Re: Santa Fe

[Rakesh Bhandari]

After briefly discussing Stuart Kauffmann, Wolfgang Stolper discusses the
possible relation between chaos theory and the Schumpeterian system:

"First when evolution is rapid--both the number and kinds of elements
change rapidly, and so do the 'rules' by which the elements interact--we
may not get a movement toward equilibrium very quickly. Moreover, the
eventual move toward an ordered equilibrium may be particularly painful.
But since, second, the system seems in this case particularly open to
evolutionary change, this might help to understand the structural changes
in an economy which are intended to deal with such violent changes, in
particular institutional changes. One such institutional change that is
explicit in Schumpeter deals with the increasing emergence of large-scale
enterprise which will--in Schumpeter's analysis mitigate the severity of
the cycle, that is will help the adaptation process."
Joseph Alois Schumpeter: public life of a private man, p. 43-44

I guess we will see, as John Gulick has already suggested here, how
stabilizing these large-scale enterprises, formed out of that trillion
dollars of mergers and acquisitions, really are. By the way, the idea of
the stabilization via large-scale enterprise was first developed by
Hilferding and other Austro-Marxists (Schumpeter took it from them) and it
was subjected to critique by revolutionary marxists, such as Henryk
Grossmann and the American William J Blake (Marxian Economic Theory and Its
Criticism, 1939, also published as An AMerican Looks at Karl Marx).

Rakesh

Re: Santa Fe

[James Heartfield]

In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "William S. Lear"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>("Equilibrium theory in a shambles? Post-Keynesians and Marxists
>nipping at your heels? Try new and improved Complexity ... wow
>credulous journalists and the 'Nobel' committee ... great on Congress
>... removes social conflict in one easy application ... no thinking
>necessary").

A good critique of complexity theory, both as it applies to human
society and in itself, can be found in John Gillott and Manjit Kumar's
Science and the Retreat from Reason, which I believe has just been
published by Monthly Review Press.

A rather dismal example of how complexity theory can be squared with the
social and political programme of Tony Blair can be found in 'Connexity'
by Geoff Mulgan, recently recruited to the Prime Minister's think tank,
Chatto and Windus, 1997.

Fraternally
-- 
James Heartfield

Re: Santa Fe

[James Michael Craven]

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> So this Krugman brouhaha got me spidering, and I came across this at the
> Santa Fe Institute web site (http://www.santafe.edu/):
> 
> SANTA FE INSTITUTE
>Economics
> 
>  Since its founding more than a decade ago the SFI economics program has
> been building an adaptive, complex, evolutionary viewpoint into the central
> body of economic theory. Much of the work envisions the economy as composed
> of large numbers of interacting agents, mutually adjusting to each other as
> time passes. The agents in this economy-the "interacting particles" of
> economics- decide their actions consciously, with a view to the possible
> future actions and reactions of other agents. That is, they formulate
> strategy and expectations, they learn and adapt. As this learning and
> mutual adaptation take place, new economic structures or patterns may
> emerge, and there is a continual formation and reformation of the
> institutions, behaviors, and technologies that comprise the economy. Some
> parts of the economy may be "attracted" to an equilibrium; some parts may
> continually evolve and never settle. The objective of SFI's program is to
> provide methods, theories, frameworks, and solutions that will help
> catalyze or facilitate this process-viewpoint in economics.
> 
>  The Economics Program is offering a Graduate Workshop in Economics:
> Computational Modeling and Complexity here at SFI from June 14-27, 1998.
> 
> 
> 
> Who exactly are these folks? What, aside from Arthur, is their pedigree?
> >From the board of trustees, it looks like echt cyberlibertarian. Has
> anyone, aside from the excitable Mark Stahlman, written on this crowd?
> 
> Doug
> 
You are on to something here. If you read Alan Freeman and Gugliemo 
Carchedi (eds) "Marx and Non-Equilibrium Economics" some of the work 
in chaos/complexity theory (non-linear dynamics) can be used to 
undermine the usual actually-not-so-elegant-math, contrived 
syllogisms and bogus abstractions/parameters of neoclassical stuff. 
>From the fundamental production relations, imperatives and typical 
market interactions geared to accumulation of capital, it can be 
shown, as did Marx, that unfolding and destabilizing anarchy, rather 
than inner-logic-directed order, efficiency and progressive dynamism
is the essence of capitalism.

On the other hand, the Libertarians, as usual, turn the theory on its 
head trying to show "spontanous order" out of supposedly chaotic 
elements thereby supposedly finding "empirical authority"(from 
computer simulations) for a theoretical system and "laissez-faire 
capitalism" constructed strictly on hypothetico-deductivism, 
contrived syllogisms and this ahistorical, metaphysical notion of 
Homo Oeconomicus.

   Jim Craven

*---*
* "Who controls the past,   * 
*  James Craven  controls the future.   *  
*  Dept of Economics   Who controls the present,*
*  Clark College controls the past." (George Orwell)*
*  1800 E. Mc Loughlin Blvd.* 
*  Vancouver, Wa. 98663  (360) 992-2283  FAX:  (360)992-2863*
*  [EMAIL PROTECTED]* 
* MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION  * 

Re: Santa Fe

[William S. Lear]

On Sun, February 1, 1998 at 04:36:32 (-0500) Rakesh Bhandari writes:
>After briefly discussing Stuart Kauffmann, Wolfgang Stolper discusses the
>possible relation between chaos theory and the Schumpeterian system:
>
>"First when evolution is rapid--both the number and kinds of elements
>change rapidly, and so do the 'rules' by which the elements interact--we
>may not get a movement toward equilibrium very quickly. Moreover, the
>eventual move toward an ordered equilibrium may be particularly painful.
>But since, second, the system seems in this case particularly open to
>evolutionary change, this might help to understand the structural changes
>in an economy which are intended to deal with such violent changes, in
>particular institutional changes. One such institutional change that is
>explicit in Schumpeter deals with the increasing emergence of large-scale
>enterprise which will--in Schumpeter's analysis mitigate the severity of
>the cycle, that is will help the adaptation process."
>Joseph Alois Schumpeter: public life of a private man, p. 43-44

In other words, Alfred Chandler and the heroic school of American
business history dressed up in the fashionable garb of mathematical
evolution.  This is such muddled and simplistic thinking, it's
difficult to know where to begin.

When change is rapid "we may not get a movement toward equilibrium
very quickly", then again, we might.  Then again, equilibrium is a
rather fuzzy notion applicable at a macro level, and can vary
tremendously depending on what you mean: is it stability when prices
stabilize but in order to do so, you shift the "chaos" from the price
system to the lives of the workers, as you lay off hundreds of
thousands?  What about stabilizing the availability of wood in US
markets by razing rainforests?  These questions don't seem to enter
the minds of the new school of blinkered social research.

This selective and exceedingly narrow application of pseudo-rigor
makes it clear that the project is not to study complexity in its full
form at all, but, as is so typical, to shift attention away from
social forms, from conflict and alienation, and from *real* and severe
disequilibria due to the "self-organizational" tactics of business
enterprises.

Other things that could be examined are the legal system and the
immense "stabilization" it provides in entirely familiar (but ignored)
ways; the web of social ties in which businesses operate --- outside
that of the ties of capitalists to workers: even a small company, 50
people, say, can have dozens of ties to "strategic partners",
contractual deals with suppliers, contracts with local police and/or
union busters or creation of private police forces, financial ties to
venture and other capital, and many other ways in which social
organization is brought about due to good-old-fashioned deal-making,
meant to escape the "self-organizing" drive to equilibrium (heat
death) of the market.


Bill

Re: Krugman-Arthur Brouhaha

[michael]

1. Krugman is obviously jealous that Brian Arthur has achieved a certain
status as an popular interpreter of economics, a position to which Krugman
seems to feel he has exclusive rights.

2. The Santa Fe school has 2 main claims to economic relevance -- besides
undermining traditional theory in a mild way.

a. Much of their early money came from finance, which thought that the Santa
Fe school could discover the "strange attractors" that underlie financial
markets.  John Reed of CitiBank was an early enthusiast, I believe.  This
hope has an ironic relationship to the Asian crisis.

b. Brian Arthur's notion of lock-in infuriates the laissez faire school,
because it suggests a role for government intervention.  Even the Wall
Street Journal has editorialized against this theory, so it cannot be all
bad.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 916-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: Krugman-Arthur Brouhaha

[James Michael Craven]

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> 1. Krugman is obviously jealous that Brian Arthur has achieved a certain
> status as an popular interpreter of economics, a position to which Krugman
> seems to feel he has exclusive rights.
> 
> 2. The Santa Fe school has 2 main claims to economic relevance -- besides
> undermining traditional theory in a mild way.
> 
> a. Much of their early money came from finance, which thought that the Santa
> Fe school could discover the "strange attractors" that underlie financial
> markets.  John Reed of CitiBank was an early enthusiast, I believe.  This
> hope has an ironic relationship to the Asian crisis.
> 
> b. Brian Arthur's notion of lock-in infuriates the laissez faire school,
> because it suggests a role for government intervention.  Even the Wall
> Street Journal has editorialized against this theory, so it cannot be all
> bad.
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
> 
> Tel. 916-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
Some of the Santa Fe stuff is interesting and for sure many of the 
neoclassicals are pssed off about it. But again, we get (with the 
advent of more sophisticated computers to do chaos simulations, 
multiple-equilibria solutions and "spontaneous order" simulations) we 
get another kind of "fetishism" glossed over with some elegant math. 
It all still seems to be so sanitized. Freeman and Carchedi (eds) 
"Marx and Non-Equilibrium Economics" show that Marx was far ahead of 
his time, a non-linear dynamicist and shows the many areas in which 
Marx is being "vindicated" by some of the chaos/non-linear dynamics 
work; I recommend the book to all.

But this gets into the area of "dialogues" and "debates" with the 
neoclassicals through debates that come down to "My Math is longer 
[more sophisticated] than yours". Personally, I don't debate 
neoclassicals or Libertarians as I consider them totally worthless 
and not worth even talking to. We can get to the level of the 
"third derivative" and draw parallels with Marx's concept of 
quantitative changes turning into qualitative changes, crises, chaos, 
anarchy of capitalism (I once told a student who was fucking around 
in my class to "stop third derivative-ing off" and he said "Uh?") but 
underneath it all, sanitized and glossed over by much of the Santa Fe 
stuff, are real people, suffering real forms of 
exploitation/expropriation/brutality/desperation/commodification etc
while the dialectic unfolds and the inner logic and defining 
imperatives and relations of production of capitalism lead to 
increasing anarchy, concentration/centralization, misery and chaos 
for the many under the veneer of "spontaneous" and "natural" and 
"eternal" "order" for the few.

 Jim Craven

*---*
* "Who controls the past,   * 
*  James Craven  controls the future.   *  
*  Dept of Economics   Who controls the present,*
*  Clark College controls the past." (George Orwell)*
*  1800 E. Mc Loughlin Blvd.* 
*  Vancouver, Wa. 98663  (360) 992-2283  FAX:  (360)992-2863*
*  [EMAIL PROTECTED]* 
* MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION  * 

Rightwing scandal-mongering

[James Devine]

Max writes: >You could also interpret [right-wing] scandal-mongering
[against Clinton] as a straight-forward strategy to delegitimize government
and feed the attitude that nothing constructive can come from government.
This attitude is the most powerful brake on social reform, in my view. I
agree that we could interpret this strategy as a second-best from the
standpoint of conservatives, who might prefer to institute all manner of
conservative reforms. It is also true that in the U.S. the conservative
agenda appears exhausted if you set aside very ambitious but politically
impractical projects like destroying social security or replacing the income
tax with a flat tax or sales tax.<

Since there is more than one right wing, the
left-wing/right-wing/middle-of-the-bird metaphor breaks down. Max refers
above to the "anti-statist" or "libertarian" or "laissez-faire" right wing,
what might be called economic conservativism. But there is also the (very
statist) social-conservative or traditionalist right wing. These folks
attack Clinton because of his pro-choice (on abortion) attitude and his
generally social-liberal attitudes. (They want to impose state control on
our bedrooms and bodies; no libertarians they.) Abortion is almost the only
issue where Clinton shows any kind of backbone -- and that may be an
opportunist effort to maintain his core constitutency. The other
social-liberal issues, like his having smoked marijuana and his relatively
feminist or pro-gay stance on some issues (from the perspective of this
right wing), cling to the abortion issue and stick in the craw of people
like televangelist Jerry Falwell.  (note the word "relatively.") 

As for "delegitimizing government," Mr. & Ms. Clinton have done a good job
here, as with their effort to create a humonguous, overly-complicated, and
bureaucratic health insurance system in their first years. Clinton has also
embrace the less-gov-is-better line on many occasions. 

"Social reform" also has more than one dimension (FDR economic liberalism,
ACLU civil libertarianism, "new movements" feminism or ethnic liberation,
sexual liberalism, etc.) I hope Max doesn't mean this phrase as a support
for paternalistic statism. Do we want more government? more Pentagon
spending? do we really want the central organization of societal repression
to be legitimized?

We probably need a better word than "reform," too, since the recent US
"welfare reform." How about talking about the popular struggle for economic
justice? Fuzzy, yes, but less so than "reform." 

Michael E. forwards the following: >Following up the Lewinsky case and
Hillary Clinton's allegations of a "conspiracy," yesterday's _New York
Times_ published on p. 22 an article showing how campus right-wing groups
and their funders are involved in coordinating the attack. The article is
written by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Tim Weiner and former _Wall
Street Journal_ reporter Jill Abramson.<

I have no doubt that there are "right-wing" conspiracies against the
Clintons. But Ms. Clinton sinks her own boat by invoking such conspiracies,
or rather by using that word. The fact is that there is more than one right
wing. These groups compete with each other. The libertarians and the
traditionalists don't agree on a lot of things (like legalizing drugs),
though people like William Buckley try to unite them. In addition there are
personal animosities and sectarian feelings, just as on the left (or rather
in the lefts). Things political happen when the various competing forces
line up behind a single cause. Sometimes, it's even the right and the left
that unite as with issue of support for the IMF. Let's drop conspiracy
theories, leaving them for the militias to embrace. (The left's conspiracy
theories, like those pushed by the Christic institute have been a dead end.)

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine

Re: Ken Starr

[Bill Burgess]

On Sat, 31 Jan 1998, James Heartfield wrote:

> Permanent scandal is getting to be the norm for the
> political process in most countries.

Yes, and I admit spending longer than usual watching the news because of
Clinton's latest, even though it seems to me on a bigger canvas it
should be apparant that this kind of 'politics' ultimately benefits
the Pat Buchanans of the world the most. Less and less debate about the
economy, civil rights, foreign politics, etc.; more and more character
assasination, the politics of resentment, the 'pornoization' of politics.
Didn't the Nazis step into this kind of atmosphere to bring purpose and
morality back into government? 

Bill Burgess

Northern Ireland and Blair's US visit

[James Heartfield]

This is for US subscribers, excepted from the Sinn Fein newsletter:

-
 Urgent action required for H-Block 3
 
 
 A sign-on letter is being circulated in Congress
 calling on President Clinton to grant bail to the
 H-Block 3 in San Francisco, three Irish political
 prisoners held without bail in California pending
 extradition to a British jail in the north of Ireland.
 
 Kevin Barry Artt, Pol Brennan and Terry Kirby need your
 help.
 
 Call your local member of Congress and ask him / her to
 sign on to the letter
 
 The letter is being circulated by the following
 Congresspeople Representative Jim Walsh, Chair,
 Congressional Friends of Ireland The Co-Chairs of the
 Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs: Representative Ben
 Gilman, Representative Peter King, Representative
 Richard Neal, Representative Tom Manton
 
 Tell Your Congressperson to contact one of the above
 offices about signing on to the letter in support of
 the H-Block 3
 
 TELL THE WHITE HOUSE THAT YOU SUPPORT
 THE RECOMMENDATIONS
 IN THE
 CONGRESSIONAL LETTER
 
 President Bill Clinton
 The White House
 Tel: (202) 456-1414  --  Fax: (202) 456-2461
 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
 TIME IS CRITICAL
 
 THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU BEFORE
 TONY BLAIR
 ARRIVES ON WEDNESDAY 4 FEBRUARY 1998
 
___
 
 
 Blair visit to DC marked by vigil and fast 
 
 
 During the last month Nationalist communities in the north of
Ireland
 have been terrorized by the stepped-up systematic killing spree by
 loyalist paramilitary gangs.
 
 In recent weeks, eight innocent people were killed, keeping with
the
 loyalist motto "Any Catholic will do."
 
 Gerry Coleman, Director of the Political Education Department for
 Irish Northern Aid said "The sectarian slaughter of innocent people
 is nothing new.  It is a product of an undemocratic and artificial
 statelet that must go."
 
 British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will be visiting Washington, DC
 on February 3-5.  Beginning at 7:00 p.m. on February 2, Irish
 Northern Aid will sponsor a 24-hour vigil and fast outside of the
 British Embassy.  The vigil will have nationwide participation.
The
 final hour will include a Candlelight Remembrance Ceremony while
 participants observe a minute of silence for the murdered victims
 during this recent phase of the 'peace process.'
 
 It is time for all peoples to recognize the horrors that are
 continuing unabated in Ireland.  It is time for justice and a
 legitimate peace process.
 
 Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
James Heartfield

Chaos/Complexity

[James Michael Craven]

It is interesting to note that the chaos/complexity "paradigm" is 
often portrayed as "cutting edge; the notions of hidden order in 
complexity and complexity out of assumed order, fuzzy logic, strange-
attractors, spirals rather than linear chains of causality etc.

The earilies known date of the Mayan calender, on which all later 
Mayan dates were based was 3372 B.C. according to "Native American 
History" by Judith Nies. The Mayas of Mexico and Guatemala conceived 
of time in terms of cycles within cycles with the smallest 
measurement being a cycle or religious year of 260 days inside a 
secular year of 365 days. The Mayan civilization in Yucatan, Mexico 
located time within large cycles like intermeshing wheels (3), with a 
system based on precise celestial measurements, developed a celendar 
more accurate than the calendar later developed by Pope Gregory. Some 
Mayan documents placed the end of the world at around 34,000. Of 
course elements of some of the essential concepts of 
"chaos/complexity" theory (paradigm?) can also be found in classical 
Taoist writings and Siberian Shaman stories as well. 

On another note, we have our very own "Tuskeegee" experiment in 
Washinton State. For over ten years, the multiplying physiological 
effects of radioactive waste leakage into soil and groundwater around 
Hanford were measured by using Indians living in surrounding areas as 
experimental subjects. Without notifying anyone of the monitoring or 
any Indians what was being examined, Indians were given "free medical 
exams" to take blood and tissue samples to test for escalating levels 
of radioactivity from radioactive waste. Further, those suffering 
diseases generally associated with radiation were given special "free 
exams." No theraputic treatment was given to any of the subjects.

The Native American Student Council at Clark College, in reference to 
these experiments and to the celebration of "Columbus Day" have 
elected to propose a combined "Eichmann/Mengele Day" to the Board of 
Trustees and invite all students to "celebrate." They will be 
gathering quotes from Eichmann and Mengele contrasting them with 
quotes from the Diary of Columbus and making posters with pictures 
from the Nazi Holocaust contrasting them with images from the Indian 
Holocaust.

The NASC has also proposed to gather from propaganda posters and 
other media, the most ugly and offensive (self-indicting) images and 
caricatures of people of various racial/ethnic/religious groups to 
create counter mascots/symbols/rituals/names for current high-
school and professional sports teams. Suggestions included: "New York 
Niggers" (with an ugly caricature of an African American carrying a 
watermellon and doing the "watermellon shuffle"); "Kansas City Kikes" 
(with a football helmet symbol of a Dollar Sign superimposed on a 
Star of David); "San Franscisco Spics" (With the symbol of an 
overweight Puerto Rican sitting under a mango tree taking a siesta) 
and many other patently offensive (clealry self-indicting) 
caricatures--as offensive as "Washington Redskins", "The Tomahawk 
Chop", "The Bucktoothed Indian" of Cleveland etc.

The NASC has also proposed to set up a Pow Wow and American Indian 
"Mall" (Foods, Arts/Crafts etc) at one of the Cemetaries of the Oregon 
Trail Pioneers since so much of Indian burial lands are covered by 
supermalls they figure a dramatic illustration to show how it feels.

As the Faculty Advisor, I urged them not to do some dramatic stuff as 
it is "axiomatic" and "automatic", that the dialaectic will unfold, 
and capitalism will collapse under the weight of its own mounting 
internal contradictions, and therefore we don't have to actually "DO" 
anything ;-), but they had some kind of idea that more than just 
talking and writing to the converted is required for substantive 
change. Oh Well.

  Jim Craven

*---*
* "Who controls the past,   * 
*  James Craven  controls the future.   *  
*  Dept of Economics   Who controls the present,*
*  Clark College controls the past." (George Orwell)*
*  1800 E. Mc Loughlin Blvd.* 
*  Vancouver, Wa. 98663  (360) 992-2283  FAX:  (360)992-2863*
*  [EMAIL PROTECTED]* 
* MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION  * 

LBO web site updates

[Doug Henwood]

Finally, after months of gathering dust, the LBO web site has been spiffed
up with some new entries:

* a historical overview of U.S. income and poverty statistics
(http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Stats_incpov.html)

* an examination of why computers haven't offered the promised productivity
boom, in the form a review of Daniel Sichel's book on this topic
(http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Payoff.html)

* updates to historical figures on U.S. employment, unemployment, and
earnings, through December 1997
(http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Stats_comments.html)

Stop by for a visit...

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: 
web: 

Re: gathering the news (version 3.1)

[Tom Walker]

>Zapruder's own literary agent, Luc Goldberg, and that the film in his
>position is the highest expression of self-valorizing capital.

That should read "film in his possession". Maybe in the even more
deconstructionist sequel ("Put 'n' Take II") we'll dwell entirely on the
tension between the noncognate pair position/possession. 



Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^^
Know Ware Communications
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(604) 688-8296 
^^^
The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/

computers and productivity

[Rakesh Bhandari]

In an extremely helpful review of Sichel's book, Doug wrote : "Even if you
assume that computers yield superprofits, above the "normal" rate (as some
studies have claimed), their overall contribution would still be minimal,
given their small share of the overall capital stock. But if they were
yielding such big returns, it's a safe bet that firms would be investing a
lot more in computers than they are."

 
Doug, isn't the argument of Herrnstein and Murray, Seymour Itzkoff, Peter
Brimelow and others--all assumed to be cranks--that the constraint on more
computer investment or the achievment of a new techno-economic paradigm (in
Carlota Perez and Christopher Freeman's term) is the shortage of educated
labor competent enough to use the tech to realize a productivity
revolution? Actually aren't they arguing that there is really an oversupply
of the cognitive, g-deficient underclass, resulting from
welfare-subsidized, low quality immigrant dysgenics--an underclass which
not only simply can't be trained at any reasonable cost or perhaps at all
to labor in a high productivity, computer-mediated  workplace but also
diverts resources from the necessary training of the g-heavy labor
force--hence, the absence of a surge of investment in computer equipment
and other new skill-demanding capital equipment, hence the productivity
slowdown, hence the growing social crisis (documented by for example
Jeffrey Madrick, The End of Affluence). If Andy Grove says only the
paranoid survive, I must admit to a paranoia about the persistence of a
powerful racialized undercurrent of social darwinism and dysgenics in the
way elites make sense of the slowdown of the American economy. I believe
that at some point revolutionaries will have to deal a death blow to this
ideology.

Rakesh

Re: gathering the news II

[Peter J. Schledorn]

On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, valis wrote:

> > And why has no one mentioned the eerily hilarious coincidence that "Deep
> > Throat" was the Woodward and Bernstein code name for their Watergate 
> > informant?
> 
> Because life has higher purposes, Tom, but don't ask me for any examples
> right now.

The reliably appalling Alan Keyes has been making that very comparison.

Best,
Peter

>valis

Swastika (was Starr)

[valis]

Quoth Bill Burgess re the current state of the DC cesspool:

> Less and less debate about the
> economy, civil rights, foreign politics, etc.; more and more character
> assassination, the politics of resentment, the 'pornoization' of politics.
> Didn't the Nazis step into this kind of atmosphere to bring purpose and
>^^^
> morality back into government? 

True enough at a glance, Bill, but weren't conditions in late Weimar
far worse in every way?  We have a ways to go yet, though I'm not making
an argument for complacency.
   valis

Re: URGENT ACTION ALERT - STOP THE LOGGING ON DEH CHO LAND (fwd)

[Sid Shniad]

> Path: corso!gattwd
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Gatt Watchdog)
> Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
> Subject: URGENT ACTION ALERT - STOP THE LOGGING ON DEH CHO LAND
> Date: Sat, 31 Jan 98 21:20:27 +1200
> Organization: PlaNet Gaia Otautahi
> 
> URGENT ACTION ALERT - STOP THE LOGGING ON DEH CHO LAND!!
> 
> The Deh Cho Peoples in the area also known as the NorthWest Territory, Canada,
> have never surrendered, extinguished title to, or otherwise alienated their
> lands to the state of Canada or to the Territorial Council of the NW
> Territory.  The Deh Cho are struggling to defend their lands from an
> onslaught of corporations, aided and abetted by the colonial
> government of Canada, eager to exploit their resource rich territory.
> 
> The Territorial Council, which tries to portray itself as "the
> government" of the region, has just issued a logging license to allow timber
> cutting in the Cameron Hills, in the southern part of the Deh Cho close
> to the Alberta border. 
> 
> Eugene Paterson, the applicant for the timber cutting permit, was recently
> denied logging rights in another area of Deh Cho but the
> Territorial Council has told him that he can log in the Cameron Hills.  Not
> only is this sovereign Deh Cho land, but any logging in this area will cause
> serious ecological damage.
> 
> The logging must be stopped!
> 
> Deh Cho are calling on the Territorial Council to not allow logging in this
> area and to respect the jurisdiction of the Deh Cho Peoples.
> 
> Please act on this action alert immediately. 
> 
> Send faxes of protest to: Stephen Kakfwi, "Minister" of Resources, Wildlife
> and Economic Development of the Territorial Council - Yellowknife, Denendeh
> at:
> (+1) 867 8730276
> 
> And to : Hon. Jane Stewart,
>   Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
>   Government of Canada 
>   Fax (+1) 613 9929632
> 
> 
> 
> Faxes of support for the Deh Cho Peoples can be sent to Chief Jocquium
> Bonnetrouge at
> (+1) 867 6993502
> 
> 
> 
> =
> 
> GATT Watchdog, Box 1905, Otautahi (Christchurch) 8015, Aotearoa
>   (New Zealand).  Ph 64 3 3662803 Fax 64 3 3484763
> =

Forgive me

[Sid Shniad]

Sheesh. When I saw the header on Louis's posting about Moby Dick's
revenge, I thought it was going to be more about Clinton's sex scandal.
Forgive me for even thinking along these lines, but I had to share it.

Sid

Hospital Sit-in (fwd)

[Sid Shniad]

> >Citizens and Seniors Sit-in at Northwestern General Hospital
> >Report from Harrisville Health Care page  - Toronto -
> >http://home.echo-on.net/~command/actionh.htm
> >
> >It was nearly six when I heard that a group of citizens along with
> >liberal MPPs Mike Colle and Gerard Kennedy were involved in a sit-in at
> >Northwestern General.  News was that they arrived at 1 p.m. with a
> >larger crowd and a group was still there, staying into the night. A taxi
> >driver who doesn't support the Harris hospital closures gave me ride out
> >at no cost. I went in and took a look at the crowd sitting in under a
> >Close Mike Harris sign. The people were mostly seniors and the last
> >people you would expect to see at an event titled a protest or sit-in.
> >At one point a happy Mike Colle was joking with security about how
> >dangerous his gray protesters could be. Both Colle and Kennedy were
> >putting somewhat of a happy face on what was really an unhappy event.
> >
> >When I spoke to Mike, he first introduced me to two ladies who are
> >working to get out this info on an upcoming rally. - HARRIS IS
> >RIPPING THE HEART OUT OF HEALTH CARE, Rally and March - Save our
> >Hospitals. Saturday February 14th 11 a.m. Ministry of Health, Southwest
> >corner of Bay and Wellesley. 441 3713 for info - Ontario Health
> >Coalition and Access to Healthcare Action group. -
> >
> >The way it works with the closures is that Premier Mike Harris and Liz
> >Witmer would have us believe the closures are the honest decisions of a
> >Restructuring Commission the government doesn't control. Harris does
> >control this commission and most of what they do is the ill will of the
> >Tories. Mike Colle says the hospitals closing are nearly all in
> >opposition ridings and that in this case, Marc Rochon, president of
> >Humber, has a conflict of interest. He did not excuse himself from the
> >deliberations of the Restructuring Commission and he should have since
> >Humber is benefiting from the closure of Northwestern.
> >
> >All that will remain at Northwestern is walk-in ambulatory service, open
> >from 7.30 to 10 p.m. This service means little to the community, and it
> >certainly leads one to question why they just don't leave the whole
> >hospital open. Like other closures, it is not a money issue. Studies
> >show that most of the restructuring costs more than it saves.
> >
> >A senior woman interviewed by a City TV reporter said it is never too
> >late to save a hospital and that Northwestern was a great hospital to be
> >in. Because of her location, the closest hospital to her is not Humber.
> >She would go to Western. While she was speaking I pictured just how far
> >away Western is and wondered if she might not die while in transit to
> >it. By taxi the cost would be 15 to 20 twenty dollars and that means
> >people with low incomes would not be able to go to the hospital. In
> >every case Restructuring hurts the poor.
> >
> >Northwestern was actually built in 1953 because of the distance problem.
> >A local child died during the long ride to the closest hospital so Canon
> >Jackson, Rabbi Monson and Father Gallagher joined forces to rally the
> >community for a hospital. Portuguese, Jamaicans, Blacks, Vietnamese and
> >Chinese people are among the ethnic groups using Northwestern.
> >
> >Herb Ritchies has been around Northwestern since 1957. He is in his 70s
> >now and he told me he was protesting for a number of reasons. One being
> >that he knows the restructured hospitals could not handle an emergency
> >situation. Herb criticized the way they were just ripping things out.
> >Dr. Frank Skone had a similar message when he arrived. He said it is not
> >the same as it was here and he really hopes people will do something to
> >get the hospital open again. The Doctor called the protest wonderful and
> >what we need. He was not against the idea of restructuring, but felt
> >restructuring should be based on patient care and not a poor sort of
> >economics.
> >
> >Herb pointed out that on the surface restructuring might appear to be
> >working, but trouble is building that most people don't see. A friend of
> >Herb's talked about his eighty-year-old grandfather being pulled from
> >his wicket and dumped in a hallway at Mount Sinai because of lack of
> >emergency space. Rush job medicine like one-day childbirth, 24 hours and
> >you're out is becoming the standard in medicine. Hospitals act like
> >places that simply don't want patients.
> >
> >In the long run we need hospitals open and an end to this sort of phony
> >arm's length restructuring where the government claims that it isn't in
> >control as a way of ducking out on accountability issues. Hospitals are
> >really built for and by communities and citizens should be in control.
> >Medicine has to be democratic with policies enacted by government after
> >consultation with the community -- and this is what we don't have under
> >Mike Harris and the Tories.
> >
> >To get be

Mexican Diplomatic Offensive (The Irish Times) (fwd)

[Sid Shniad]

>The Irish Times 
>WORLD NEWS Saturday, January 31, 1998
>
>   Global protests
> surprise government
>  _
>   
>  Michael McCaughan in San Cristobal reports on the current Mexican
>diplomatic offensive 
>   
> More than 300,000 Mexicans took to the streets of Chiapas to protest
> against government policy recently, while 1,200 lay pastoral workers
>(catechists) marched from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Mexico City to
> press for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The December massacre
> of 45 Indians and the subsequent military advance towards Zapatista
>  villages has awakened a solidarity movement which took the Mexican
>   government by surprise. The catechists marched past 1,111 women,
>  travelling in the opposite direction, heading for Chiapas to show
>solidarity with Zapatista women who faced down troops with sticks and
> sharp words.
>   
>Around the world Zapatista sympathisers occupied embassies or
>   volunteered to spend time in peace camps set up to monitor army
>presence close to rebel villages. In Italy 50,000 people protested in
> support of the Zapatistas while the country's parliamentary Foreign
>  Affairs Commission approved a resolution to suspend the Mexico-EU
>trade agreement until peace talks restarted and the Mexican government
>   implemented the San Andres peace accord.
>   
>Hundreds of protest letters jammed Mexico's presidential fax machines,
> while 30,000 of the nation's football fanatics gathered in the Aztec
>  stadium and demanded that the army leave Zapatista territory. The
> European Parliament's mid-January resolution, calling on the Mexican
> government to respect human rights and reaffirm its commitment to a
>   peaceful solution in Chiapas, forced the government into action.
>   
>   A group of ruling party politicians left for Europe recently "to
> promote Mexico's image abroad" and "highlight economic and political
>  advances" in the country.
>   
>  The President, Mr Ernesto Zedillo, has instructed ambassadors and
>   commercial representatives to focus on the appointment of a new
>interior minister and on the removal of the Chiapas governor, Mr Julio
> Ruiz Ferro, as a sign of its commitment to restart peace talks with
> the rebels.
>   
> "It would be terrible to sacrifice our sovereignty in the search for
>  solutions to the Chiapas conflict," said Ms Rosario Green, the new
> Foreign Minister, rejecting international mediation offers.
>   
> Tension remained high this week as the Mexican army continued to set
>up roadblocks in areas of rebel influence. In these areas there is one
>soldier for each family of seven, but just one doctor for every 18,900
> people, according to the government's own health statistics.
>   
>   © Copyright: The Irish Times
> Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 

Russia's workers getting restive

[Sid Shniad]

> Financial Times - Wednesday 28th January
> 
> Russia: Workers act over unpaid wages
> WEDNESDAY JANUARY 28 1998
> 
> By Chrystia Freeland in Moscow
> 
> Disgruntled Russian workers, infuriated by months of unpaid wages,
> yesterday blocked the country's main railway and took their employers
> and local government officials hostage in a rash of protests spreading
> from Siberia to the Pacific coast.
> The incidents could be embarrassing for the beleaguered reformers in the
> Russian cabinet. Last week, they were publicly berated by Boris Yeltsin,
> the president, who said they had failed to keep their promise to pay off
> all wage arrears by the end of 1997.
> Over the past few years, Russian rulers have proved remarkably immune to
> public opinion, ignoring periodic waves of strikes and demonstrations
> over delayed wages and deteriorating social conditions. But Mr Yeltsin's
> recent focus on the issue of wage arrears could lend this week's
> protests greater significance.
> The biggest protest yesterday was in the troubled far east, where 2,500
> coal miners and defence industry workers blocked the Trans-Siberian
> railway in two places for two hours. Carrying red Soviet flags, they
> demanded their wages, which they said had not been paid for seven
> months.
> The workers had given advance warning of their protest, and rail traffic
> was halted during their demonstration.
> They said they would block the rails again in a month's time if their
> wages had not been paid, and threatened to press for the resignation of
> the local and federal governments.
> In two Siberian towns, workers were more aggressive in pursuit of unpaid
> salaries. More than 50 miners in the Siberian city of Polusayevo stormed
> management offices and took the mine's director and about 20 executives
> hostage.
> The miners, who say they have not been paid for two years, seized the
> management building during a meeting and yesterday afternoon were not
> allowing anyone to leave or enter the offices.
> 

"We cannibals must help these Christians"

[Louis Proyect]

Chapter three of Moby Dick, titled "The Spouter Inn", contains one of the
most famous scenes in American literature. The narrator Ishmael awakens to
find the heavily tattooed, South-Sea Islander, harpooner and sometime
cannibal Queequeg in his bed. In a few days he and Queequeg have overcome
their initial shock and have become good friends. Chapter thirteen, titled
"Wheelbarrow," is not as well-known, but deserves to be since it is very
relevant to contemporary discussions of multiculturalism, western
"civilization" and other hotly contested issues.

This chapter begins with the two men making their way to the docks where
they have booked passage on a packet schooner. The small ship will bring
them to Nantucket, where Ahab's whaling-ship, the Pequod, awaits them.

Queequeg has borrowed a wheelbarrow, which is loaded with the two men's
gear, including Queequeg's harpoons. As they make their way to the docks,
Queequeg lets Ishmael in on his comic mishap with the first wheelbarrow he
ever saw. Now that the South-Sea Islander feels comfortable with his white
companion, he doesn't mind letting him know about his occasional
difficulties with white civilization.

One time, after Queequg had just arrived in the port of Sag Harbor, his
captain lent him a wheelbarrow so he could get his heavy chest from the
ship to the boarding-house in town. Queequeg didn't quite know how to use
the contraption, so he loaded his chest on the wheelbarrow and then carried
both the wheelbarrow and its contents into town on his head. Ishmael says,
"Queequeg, you might have known better than that, one would think. Didn't
the people laugh?"

This leads Queequeg to tell him another story. On his native island of
Rokovoko, there is always a ceremonial large calabash at wedding feasts
that is filled with the fragrant water of young coconuts. One day a large
merchant ship docked at the island on the occasion of Queequeg's sister's
wedding, to which they invite the captain. The feast began with a
ceremonial blessing of the calabash, which includes the tribal high priest
dipping his fingertips into the bowl before passing it around so people can
fill their cups with the blessed nectar. The captain, who is seated next to
priest, views himself as being more powerful than the priest and
consequently takes it upon himself to wash his hands in the bowl. "Now,"
said Queequeg, "what you tink now?--Didn't our people laugh?"

Once Queequeg and Ishmael are on the deck of the packet schooner, Ishmael
notices the other passengers gawking at Queequeg. Some are so rude as to
make disrespectful gestures behind Queequeg's back. He catches one of them
out of the corner of his eye and throws him bodily into the air. When the
startled young man lands on his feet, he goes running to the captain crying
out, "Capting, Capting, here's the Devil," referring to Queequeg.

The captain approaches Queequeg and lectures him for nearly killing his
tormentor. Queequeg explains that the young man he threw in the air was a
only a "small fish-e" and that he only kills big whales. At that very
moment, the mainsail boom become unlashed and begins swinging wildly back
and forth. Not only does it throw the crew into a complete panic, it knocks
Queequeg's tormentor into the water. Everybody is frozen in panic at this
point.

At this point, Queequeg goes into action. He grabs hold of a rope and
secures one end to a bulwark. With the other end, he fashions a lasso and
tosses it on the wayward boom which he brings under control. As soon as
this is done, he jumps into the water in the general direction of the man
overboard. Melville writes:

"A few minutes more, and he rose again, one arm still striking out, and
with the other dragging a lifeless form. The boat soon picked them up. The
poor bumpkin was restored. All hands voted Queequeg a noble trump; the
captain begged his pardon. From that hour I clove to Queequeg like a
barnacle; yea, till poor Queequeg took his last long dive."

Queequeg took all this in stride and didn't understand what all the fuss
was about. He didn't seem to think that he deserved a medal. He only asked
for some fresh water to wash the brine off with. Once that was done, he put
on dry clothes and began to smoke his pipe. Ishmael thought that the
expression on Queequeg's face seem to say "It's a mutual, joint-stock
world, in all meridians. We cannibals must help these Christians."

Melville was a very careful, deliberate writer who chose words carefully.
Why would he have the cannibal describe the world in these commercial
terms? Doesn't joint-stock seem to describe the world that Ishmael was
fleeing: the isle of Manhattan, "belted round by wharves as Indian isles by
coral reefs--commerce surrounds it with her surf." The words "joint-stock"
are chosen in irony. Melville was very familiar with the South-Sea island
societies and knew that stock ownership of any sort was alien to such peoples.

Melville was no social scientist, but his alienation from American
cap

1998 Debut Issue (fwd)

[Sid Shniad]

> 
> MEDIACULTURE REVIEW IS BACK & ONLINE!
> http://www.mediademocracy.org/MediaCultureReview
> 
> MediaCulture Review, the award-winning quarterly zine published by
> Institute for Alternative Journalism, is now going weekly in electronic
> form. This week's roundup includes:
> 
> * Wag the Media:  When the "Tale" is Smarter Than the Media Watchdog --  a
> provocative look at Hollywood, DC.
> * Is PBS the "Public" or "Corporate" Broadcasting System?
> * Showdown on Main Street -- the alcohol and tobacco billboards that
> saturate non-white inner-city communities might be coming down. At least 30
> U.S. cities are on the move against outdoor advertising in child-sensitive
> areas.
> * Message in a Cyber-Bottle -- sometimes the Internet can be lifesaving.
> * and other stories, plus new job announcements in the "Bulletin Board."
> 
> If this is an unwarranted intrusion into your space, quickly e-mail us at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] and we'll take you off the list.
> 
> _
> Nadya Tan | MCR Online editor | MediaCulture Review | 77 Federal Street,
> 2nd floor
> San Francisco, CA  94107 | phone: 415/284-1420 | fax: 415/284-1414
> 
> 
> 
> 

Re: gathering the news II

[valis]

> And why has no one mentioned the eerily hilarious coincidence that "Deep
> Throat" was the Woodward and Bernstein code name for their Watergate 
> informant?

Because life has higher purposes, Tom, but don't ask me for any examples
right now.
   valis


   "If I hadn't learned how to live without a culture and a society,
acculturation would have broken my heart a thousand times."

 -- Kilgore Trout, in "Timequake" by Kurt Vonnegut

Re: gathering the news (version 3.0)

[Tom Walker]

>Let's imagine a scenario in which the President of the United States is
killed, along with his porn-star girlfriend, when his limosine slams into a
underpass support post while fleeing a pack of papperazzi hoping to capture
a telephoto shot of the president and friend in *flagrante delecto*.
>
>No, no. Let's imagine a porno flick in which the above scenario is the
skeletal plot upon which the panting, grunting, slurping content is draped.

The third draft is a post-structuralist intellectual art film version.
Version 3.0 has one of the papparazzi (named Zapruder?) discovering an
assassination subtext to his telephoto blow job footage. Zapruder views the
segment from cum shot to crash repeatedly, trying to isolate the movement of
a shadowy figure who seems to have precipitated the fatal climax. (This
reuse of a single film sequence has the added advantage of keeping
production costs low).

By the end of the film, Zapruder realizes that the shadowy figure is
Zapruder's own literary agent, Luc Goldberg, and that the film in his
position is the highest expression of self-valorizing capital.

Any literary agents out there? I'll be home most of the afternoon.

 

Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^^
Know Ware Communications
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(604) 688-8296 
^^^
The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/

Re: gathering the news

[Tom Walker]

Doug Henwood wrote,

>I had no idea I was so close to fame! As I was walking down Broadway
>yesterday morning, I noticed an encampment of reporters, cameras,
>spotlights, and microphones on 84th Street just west of Broadway, the
>building just outside my livingroom window. (It also happens to be the site
>of a former farmhouse where Poe wrote "The Raven.") Turns out that's where
>Lucianne Goldberg, the most famous literary agent of last week, lives. The
>hacks and their gadgets are there just in case she emerges and issues a
>statement. They were there, spotlights blazing, when I went out at 3, when
>I came back at 4, when I went out again at 5:30, and when I came back at
>10. God, I love the working press.

How fine the line between press, porno and papperazzi. Come to think of it,
what line? 

Let's imagine a scenario in which the President of the United States is
killed, along with his porn-star girlfriend, when his limosine slams into a
underpass support post while fleeing a pack of papperazzi hoping to capture
a telephoto shot of the president and friend in *flagrante delecto*.

No, no. Let's imagine a porno flick in which the above scenario is the
skeletal plot upon which the panting, grunting, slurping content is draped.

And why has no one mentioned the eerily hilarious coincidence that "Deep
Throat" was the Woodward and Bernstein code name for their Watergate informant?


Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^^
Know Ware Communications
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(604) 688-8296 
^^^
The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/

Students Occupy Bank (fwd)

[Sid Shniad]

> Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 03:07:36 -0500
> Subject: Student Squat
> 
> Students in Jeopardy in Bank Squat
> Report from Harrisville on the Web
> http://home.echo-on.net/~command/action.htm
> 
> The anti-Harris chants reached my ears as I strode through the
> underground beneath the Commerce Court. As I took an escalator up to see
> what was going on, I was not aware that a huge anti-Harris student rally
> had just taken place, with thousands of students blocking King and Bay
> Streets. It happened that some of the students decided to take their
> case to the president of the bank and crowds streamed into Commerce
> Court. To stop the crowds, police decided to lock the doors, and at that
> point the students inside decided to squat and not leave. They felt
> staying would highlight their protest against Mike Harris' Sixty percent
> increase in tuition fees.
> Fifteen riot cops suddenly appeared behind me as I rode up on the
> escalator, and at the top I found myself in a scuffle with cops who
> wanted me out. I pushed ahead and ended up in the press ranks, shouting
> that I was with the press. A uniformed cop continued to hassle me but
> later gave up, and I was pushed aside as a screaming female student was
> dragged past me by the police.
> A couple hundred students had taken over the North West corner of the
> ground floor, an area with open Plexiglas windows that allowed another
> crowd of protesters to watch from outside. Kiosks and ledges on the
> marble walls allowed some of the student leaders to perch above the
> reach of the police while others sat on the floor. The mood was very
> hostile at first with some students shouting F--ing pigs. They were
> angry about earlier arrests.
> While I was standing with the press I commissioned a student writer to
> write a report for me and he is still inside. Just after I did that the
> police told the press ranks to move back to the wall as they were going
> to advance for arrests. One squatter noticed this and shouted a warning,
> then a police spokesman denied that they were moving in. To clear things
> up I stepped forward and told the students that the police were going to
> charge in and the press were in fact just stepping back for good photo
> angles.
> The police held back, a debate began between students who wanted to
> leave because of fear of the police and students who wanted to squat
> indefinitely. Those who wanted to stay won the vote, but people who
> wanted to leave were allowed to do so.
> The police would not allow water or toilet facilities for the squatters
> so they decided to build their own toilet. This was done by using the
> potted plants and taping protest leaflets and signs up to create a
> private area -- or somewhat private as a lady in charge of a TV crew
> said,  "I definitely want a shot of that" and sent up a camera to get a
> picture of people peeing.
> The security cameras were and are taped over with protest stickers,
> which is good since a police spokesman announced they were going try and
> charge people in days after the squat was over. Undercover cops, some of
> them taking photos and footage were everywhere. At some points there
> were more police than squatters.
> Even so the atmosphere got kind of homey at times. One of the kiosks had
> a bank poster on it with a family and a big slogan that said I SEE OUR
> NEXT HOUSE HAVING A BIG OLD OAK TREE...
> The mood started shifting from worry to jubilation as time wore on --
> students sang Solidarity Forever and tossed ripped bank flyers in the
> air like confetti. I talked to a guy called D from the Dead Poet's
> Society, a group that recorded a song called Down With Mike Harris and
> has an album called Dangerous Days. D was acting as a sort of mediator,
> trying to keep everyone happy.
> For me worry took over for two reasons - it looked like the police were
> going to get brutal and I remembered that I had just picked up
> prescription drugs for my invalid ex-wife. These were in my bag and if I
> were arrested the police would likely try to tag me for possession of
> illegal drugs. The police spokesman also refused to say what had
> happened to George Shepherd, a protester arrested earlier, other than to
> say he was likely at 52 Division. They also refused to reveal what he
> was charged with and this convinced many of the activists to remain
> stubborn with the police.
> I got out and talked to people on the outside. The police seemed to be
> gathering in huge numbers so I went back for a tour of the underground
> and got beneath the squatters. Standing behind a post I heard an
> undercover man on a cell phone say they were going to move in twenty
> minutes. He then saw me and called for someone to remove the trash from
> the hallway. I ran out and mentioned to a student by the window that the
> police might move in twenty minutes. Another said a huge number of
> police with shields were at the side. A lady who stuck a note to the
> glass passed this info to t

Re: Rightwing scandal-mongering

[Doug Henwood]

James Devine wrote:

>o impose state control on
>our bedrooms and bodies; no libertarians they.) Abortion is almost the only
>issue where Clinton shows any kind of backbone -- and that may be an
>opportunist effort to maintain his core constitutency.

I thought it was very interesting that when he had a giant cloud hanging
over his head, Clinton became a (weak) social democrat for his State of the
Union, proposing new spending on health and education. No doubt this move
was fully market tested before it was taken, but it suggests that the
right-wing agenda of program and tax cuts is exhausted except to its true
religionists (maybe 20% of the U.S. electorate).

Doug

gathering the news

[Doug Henwood]

I had no idea I was so close to fame! As I was walking down Broadway
yesterday morning, I noticed an encampment of reporters, cameras,
spotlights, and microphones on 84th Street just west of Broadway, the
building just outside my livingroom window. (It also happens to be the site
of a former farmhouse where Poe wrote "The Raven.") Turns out that's where
Lucianne Goldberg, the most famous literary agent of last week, lives. The
hacks and their gadgets are there just in case she emerges and issues a
statement. They were there, spotlights blazing, when I went out at 3, when
I came back at 4, when I went out again at 5:30, and when I came back at
10. God, I love the working press.


Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: 
web: 

Re: Santa Fe

[PHILLPS]

Just thought you might like to know, Krugman was on CBC national
this morning explaining the Asian Crisis.  He said it was all
due to nepotism and corruption of Asian society.  The nephew of
a dictator will set up a bank or a company and everybody will
lend to him because the loan is, in effect, government guaranteed.
This led to a preponderance of bad loans that eventually came
tumbling down.

So there it is. No complexity at all!

Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba

Debt crises (was: web page of resources)

[Colin Danby]

Rakesh asks:

> why in recent years has capital export taken less the form of
> foreign direct investment and more the form of short term credits or hot
> money (one of the articles from *The Economist* at the website gives some
> rather stunning data on the growth of short-term credit vis-a-vis foreign
> direct investment),

My impression is that the current E.Asian crises are remarkably 
similar to the Latin American debt crisis that broke out in 1982,
in that (a) the main form of capital export was sydicated bank 
loans and (b) liquidity crises (dollar liquidity) were provoked 
by the actions of *domestic* firms and wealth-holders.  People 
more familiar with the region may want to correct these 
impressions.

It's not unusual that lending and portfolio flows dwarf DFI as a
source of LDC capital inflows, in fact I think it's the norm 
since the late 1800s.

The Latin American debt crisis was resolved the old-fashioned way
through moratoriums, defaults, and renegotiation.  Since lenders
did suffer, supposedly this was going to shut down LDC lending for
a generation.  Ha.  One factor encouraging a new rush to lend may 
be that the 1994-95 Mexican crisis sent the message that countries 
which are important to Washington will be bailed out, and fast.  
This, it is widely argued, encouraged large flows to S.Korea and 
Indonesia, and it's not hard to see that this would steer U.S. 
rentiers toward dollar-denominated loans rather than DFI.

What's fascinating is that Rubin and others (we had a brief chat
about this last fall) realize that this system of implicit
international financial guarantees actually harms accumulation
and growth, and adds to the instability of the neoliberal
projects that they want to foster around the world.  How much of
the bailing-out is a matter of protecting U.S. banks and how
much of it is protecting U.S.-allied governments I have no idea,
but it's possible that U.S. geopolitics impedes neoliberalism 
after some point.

I heard an NPR commentary by Laura D'Andrea Tyson Friday, awful
both in its politics (don't worry about human or workers' rights 
because the best way to achieve those is to retore "stability")
and in the relentless circularity of its logic about the need to 
restore said "stability" in E. Asia.  Similar dire rhetoric was 
used to sell the Mexico bailout.

Best, Colin

Re: Asia's Economic and Currency Crisis web page of resources

[Rakesh Bhandari]

Thanks Jim for this website. There has been a lot of talk about how
imperialist financial institutions were seduced to 'cover Asia with cash'
or about the unique moral hazards posed by Southeast Asian intermediary
financial institutions. Just from a layperson's perusal of the New York
Times and Wall Street Journal, there seem to be two big questions at this
point: first, why in recent years has capital export taken less the form of
foreign direct investment and more the form of short term credits or hot
money (one of the articles from *The Economist* at the website gives some
rather stunning data on the growth of short-term credit vis-a-vis foreign
direct investment), what was driving this form of speculative capital
export, what has and had changed in the structure of the imperialist
countries; second, as a result of the consequences of this crisis on the
real economy--rationalizations in both financial and industrial
institutions (unemployment), fire-sale sell offs (repatriation of profit)
and intensification in exploitation-- how are the police preparing
themselves for the upcoming street battles throughout Asia? What role will
the US national security state play in the repression of popular forces?
Rakesh