Re: Any UFFO's? (Unidentified Flying-Financier Objects)
For years my son has been hoping that my interest in economics would result in investment advice. So here we have it. So, do you have any suggestions on what to buy? Honest-I'm-Not-Asking-On-My-Own-Behalf-Laurie Sez Doug, our man in the belly of the beast: > This is a very interesting little storm. By my old rule of thumb - buy when > I start getting lots of calls from reporters - it's time to go long with > both hands. But maybe it's different this time. Poor Greenspan - does he > commit the U.S. government to supporting something he himself has (very > gingerly) identified as a bubble? Does he flood the system with liquidity > with unemployment at 4.9% and real wages on the rise? Does he do that > without any kind of organized rescue package for the Asian countries that > started it all? Did Rubin really mean what he said the other week - that > investors in Mexico didn't suffer enough, which laid the groundwork for the > recent crisis? Can the U.S. expansion survive the loss of its great > psychological prop, the raging bull market? What will all those stock > market virgins do now that their beloved has turned on them? So many > questions, so few answers. > > Don't worry, Max, we won't be executing you anytime soon. > > Doug > > > >
FDI in U.S.
How to explain FDI in the US? Higher rates of exploitation? Supersized market which more than compensates for relatively slower growth rates? Circumvention of explicit and hidden protectionism: voluntary export restraints, trigger price mechanisms and targeted trade practices--all devious protectionist barriers to trade in the world's biggest market? Are there other reasons why the dollar remains a good investment? I too am interested in the answer. Rakesh
Quebec: New Statistics Show The Scope Of The All-Sided Crisis
According to a brief submitted by Action Toxicomanie Montreal, alcoholism and drug addiction affects 10% of the residents of Montreal. The brief, which was submitted to the Regional Board of Health and Social Services, evaluates that the problems of alcoholism and drug-addiction in Montreal directly and indirectly cost the government $640.7 million. It also writes that over 320,000 people, two thirds of whom are women, are direct victims of drug addiction: domestic violence, sexual abuse, parental neglect, abandonment, dropping out and learning problems. The report notes that the clientele using the centres specializing in the treatment of alcoholics and drug-addicted in Montreal is younger and younger. Multiple drug-addiction is particularly growing amongst those 35-years and younger. Amongst the 35-years and older, the dominant problem is alcoholism, which also affects 50% of the population. Treatment centres are fighting this increasing trend with less and less resources available to them. At the Dollar-Cormier Centre, there is an annual waiting list of 50,000 people for external consultation. This data reveals the disastrous consequences of the anti-social offensive, an offensive that seeks to bring society back to medievalism when individuals were left to fend for themselves. The victims of these consequences are entitled to demand that society take care of them. These statistics also show that only a society that places the well-being of human beings at the centre of its preoccupations will be able to put an end to these problems once and for all. TML WEEKLY, 10/97 Shawgi Tell Graduate School of Education University at Buffalo [EMAIL PROTECTED]
the crash and politics
Am I wrong in suspecting that the crash [if it is not just a passing blip] may doom fast track and discredit neo-liberalism? Is it time to get working? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FDI in U.S.
On Mon, October 27, 1997 at 16:58:54 (+) john gulick writes: >As many learned observers on this list have noted, U.S. government >officials in the last few years have come to tout gov't >deregulation/labor flexibility as the reason why capitalism >Anglo-American style has outperformed capitalism continental European >style in recent years (performance of course measured by GDP growth, >stock prices, etc.). I can't give you figures about FDI attracted here to the US, for which I'll wager Doug "Fast Stats" Henwood has an answer, but the above contention is precisely the opposite of that given by William Lazonick in his book _Business Organization and the Myth of the Market Economy_ (Cambridge University Press, 1991). US growth has been eclipsed by both Germany and Japan (not to mention the Asian "miracles"), who employ the visible hand much more readily and openly than is done here. Bill
Re: Asian ecological crisis
> Whatever one's theory of their sources, the recent economic/ecological crises > to sweep SE Asia (currency crashes, regional pollution disasters, stock > market swoons) represent a serious legitimacy problem not only for heads of > state and governments in that part of the world, but to exponents of the > so-called "Asian miracle." [...Diagnostic comments descending therefrom deleted for space...] > Any remarks on these ill-formed [?] thoughts ? I fear that the streets of West Coast cities will soon swarm with SE Asian yuppies and their cell phones, unwilling to give up so easily on the geysers of quick money that mammoth Ponzi schemes of state and regional development induce. They will pile in as the peasants of subject peoples piled into Rome and Constantinople (and even for the same reason, basically: they have lost their land and culture). If only ad people and pundits would stop speaking in terms of "the banking and financial service _industries_" we would remedially be half way home, but even that apparently modest semantic corruption plays its role in seduction by a parasitism that knows not its own name. valis
Re: Any UFFO's? (Unidentified Flying-Financier Objects)
Max B. Sawicky wrote: >Yo Doug, > >Anything interesting happening in your neck of the woods? > >Let me say that if the socialist revolution is finally upon us, >I always have been deeply sympathetic. > >Secretly Marxist Max No one hitting the pavement yet, as far as I can tell, though there was a very strange accident involving an SUV, 4 cars, and the gate to my building's driveway a couple of hours ago. This is a very interesting little storm. By my old rule of thumb - buy when I start getting lots of calls from reporters - it's time to go long with both hands. But maybe it's different this time. Poor Greenspan - does he commit the U.S. government to supporting something he himself has (very gingerly) identified as a bubble? Does he flood the system with liquidity with unemployment at 4.9% and real wages on the rise? Does he do that without any kind of organized rescue package for the Asian countries that started it all? Did Rubin really mean what he said the other week - that investors in Mexico didn't suffer enough, which laid the groundwork for the recent crisis? Can the U.S. expansion survive the loss of its great psychological prop, the raging bull market? What will all those stock market virgins do now that their beloved has turned on them? So many questions, so few answers. Don't worry, Max, we won't be executing you anytime soon. Doug
Any UFFO's? (Unidentified Flying-Financier Objects)
Yo Doug, Anything interesting happening in your neck of the woods? Let me say that if the socialist revolution is finally upon us, I always have been deeply sympathetic. Secretly Marxist Max === Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC 20036 http://tap.epn.org/sawicky Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute other than this writer. ===
FDI in U.S.
Pen-L'ers, As many learned observers on this list have noted, U.S. government officials in the last few years have come to tout gov't deregulation/labor flexibility as the reason why capitalism Anglo-American style has outperformed capitalism continental European style in recent years (performance of course measured by GDP growth, stock prices, etc.). Many on the left have talked about how U.S. officials in neo-imperialist fashion have used U.S. economic "success" as a discursive bludgeon to open up trade and investment opportunities elsewhere. I'm interested in just the converse -- has anyone out there seen an article, report, book which documents how U.S. deregulation/flexibility has been a major draw for FDI into the U.S. ? This seems to be a taboo subject for left-liberals who don't want to admit that neo-liberalism at home attracts fixed investment from abroad (German companies practically run things in the Piedmont region, e.g.). After all in a world with evaporating currency controls you'd think that when money K is transformed into productive K a good portion of it would touch down where promised medium- and long-term rates of return are highest. Where else but the good ol' U.S.A., where you can combine insecure workers, dangerous factories, and super-sophisticated capital goods with excellent infrastructure links and low tax rates ? Any help on an intelligent source would be appreciated. Thanks, John Gulick Ph. D. Candidate Sociology Graduate Program University of California-Santa Cruz (415) 643-8568 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Asian ecological crisis
Pen-L'ers, Whatever one's theory of their sources, the recent economic/ecological crises to sweep SE Asia (currency crashes, regional pollution disasters, stock market swoons) represent a serious legitimacy problem not only for heads of state and governments in that part of the world, but to exponents of the so-called "Asian miracle." Serious students of the region know that a) each of the ASEAN countries deploys a unique set of economic development policies based on colonial history, ethnic composition, political system, natural resources, relation to the world market and TNC's, state-domestic K alliances, etc., and b) none of the countries deployed textbook neo-liberal economic development policies, but in hegemonic discourse rapid growth rates and persistently climbing mean incomes made SE Asia a signifier of the good tidings capital accumulation could bring to the "developing" world. Now that this is (temporarily ?) going to hell in a handbasket, one would think this would pose a serious problem to the credibility of the world's ruling classes and their think-tank apologists who tout global neo-liberalism, not to mention their own confidence in the righteousness of their rule. In my mind the recent events in SE Asia pose a bigger legitimacy crisis than does deepening poverty and devastation in much of Latin America/Africa, high structural unemployment rates in Europe, state collapse and re-peripheralization of Russia, escalating equality in U.S., and so on, because SE Asia's fortunes in the last decade were passed off not as exceptions to the rule, but the rule to the exceptions. I haven't been following the Indonesian fires and the regional ecological catastrophe very closely, but on the surface it seems to me that this is the most clear-cut example of rapid capitalist growth undermining the conditions of its own reproduction through destroying the natural environment. No doubt the mainstream development theorists and ecological economists and environmental policy wonks in the North will blame political cronyism and the absence of liberal democratic institutions such as technocratic environmental protection bureaucracies for the regional environmental catastrophe to perpetuate the illusion that sustainable capitalism on a world scale is possible and practicable. Any remarks on these ill-formed thoughts ? John Gulick Ph. D. Candidate Sociology Graduate Program University of California-Santa Cruz (415) 643-8568 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
panic@plan.sys.cosm
Anyone here want 4000 shares of Flatwheel Traction, really cheap? Then how about 3500 of Club Med - Indonesia? Sidney Soundbite Financial Advisor (yeah, another one)
International Business Cycle Research
Does anyone on pen-l know if the Center for International Business Cycle Research, located at Colombia University in the early 1980s, is still in business, and if so, what its e-mail address is. Many thanks, Trevor Evans Paul Lincke Ufer 44 10999 Berlin Tel. & fax 49 30 612 3951 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Asian ecological crisis -Reply
I was struck by the off-hand remark in the NY Times article supplied us by Louis Proyect that this ecological disaster in southeast Asia somehow "coincided" with the economic slow-down now occurring in Indonesia and other states. I am hardly knowledgeable about southeast Asian affairs, but the timing of the land-clearing fires for agriculture (and perhaps other resource-extraction and/or some level of industrial/urban development) on these islands must be less than coincidental. Land-clearing, even in American history, always had a great deal to do with speculative development as a prelude to economic growth. Similar things go on now in Brazil too. I suspect the coincidence has more to do with El Nino coinciding with the economic slowdown; together they've precipitated this disaster. Land clearing and economic development are not coincidental, in my humble opinion.
Re: truth
At 15:43 16/10/97 -0400, Ricardo wrote: >> Ajit's basic claim is that all claims to objective truth assume the >> objectivity of truth. Whichever way they turn, the defenders of >> objectivity cannot avoid making this assumption. And Ajit will >> keep on reminding them of it. However, this does not exculpate Ajit >> of his own "arbitrary" positions. That Althusser is not the answer >> has been long shown by Hindess and Hirst, who argue that although >> Althusser distinguishes the concepts of reality from reality itself, >> the basic concepts of historical materialism are still thought to >> approapriate the essence of reality. That is, Althusser still >> conceives the "economic instance" as determining in the last instance >> the essential character of all other instances. So, although >> Althusser questions the correspondence of concepts to the >> world, and insists that these concepts not be confused with the real >> itself, he still maintains that the concepts of historical >> materialism designate, or correspond to, the essence of the real. >> Other domains of reality are acknowledge as significant, but the >> essential nature of society is thought to be determined by the >> "structure in dominance". ___ This is much too serious a question, and I don't think this post will do justice to it. I agree with you that The thesis or rather just a statement that the economic instance is *determinant in the last instance* is problematic to say the least. It threatens Althusser's thesis of 'overdetermination' and 'structural causality'. The question is, are we in the last instance reduced to a transcendental cause? Let me try to rethink the issue. Althusser's mode of production or the social formation is made up of three instances, namely: economic, ideology, and politics. The economic instance is constituted by a complex relation between the forces and the relations of production. It is itself a structure dominated by the relation of production. The ideological instance is constituted by the constitution of individual subjectivities and its relation to the world. Similarly, politics has its own apparent relations but largely left ignored by the theory. All these instances have relative autonomy and they overdetermine the structure, where one instance is in dominance (Note that dominance is not the same thing as determinant. Economic instance is dominant in the capitalist mode but Ideology was dominant in the feudal mode. I will explain what I mean by dominance in the foot note). The structure gets its classification or its name on the basis of what relations pertain between forces and relations of production, such as feudalism, capitalism, etc. The fundamental thing to understand here is that Althusser's, as well as Marx's, central organizing principle is REPRODUCTION. If a mode of production is an object of history, then it must have historical viability, i.e. it must be able to reproduce itself. In this case, the Ideology as well as Politics must be such that it is 'supportive' rather than antagonistic to the relationship pertaining at the level of economics. For example, it may be difficult to conceive of modern day capitalism with similar Ideology and the influence of the church as was the case in the medieval period. If these instances stood quite antagonistic to each other then the structure would not last, and would collapse into some other structure. The causal relation for this kind of rupture of the structure Althusser does not speculate about. For him, Marxism is a revolution in theory and not a theory of revolution. Thus the reference to the economy being the determinant in the last instance is not in the sense of ACTIVE CAUSE determining or shaping the other instances according to its wishes-- as Althusser said, the lone hour of the last instance never comes. It is rather the determining instance in the context of a given mode of production reproducing itself. The given mode of production is defined by its economic relation. ___ >> Moreover, on what grounds does Althusser draw a >> distinction between "science and "ideology", if not to show that >> those concepts which are not consistent with marxists concepts are >> ideological, while those concepts which belong to Marx's problematic >> are scientific? This is also Derrida's problem with Althusser, and I'm sure he has good reasons for it. But one should be clear about one thing. For Althusser the distinction between science and ideology is not based on the idea of 'true' knowledge and 'false' knowledge as was the case with Lukacs. Science is an understanding of a theoretical object, whereas Ideology has no object of its own-- it is a relationship of a constituted subject and its relation to the world. The interesting thing is that though the Ideology is a part of the social formation or the mode of production, the theoretical practice or the 'scientific practice' is not. For Althusser k
Re: Any UFFO's? (Unidentified Flying-Financier Objects)
A c-c-c-correction . . . p-p-p-profit t-t-t-taking . . . n-n-n-nervousness . .. . n-n-n-nothing more. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^ knoW Ware Communications Vancouver, B.C., CANADA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 688-8296 ^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
Canada's ideological paymaster
The Toronto StarOctober 25, 1997 Right-wing causes find a rich and ready paymaster CANADA 'TOO 'LIBERAL,' SO DONNER FAMILY IS TAKING FOUNDATION DOWN A MORE CONTROVERSIAL PATH By Thomas Walkom FOUR YEARS ago, a small but influential U.S. family decided that Canada had become simply too liberal. The Americans were descendants of the late William H. Donner, a wealthy steel magnate who left the United States 39 years ago in a row over income taxes and ended up starting the Donner Canadian Foundation. The foundation is still controlled by Donner's American heirs. With $134 million in assets and about $3.5 million to distribute annually, it is the third largest private charitable fund in the country. Only the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and Charles Bronfman's Chastell Foundation - both of Montreal - are bigger. For the first 43 years of its existence, the Donner foundation was a typical Canadian charitable fund, donating its money to the kinds of uncon- troversial mainstream projects that are generally, and often uncritically, deemed worthy - medical research, prison reform, studies on Canadian unity. Now it is known as paymaster to the right, a source of ready cash for the favourite causes of the new, market conservatism. A list of grants approved by the foundation over the past four years reads like a neo-conservative wish list. * More than $862,000 to the Fraser Institute, the British Columbia anti-union think tank, to, among other things, study unions. * $1.6 million to the Energy Probe Research Foundation to start up the right-of-centre magazine, The Next City, and the market-oriented Con- sumer Policy Institute. * $515,000 to the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies to look at issues such as privatization of the fishery. * $70,000 to consultant Martin Loney, a vocal critic of employment equity policies, to look at the impact of equity policies. * $286,000 to the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship to fight so-called political correctness at Canadian universities. * $700,000 to the Society for Advancing Educational Research, an organization interested in establishing charter schools to replace and/or supplement the public education system. * $400,000 to the Centre for the Study of State and Market to look at how best to privatize state institutions such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. * $185,000 to academics at the University of Toronto to look at ways to privatize the Canada Pension Plan and Ontario's social housing. * $325,000 to the Work Research Foundation, a group with a "Christian perspective" on industrial relations, to promote its opposition to labour laws requiring the compulsory payment of union dues. * $190,000 to the National Foundation for Family Research and Edu- cation, an anti-child care organization based in Alberta. What spawned the shift, says former foundation president Robert Couchman, was the ascendancy of the more right-wing, West Coast branch of the conservative Donner family. The Donner heirs, all American, hold only four seats on the founda- tion's nine-member board of directors. But they appoint the remaining five outside Canadian directors. By 1993 they already controlled an explicitly right-of-centre sister fund, the U.S.-based William H. Donner Foundation. Then, with the West Coast Donners in command, the family decided its Canadian charity should follow a similar path and enlighten people in this country as to the virtues of market discipline. Patrick Luciani, now acting executive director of the foundation, openly acknowledges the shift. "We changed emphasis in 1993. It had been a classic Canadian founda- tion, quite liberal. But the Donner family saw the country going through a fiscal crisis and they wanted to fund projects that looked at more competi- tion and less government. . . . "You don't want to do the same projects over and over again. You want to make a difference." Recalcitrant board members were replaced with those more amenable to a muscular right-of-centre approach. (The Donner board now includes former Canadian ambassador to Washington Allan Gotlieb and Saturday Night editor Ken Whyte). The foundation also parted company with Couchman, former head of Metro's Family Services Association. "I left largely because of that turn to the right," says Couchman, now a consultant based in Yukon. "The foundation was always fairly conserva- tive. We did fund organizations like the Fraser Institute. But when I left it was clear the family was interested much more in moving into ideological issues." Now, four years later, Donner has become notorious within the small world of charitable foundations and their recipients. Writi
Hearings on the MAI
The Toronto Star October 25, 1997 CANADIAN PARLIAMENT TO HOLD HEARINGS INTO THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT (MAI) By Rosemary Speirs OTTAWA - Trade Minister Sergio Marchi says critics have built "a phantom" out of the closed-door negotiations in Paris for a treaty governing the rules of foreign investment. Bowing to demands for a public debate, Marchi has asked a parliamentary committee to hold hearings on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. He hopes that This week, a subcommittee of nine MPs, headed by Liberal Bob Speller, agreed to make hearings on the agreement a priority. Marchi is asking for a report by December, which he says will help guide Canadian negotiator Bill Dymond during the final talks in Paris next spring. Canadians have about two weeks to make their voices heard. MAI will drastically alter our communities, our country and the world. Corporations will be allowed to sue governments, (municipal, provincial and federal) for loss of profits if governments enact safety, environmental or labour laws that limits a corporation's ability to compete internationaly. Governments cannot sue corporations. The suit would be heard behind closed doors, outside of Canada. The decsion would be binding. The proceedings of the hearing would remain secret. There would be no appeal. Municipal, provincial and federal governments would no longer be able to pass laws or to govern for fear of bankrupting lawsuits. Citizens would no longer govern their own communities. Municipal, provincial, state and federal governments would be governed by transnational coporations. The Canadian government wants a report in 5 weeks! The deal will be signed in six months! We will be locked in for twenty years! Canadians need to participate in this process. Now! = web sites MAI Internet Resource List == By the MAI-Not! Project, OPIRG-Carleton, 520-2757, fax 520-3989, e- mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.flora.org/mai-not/ The Alliance for Public Accountability is helping us draft a campaign to hold MP's accountable on the MAI: http://www.magi.com/~hemccand/cca.html OUR BEST PICKS The entire text of the January MAI draft http://www.essential.org/monitor/mai.contents.html The text of the May 13th draft (under construction) http://www.citizen.org/gtw/mainewte.htm A comparison of the two drafts http://www.citizen.org/gtw/maitextc.htm MAI-Day! The Corporate Rule Treaty by Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Institute http://www.islandnet.com/plethora/mai.html ALL THE WEBSITES BELOW are linked to our site or these other Canadian sites: MAI-No thanks... comprehensive links to organizations, essays on MAI and related issues http://www.islandnet.com/plethora/nomai.html The National Centre for Sustainability, a new MAI information site http://www.islandnet.com/~ncfs/maisite/ CANADA. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives http://www.policyalternatives.ca/ Council of Canadians http://www.web.net/~coc/ Citizens Concerned about Free Trade http://web.idirect.com/~ccaft/ The Sierra Club Common Front on WTO http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/trade-env/ U.S... People-Centred Development Forum (David Korten) http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/ Multinational Monitor http://www.essential.org/monitor/monitor_resources.html#other Public Citizen (Ralph Nader) http://www.citizen.org/ Global Trade Division of Public Citizen http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/tradehome.html The Preamble Collaborative http://www.rtk.net/preamble/ Corporate Watch and TRAC, the Transnational Resource and Action Center http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/about/about.html#advisor Proponents of the MAI.. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) http://www.oecd.org/daf/cmis/mai/mai.htm The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/english/trade/backgr-e.htm Other pro-MAI sites are linked to the "MAI? No thanks!" site http://www.islandnet.com/plethora/mai-yes.html (A more complete list with email and mail addresses will be released later) The first part of the text of the May draft of the MAI can be found on the web at: http://www.citizen.org/gtw/mainewte.htm Other sites: http://www.twnside.org.sg/ http://csf.colorado.edu/sustainable-economicsc
First tentative agreement at a Wal Mart (fwd)
> http://www.newswire.ca/releases/October1997/27/c5889.html > > Attention News/Labour Editors: > > TENTATIVE CONTRACT SETTLEMENT AT FIRST-EVER UNIONIZED WAL-MART > > WINDSOR, Ont., Oct. 27 /CNW/ - Eight months after the Ontario Labour > Relations Board (OLRB) certified the United Steelworkers to represent > employees at a store in Windsor, a tentative first contract has been > reached > with Wal-Mart Canada Inc. > Tom Collins, director of the Steelworkers' Retail Wholesale Division, > said today that the settlement will be presented to employees over the > next > several days, and that voting on whether to accept it will be next Sunday > (November 2). > ``The employees' negotiating committee worked long and hard to > achieve a > good settlement,'' Collins said, adding that no details will be released > until > employees have been able to review and vote on it. > The settlement comes after the Ontario Court of Appeal put an end to > Wal-Mart's application for judicial review of the OLRB's decision to give > the > Steelworkers automatic certification based on unfair labour practices > during a > 1996 organizing campaign. > Wal-Mart's application was unanimously dismissed, upholding the OLRB's > decision, and paving the way for concluding negotiations for a first > collective agreement. > > USWA E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > USWA WEBSITE: http://www.uswa.ca > > -30- >
Re: Marx's "Modern Theory of Colonization"
James Devine wrote: > > Marx really didn't spend much time on the other types of colonies. > see: Marx, Karl. 1968. Karl Marx on Colonialism and Modernization: His Dispatches and Other Writings on China, India, Mexico, the Middle East and North Africa, ed. with Shlomo Avineri (Garden City: Doubleday). --- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 916-898-5321 916-898-5901 fax
Marx's "Modern Theory of Colonization"
Louis writes: >Marx was attempting to put these questions on the terrain of capital accumulation rather than philosophy when he wrote chapter 33 of volume one of Capital, titled "The Modern Theory of Colonization." He says: "In Western Europe, the homeland of political economy, the process of primitive accumulation has more or less been accomplished... It is otherwise in the colonies There the capitalist regime constantly comes up against the obstacle presented by the producer, who, as owner of his own conditions of labour, employs that labour to enrich himself instead of the capitalist."< I think that it should be stressed that when Marx writes of colonization in the last chapter of vol. I, he is not talking about the kind of colonization that Columbus or King Leopold engineered (looting or forced-labor colonization). It's settler colonialism, as in the US or Australia or NZ or Canada, etc. The problem for capital in those types of colonies is that the free (white) settlers had relatively easy access to land and thus would not submit to wage-labor. Given the low "man/land" ratio, capitalist social relations don't work in production. So to extract surplus-labor, the capitalists have to break with "free market" rules and rely on slavery, indentured servitude, rules against moving to the frontier, etc. Marx was able to quote E.G. Wakefield (whose book he quotes at length) in order to prove one of his major points, "capital is not a thing, but a social relation between persons." (p.766 of Internat'l Publ. ed.) He concludes (in the last sentence of the book): "the capitalist mode of production and accumulation, and therefore capitalist private property, have for their fundamental conditon the annihilation of self-earned private property; in other words, the expropriation of the laborer." Marx really didn't spend much time on the other types of colonies. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they really do not refer to reality." -- Albert Einstein.
FW: BLS Daily Reportboundary="---- =_NextPart_000_01BCE2C9.DD4C4BC0"
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. -- =_NextPart_000_01BCE2C9.DD4C4BC0 charset="iso-8859-1" BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1997 The experimental geometric mean version of the CPI continued to conform to expectations in its pattern of divergence with the official CPI, rising by 2 percent in the year ended in September, according to BLS. The official CPI-U rose 2.2 percent in the same period. BLS is testing the experimental geometric mean CPI (called the CPI-XG) against another experimental index that uses the same arithmetic average method of calculating price changes as the CPI-U, but recalculates it to make a more suitable comparison with the geometric mean index. The experimental geometric mean index has also risen at a rate 0.2 percent slower than the experimental arithmetic index. At the end of the year, BLS will announce how it will change its method of calculating price changes at the lowest level of detail. No changes in methodology will be made until early 1999, Commissioner Katharine Abraham has said. It is likely the geometric mean index will be appropriate for some items but not all CPI components (Daily Labor Report, page A-17). Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000 in the week ended Oct. 8, the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor announced. This figure, a larger increase than market expectations, marks the first time in six weeks that new claims for jobless benefits have risen above 310,000. The level of claims still indicates a tight labor market, however (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). -- =_NextPart_000_01BCE2C9.DD4C4BC0 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzQcKABsACwASADUAAQBMAQEggAMADgAAAM0HCgAb AAsAEQAFAAEAGwEBCYABACEwOTUwMjRENUJDNEVEMTExODg4RTAwMjBBRjlDMDMwOAD/BgEE gAEAFQAAAEZXOiBCTFMgRGFpbHkgUmVwb3J0AIcGAQ2ABAACAgACAAEDkAYAVAcAAB0D AC4AAEAAOQDg3oME9OK8AR4AcAABDQAAAERhaWx5IFJlcG9ydAACAXEAAQAAACAA AAABvOCkVbTBsnBRTHAR0ZUGAmCM22AqAAdl+iAAjIqY4R4AMUABDQAAAFJJQ0hBUkRTT05f RAADABpAAB4AMEABDQAAAFJJQ0hBUkRTT05fRAADABlAAAIBCRAB gQQAAH0EAAAXBwAATFpGdTFkFSv/AAoBDwIVAqQD5AXrAoMAUBMDVAIAY2gKwHNldG4yBgAGwwKD MgPFAgBw3HJxEiAHEwKAfQqACM8fCdkCgAqBDbELYG5nMXgwMzMK+xLyDAETkG8mdAWQBUBCTAXw REEISUxZB/BFUE9SQFQsIEZSSRlAWQEaAE9DVE9CRVIIIDI0GgAxOTk3AwqFCoVUaGUgZXgecAZx B4ACMAdAIGdlZwNwEgAFEGMgB4ADkXYHBJAAkAIgIG9mIHThHJFDUEkgBaACMAuANQpQZB8gbx+i AhBybfcgQhzCGNBhH+ACIAQgC4B9IfB0BCAKsAJABJIfAWTmaR6BHZBuYxygA/AfMPsfIx8AZh4A BzEfYhoABRDjAJAW4CBieRsQImAEkO8joAIwIfIfMnkeQAXACfDfDbAgMCIBBmAFMGUG0ASQfxoA ANAFoSMgJYEgURkBLqYgHHMkai1VJTBvEfDlGxAuJe9zYQeAJfIewP5kKYEZAgQAHyAHkB/hKQGn HJ8drB9yKGMHQGwgIqEfRC1YRykocGcLcfst0ChwbhigLkAnIS6KC4DNDbB4HyEhkCB1EfAtkd8s NgrAI+EdwR4BYR6BMbA7LlAdwWgEcB7yMIFjdf8LYC3jE5AeAC5QEbEW4AeRzmE0ZCqDGgBidQVA FTDfNuYHkSIwIEIAwGs08R4gewWwLEF1IjABoDCwH6Ft/wqxBAAe0SPXHZ0zgymFLn/tPa4gEcA4 YWw8kCUyCfBPKHAyESUwOiEgMCtJc/0UwHcygTPhJpQ/GzUZPlb+QTqBPuInUB72JvIaABkC7wPw MKAyITJAdSOSNnAH4P86cUhDOAQiIzZPN184YUaU/0OSMgEwsB6AAyAi8hIAC3D6bCmBTiBhOBUi AUqUFLH+ZyXASEMoMDrBDbA0IB/R2wMgJwFsJcAbYTkaAAhQ3G1tBAEewTKBSyGQEcHzC4A+8EFi NfARwCDgQTI1LGBpLQJJJmEEIGxpnzrwUdE9L0C2UHZhcBiB/zehQoIgsSxQHbEiISgQBCD/OWIy QUFhJNM8E1LhAjAEIGwoRE5xJcBMAaAFsVIfJ+AU0RoACrA2EUEtMeg3KS4brEkDAB/gP7F+Ywth WWFYokjQKBALUG//BsAmRDuQNfAjkigwUvAkgH8iQQuABQAeQBHwIDAlsTj8LDBiQCBCOyAR8DiA AiB3MJElwFEAajQwGLAgMDOcMTViMyaFQ7Blayc13k8Y0CmAYiAfI0VfiABwnSAwVDXwC4AlckFk UpBvAwAt0EJxHslEJ+AKwHT/X9MfAVu0SJYtAj7QLYEkgPpnCHBlKGFNMArAHZAFwPdhVkPkAMBy OvAFQCE6GgD/bZI0ZCSAEeA6gQdxIfIAkH9XQWURNGI0AVLwB+BeqWr+bzvhBBFgxxHAHoBBtgbg +3NxZBAwYjIphU23XqUt0T9IYTOBHgA6IzsgH+BnaH9NkVvDbZQaAEkhTcEK0SfYODUuW09cV0Rc 8F0gXymQCo8X7xwGFFEAfmADAPE/CQQAAAMA/T/kBwAmAAADADYAAAIBRwAB LwAAAGM9VVM7YT0gO3A9QkxTO2w9RENQQ1NNQUlMMS05NzEwMjcxNjE4NTNaLTI1NTMAAB4A OEABDQAAAFJJQ0hBUkRTT05fRAAeADlAAQ0AAABSSUNIQVJEU09OX0QAQAAH MID1gwT04rwBQAAIMMB8P8Tz4rwBHgA9AAEFRlc6IAAeAB0OAQAAABEAAABCTFMg RGFpbHkgUmVwb3J0AB4ANRABQDxFMTZFRUE0Q0U5QzdEMDExOUFFNDAwNjA5NzA1 Q0Q4ODFDMDdDRUBkY3Bjc21haWwxLnBzYi5ibHMuZ292PgALACkAAAsAIwAAAwAGEEWX mjwDAAcQ+gQAAAMAEBAAAwAREAEeAAgQAQAAAGUAAABCTFNEQUlMWVJFUE9SVCxGUklE QVksT0NUT0JFUjI0LDE5OTdUSEVFWFBFUklNRU5UQUxHRU9NRVRSSUNNRUFOVkVSU0lPTk9GVEhF Q1BJQ09OVElOVUVEVE9DT05GT1JNVE9FAAIBfwABQDxFMTZFRUE0Q0U5QzdEMDEx OUFFNDAwNjA5NzA1Q0Q4ODFDMDdDRUBkY3Bjc21haWwxLnBzYi5ibHMuZ292PgARCA== -- =_NextPart_000_01BCE2C9.DD4C4BC0--
Re: price indexes
> Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 22:45:20 -0500 > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: price indexes > Does anyone know of any work on different price indexes for different > income classes in the U.S. A book I'm reading, Williamson & Lindert's And another thing; there has been work on separate indices for the elderly stemming from Social Security policy debates. MBS
Scholars Artists & Writers for Social Justice (fwd)
> Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 21:55:49 -0500 > Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > From: Tom Patterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Scholars Artists & Writers for Social Justice (fwd) > Comments: To: san list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Content-Length: 4804 > > -- Forwarded message -- > Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 17:22:51 -0400 (EDT) > From: kristin lawler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: WELCOME TO SAWSJ! > > Dear Supporter: > > Thank you so much for your interest in Scholars, Artists, and Writers for > Social Justice. The enthusiastic support that you and hundreds of other > academics, writers, and concerned citizens have offered us over the past few > weeks confirms us in our belief that the time is ripe for reestablishing a > connection between the labor movement and the cultural and intellectual > community that will provide us all with a strong and much-needed voice for > democracy and social justice. > > Although we are a brand-new organization, we are already active. Our > 83-person Steering Committee has already met several times and has adopted a > provisional organization structure. Besides the more than twenty successful > labor teach-ins of the past year, SAWSJ will be involved with teach-ins at > New York University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Brown University, > University of Texas-Austin, University of Pennsylvania, University of > Texas-El Paso, SUNY-Albany, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and several > other places. We will be publishing a newsletter and are planning to mount > a major public event on the theme of "Labor and Democracy in the 21st > Century" in conjunction with our founding convention in the spring of 1998. > > But for SAWSJ to make a real difference, it must become an active presence > in cities and on campuses throughout the nation. It must, in short, > organize local chapters. Since local priorities vary, there can be no set > national agenda for these chapters. Some may want to mount teach-ins or > other public programs, while others will want to support local organizing > drives on or off the campus. Any group of interested individuals can put > together such a chapter. The response to our earlier teach-ins and the > Nation ad makes it clear that there are already many clusters of people who > can form local chapters. If you would like to help organize a SAWSJ chapter > in your area, we can put you in touch with other interested people. All you > have to do is fill out the following form, hit "reply," and someone will > contact you. Also, we encourage you to pass this letter on to others. At > the end of the form is an excerpt from the Nation ad for people who may not > be familiar with the organization. Thanks again. > > In Solidarity, > > > Kristin Lawler for SAWSJ > > encl. > > SCHOLARS, ARTISTS, AND WRITERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE > 2565 Broadway, #176 > New York, NY 10025 > > Please fill out this form and hit "reply." Thanks again! > > Name: > > > > Institutional Affiliation: > > > > Mail Address: > > > > Phone: > > > > Fax: > > > > Email: > > > > SAWSJ will be establishing a listserve to facilitate communication with our > members. If you prefer to be contacted via regular mail, please indicate > that with your mail address. > > *I would like to help form a SAWSJ chapter > > > Recommended dues: > *Student/Low Income: $10 > *Below $40,000: $25 > *Above $40,000: $40 > *Additional Contribution > > Please make your check payable to SAWSJ and send it to the above address. > > > You can also help us by keeping this letter alive-- pass it on! For those > who are not SAWSJ members, you may want to include the following excerpt > from the Nation ad. > > We take this moment of revitalized labor struggle to announce the formation > of a new independent, national organization: "Scholars, Artists, and > Writers for Social Justice." In the academy and in publishing, in the arts, > sciences, and entertainment, we also experience the growth of low-wage, > part-time employment which erodes our craft and creativity. We call upon > our colleagues and friends to declare their solidarity with the organizing > drives of the new labor movement. The time is ripe to restore the mutually > empowering relationship that once gave hope and dynamism to the labor > movement and its allies in the academic and cultural communities. > > We envision a movement that can reshape the nation's political culture by > combating inequality and powerlessness, and by fostering the growth of a > vibrant, militant, multicultural working-class movement. In an era when > elite opinion makes a fetish of the free market, unions -- with a commitment > to solidarity, equality, and collective struggle -- remain fundamental > institutions of a democratic society. Our confidence in launching SAWSJ > co
Re: price indexes
> Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 22:45:20 -0500 > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: price indexes > Does anyone know of any work on different price indexes for different > income classes in the U.S. A book I'm reading, Williamson & Lindert's There was a thread or two in FEMECON not too long ago on alternative price indices for different social groups which included some citations. It was inspired by the Boskin Comm. debate. MBS === Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC 20036 http://tap.epn.org/sawicky Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute other than this writer. ===
