.Psychology Dept.
Manchester College   Manchester College
N. Manchester, IN  46962 N. Manchester, IN  46962
219-982-5335 219-982-5346
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:5845] *** No Subject ***

[John R. Ernst]

How about lessons on Escape.com for those of us who aren't sure of what you
are doing? 
As I recall Monday is a day you can be there at nite?   Let's talk.
(E-Mail) 
 
 
-- 
John R. Ernst 

[PEN-L:4027] No subject

[Jim Devine]

to what extent is Clinton's bail-out of Mexico cancelled out by the
Fed's hiking of interest rates?

sincerely,

Jim Devine
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"One knows so much and comprehends so little." -- Einstein

No Subject

[Adreshir Sepehri-Borojeni]

How could I subscribe to PEN? HELP!

No Subject

[Joel Rogers]

Original message
THE NATION, Vol. 259, No. 22, December 26, 1994, pp. 784-85.


TALKING UNION

 Early results of the Worker Representation and Participation
Survey show a strong employee desire for more power in the
workplace, frustration with management opposition to letting them
have it and three times the demand for unions than what current
union membership reflects. But you might not know this from
reading many press accounts of the WRPS findings ~ like the
Washington Post story headlined "Study: Unions Views as Obsolete"
~ which focused only on workers' desire to live in peace with
their employer.

 Of course workers want "cooperative" dealings with
management. If someone had a lot more power than you, wouldn't
you want them to be in a cooperative mood? If you had the
sensible view that the enterprise was a joint endeavor, wouldn't
you want to realize gains to be had through cooperation in making
it run? But workers also want respect from management, shared
benefit from cooperation, and the power to command both through
independent organization. The real problem highlighted by the
WRPS is not that federal law bars cooperative workplace practices
but that it no longer gives workers in the growing nonunion
sector any real ability to influence the terms on which
cooperation is offered.

 The WRPS, a survey of private-sector workers in companies of
twenty-five employees or more, found a massive
"representation/participation gap" in America's workplace ~ a
shortfall between the influence workers have in decision-making
and the influence they want. Workers believe more influence will
improve company performance, not just the quality of their own
jobs. This finding held across all workplace decisions ~ from
training and technology use to health and safety and wages and
benefits ~ and all kinds of employees. And it was robust even for
those operating under the most advanced forms of nonunion human
resource policies. By better than 80 percent, for example, even
nonunion participants in advanced employee involvement (EI)
programs want more influence "as a group" in how those programs
are run.

 But employees don't think management is prepared to give
them the power they want. Given "the way things are set up now"
in their companies, a majority of those wanting more influence
believe they couldn't get it on their own, "even if [they]
tried." And super-majorities believe that attempts to form unions
will be resisted by management, often by illegal means.

 What is management resistance weren't a barrier? Given the
opportunity, 40 percent of employees would join unions tomorrow ~
about three times the actual level of private-sector
unionization. Even those not wanting unions generally favor
independent ~ as against company dominated ~ forms of worker
representation. While they favor joint worker-management
organizations, they don't want management selecting their
representatives or having the final say in conflicts.

 Six decades ago the federal government offered American
workers a New Deal on workplace rights: Associational freedoms
would be guaranteed inside the company; what workers did with
them was their business. Six decades later, many things have
changed: The economy is no longer dominated by manufacturing; the
work force is more diverse; internationalization and urban
divestment, along with technology, have opened new sources of
wage competition. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is that
workers don't enjoy being pushed around. The WRPS does not stand
for the proposition that unions ~ the only form of independent
worker organization available in America ~ are obsolete. What it
describes are the consequences of government not keeping faith
with the old deal on workplace rights, and the urgency of
workers' demand that it do so.


Joel Rogers


Joel Rogers, a contributing editor of THE NATION, is professor of
law, political science and sociology at the University of
Wisconsin. With Richard Freeman, he directs the Worker
Representation and Participation Survey.


GRAPHIC:

WHAT WORKERS WANT

Workers %

Want more say in workplace decisions   63
Believe they can't get desired say "the way
   things are set up now"  56
Think more power in decisions would make
   firm more competitive   76
Think more power would increase their own
   job satisfaction87
Nonunion who think increased power would
   improve EI programs 82
Want to join unions40
Think a majority of their colleagues do too40
Nonunion who think management would
   oppose union drive at their company 66
Want to choose their o

No subject

[Jim Devine]

Tavis Barr writes:
"I'll buy your prediction of a death of the DP, ecxept that it is no more
'out of office (except for the presidency)' than the Republicans were
during the Reagan/Bush years."

Yes, but unlike the DP these days, the GOP has grass roots in the country
clubs, fundamentalist churches, and the like all across the country. The
GOP is strongly allied with organized money.  Now, the DP can try to link
up with these organizations and sectors (and has been doing so for awhile)
but that brings up the problem that when given the choice between a
Republican and a Republican, people usually vote for the real thing.  To
save itself,
the DP would have to do what Marion Barry did in DC: try to mobilize
the poor and other groups that have been feeling disenfranchised.  This
would be a major shift, especially given the nature of the folks who currently
run the party.

Heather Grob asks:
"Doesn't anyone think that this time will give the Dems a chance to revitalize,
especially if some common ground is found among public interest groups?
Environmental and health and safety issues would be rather important to this
aim."

Good idea, though the President and other DP leaders would oppose this.
However, IMHO, I don't think the DP is worth saving. Frankly, what's
needed is mass pressure (outside of the bounds of narrowly-defined
politics) to counteract the power of money, the fundamentalists, etc.
This might have the side-effect of saving the DP and also shifting it
to the left (as in the 1930s).  But my interest is not in saving the
DP but rather in understanding what's happening in narrowly-defined
politics (which is relevant even if one doesn't think that should be
the main arena of political work).

Sam Pooley asks:
"Perhaps some additional questions are, what is the theoretical structure
the Republicans (Gingrich) will use in trying to turn Congress into an
executive body (presumably the Cato Foundation and the Heritage
Foundation have published on this topic), and what kind of political
science framework do the Democrats have to reinvent themselves?"

On the latter, see above.  On the former, I think we will see a
new kind of gridlock (with the executive at war with the legislative
branch), with the legislation that does get signed being even more
right-wing than in the last 2 years.  Look for a federally-financed
voucher plan that takes money from public schools to pay for
private & religious schools.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950

No Subject

[Bruno Venditto]

subscribe 




Bruno Venditto
room 1.19
School of Economic and Social Studies
University of Manchester
tel ++ 61 275 4847

No Subject

[Dale Wharton]

This article was forwarded to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dale Wharton):

- cut here -

Path: 
dale.CAM.ORG!altitude!newsflash.concordia.ca!news.mcgill.ca!mcrcim.mcgill.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jace Crouch)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Top Ten Good Things about the New World Order
Date: 23 Nov 1994 20:25:15 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Lines: 28
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NNTP-Posting-Host: news.cs.utexas.edu

Forwarded for a friend.

-- Forwarded message --
Subject: top ten good things about the New World Order

#10 - no more *national* crises.

# 9 - the trains will run on time.

# 8 - more organ donors.

# 7 - New World Anthem is 'Dueling Banjos'.

# 6 - we won't have to wonder about conspiracy theories anymore.

# 5 - A.I.D.S. won't seem so scary.

# 4 - parents are allowed to plea-bargain if child informing on them 
  is under 5.

# 3 - your 'right to die' will be protected.

# 2 - lots of high-quality red, white, and blue toilet paper.

  and , the # 1 good thing about the New World Order is: 

  ... ROLLERBALL !!


- cut here -

No Subject

[Elaine McCrate]

Date: Fri, 11 Nov 94 11:08:34 EST
From:   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject:  job 1 at University of Vermont
To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]

The Department of Economics invites applications for one tenure track
opening at the assistant professorlevel, subject to budgetary approval,
beginning fall 1995. We seek a stron macroeconomist, familiar with the
broad traditions of macroeconomic theory and oreinted to policy
analysis. We are particularly interest in the above fields, but other
qualified candidates are welcome toapply. All candidates should have a
strong orientation to research and a commitment to excellence in
undergraduate, liberal arts education. We encourage candidates with
interdisciplinary interests. Applications should include a vitae (including
a description of the dissertation of other research endeavors), 3 letters of
recommendation, and a sample of written work. The closing date for the
receipt of completed applications is December 1, 1994. We will interview at
the ASSA meetings. An equal opportunity-affirmative action employer.
Contact: Ross Thomson, chair, Department of Economics, University of
Vermont, 479 Main St., Burlington, VT  05405.

Or you can send an e-mail inquiry to Elaine McCrate (EMCCRATE @
UVMVM.UVM.EDU).