Re: [Marxism] Long posts not allowed??
Carroll: none of those posts ever bothered even to hint that perhaps we should ask Lenin's question (even if we didn't accept his answers, which fit 1905): WITBD. The absence of interest in this question; in fact the absence any hint that the question existed, pretty much convinced me that the list was only concerned with daily movement for its own sake (a la bernstein), with hopes for the future occasionally thrown in for decoration. Those of us that have been around for a while have all had occasion, often many, to hear and perhaps even participate in formulating very self-assured and categorical responses to the question of What Is To Be Done. While some may disagree, blaming the vicissitudes of their particular sect or current on objective circumstances, the perfidy of the bureaucracy (whether of the misnamed socialist countries of unhappy memory or the almost as misnamed U.S. labor movement), I believe the fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves. Never mind not believing his answers a century ago apply to our situation, Lenin posed the question WITBD at a specific time, when the Russian labor movement was mature enough to make possible the drawing together of scattered elements into a genuine workers party. The conditions that would make possible the drawing together of such a party do not exist in the United States nor have they for many decades. (I leave aside the question of whether the Henry Wallace Movement, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Greens, the Nader campaigns or similar could have eventually opened the door or led to such a party. At any rate none of those efforts were a labor party, not even in embryo because they lacked any real or organic connection to the class movement, and that mainly because there is no politically independent class movement.) All the myths about Leninist party notwithstanding, WITBD is not about organization at bottom but rather about the relationship between the nascent party and the working class movement of which the party is the political expression. That is why despite his insistence on the need for skilled conspirators working underground (professional revolutionaries) he did not treat the RSDLP as a closed circle with only members allowed access to internal debates but rather these were carried out in public through articles in the periodical press and special pamphlets. That is because in Lenin's conception, which is the Marxist conception, the party is rooted in, grows out of the actual class movement when it reaches a certain level of development. That sort of class movement is precisely what we lack. The most eloquent testimony to the lack of conditions anything like those that led Lenin to pose his famous question is that with all sorts of socialist groups in the U.S. adopting policies of colonization of factories, industrial concentration, making their home in the working class, turning to industry, or whatever phrase the specific outfit chose in order to claim they were doing something different from everybody else, when in reality they were all doing pretty much the same thing, none of them recruited a single genuine hereditary proletarian from all their union and workplace focus, or as close to as makes no difference. Instead, the union work recruited socialists by the score into dropping their work as socialists. This is not just a question of people adopting a mask or being discrete to protect their livelihood or approaching their coworkers at a level they can understand. I believe rather it is a function of the kind of labor movement that we have, what Lenin called a bourgeois labour movement. (See Imperialism and the Split in Socialism here: http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/oct/x01.htm.) Attempts by socialists to seriously lead current unions have led to some more militant, combative or honest union leaderships, but has not meant a break with the bourgeois labor movement, and cannot do so under current circumstances because it is not a question of ideas in someone's head but rather social realities. Bourgeois forces are completely hegemonic in the organized labor movement. So for example, arguments in favor of political independence from bourgeois parties in unions today have a completely theoretical and unreal character, because a real party of working people does not exist. And even if you had been able to convince some local or other body to back Nader in one of his presidential campaigns, or McKinney, the real meaning of that position is that the union is trying to pressure the bourgeois parties, usually the Democrats, into making more concessions. And for all the other positions involved in the election, for Congress, state legislature, city council, etc., the unions will back the Democrat or if s/he is particularly repugnant, abstain in the given race, which has pretty much the same meaning as voting for Nader, a move to pressure the Democrats, not a break with them. A similar statement could be made about
[Marxism] AFL-CIO convention endorses single-payer healthcare
From: California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee Sept. 15, 2009 AFL-CIO Convention Endorses Single-Payer Unanimous Vote for Medicare-for-All Reform PITTSBURGH – In a historic vote that adds the nation's leading voice of American workers to a broad national campaign, the AFL-CIO voted unanimously at its national convention here today to endorse the enactment of single-payer, universal healthcare for all Americans. The resolution was sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Alameda County (California) Central Labor Council. In urging its support, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, an AFL-CIO National Vice-President, noted the recent death of Crystal Lee Sutton, the real-life union organizer from the film Norma Rae who died last week after a long battle with cancer, exacerbated by her own three-year fight with her insurance company. No one should spend the last days of their life fighting with their insurance company, said DeMoro. We should not make choices of who gets healthcare based on their ethnicity, gender, or economic status. But I am addressing the labor movement, not Wall Street. And we all know what is the right thing – the moral thing – single-payer healthcare. It marks the first time in perhaps two decades that the AFL-CIO has been formally on record in support of single-payer, which would essentially expand and improve Medicare to cover all Americans. Labor unions around the country have been in the forefront of grassroots actions around the nation in support of single-payer and many labor bodies submitted resolutions to the national convention in support of an endorsement. The resolution notes that the experience of Medicare (and of nearly every other industrialized country) shows the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality healthcare is through a single-payer system. Our nation should provide a single high standard of comprehensive care for all. It also sites specific single-payer bills, including HR 676, which has 86 cosponsors in Congress. The vote came shortly after the convention was addressed by President Obama who repeated his call for comprehensive healthcare reform, and will accompany another AFL-CIO resolution supporting other Congressional efforts to pass comprehensive reform. It also followed a reception hosted by CNA/NNOC and other unions Monday night featuring filmmaker Michael Moore whose previous film SICKO presaged the current national debate with its indictment of the healthcare industry, and was on hand to premiere his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story to the AFL-CIO convention. In his speech Moore recalled that 65 years ago President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a second bill of rights which called for a right to universal medical care, a fight that continues. He noted that every day the healthcare industry spends over $1 million to block reform while thousands of Americans continue to lose coverage, and urged labor and community activists to keep up the fight. Regardless of the outcome of the current healthcare legislative action, said United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard, we're going to continue the fight for single-payer. I'm not in favor of universal insurance, I'm in favor of universal healthcare. We are going to fight to make sure every single American gets high quality healthcare. We know the patient care crisis, we see it every day, said CNA/NNOC co-president Zenei Cortez, RN at the reception. We will not rest until we get rid of the private insurance companies that profit off of suffering. Greg Junemann, president of International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and chair of the HR 676 Labor Caucus, which has won similar endorsements from hundreds of international and local unions and state and local labor federations, noted to the convention the unity of labor in fighting for real reform. He also cited the ongoing fight of workers every day to protect the health coverage many have now. The labor movement needs to set our flag on the top of the mountain, and that we will not rest until we have single-payer healthcare for all, said Junemann. DeMoro welcomed the many international guests in the convention, and noted how most of them represent industrial nations where no one dies from lack of health coverage or goes bankrupt or loses homes due to un-payable medical bills. The reason? Because they have single-payer or other national healthcare systems, and because your labor movement led the fight for healthcare. Here insurance companies are at the apex of power, controlling our lives. It is not the public option we should be questioning, it is the private option and its horrendous power over our families, DeMoro said. When we meet again in four years, perhaps if we adopt single-payer, we will be like all our international brothers and sisters in this room, and no longer
[Marxism] Right-wingers have no original ideas
Glenn Beck's '9-12' logo based on communist and socialist designs September 13, 2009 | 10:30 am Taxpayer March Ever since Glenn Beck took to the Fox television airwaves recently to offer a bizarre reading of the art commissioned 70 years ago for New York's Rockefeller Center, I've been puzzled by the graphic design element of his 9-12 Project. The logo (pictured) for his affiliated groups' rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend derives from century-old communist, socialist and other left-wing designs. Those were the motifs he railed against in his Rockefeller rant. For the logo, three raised and clenched red fists are superimposed over the U.S. Capitol. Obviously the bloody fist represents the tea-baggers' themes of unity and resistance. But do Beck; the corporate-sponsored astro-turf group, FreedomWorks, headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas); the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights; the private-property group, the National Assn. of Rural Landowners; and the rest of the march sponsors know the symbol's origins? Unity and resistance are what the fist represented in 1917, when it was first employed by the Industrial Workers of the World, a union organization founded by socialists. And in the 1940s, when it stood for various nations' communist party organizations. Fist Progressive Labor Party That's also what it meant when it was revived in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol for the SDS, as well as anti-war and feminist movements. It was the basis for the black-power salute given by John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. And today, it's the symbol for the Progressive Labor Party (pictured), a political outfit whose website says it fights to smash capitalism. Turnout for the 9-12 Project's Saturday march on Washington was a bust; 30,000 protesters signed up in advance (MSNBC reporter David Shuster tweeted that D.C. park police called that figure generous). But even if three times that many actually showed up, the number would fall far short of the hundreds of thousands (and even millions) claimed to be planning to attend. Even in that reduced crowd, however, surely someone recognized how odd the right-wing gathering's left-wing logo was. Maybe Beck will explain. Sort of. -- Christopher Knight http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/09/glenn-becks-912-logo-based-on-on-communist-and-socialist-designs.html YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] (no subject)
HI I believe one of my lists was posted on your site. (about searching for former Marxist teachers) however I can't seem to find it on the site. Is there any way you could let me know if it went up and how I can find it. Apologies Lena YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] (no subject)
Hi Thank you very much. I think it got no replies. Have you any bright ideas where else would be a good place to search? best and thanks for all your help Lena On 16 Sep 2009, at 14:16, Louis Proyect wrote: Lena Corner wrote: HI I believe one of my lists was posted on your site. (about searching for former Marxist teachers) however I can't seem to find it on the site. Is there any way you could let me know if it went up and how I can find it. Apologies Lena Searchable archives are here: http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/index.htm Your message is here: http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2009w36/msg00221.htm YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/ marxism/lenacorner%40mac.com YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Obama Tip-Toes Around Wall Street's Looming Meltdown
Obama Tip-Toes Around Wall Street's Looming Meltdown By Nomi Prins, Mother Jones Posted on September 16, 2009, Printed on September 16, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/142658/ On Monday-one year after the once-mighty Lehman Brothers collapsed in the nation's biggest bankruptcy-President Obama addressed the state of the economy and again outlined his proposals for what he calls reform. The location-Federal Hall at 26 Wall Street, near the New York Stock Exchange and New York Federal Reserve Bank-was fitting. George Washington took his presidential oath there, a precursor for how intertwined Washington and Wall Street would become. And Obama's speech indicates that he's still making the grave error of mistaking the health of Wall Street for the health of the American economy. Obama chose not to deliver his speech on, say, the streets of Bend, Oregon, or Fresno, California, which provide different indicators of our economic predicament. That's because Washington's approach to the crisis has been to focus on the banking system, throw a few crumbs to citizens, and hope everything else will magically work itself out. The problem with concentrating on the banking system is that it allows the administration to present an overly optimistic assessment of its actions. The storms of the past two years are beginning to break, Obama pronounced, attributing this to a government that moved quickly on all fronts, initializing a financial stability plan to rescue the system from the crisis and restart lending for all those affected by the crisis. He continued: By taking aggressive and innovative steps in credit markets, we spurred lending not just to banks, but to folks looking to buy homes or cars, take out student loans, or finance small businesses. Our home ownership plan has helped responsible homeowners refinance to stem the tide of lost homes and lost home values. Those steps were certainly aggressive. Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, the government, from the Federal Reserve to the Treasury Department, has flushed the banking systems and other components of the financial markets with $17.5 trillion worth of loans, guarantees, and other forms of support. About another $1 trillion has been provided to citizens through the recovery package, first-time homeowner tax benefits, auto purchase credits, and approximately $800 billion to help guarantee the loans of certain lenders-which somewhat helps borrowers, but helps lenders more. But these measures have hardly brought the economy back from the brink. They brought Wall Street back from capital starvation and prevented the possibility of more big banks going bankrupt-instead of the slew of smaller and mid-size ones that have since met the same fate as Lehman Brothers. Taking credit for stabilizing the financial system after feeding it with massive amounts of federal money is like a teacher bragging about turning around the academic performance of a failing student after handing them all the answers to the big tests. Here's how the economy is really faring (and how Washington is failing to take adequate steps to fix it): * National unemployment is at 9.7 percent, higher than last year's 5.8 percent, with double digit jobless rates in 139 metropolitan areas this July, compared to 14 last July. * The number of foreclosures is greater than last year: nearly 2 million new foreclosure filings occurred in the first half of 2009, up 15 percent from the same period in 2008. * While homes in some areas have begun to slowly sell again, they are doing so at deeply depressed prices, in many instances below their mortgage value. * Wall Street bonuses are back to pre-crisis levels. For some firms, such as Goldman Sachs, they are even higher. * Bank leverage, or excessive borrowing on the back of risky assets-a major cause of the meltdown-is rising again. * Geithner recently reported that his program to enable private financial firms to buy up toxic assets with government help will wind up costing less than the $1 trillion he had first envisioned. However, he did not mention that there are less toxic assets available to buy partly because the Fed has allowed banks to use some toxic assets as collateral in return for cheap loans. * Big banks are bigger than they were last year. Since the Fed blessed more mergers last fall, the nation's three largest banks-Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo-hold the maximum percentage of legally permissable US deposits or more. * Mid-size and smaller banks keep closing. This year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has closed 92 banks and depleted its deposit insurance money in the process. * We still don't have detailed information on the trillions of dollars of loans the Fed handed out to the banking sector or about the quality of the collateral banks provided in return. Obama did acknowledge that the
Re: [Marxism] Query on Eastern Europe teachers
Thank you Louis You are very helpful. best wishes Lena On 16 Sep 2009, at 14:29, Louis Proyect wrote: Lena Corner wrote: Hi Thank you very much. I think it got no replies. Have you any bright ideas where else would be a good place to search? best and thanks for all your help Lena Lena, I am repeating your query. Maybe this will jog people's attention. Also, you might want to post this query to Johnson's Russia List: http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/default.cfm Hello Louis I am writing from a production company in London called Shady Lane Productions, just carrying out some research into a documentary project I am working on. I am trying to track down some Marxism teachers who worked in the Eastern Bloc prior to 1989. I wondered if this is anything you would know or about or be able to help me with. If you need more information please let me know and I can elaborate on the project. Best wishes Lena Corner YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/ marxism/lenacorner%40mac.com YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Wallerstein: worst is yet to come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBMnDLQr7-M YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Obama versus the lobbyists
Obama vs. the Lobbyists A Scorecard for the Future of American Politics By Andy Kroll At the end of this summer of discontent, of death panels and unplugging poor Grandma, of birthers and astroturfers and rifle-toting picketers, the halcyon early days of the Obama administration feel increasingly like hazy, gilt-edged memories. The president's sprawling legislative agenda -- a health-care overhaul, financial regulation reform, slashing wasteful military spending, and climate change legislation legislation -- is slowly grinding its way through the halls of Congress. Barack Obama's sheen, his administration's unflagging confidence, and all the bipartisan, post-racial aspirations have been replaced by the hard realities of Washington politicking. And with the media's lens more tightly focused than ever on Washington's every move and utterance 24/7, anything said a few months back feels like a lifetime ago. full: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175114/andy_kroll_the_washington_influence_machine YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Real earnings
Real Earnings Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until USDL-09-1125 8:30 a.m. (EDT), Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Technical Information: (202) 691-6555cesi...@bls.gov www.bls.gov/ces Media Contact: (202) 691-5902pressoff...@bls.gov REAL EARNINGS -- AUGUST 2009 Real average hourly earnings fell 0.2 percent from July to August, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This decline stemmed from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), up by 0.6 percent, outpacing 0.3 percent growth in average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers. Real average weekly earnings fell 0.2 percent over the month, as a result of the decrease in real average hourly earnings and no change in the average work week. Since reaching a recent high point in December 2008, real average weekly earnings have fallen by 1.5 percent. Real average hourly earnings grew 4.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, from August 2008 to August 2009. A 1.8 percent decline in average weekly hours partly offset the increase in real average hourly earnings and resulted in a 2.7 percent increase in real average weekly earnings during this period http://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] FRB G.17 Report on Industrial Production
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY UTILIZATION Industrial output rose 0.8 percent in August, following an upwardly revised increase of 1.0 percent in July. Production in manufacturing expanded 0.6 percent in August, and the index excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.4 percent. The gain in July for manufacturing was revised up 0.4 percentage point, to 1.4 percent; in addition, factory output for April through June is now somewhat less weak than reported previously. Production at mines moved up 0.5 percent in August. The output of utilities gained 1.9 percent, as temperatures swung from an unseasonably mild July to a slightly warmer-than-usual August. At 97.4 percent of its 2002 average, total industrial production was 10.7 percent below its level of a year earlier. In August, the capacity utilization rate for total industry advanced to 69.6 percent, a level 11.3 percentage points below its average for the period 1972 through 2008. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/default.htm YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Socialism in 2009?
The wisest minds the New York Times could assemble are parsing the above question with comments from the public invited. Go weigh in at: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/what-is-socialism-in-2009/ _ Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222986/direct/01/ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Venezuela to go nuclear: US upset (of course).
Nuclear power? Hell, Hillary Clinton is complaining because Venezuela plans to buy surface-to-air missiles, a *defensive* weapon, from Russia: http://lefti.blogspot.com/2009/09/even-picture-drips-contempt.html Eli Stephens Left I on the News http://lefti.blogspot.com _ Bing brings you health info from trusted sources. http://www.bing.com/search?q=pet+allergyform=MHEINApubl=WLHMTAGcrea=TXT_MHEINA_Health_Health_PetAllergy_1x1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] John Bellamy Foster interview on the financial crisis
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/foster170909.html YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Parody rightwing fundamentalist website
(At least it looks like a parody, onion style.) http://christwire.org YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] More On the Republic Windows And Doors Struggle
Last Wednesday former CEO of Republic Windows Doors, Richard Gillman, was arrested at his Magnificent Mile condominium in Chicago and charged with a laundry list of crimes related to the liquidation of the company’s enterprise in Chicago last December. Among the eight felony counts detailed by Assistant State’s Attorney John Mahoney were money laundering, theft, organizing a continuing financial crime enterprise, and mail fraud. Gilman was subsequently taken into custody after Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas set bail at $10 million. Last December, about 250 workers at Republic’s Chicago plant occupied the factory following its abrupt closing. At issue was the payment of unused vacation time, the immediate termination of health insurance, as well as the 60-days severance pay mandated by federal law in a mass layoff event. After six days of mounting working class support in the US and internationally, the occupation was defused though a deal brokered with Bank of America for an extension of credit to pay the workers back pay and to provide two months of health insurance coverage. See the full article at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/repu-s16.shtml - Bill YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Just Another American Hit Man, Actor and Journalist Living in Iran
Isn't his presence old news? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Lehman Died So TARP and AIG Might Live
*The Real Lesson of Lehman's Fall * Lehman Died So TARP and AIG Might Live By MIKE WHITNEY Lehman's fate was sealed not in the boardroom of that gaudy Manhattan headquarters. It was sealed downtown, in the gloomy gray building of the New York Federal Reserve, the Wall Street branch of the U.S. central bank. -- Stephen Foley, *U.K. Independent* Stephen Foley is on to something. Lehman Bros. didn't die of natural causes; it was drawn-and-quartered by high-ranking officials at the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Most of the rubbish presently appearing in the media, ignores this glaring fact. Lehman was a planned demolition (most likely) concocted by ex-Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson, who wanted to create a financial 9-11 to scare Congress into complying with his demands for $700 billion in emergency funding (TARP) for underwater US banking behemoths. The whole incident reeks of conflict of interest, corruption, and blackmail. The media have played a critical role in peddling the official Who could have known what would happen version of events. Bernanke and Paulson were fully aware that they playing with fire, but they chose to proceed anyway, using the mushrooming crisis to achieve their own objectives. Then things began to spin out of control; credit markets froze, interbank lending slowed to a crawl, and stock markets plunged. Even so, the Fed and Treasury persisted with their plan, demanding their $700 billion pound of flesh before they'd do what was needed to stop the bleeding. It was all avoidable. Lehman had potential buyers--including Barclays--who probably would have made the sale if Bernanke and Paulson had merely provided guarantees for some of their trading positions. Instead, Treasury and the Fed balked, thrusting the knife deeper into Lehman's ribs. They claimed they didn't have legal authority for such guarantees. It’s a lie. The Fed has provided $12.8 trillion in loans and other commitments to keep the financial system operating without congressional approval or any explicit authorization under the terms of its charter. The Fed never considered the limits of its legal authority when it bailed-out AIG or organized the acquisition of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan pushing $30 billion in future liabilities onto the public's balance sheet. The Fed's excuses don't square with the facts. full ---http://counterpunch.org/whitney09152009.html YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism-Thaxis] On contradiction
On the contradiction implied in “John is a man”, we might ask is John the only man ? If so, then the correct expression is “John is the man”. So, if John is a man , then there are other men. Joe is a man. Jack is a man. Andrew is a man. If John is identical with “a man” , and Joe is identical with “a man”, and Jack is identical with “a man”, then through some kind of transitivity of identities we reach the contradiction that John is Joe. John is Jack. Rosa L will say what is the contradiction in “John is Jack” ? It is that John is not Jack , as stipulated above when we said there are other men besides John. Jack is another man from John is identical with the expression John is not Jack. So directly the contradiction is that we have both John is Jack and John is not Jack at the same time. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
