[PEN-L:296] BY THE END OF 1999, A RECESSION IN NORTH AMERICA?; Too Big ToFail?
THE GLOBE AND MAIL MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1998 BY THE END OF 1999, A RECESSION IN NORTH AMERICA? The chief economist of RBC Dominion Securities blames flawed global financial markets Taken from a speech delivered on Sept 24 at the annual dinner of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts. Paul Summerville Not since 1929 has the world's financial system, and by implication the global economy, been at such risk. In the last 12 months the risk premium in the shares of financial institutions around the world has risen dramatically. For example, the financial sector sub indice in Hong Kong is down 52 per cent, in Tokyo 44 per cent, Toronto 42 per cent, Frankfurt 38, London 36 and New York 32 per cent. Companies like Citicorp are down 52 per cent, CIBC 50 per cent, Commerz [Germany] Bank 38, Barclays 35 and Royal Bank 30 per cent. I believe that the reason for this rout of I global financial sector shares is that July, 1997, marked the end of an extraordinary eight year period that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The devaluation of the [Thai] baht [on July 2, 1997] marked the death knell of the widely held view that American financial capitalism had won a permanent victory. The belief that openness, transparency and the rule of law would be the ongoing principles of global financial markets was obliterated with the recognition that corruption, opaqueness and lawlessness are fundamentally a part of how many countries, big and small, rich and poor, organize their capital markets and their civil societies. The new period we have entered is thus fraught with danger because there is no overarching agreement on the best way to organize financial markets. Witness Malaysia's capital controls, Hong Kong's and Japan's use of public money to buy distressed stocks, and the emerging thesis that it was simply the availability of global capital that has caused all the recent distress instead of the existence of corrupt financial markets and regulators. The new period is also fraught with danger because it necessarily implies a brutal adjustment in the pricing of financial assets, with a punishing impact on world economic growth. I expect that the financial market excess and deteriorating credit quality which has already caused so much economic pain in the world of late will also have a pernicious impact on North America. I expect that by the end of 1999, the risk is that America will be in recession, accompanied by Canada, because North American consumers are levered into a falling stock market and companies have hired and invested for an economy that does not exist. This is reflected in our exceptation that short term interest rates will be slashed in the United States by 100 basis points and in Canada by at least 175 basis points by December, 1999, and that long rates will follow. The Canadian dollar will likely retrace its summer weakness against the U.S. dollar as the economic consequences for Canada of a U.S. recession become clear. We can only hope that the obvious crisis in leadership in the world and the narrow domestic agendas of scared politicians do not turn an almost certain recession into a global depression. === Bailout of a Big Failure Raises Big Questions About Too-Big-to-Fail Policy By Allan Sloan Tuesday, September 29, 1998; Page E03 For the past year, as markets from Thailand to Russia to South Korea to Central America have taken it in the chops, the United States has talked a good game about the evils of crony capitalism. Our officials and financiers talk about how letting impersonal market forces allocate capital is all for the greater good. Thai peasants, Korean steelworkers and Russian urbanites are suffering as financial crises sweep their countries, but that's the price someone has to pay to keep capital flowing. Then, what happens? Thanks to stupid investment decisions, bad luck and dumb lenders, an enormous U.S. hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management L.P. is about to croak. But instead of letting it die and wipe out its investors and managers, the Federal Reserve Board orchestrates a rescue, and leading lights of the brokerage and banking businesses kick in $3.5 billion to $3.6 billion to keep the fund in operation. The argument, as you doubtless know by now, is that letting Long-Term Capital go under could have led to a financial panic, paralyzed bond markets all over the world, and set off a domino effect as failing institutions dragged one another into insolvency. That could well be right, and it may well have made sense for the Fed to put the rescue together. Certainly, the 14 institutions putting up those billions to bail out Long-Term thought it was in their interest to do so. But even if you think it was right to keep Long-Term Capital from collapsing, there are aspects of the rescue that should bother ev
[PEN-L:294] Ward Churchill on Cherokee slave-owners
Yes, well... I, too, find the Lipsitz' idea of "currying favor" less than convincing. But Ms. Meyer's complaint borders on the idiotic. What "terrible stereotype" is at issue here? That Cherokees weren't just like white guys (albeit a bit "culturally retarded")? Methinks she needs to drop the "sympathetic" rhetorical veneer on her namecalling and go have herself a quick enema. She'll feel lots better. Meanwhile, at a somewhat more sihnificant level, she's trying to be clever. Take her little demographic manipulation as an example. She says "some" of the Cherokee elite were "mixed." The fact is that virtally ALL the people in question were. The reason for her curiously careful word choice is that she's trying to make the institution of slavery seem as Cherokee as white. Wrong (but, nice try, twit). This is not a matter of genetics, but of acculturation. The mixed-blood elite was raised white to a considerable extent. They weren't trying to curry favor with whites so much as they were for all practical intents and purposes trying to BE white. Big difference. The emergence of the mixed-cultural elite within Cherokee society had effectively destroyed the functioning of traditional functioning of Cherokee society quite a while before the struggle over Removal. Hence, the phenomenon at issue is decisively NOT Cherokee. It is as much a phenomenon of Euroamerica within the Cherokee Nation as it was without, no matter how much Ms, Meyer would like it to have been otherwise. While I'll aggre with her that the dynamics of all this were exccedingly complex, and warrant a great deal more study, I wish she'd stop using that entirely reasonable proposition as a pretext for perpetuating "terrible stereotypes." Do feel free to quote from this and/or forward it to Meyer. Meanwhile, we didn't really get to talk much after the gig was over, a matter for which I'm sorry. Next time... Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:290] FW: FW: Sachs's G-16 proposal (Who is J. Sachs?)
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of James Farmelant Sent: Monday, September 21, 1998 9:54 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Re: FW: Sachs's G-16 proposal (Who is J. Sachs?) On Mon, 21 Sep 1998 19:19:03 +0200 "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Arno_Mong_Daastøl?=" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >Jonathan Larson has supplied this interesting background for Jeffrey >Sachs' >new policies. > > >-Original Message- > Over a couple of weeks ago Sachs was on NPR's The Chris Lydon Show to give his mea culpae. He admitted to making various errors but he also went on to claim that he had been misunderstood. And it appears that the list of people who misunderstood him is quite a long one which includes among others IMF officials, the Russians, and his various academic colleagues and critics including especially Marshall Goldman. This assertion puzzled me because after all Sachs is a Harvard professor and presumably therefore a skilled communicator. He also went on to describe the corruption of the Yeltsin government and he made it clear that it goes all the way to the very top and he criticized the IMF and the US government for having ignored it until it was too late. He blamed the oligarchs for sabotaging market reforms and for hijacking them to serve their own selfish interests. If someone can get a hold of a transcript of Chris Lydon's interview of Sachs it might be interesting to post it on this list. Jim Farmelant _ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
[PEN-L:292] California Dreamin
EPI is looking for a couple of stalwarts on the Left Coast who feel inclined to say unkind things about the flat tax being proposed by Mr. Fong, the GOP candidate for senate. Please respond off-list to me at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MBS
[PEN-L:291] Colombian workers plan new anti-austerity strike
Visit the COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR at http://www.prairienet.org/clm === As with last week's strike, which virtually paralysed state-run hospitals, schools and other basic services for two days running, Borja said the new job action was aimed at forcing the government into revoking a fiscal adjustment programme due to take effect later this year. _ === REUTERS Monday, 28 September 1998 Colombian workers plan new anti-austerity strike BOGOTA -- Colombia's public sector workers, fresh from a 48-hour strike last week, are preparing an indefinite, nationwide work stoppage to force the government into shelving its economic austerity plan, union leaders said on Monday. Wilson Borja, head of the 700,000-member public sector union known as Fenaltrase, told Reuters in a phone interview no definitive strike deadline had been set yet. But he said October 7 was the most likely start date, and it would be voted upon at a union meeting Wednesday. As with last week's strike, which virtually paralysed state-run hospitals, schools and other basic services for two days running, Borja said the new job action was aimed at forcing the government into revoking a fiscal adjustment programme due to take effect later this year. The programme is designed to close gaping budget deficits that President Andres Pastrana inherited from the discredited administration of his predecessor, former president Ernesto Samper, when he took office last month. But Borja and other labour leaders say it calls for too many sacrifices from Colombia's working-class, which is already burdened with double-digit inflation, soaring unemployment and interest rates, and steadily eroding wages. ``The strike is because of the fiscal adjustment,'' he said, adding that the austerity measures planned by Pastrana's government represented ``an assault against all Colombians.'' Borja said he recognised the need to address the fiscal imbalances and economic crisis that were part of Samper's legacy to Pastrana. But he said measures planned by Finance Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo --including strict wage controls and a broad-based increase in the range of products and services subject to Colombia's onerous value-added tax-- sought to ram austerity down the throats of people already on the brink of poverty and serious social unrest. ``You can't solve a crisis by beating up on everyone,'' Borja said. ``Sacrifices should only be made by those who are able to make them.'' As with last week's strike, the indefinite work stoppage would be backed by Colombia's militant state oil workers' union, known as USO. But unlike last week, oil workers would seek to disrupt production the next time they downed tools, according to Cesar Carrillo, one of the USO's top bosses and a veteran labour activist. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited ___ *** * COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK: To subscribe to CSN-L send request to * * [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUB CSN-L Firstname Lastname * * (Direct questions or comments about CSN-L to [EMAIL PROTECTED]) * * Visit the website of CSN's Champaign-Urbana (Illinois) chapter at * * http://www.prairienet.org/csncu Subscribe to the COLOMBIA BULLETIN * * For free copy and info contact CSN, P.O. Box 1505, Madison WI 53701 * * or call (608) 257-8753 fax: (608) 255-6621 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Visit the COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK at http://www.igc.org/csn* * Visit the COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR at http://www.prairienet.org/clm * ***
[PEN-L:293] .25
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Al, you're such a card! Regards, Tom Walker ^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
[PEN-L:288] Russia: Peppered Vodka - New(?) Cure
First they (the Western pharmaceutical companies) poison people world-wide with their drugs, producing acute dependence, obliterating generations of accumulated knowledge concerning natural medicines, all under the rubric of promoting 'advanced' health care (as though headaches or colds required surgery), not to mention that despicable appeal to our empathy through (insulting) cultural platitudes in the form of "World Children's Fund", etc.. Then, when you've run out of money, all of a sudden it's 'the bottom line'; no more talk of the benevolence and the virtuous metropolitanism of 'Western civilization'. Thankfully for the Russian workers, they have not been under the 'aegis' of the West for too long and have retained some traditional medicinal practices. Cheers, Greg ** Peppered Vodka -- One Way to Replace Vanishing Western Drugs MOSCOW -- (Agence France Presse) Russians will soon be forced to return to the home cures of their grandmothers to replace the foreign drugs which have become well nigh impossible to find since the devaluation of the ruble in mid-August. "Do you still have Upsa aspirin?. ... And no Coldrex either?" The pharmacies of Moscow have been under siege since the first weeks of the crisis and stocks have run out. Sales have increased by up to 500 percent, such as in Nizhny Novgorod on the banks of the Volga, the daily newspaper Kommersant reported. Analgesics, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral medicines were the first to go. "If you have caught a cold, put mustard powder in woolen socks at night and it will go away," a Muscovite woman advised another as they stood in front of a shop window displaying only a few bottles of Russian and foreign medicines. "Even better, drink a glass of vodka with pepper and honey, like people used to do. Personally, I drink it hot and say goodbye to a cold," a pensioner advised. The media has also produced time-honored recipes for grandmothers' herbal teas which can help cure illness. Diabetics have exhausted the stocks of insulin in the Altai region in western Siberia, and the pharmacists of Volgograd are already sounding the alarm bells: their stocks will run out in a week. Many hospitals that are short of drugs, including the prestigious Central Kremlin Hospital in Moscow, are asking their patients to bring their own remedies with them. The hospital in Stavropol in the northern Caucasus announced the suspension of all surgery because of a shortage of drugs, the Izvestiya daily newspaper revealed last week. The central hospital of the Kurgan region in Siberia only has 15 percent of the drugs it requested. "The patients of regional hospitals have flooded us with complaints of this kind," said Health Ministry spokesman Vladimir Vyunitsky. "We cannot do anything about it because it is the regional authorities who distribute the grants which we send out. The hospitals are not obliged to inform us of their reserves. Sometimes they resell them on the black market," he added. Russians, especially the seriously ill, had grown used to an abundance of Western drugs, previously reserved to the Communist elite, and can no longer imagine life without them. But the collapse of the ruble, which has dropped in value by about 60 percent since August, has ruined half of the estimated 3,500 distributing companies, with the rest forced to suspend their purchases abroad. The 20 main Russian distributors have survived, but have increased the prices of foreign drugs by as much as 200 percent and Russian products by up to 100 percent. Experts are already predicting that the foreign drug market -- more than 70 percent of the total market -- will be reduced five or six times as a result of the financial crisis, said Vyunitsky. As for the small number of home-produced products, they are often made with imported raw materials and they are also likely to become more scarce, according to the weekly Diengui (Money) magazine. "It takes three or four months to launch the production line of a new drug. The pharmacies will be totally empty well before that. And you need credits to buy raw materials and machinery. But Russian banks are paralyzed and Western banks refuse to give credits to Russian debtors," said Mikhail Groshenkov, the director of Russian pharmaceutical company Farmatsentr. To limit buying, the Ministry of Health is already preparing to stop 16 million low-income Russians from obtaining the reduced prices which they enjoy for pharmaceutical products. These people -- including pensioners, the disabled and war veterans -- have until now made up the 20 million people, or 14 percent of the population, who consumed between 70 and 80 percent of the drugs sold in Russia, according to Kommersant. ( (c) 1998 Agence France Presse) -- Gregory Schwartz Department of Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Canada Tel: (416) 736-5265 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci
[PEN-L:285] BLS Daily Report
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_01BDEBB3.CD678390 charset="iso-8859-1" BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1998 U.S. manufacturing productivity growth in 1997 was slower than in five of nine economies studied by BLS, the agency reports. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-7). Consumer spending bounced back at a healthy clip in August, and Americans' personal income rose 0.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce reports. The spending rebound - a 0.6 percent increase - was expected after the General Motors strike and related shutdowns left retailers short of vehicles in July. BEA reported that the major contributor to the 0.6 percent rise in consumer expenditures during August was a jump in durable goods purchases, mainly autos. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York Times, Sept. 26, page B14)_The global financial crisis takes little toll on U.S. consumer spending. Americans might not be shopping quite as freely as they did earlier this year, but they're still going fairly strong. But if U.S. businesses stumble badly enough and long enough as a result of these global problems, it will eventually hurt the consumers they employ and serve, said an analyst of the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi in New York. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2). Ever since Fed Chairman Greenspan broadly hinted last week at an interest rate cut, markets have treated a reduction as a near certainly when the Fed's policymakers meet tomorrow. An easing of monetary policy would mark a swift and amazing turnaround in the central bank's fundamental economic outlook. For well over a year, the Fed's greatest concern has been inflation, not recession. Why would the Fed ease? The new dynamic since the summer has been continued deterioration in Asia's economies and the disease's spread in Russia and Latin America, which take more than 15 percent of U.S. exports. So far there has been minimal concrete evidence of a slowdown in the U.S., mainly a slump in manufacturing and a drop in corporate profits. But some early warning signs of deeper damage may be flashing, such as hints of eroding business and consumer confidence, especially as the stock market slumps. There are also fears of a looming credit contraction in the U.S. - signaled by rising rates on junk bonds in recent weeks, and warnings by some banks of plans to curb lending. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2). The Wall Street Journal's feature "Tracking the Economy" predicts that the unemployment rate for September, due out Friday, will be the same as the unemployment rate for August and that nonfarm payrolls will increase by 210,000, compared with 365,000 in August. -- =_NextPart_000_01BDEBB3.CD678390 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzgcJAB0ACgASAAoAAgAjAQEggAMADgAAAM4HCQAd AAoAEAAzAAIASgEBCYABACEAAABFRDI5RDM3NTdDNTdEMjExODg4RTAwMjBBRjlDMDMwOAASBwEE gAEAEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAkAUBDYAEAAICAAIAAQOQBgBMCgAAHEAAOQBg Z0H8s+u9AR4AcAABEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAAgFxAAEWAb3rtHiK ddMp81d8EdKIjgAgr5wDCAAAHgAxQAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGkAAHgAw QAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGUAAAgEJEAEAAACLBwAAhwcAAFkLAABMWkZ1 yZOgX/8ACgEPAhUCpAPkBesCgwBQEwNUAgBjaArAc2V0bjIGAAbDAoMyA8UCAHDccnESIAcTAoB9 CoAIzx8J2QKACoENsQtgbmcxODAzMwr7EvIB0CBCgkwF8ERBSUxZB/BARVBPUlQsBdBPKk4YwFkZ gFMZMFRFgE1CRVIgMjgZgDAxOTk4CoUKhVUuSFMuIAOBdWYA0HRbCHEW4CATkARwdRzQaSB2aXR5 IAnAb3cYdGggC4Aa8jcgd6phBCBzFMB3BJAgHmALA5EekWYdwGUgb2baIAMAbiBwBZFuA3AIkIsf MRzgZAiQZCBiHgBPGIEZgB5gIHBhZwnwY6seABUwcBTRcxxQLiPwqCAoRAtwbB4ATAGgfQWxUiNz GYAKsCMAGLAtuDcpLhtMCFAAgHUHgHkFwHNwCfAh4B0hBuB1NyMgIgIA0Gsi4AVAYSDPIsAHQB5g HgBjbAUgHoLwQXVndSGwGYAAcCIQ0kEnUWljAHEnHUAEkH5zAiAHQB6BBaAHgCNQb+ER8CAwLjUr oihgAjCtIpRCCHApUHUggkUhJPZjE9AsAXkAkAQgIJEisvZEI3AKwHQHgAIwUM5tJ1EoYCNY IFQiwSeX9xUwKCIiEFwnsR8gHnApEf0tADYtNiwyLjEs0TOnHxLcZXgnoBzQIgFhAYAfkx0gcEcJ 8ASQLBFNb3T3BbAhkgUQayLRKtEVMAtgYzbCM/B1dGQeQAYxbP8OISNRAZADECvBObEU0SCCPSBg aCtAOmAEIB6RSnX3JHAyIRqAQSNVIgEfwQVAuyKyAMBqBbEhITihYjng/wWxOEAiozRaBRAs0R6R ISH/JzQ2cifBHOEHkR2AHQMqRPsfAykgaidAKfNCoQGgOmDtHhBvBHAEIHAIcBGxEfD+cxmAAMAL gCRxLlA4QCPP0STfLTE7B7NZBbAo0JcHYxoBI3B0HFAyNiVlYEIxNClfSzIyUmf/FMAooAMgIEAs ACMgBzEpsL9AwS+hAZA40DpBHeB0RLH9OEBsAyACIBwUQUcnljIh4ysHHGBpZ2gFQCFABUAmYjJx O2BwcB0ScXX/HeAi0QQgA1AJ4EYyTSEiwO8eACHgIhApUHIp0B+TL6HeeVPhGYA/MVNDJxUwIaHf AxADIETgHRIcsGlUAB4A/ziRAiBP4i4QNPEgoBwjPzB/AJAg4AQQIYQG0ESxKKBk/0dRCfAIYFDg KrMUwB0hWeb/Q6JCYTywMNMisSzRS8UdUb1EoW1FwR3gHwBV8mUgYP0CMHUHQEdROdA7gSKyQUZ3 APcegkkGRrVXXpEGADigCeCdBUBKCGEsASVlQTImAHsyMBtMRSBgJ3EsQSBwRt0iAUMRwFawA4JH CdInkP0DkWIDYFmTPAACMCIBC2D/Q1IJ4CjUH/I3IQeQOpE5cf8psDngRdJJYBIABCARwCBh/2YB 8gOgNVHfHRIgkQRgIOABkHIeAHIE+x8ACGBsIhBtwikRA+E6gfUqwmEAwHodEhzhLAADYP8zYh6R XzMtgTfiKKBjEHHR/mYzYXcQLYEsESEVLyAIYP9N0ETwZSFpIAWxH4BOMmiS/ykgVLRxaAnBOXFD USEhcHH/A6BFgVFRcTELgBaxb4IZgL9RIhUwKGAEEG+RMiFXKZHndaRxZ
[PEN-L:289] Re: Russia: Peppered Vodka - New(?) Cure
This shortage of drugs is serious stuff for all of us. NPR [I confess, that i sometimes listen] had a report that the shortage is forcing Russian prisons to keep shifting their drug regimins. As a result, they give just enough for a disease to build up a resistents to a drug, shift to another, until you get something resistant to most drugs. However, the diseases are more difficult to incarcerate than the prisoners. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
[PEN-L:284] American Indian "specialist" warns me to butt out
I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest over on the H-AMINDIAN mailing list with my citation from George Lipsitz to the effect that Cherokee enslavement of blacks was tantamount to other forms of racially oppressed groups currying favor with the dominant white capitalist powers. They would prefer, it seems, to entertain a notion of Cherokees as being powers to be reckoned with, rather than as pitiful pawns in the race game. No amount of "specialist" research will ever convince me of this. When I discussed this with my old friend who is part Cherokee himself and a civil rights activist from the 1960s, he said that this was news to him but it didn't really surprise him. After all, he said, Creoles kept black slaves themselves. For a study of these sorts of contradictions, I recommend Jelly Roll Morton's autobiography, which was filled with open loathing of his pure-blood African cousins. I suspect that this American Indian studies is filled with all sorts of reactionaries who ended up in the field as a way to advance their career. Perhaps there are more job openings in American Indians studies than in plain vanilla American History. I'll stick around this H-AMINDIAN list until they decide to censor me outright. There's nothing I love better than speaking truth to power. Here is a post from somebody who lectures me for having the nerve to participate on the topic of Cherokees and slavery. It reeks of Mandarin snobbery. This is interesting. I have never posted a response that generated so much response in itself. I have received congratulations from friends I haven't seen since my 6 year old daughter was born. Let me say to those asking questions (especially Brian Shields) that the history has not been written. Cherokee history is especially ripe for someone with the perspective of a social historian to assemble the plentiful documents and interpret them. What happened to the Cherokees' matrilineal society? We have only sketchy material. But I do recommend Theda Perdue's new monograph, _Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835_ (1998). These are exactly the sorts of questions scholars should ask. What I hope is apparent is that outside scholars without meaningful research experience had better tread lightly in areas that are not of their own specialization. I certainly do. I would never dream of stating anything so definitive unless I had fully digested a whole lot of secondary literature. Allow the Cherokee and all other native people to be people---not exemplars of any ideals that others have constructed. If subscribers wish for a list of relevant and cutting-edge scholarship, let everyone help. Melissa Meyer University of California, Los Angeles Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:283] Re: German SDP II
...
> > How big is the "left" of the SDP?
...
> The answer[], based on what I saw of the Soc Dems on my European tour,
> [is] "large but powerless" (the rank and file SPD and most ordinary Germans
> loathe capitalism, but don't realize their leaders are selling them out),
Good to see you back, Dennis. How about expanding on both clauses of the
parenthetic comment above. Bully on die deutsche for loathing capitalism,
but the why of it certainly calls for a few paragraphs, no? Will we find
them decked out in Frankish regalia after the sale is consummated?
Goodbye European revolution, if that's to be the case.
> Germany voted against neoliberalism, but that's not -- yet -- the
> same thing as reining in Eurocapitalism. For once, the tired cliche is
> right: the class struggle is indeed heating up in Mitteleuropa.
NPR's Talk of the Nation ("nation": another somebody who slept through
Anthro 01) had a show on the election yesterday. At the very end a caller
asked whether there was a conscious pattern to European voting over the
past year or so. Robert von Rimscha of Berlin's Tagesspiegel simply said
Of course: the Europeans want protection from the shocks of globalization,
so they are electing left-center governments.
Although this is cosmic genius relative to American couch potatoes and
their regular world perspectives, I see in such a view - if accurate -
only expedient class collaboration by peoples strong enough to shield
themselves but not willing to attack the storm.
Will all this action ultimately go to waste or worse?
valis
