[PEN-L:3472] Re: Re: NY Times analysis of global economic crisis
Peter Dorman wrote: >The series is good journalism and I recommend it especially for the >classroom. Article 2 is poor but revealing in its analysis, however. >Essentially, it concludes that the E. Asian countries were thrown into >crisis because they are not enough like us: they don't have our >sophisticated financial regulations, our equity market-based corporate >governance, or our more liberal relationship between state and market. >So in a sense it was their fault for being who they were, and it was >also the fault of the US for pushing financial liberalization too >rapidly on such flawed countries. Lots of hubris here (especially for a >country headed for its own wrenching adjustment at some point in the >future). Sure, but as far as these things go, I thought the Times conceding a lot. For the leading daily, um, organ of the U.S. ruling class it seemed unusually aware that free capital flows haven't been an unmixed blessing for the world. This is progress of a sort. Doug
[PEN-L:3475] DRUDGE-REPORT 2/16/99 (fwd)
Here is a copy of an interesting note, even if it is from the Druge Report. Coming on the heels of Clinton's courageous anti-drug escalation, it bears reading. X DRUDGE REPORT X 02/16/99 22:05 UTC X IN VIOLATION OF BAN, HEMP BEER SERVED ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE **Exclusive** The Hemp Revolution has hit the White House! Late Monday evening aboard Air Force One, stewards passed out HEMP GOLDEN BEER to the president, members of Congress and the press and other personnel. The move came just weeks after the Air Force banned the use of all products containing hemp oil -- including Hemp drinks! For any active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard members, conviction for digesting Hemp products can bring two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge! HEMP GOLDEN BEER -- "smooth, mild, mellow herbal flavor" and "brewed with hemp seeds," according to the label -- was an instant hit with Washington insiders who have been stressed out over the year-long Lewinsky scandal. President Clinton was returning from Mexico when the hemp based drink was served. "The president tasted, but did not swallow," laughed one reporter aboard the plane. http://marijuananews.com notes that FREDERICK BREWING CO. [NASDAQ: BLUE] has just introduced HEMP GOLD, a cream ale brewed with hemp seeds. "The beer is smooth and mild - very, very drinkable," comments Steve Nordahl, FBC's VP of Brewing Operations. Passengers were mellowed out. "Clinton lingered with members of Congress in the guest cabin. While the president signed pages of Air Force One stationery for one guest, others showed off to Clinton the T-shirts and other Mexican souvenirs they'd picked up," reported the ASSOCIATED PRESS in PM cycles. The White House Travel Office refused to comment if any passengers reported a bad case of the munchies after the trip. The Air Force One/HEMP GOLDEN BEER development comes just weeks after the Air Force banned the use of all products containing hemp oil. A sergeant beat a marijuana charge by claiming traces of the drug came from a cholesterol-lowering supplement. "We don't want people testing positive and jeopardizing their careers because they swallowed something they may have thought was healthy and good for them," said Lt. Col. Peter Durand of the Air Force Surgeon General's Office. Lt. Gen. Charles Roadman, Air Force surgeon general, issued the Hemp prohibition on January 22, 1999. It makes hemp oil use a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice's article 92, which prohibits personnel from disobeying direct orders or regulations. Conviction can bring two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. "In the interest of military readiness and good order and discipline, active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard members are now prohibited from consuming any products containing hemp seed oil," declared Lt. Col. Greg Girard of the Air Force judge advocate general's office in the Pentagon. "Most of these products are still expressly marketed and sold in health food stores," Durand said. "Service members need not be concerned that they are unwittingly ingesting hemp products in foods and drinks." Unless you're traveling aboard Air Force One. X X X X X TED TURNER, FATHER OF 5, CALLS FOR GLOBAL 'ONE CHILD POLICY' On Tuesday morning, cable TV billionaire Ted Turner called for an international "one-child policy" during a speech to the NATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ASSOCIATION [NFPRHA] in Washington. During his Tuesday speech, Turner - who has five children of his own - wowed the crowd with jokes about sex, the 10 Commandments, the Pope and Ronald Reagan. Turner said during the Cold War, he feared that Reagan might accidentally start a nuclear war because he was so old. Turner also told several Polish jokes about the Pope. Cameras were not allowed to capture Turner's comments. Jane Fonda will address NFPRHA on Wednesday afternoon at the CAPITAL HILTON. According to publishing sources, the WASHINGTON TIMES is set to play up Turner's speech before the population control group for Wednesday editions. Turner, a strong advocate for global population controls, has said that he had all his children by the age of 30 and didn't know any better, and "once they were here, I couldn't shoot them." Filed by Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereport.com for steaks and breaks (c)DRUDGE REPORT 1999 Not for reproduction without permission of the author -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:3476] Globalization's Doubters; Border Crossings Grow MoreTreacherous & Deadly
IN THIS MESSAGE: Globalization's Doubters; Border Crossings Grow More Treacherous & Deadly Tuesday, February 16, 1999 California Prospect Meet Globalization's Doubters Partway Criticism that sounds like warmed-over Marxism in the wealthy West resonates as truth in the Third World. By TOM PLATE There's no shortage of fear, loathing and even hysteria about economic globalization these days. That's especially true in academe; many who toil there believe its hurricane force will in the end leave the world's poor twisting in the wind. Some academicians flatly view globalization as an ethical and moral menace. University of Exeter Prof. Timothy Gorringe, in his new book "Fair Shares: Ethics and the Global Economy," says globalization has "the potential for destroying society." His metaphors are of sickness: "clearly feverish," "a symptom of an illness," "a disorder of the soul." Others view globalization as a masked process for putting false gods in clandestine charge of our lives. Harvard Prof. Dani Rodrik writes in the new book "Making Openness Work" that it "requires too much blind faith in markets to believe that the global allocation of resources is enhanced by the twenty-something-year-olds in London who move hundreds of millions of dollars around the globe in a matter of an instant." Still others fear globalization as the hit man against hope. Former Economist magazine researcher Harry Shutt, in his recent book "The Trouble With Capitalism," compares it to "organized crime--a parasite so vicious that it is killing the body it feeds off." That's all a bit much, of course, for a comparatively new force on the planet whose effects are only slowly becoming apparent, much less fully understood. Still, a measure of hysteria may not be such a bad thing, given globalization's seeming inevitability. At bottom all that scholarly advice can be boiled down to an old bromide: Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Does a more integrated world economy add to the wealth of nations so that the resultant rising tide lifts all boats? Or do the rich merely become even richer, buying new yachts and leaving the world's poor in their wake? Economists tend to say that their craft is only about money, not ethics or justice. But sages as far back as Aristotle and up to today's egalitarian ethicists, especially the great Harvard philosopher John Rawls, have always insisted that at the heart of injustice one inevitably finds greed, preying like a cancer on justice. To many of us in the West, this line of thought can seem like little more than microwaved Marxism. But not in the Third World. Referring to the stomach-wrenching downdrafts in less wealthy economies, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said recently: "In the emerging world, there is a bitter sentiment of injustice. There's a sense that there must be something wrong with a system that wipes out years of hard-won development because of changes in market sentiment. Years of progress are gone, because of developments elsewhere." The answer to the Mubaraks of the world is not to make the obvious point that in their exaggeration they wind up playing mainly to the soccer stands, but to figure out which parts of their anti-globalization message are valid. To fail to do that is to put at risk the valuable internationalizing power of globalization. In a recent speech, the eloquent U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: National markets are held together by shared values and confidence in certain minimum standards. But in the new global market, people do not yet have that confidence." Annan concluded that until widespread confidence in globalization is instilled, the world economy will be vulnerable to the broadside backlashes of protectionism, excessive nationalism and ethnic chauvinism. Annan is right: The West should be more open--and therefore a lot less dismissive of Third World laments. Rather than indicting the Mubaraks for provincialism, why not make a point of meeting these outspoken leaders more than halfway? Profit and economic growth surely are not the only social values advanced by the developed world. Why not offer a large spirit, an open mind, new ideas for managing change, especially with regard to the world's swirling capital markets? For, if something more than dismissiveness is not forthcoming, fears about the potential ravages of globalization will divide the world into those who believe and those who hatefully do not. That could herald a new ideological war that could bring out the worst in us all. - - - Times Contributing Editor Tom Plate's Column Runs Tuesdays. he Teaches at Ucla. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved = As Crossings Grow Treacherous, More Aliens Are Dying to Get In Urb
[PEN-L:3473] Re: Re: The WREN water system etc.
He's in Canada. Brad De Long wrote: > >The manner in which collective ownership can often provide cheap > >and simple solutions to problems is illustrated by the water > >supply systems in the small town in which I live. > >The town was settled in stages. At first there were not enough > >people to set up a municipal water supply. Settlers as they came > >in started co-operatively owned but quite informally structured > >water systems. Most did not have enough money for individual > >wells so each person chipped in so much money and a well would be > >dug with lines running to each > >members property...These systems still survive many decades after > >they were begun. > > Are you on the Ogallalla aquifer?
[PEN-L:3470] Re: Re: Organizational sign-on for HOPE andagainst NAFTA for Africa
Both, and to put the IMF and the Administration on the hot seat, and to advance the agenda of debt cancellation. -Robert Naiman At 04:21 PM 2/16/99 -0800, you wrote: >So is the intent to pass HOPE for Africa this year? Or just to stop AGO? > >Brad DeLong > --- Robert Naiman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Preamble Center for Public Policy 1737 21st NW Washington, DC 20009 phone: 202-265-3263 fax: 202-265-3647 http://www.preamble.org/ ---
[PEN-L:3468] Organizational sign-on for HOPE and against NAFTA for Africa
***Deadline: Monday, February 22 *** Please forward where appropriate and apologies for cross postings. As many of you are aware, the "African Growth and Opportunity Act," dubbed "NAFTA for Africa" by its opponents, which failed in the last Congress, has been re-introduced in the House, and may be voted on within the next few weeks. Some of you might not be aware that this year, NAFTA and IMF critics have a counter-proposal, the "Human Rights, Opportunity, Partnership and Empowerment for Africa Act" (HOPE for Africa Act), sponsored by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Rep. David Bonior. One of the things that's very exciting about this political moment is that, in addition to being a replay of the various NAFTA-type fights of the last few years, the issues of role of the IMF, Third World debt, and the impact of IMF structural adjustment in Africa are at the center of the debate. Whereas the Administration "NAFTA for Africa" bill conditions trade benefits for African countries on compliance with IMF structural adjustment, the HOPE bill (which also contains trade benefits but without IMF conditions) would cancel the bilateral debt of African countries to the US, cancel the debt of African countries held by US banks, commit the US to advocacy of debt cancellation at the IMF and World Bank and with other creditor countries, and commit the US to advocacy of the UNICEF/UNDP 20/20 plan, that seeks to raise spending on basic human needs to 20% of government expenditure. In addition to giving us an opportunity to prominently raise the issues of the IMF and the need for debt cancellation, this is also an opportunity for us to educate Democratic Members of Congress and Democratic constituencies who have not been with us on IMF issues in the past. Please consider having your union or organization endorse the following letter. Some international unions have already endorsed the HOPE bill and opposed the Administration bill, others are in the process of doing so. And, of course, contact your Member of Congress (if you have one) and ask them to co-sponsor the HOPE bill and oppose NAFTA for Africa. This letter has been initiated by the Citizens Trade Campaign and Public Citizen. Signatures can go to them directly, or reply to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and I will forward. Thanks, Robert Naiman Preamble Center >Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 17:49:00 -0500 >From: "Margrete Strand-Rangnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sender: "Margrete Strand-Rangnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Organization: Public Citizen >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Margrete Strand-Rangnes) >Subject: Africa Trade Bill Sign-On letter > >---apologies for cross postings. Please circulate widely--- > >Included is a letter endorsing the "Human Rights, Opportunity, Partnership >and Empowerment for Africa Act" (HOPE for Africa Act), which is being >introduced by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. > >As many of you remember, the controversial Crane bill (which was quickly >labeled the "NAFTA for Africa Act" & the "Africa Re-Colonization Act") >passed only narrowly in the House and died in the Senate. Now the Clinton >Administration and the corporate lobbyists are determined to push this bill >through the 106th Congress as quickly as possible (they are aiming for a >vote by early March). The bill is still called the "Africa Growth and >Opportunity Act" and has the bill number H.R. 434. > >Because of the controversy surrounding the Bill last year and the broad >opposition it created, NGOs in Africa and the U.S. started a dialogue to >create an alternative Africa bill. After months of planning and dialogue, >the alternative exists in the "HOPE for Africa Act, being introduced by Rep. >Jackson Jr. > >It is now vitally important that we gather support and momentum for this >forward looking proposal! You can do you bit by signing your organization on >to the included letter. Feel free to forward the letter to other who might >be interested in signing it. We are working under a tight deadline though >and need all sign-ons by close of business Monday the 22 of February. > >If you need more information about the HOPE for Africa Act and how it >differs from H.R. 434, check out our web-page: www.tradewatch.org > >Margrete Strand >Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch > > >*** >Dear Representative: > >We write to urge you support the HOPE for Africa Act, soon to be introduced >by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. with original cosponsors including Reps. >Conyers, Cummings, Jackson-Lee and Bonior. The Human Rights, Opportunity, >Partnership and Empowerment (HOPE) for Africa Act represents an equitable >and forward-looking approach to U.S. economic relations with sub-Saharan >Africa. > >The HOPE for Africa Act was developed in cooperation with African and U.S. >labor, anti-hunger and other citizens groups to enhance trade relations, >but also to ensure that the benefits of new trade are distributed broadly >to most people in Africa and the U.S. The
[PEN-L:3467] 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_01BE5A04.40A5E610 BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1999 Better technology means that, by 2006, the country will need fewer directory-assistance operators, proofreaders, and sewing-machine operators, says BLS, projecting the largest percentage declines in these job categories, among several dozen (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" column, page A1). The Wall Street Journal feature, "Tracking the Economy" (page A4), forecasts that the PPI for January, due to be released on Thursday, will rise 0.2 percent after increasing 0.4 percent in December and that the CPI, to be released Friday, will rise 0.2 percent, after a 0.1 percent increase the previous month. "What People Earn" is the cover article for the Washington Post's "Parade" magazine (Feb. 14). The feature leans heavily on BLS data, for example, weekly wages for some occupations. ... It mentions that employment in the United States was the highest on record: 64.1 percent of working-age Americans had jobs in 1998. Paradoxically, 1998 also saw the decade's worse layoffs. ... Business inventories were virtually unchanged in December, while sales rose 1 percent, the Census Bureau reported. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-6)_Business inventories remained at a moderate level, as a surge in retail inventories, sparked by a jump in auto stockpiles, was offset by an increase in sales. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2). DUE OUT TOMORROW: U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes -- January 1999 --_=_NextPart_000_01BE5A04.40A5E610 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzwcCABAAEgAdADkAAgBSAQEggAMADgAAAM8HAgAQ ABIAHQA0AAIATQEBCYABACEAAABBNzJGM0M3ODg4QzVEMjExODg4RTAwQzA0RjhDNzgzMQAdBwEE gAEAEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAkAUBDYAEAAICAAIAAQOQBgCMBwAAHEAAOQBA DmlDBFq+AR4AcAABEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAAgFxAAEWAb5aBEFt eDwvqMWIEdKIjgDAT4x4MQAAHgAxQAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGkAAHgAw QAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGUAAAgEJEAEAAADLBAAAxwQAAFMHAABMWkZ1 07a/s/8ACgEPAhUCpAPkBesCgwBQEwNUAgBjaArAc2V0bjIGAAbDAoMyA8UCAHDccnESIAcTAoB9 CoAIzx8J2QKACoENsQtgbmcxODAzMwr7EvIB0CBCgkwF8ERBSUxZB/AARVBPUlQsIFQoVUVTGMBZ GYBGRSBCUlVBUhkAMTa5GYAxORsQCoUKhUISAFp0BJAgHFARsG4UsWeseSAHgAYidBHAdBmANmId IAHQMBrRHaBlILUFoHUCMHIdIAPwbAMgYm4J4GQgZgfQHGFkEmkVMGN0BbB5LWEnBBAEAAGQbmMe sG9wNwSQHcAFsHMZgBOQb2//A1AdUASBIiEAcB/QEfAD8DUW4C0AwWgLgCGLc2F+eQQhF6sKIBhy F50iM2rPIIEjoR6DC2ByZweQBUB3IbEhcAIwYSjQIEAFkGwfJCEEIAuAHoIR8CBqb+UmUGMdwGVn BbAIkCMCNwRgKDER8HYhwQMgZG9iegnwIChXB0ADIFPXHxAJ4AVASghhbgdAGYBEIlcFsGsgVwng a2YiHsEKQG1uIjEpkkHoMSkuG0xUHqEtTyyhVx/wHcAIcGUucVQh0GOaaygmRQWgHNBteS8w8igv 1DQpGYACECBxIPCOdB2EHoMlb1BQSTadVzViLfAAcHUKwHkZgGS7ClAcgG8d8B6wFTBsHVCfEfAf 0AIgMTEIcHNkJSDPGYAfUwUQKsEwLhIgKSX/IyABgBxhC4AFADqBKCI8UNY0PIcqYUQFkGUG0Bxh dyMyNh8l50M3wCavOf1GXwUQO288dyMRPSNhPEExvz5ZPZM50R6hE5AsYGkIYD8EICwBHaAwXS6Q P/JQZe8hoDpwNCAKwG4vMAQAHoX3LHEjIAAgaSnwHrA44h6SNTGAcyQRZyCgA6BQb+UhMCcEICJQ CsAiwS8wEQDAZ2F6JCIoRmX8Yi4asDUwTwAxMzLFKJDrHVMeoGFH4GwdIDrhQH8fJn9PYEPgAZA1 UyBleN8r8EoRRBEvAVDxdymRBCCNOOJzA3AhgWNjdQqwaygQAiBzTwAuVvBPYEl/BUAHgAIwVpI/ 1D9AC1Bv9wbAPqUeklUDABxQH9AtkN8rQQQgVTBKxCQQZyqhBUAnOuEgcQWwZDpPYDY0/0Y5IoAf QC6xI6Iv4weABRC/KzBQciLAKuIqQxsBOE9R8zegTcJveF4RH3A5gV8y/SMgbFXQJQEH4B6SBYEi we9NcV0RKsELYHkigAPQVtX/T2AbTUgQKhIqQixwAjArg79UsVARR+AAIDlQYFEgHvD/EbEW4B/B PulEESQQSiElEL86cAQgA2AqwUZHHnRDCfCuc0gRZJAioXU6QXAU0bMJgFbVKEQLcFDxTAGgDQWx UmszL7YtNilf/23yZJ9lohUwAMAkIR/QQAH/RgAEYytBUDEscC5hWmFGAP9qcCjBKlIVMAGQAxFl KSTxXQqxax/BHgFGAGovgHCfKlJq8DnxITBWIGtwaGH/IiFaUmLiLdF0EgOgRucqYV9oo2umMY8u Ui/UMjBORCEZsCBPVVQZkE9NERlQUk9XW+FVLlOdTwBJVGAU0SMjRXh883ZQXgEesEkjQFQwB5Et fi05Fhr6F08YUX/FFFEAAYIgAAMA8T8JBwD9P+QEAAADACYAAAMANgAAAgFHAAEA AAAvYz1VUzthPSA7cD1CTFM7bD1EQ1BDU01BSUwxLTk5MDIxNjIzMjk1N1otNTgwNwAAHgA4 QAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAB4AOUABDQAAAFJJQ0hBUkRTT05fRABAAAcw YKNnQwRavgFAAAgwEOalQARavgEeAD0AAQEAHgAdDgERQkxTIERhaWx5 Q0RCODZAZGNwY3NtYWlsMS5QU0IuQkxTLkdPVj4ACwApAAALACMAAAMABhDdOgIZAwAH EKMEAAADABAQAAMAERAAHgAIEAEAAABlQkxTREFJTFlSRVBPUlQsVFVFU0RBWSxG RUJSVUFSWTE2LDE5OTlCRVRURVJURUNITk9MT0dZTUVBTlNUSEFULEJZMjAwNixUSEVDT1VOVFJZ MDYwOTcwNUNEODhCQ0RCODZAZGNwY3NtYWlsMS5QU0IuQkxTLkdPVj4A+BI= --_=_NextPart_000_01BE5A04.40A5E610--
[PEN-L:3471] Re: NY Times analysis of global economic crisis
The series is good journalism and I recommend it especially for the classroom. Article 2 is poor but revealing in its analysis, however. Essentially, it concludes that the E. Asian countries were thrown into crisis because they are not enough like us: they don't have our sophisticated financial regulations, our equity market-based corporate governance, or our more liberal relationship between state and market. So in a sense it was their fault for being who they were, and it was also the fault of the US for pushing financial liberalization too rapidly on such flawed countries. Lots of hubris here (especially for a country headed for its own wrenching adjustment at some point in the future). Peter Dorman
[PEN-L:3464] 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_01BE59F9.E3A6C030 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1999 Multifactor productivity, or output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs, rose 0.4 percent in the private nonfarm business sector in 1997, BLS reports. This gain marked the sixth consecutive annual increase in multifactor productivity. ... Multifactor productivity differs and is more encompassing than labor productivity as measured in BLS' quarterly series, Larry Rosenblum, a BLS economist, told the Bureau of National Affairs. "If you are producing something, you not only use labor to produce output, you also use capital," Rosenblum explained. "If you just compare one output to one input, you can have wide shifts in productivity, because businesses decided they would use capital in exchange for labor. ln multifactor productivity, you compare both." Labor output has increased at a much faster pace than capital output, Rosenblum said. ... (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, page D-3). If education is the key to America's future and the well-being of its individual citizens, the nation's young - and particularly young females - seem to have gotten the right message, says Business Week (Feb. 15, page 26). BLS reports that a record 67 percent of 1997 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges and universities in the fall of that year, up from 62 percent a mere 2 years earlier. And two-thirds of that number attended 4-year institutions. ... Although a greater percentage of young men than young women have traditionally held college degrees, this changed in the 1990s. By last year, 29 percent of women in the 25 to 29 age group were graduates of 4-year institutions, compared with just 25.6 percent of men. Jobless benefit claims filed with state agencies dropped by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 281,000 in the week ended Feb. 6. This is the fourth consecutive week in which claims have decreased. They now are at their lowest level in 18 months. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York Times, page C2; Wall Street Journal, page A2). Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in January, posting a smaller gain than the revised 1 percent in December, the Commerce Department says. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-15)_Retail sales rose in January for the sixth consecutive month, led by sales at department and clothing stores. ... (New York Times, page C2)_Consumers took a breather last month, as retail sales grew at their slowest pace since August. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2). The administration's 2.4 percent growth forecast for this year already looks "too conservative" in view of the burst of growth that took place in the fourth quarter, Jeffrey Frankel, member of the CEA, tells the Economic Strategy Institute. ... Frankel says there is "no reason to think the recovery is spent" since inflation is low, households' net worth is high and can continue to fuel consumer spending, and inventories are under control. He says the CEA economists take a "moderate line" on the nonaccelerating-inflation rate of unemployment. "One has to recognize limits" to how far the jobless rate can drop without fueling inflation, Frankel says, but adds that with growth as strong as it has been, he now believes the unemployment rate can stay where it is "a little longer." ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-8). --_=_NextPart_000_01BE59F9.E3A6C030 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzwcCABAAEQAPACYAAgAwAQEggAMADgAAAM8HAgAQ gAEAEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAkAUBDYAEAAICAAIAAQOQBgBsCwAAHEAAOQCQ sszh+Vm+AR4AcAABEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAAgFxAAEWAb5Z+d/e eDwvnMWIEdKIjgDAT4x4MQAAHgAxQAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGkAAHgAw QAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGUAAAgEJEAEAAACqCAAApggAAF8OAABMWkZ1 NJs1xf8ACgEPAhUCpAPkBesCgwBQEwNUAgBjaArAc2V0bjIGAAbDAoMyA8UCAHDccnESIAcTAoB9 CoAIzx8J2QKACoENsQtgbmcxODAzMwr7EvIB0CBCgkwF8ERBSUxZB/AARVBPUlQsIEYUUkkYwFkZ gUVCUkhVQVIZADEyGYAxDjkbAAqFCoVNdWx0uwaQANB0BbETkARwdRyA4Gl2aXR5GYAFsQhgnHRw HfAcwASQIHUDAPEFQG9mIAWgBtALgAmAPiALYAbgBcAAcB+AY2G2cB1gB0AgC4AeEXMZgEMDYBHw IDAuNB5CY8cJ8AVAC4AgdGghcBOQaR1AYXQhcG4CIBxgcvBtIGJ1AJAfYAQREfD3HIMiURrxNxmA F5wKIBhzCxedFTBwFNFzLiAgpFRoBAAgZwtxIADA3HJrH3EiggCQeCKAHwE/AIAFkB3wHUAhcABw bnXzIJMFAGVhIWEoohwvHTQ9KAAuLXAoEBwfHSUgZP0GkGYEkAQgIAIoUQRgFTC+IAnwHxEKsAQQ C4BnInH/A5EfpC6LK2AowCtRCHAfceMiURiBJyBxKtAAIASQXmwvMBHwCIEhEUwKwHJXLzAIABHw bgoxbRmAYdcYcwWRI0BtBAB0GYAckEpsKSRCM1FhdR7STu0jAGkCICCRQQ3QC3AR4OkoASJJHvB5 CGAf8DBh+xzUMSJzA3ASAChAFuAZgPc6AiNAHsFuNJEj0CFwH6T/HJAcxSFwHeQ7tAdAOyA8k9kg ICJRHNz+YgWQODAhYSPGB5EFgUUB+ykjLzB3CGA3gT8JIkJAgH8RsRbgIXACEAXAH6MoAWy/K78d CUQjQiUG4CKALj/A/zUxH8Id5RHARZIrNB+AIwD/NkFLkBGwSpArYDRhHMAA0N8hcDFjIEY99j/o cwtwQQG5LXMoRABwCJADIEooAH8IAC8wIlFUMAMQLzBOdFIPJ6MZgAqwSnFELTMp/ygAGzw50QmA HRA4ozACIoJ3KQAvMD1BQQeABRAgQCe9BCBmHfAzUR/zIoJ3VHD8bC1GwDEiHuEdYEWSL1DfHV
[PEN-L:3447] URGENT CALL
"URGENT NEED FOR $50,000 US IN ONE WEEK (BY THE 20th FEBRUARY) If we have 500-1000 people each donating 50-100 dollars (also bigger or smaller donations are of course very welcome !!!), we will have it ! " See bottom of e-mail for name of Bank and account for deposit~ je - --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 00:52:54 GMT Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Inter Continental Caravan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: The Inter Continental Caravan needs you ! To whom it may concern - an urgent appeal, Dear recipients, In May and June 600 Southern activists tour around Europe together with European activists to demonstrate against 93free trade94 and the institutions pressing for it (the World Trade Organisation, the International Chamber of Commerce, the European Commission etc.), against dodgy multinationals, especially those involved in biotechnology (Monsanto, Novartis...) and to meet and network with different groups across the Continent. We are going to meet with the Geld oder Leben (Money or Life) Bicycle Caravan and the Caravan of Refugees and Migrants in Germany, the Euromarches, Farmers movements in Eastern Europe... The Inter Continental Caravan will join in the demonstrations against the NATO and Nuclear Weapons organised by For Mother Earth and join the actions against the EU-Summit and the G8-Summit in Cologne, and will coincide with the International Day of Action at Financial Centers on the June 18th, which will end the Caravan. The Inter Continental Caravan for Solidarity and Resistance is an initiat ive of the People's Global Action against free94 trade and the WTO (PGA), a network of different people92s movements and organisations around the world. The Caravan will consist mainly of Indian peasants, since that's where idea originally came from. There will be activists from all biggest farmers movements from India, and also anti-nuclear activists, indigenous people, landless, and people fighting against the Narmada Dam project. From other parts of the World, there will be people from Moviemento dos Sem Terra (Landless movement in Brazil), Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the disappeared from Argentina), womens peasant movement from Bangladesh, and there has been interest in Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Columbia, Ecuador, Russia, Thailand, South Korea... This project is not about bringing Southern activists for an exhibition t our to Europe. It is about joining ours and theirs struggles, about solidarity and common resistance. With this project we hope to be able to built up stronger links within different European movements, and between European and Southern Movements. But this project needs everybodys involvement to become true ! Although there have already been extensive fundraising efforts, and much money has already come in, there is still an URGENT NEED FOR 50 000 US DOLLARS IN ONE WEEK (BY THE 20th FEBRUARY), otherwise we will loose the contracts with the busses we are planning to use. This seems to be a very big amount of money, but if we have 500-1000 peop le each donating 50-100 dollars (also bigger or smaller donations are of course very welcome !!!), we will have it ! If we consider that all the Indian participants are each paying their own airfare to participate in the Inter Continental Caravan, then such donations of 50-100 dollars really are not so huge as they may seem, in relation to a project of such magnitude. Please spread this appeal around, publicise it in different newsletters a nd magazines, call your relatives and people who symphatize radical political activism With the EU having the Agenda 2000, the WTOs Milennium round starting, this Caravan really has to take place now - with a little bit of effort from everyone we can make it ! Bank details: Account number: 3701010441 Bank number: 50090100, Okobank Berlin Please specify all the money as "Busses for the Caravan" AND notify us when putting money into the account. For more information: Inter Continental Caravan PO Box 2228, 2301 CE Leiden, Holland tel/fax +31-71-517 3094 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web-site: http://stad.dsl.nl/~caravan, http://www.agp.org -- For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
[PEN-L:3463] Update; Against the Unbalanced Budget
Endorsements so far: Randy Albelda, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Boston Ron Baiman, Assistant Professor of Economics, Roosevelt University Dean Baker, Senior Research Fellow, Preamble Center Jared Bernstein, Economist, Economic Policy Institute Peter Bohmer, Professor of Economics, Evergreen State College Heather Boushey, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, New York City Housing Authority William S. Brown, Professor of Economics, University of Alaska, SE (Juneau, AK) Neil Buchanan, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Robert Cherry, Professor of Economics, Brooklyn College, CUNY Ellen J. Dannin, Professor of Law, California Western School of Law Paul Davidson, Holly Chair of Excellence in Political Economy, University of Tennessee James Devine, Professor of Economics, Loyola Marymount University Peter Dorman, Professor of Economics, Evergreen State College Matthew Forstater, Jerome Levy Institute James K. Galbraith, LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Professor Emerita of Economics, Brooklyn College, CUNY David Gleicher, Associate Professor of Economics and Finance, Adelphi University Eban Goodstein, Associate Professor of Economics, Lewis and Clark College Jim Grant, Associate Professor of Economics, Lewis and Clark College Ric Holt, Associate Professor of Economics, Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR) Gwendolyn Mink, Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz Christopher J. Niggle, Professor of Economics, University of Redlands Michael Perelman, Professor of Economics, California State University, Chico Dawn M. Saunders, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Vermont Max B. Sawicky, Economic Policy Institute Mark Weisbrot, Research Director, Preamble Center L. Randall Wray, Jerome Levy Institute June Zaccone, Associate Professor Emerita of Economics, Hofstra University Michael Zweig, Professor of Economics, SUNY, Stony Brook
[PEN-L:3461] G.A. Cohen's Development Thesis
Before critically reflecting upon Elvin's "high-level equilibrium trap", we need a clear idea of what it means to talk about economic growth across human history. When Gerry Cohen declared in his brilliant *Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence* (1978), that "the productive forces tend to develop throughout history", it was only a moments time before everyone would remind him that not every society had developed into the capitalist stage. Cohen later conceded ([1983] 1988) that "a ruling class in secure control of the production process might sometimes have good reason not to allow productive innovation and to try to extract more from the immediate producers without improving existing techniques" (26). Only a softer version of the "development thesis" could be defended, namely, one which sees a long-run tendency to productive improvement across history, but not in each discrete society. He thus borrows Semenov's persuasive "torch-relay" model, according to which more advanced societies will at some point stagnate yet pass on (through influence) their achievements to other ones who then build on them. Two problems here: 1) it seems, as he well knows, that the productive forces do not have an inherent, internally generated tendency to develop without externally induced improvements. Cohen had insisted before that PFs tend to develop because humans have a *rational imperative* to overcome scarcity through innovations. But it may be that humans do not have a natural inclination to innovate, if not for external influences/pressures, including military competition. 2) Cohen corners himself into this dilemma because he (wrongly) ties the development thesis to *innovation* per se, in the sense of improvements in technology. He deserves every praise for arguing, against a long Marxist lineage, and in full awareness of the achievements of neo-classical economics, that any talk about development supposes a notion of human rationality. But he erred in indentifying this rationality with the capitalist rationality of continuous technological improvements. The productive forces do have a tendency to develop but not intensively. We need to distinguish extensive and intensive growth.
[PEN-L:3469] Re: Organizational sign-on for HOPE and againstNAFTA for Africa
So is the intent to pass HOPE for Africa this year? Or just to stop AGO? Brad DeLong
[PEN-L:3434] Re: Re: Doug's question II
Ken asked and answered: >> And doesn't the press play up every case where there is a rip-off >> of the welfare system? The workers are a victim of selective reporting but the >> psychology involved doesn't seem particularly complex... valis replied: >And what about the racist component? Most of the working class is white, >and in the face of statistics goes on believing with surly resentment >that welfare is basically the mass-production of fatherless black kids. >"The end of welfare as we know it" addressed this image with a knowing >wink, and we don't yet know how easily the stake may be removed from >its wily heart. sure ken, the press do play this up all the time. but asking why certain kinds of propaganda work whilst others don't is really more important than simply declaring this to be propaganda. valis notes the racism involved. a brief citation from zizek (who's very casting as a postmodernist, when he is not, and when all proofs of him not being a postmodernist fail to make a dent on this particular fantasy, should at least make us pause about what is at stake in these little crusades...): "To the racist, the 'other' is either a workaholic stealing our jobs or an idler living on our labour, and it is quite amuusing to notice the haste with which one passes from reproaching the other with a refusal to work to reproaching him for the theft of work. The basic paradox is that our Thing is conceived as something inaccesible to the other and at the same time threatened by him. According to Freud, the same paradox defines the experience of castration, which wthin the subject's psychic economy, appears as something that 'really cannot happen', but we are nonetheless horrified by its prospect. ... What we conceal by imputing to the Other the theft of enjoyment is the traumatic fact that we never possessed what was allegedly stolen from us." from Tarrying with the Negative (203). the issue then is not that the fear of castration is what causes the racism (as pop-psych accounts have it), but that racism works because it echoes the structural logic of this 'fear of castration', which is what transforms something from an error or simple prejudice to ideology and the desire/enjoyment which ideology requires in order to continue to work 'without and against proof'. the fear of the 'mass production of black kids' is i think clearly a fear of the other's enjoyment - all that fucking going on, which is simultaneously held as the denial of the white blue collar worker's own enjoyment, own desires. angela
[PEN-L:3433] Re: Psychoanalysis
louis, is this your version of the 'talking cure'? angela
[PEN-L:3458] NY Times analysis of global economic crisis
There is a very interesting article in today's NY Times that is part 2 of a 4 part series. Part 1 is on their web page as well. Check: http://www.nytimes.com/ Here is a bit from today's article: High-Rise Ghost Town Muang Thong Thani rises up above barren fields on the edge of Bangkok, Thailand. It is a dazzling complex of two dozen huge gray-white buildings soaring nearly 30 stories high, and surrounded by streets lined with shops, town houses and detached homes. Walk closer and it feels eerie, for it is a ghost city. Along one street of 100 houses, the windows are mere holes in the walls, and yards have weeds that grow as high as a person. Muang Thong Thani was built during Thailand's boom as a product of free capital flows and financial liberalization. It was the great dream of Anant Kanjanapas. One of 11 children born to an ethnic Chinese business tycoon in Thailand, Anant grew up with the wealth that his family had acquired through developing property and selling watches in Asia. The family's Bangkok Land company began acquiring parcels of property near the airport, and they broke ground in 1990 on a megaproject to build a privately owned satellite city for Bangkok. Muang Thong Thani was to have a population of 700,000, bigger than Boston's. "We have all intentions to develop Muang Thong Thani as a city, a complete city run by private-sector people," Anant said. "It was not a stroke of genius. It was logic." The project was greeted enthusiastically, as all proposals were in the early 1990's, and Bangkok Land issued shares on the Thai Stock Exchange in 1992 to raise money. Its shares were hot, picked up by J. Mark Mobius, the emerging-markets guru, and by funds like the Thai International Fund and the Thai Euro Fund, which between them bought more than one million shares of Bangkok Land. In Illinois, the state pension fund bought shares in both the Thai International Fund and the Thai Euro Fund, and that made Mary Jo Paoni, a secretary in Cantrall, Ill., a roundabout owner of a tiny part of Bangkok Land and Muang Thong Thani. Mrs. Paoni knew nothing of this, of course, and disapproves of the giddy investment sprees in Asia. "When things are tough," she said, "you don't start spending like a drunken sailor. There are some people who take risks, but not us." Bangkok Land also borrowed $2.4 billion from banks domestic and foreign. In that sense, some minute fraction of Mrs. Paoni's money might also have been channeled to the company as loans. Her money market account at A. G. Edwards went to buy commercial paper of major banks, and her pension fund also held stock in Bangkok Bank, which lent to Bangkok Land -- an illustration of the way in which globalization now gives just about everybody some tiny financial stake in everybody else. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:3466] [Fwd: M-TH: Alan Carling on Marcus Roberts' _Analytical Marxism: A Critique_]
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --DBDDB993AF3E82E5E93F2231 Here's a little post I wrote on Cohen this morning Sam Pawlett wrote: > The main problem I have with Cohen et al. is that their work is > Marxological rather than Marxist. The AM's string a bunch of quotes from > Marx together and say "look this is what Marx really meant." > Interpretations of what Marx really meant can and probably will go on > forever. After reading a dozen or so of these type of books it can get > pretty boring. As we know, Marx never finished his original 6 book plan. > The goal, imo, is to take Marx's method and approach and further his > project, to build a complete understanding of the modern world in hopes > of changing it. Marxological works, whatever their merits as pure > scholarship which in Cohen's case is considerable, are not that helpful > in understanding the modern world since they are primarily concerned > with exegetical work rather than arguing a particular point of view > regarding the modern world or interpreting an aspect of modern history > using Marx's approach. I find Elster's early work viz. Logic and > Society, Sour Grapes and Ulysseus and the Sirens interesting and helpful > in trying to understand things. I was intending to read the Roberts > book, but didn't after skimming it. As already noted, he focuses on > Cohen circa. 1978 which I, in general, find boring though Cohen's > discussion of functional explanation (in chap 8?) is very stimulating. > > Sam --DBDDB993AF3E82E5E93F2231 Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Envelope-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] by pop.uniserve.com with esmtp (Exim 1.82 #4) for marxism-outgoing; Tue, 16 Feb 1999 13:11:43 -0500 (EST) by pop.uniserve.com with esmtp (Exim 1.82 #4) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 10:17:10 -0800 From: Sam Pawlett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: M-TH: Alan Carling on Marcus Roberts' _Analytical Marxism: A Critique_ Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The main problem I have with Cohen et al. is that their work is Marxological rather than Marxist. The AM's string a bunch of quotes from Marx together and say "look this is what Marx really meant." Interpretations of what Marx really meant can and probably will go on forever. After reading a dozen or so of these type of books it can get pretty boring. As we know, Marx never finished his original 6 book plan. The goal, imo, is to take Marx's method and approach and further his project, to build a complete understanding of the modern world in hopes of changing it. Marxological works, whatever their merits as pure scholarship which in Cohen's case is considerable, are not that helpful in understanding the modern world since they are primarily concerned with exegetical work rather than arguing a particular point of view regarding the modern world or interpreting an aspect of modern history using Marx's approach. I find Elster's early work viz. Logic and Society, Sour Grapes and Ulysseus and the Sirens interesting and helpful in trying to understand things. I was intending to read the Roberts book, but didn't after skimming it. As already noted, he focuses on Cohen circa. 1978 which I, in general, find boring though Cohen's discussion of functional explanation (in chap 8?) is very stimulating. Sam --DBDDB993AF3E82E5E93F2231--
[PEN-L:3465] Re: G.A. Cohen's Development Thesis
I haven't read Cohen in along time and I haven't got a copy of his work on hand so I might be caricaturing his views. I'm painting very broad brushstrokes too. The most striking feature in global economic development is the uneven development of the productive forces across geographical areas. Cohen does not explain how this occurs. He might reply that different areas represent different stages in the development of modes of production. Yet a single country may have elements of differing modes of production e.g. a country may have elements of feudalism, capitalism and "primitive" communalism within its economy. For example, Peru has elements of modern neo-liberal capitalism in the Callao-Lima industrial corridor but in the highlands, productive forces and even relations of production are unchanged from pre-Colombian times. Further, his theory does not explain how the introduction of capitalism, in some instances, retards the development of the productive forces ( Frank's 'development of underdevelopment' thesis.) He does not explain how a backwards causality in the productive forces can occur, as Michael Vickery has argued was the case in Cambodia. Cohen's theory should be highly contingent i.e. it is correct that in some areas history has developed as he explains it but in other areas history has developed differently but he does not recognize this contingency. Cohen's theory seems to describe a closed system contrary to how the world actually is. I'm not sure that an all-encompassing theory can be designed to take into account the wild discrepancies between areas in the development of the productive forces. Sam Pawlett
[PEN-L:3455] Why Asia declined?
Barely two years after its release, Re-Orient may already be read in Chinese. And why not? Chinese elites have every reason to celebrate a book which resurrects their long held belief that the Celestial Kingdom, except for a temporary setback in the 19h-20th century, is the center of human civilization. For Frank is determined to challenge the Marxian-Weberian notion that China, after dominating the world economy throughout the medieval period, until 1500, failed to advance thereafter because it remained sunk in irrationality. Not only did China prevail until 1800, but its decision to continue to rely on its old technology was "rational" since it was the most cost-effective available path of action. I mentioned before China's cheap labor, but Frank's argument is more complicated than this, as it involves three interconnected variables: 1) low wages, 2) a higher population/land-resource ratio, and 3) a more polarized distribution of income. (Remember these are comparative cost assessments within a world market). Considering Frank's earlier statistical claims about China's superior economy, a gift for mental gymnastics will be required to balance all these facts. The balancing act goes like this: 1) it was China's agricultural efficiency and productivity which, by providing cheap and plentiful foodstuffs, allowed wages to stay low. 2) As the greatest beneficiary of the long post-1400 growth "A" phase, which caused China's population to grow at a much faster rate than that of Europe, China had a population/land-resource ratio of 3.6/3.8 people per hectare as compared to England's 1.5 or France's 1.1 in 1700 (p.308; Bairoch's figures) - which in turn kept or pushed wages down. 3) The long growth "A" phase after 1400 also "polarized the distribution of income and thereby constrained effective domestic demand of mass consumer goods" (301). Number 2 is really the point around which the other explanatory variables revolve. But we can start with variable number 3 to show this. How would a long period of economic expansion lead to polarization and lack of effective demand? Because such growth led to increases in population which led to scarcity of resources (land), which led to polarization. But Frank tip toes as well into the idea that much of the newly created wealth was diverted into the pockets of the elites. About India he cites Habib to the effect that the "Mughal Empire had been its own grave-digger", adding himself that "its governing class got much of its wealth through the expropriation of the surplus produced by the peasantry" (306). Tip toes because he knows he is suggesting that (a) the masses of Asia were indeed poorer than those of Europe (where wages were higher), and (b) that the phase "A" growth of Asia may have been achieved through increased exploitation of the peasantry, rather than through increased productivity. I shall qualify that Frank does *not know*, or want to know he is also suggesting (b). But that he wants to tip toe out of (a), when it suits him, is clear in his additional remarks, following Pomeranz, that Asia's distribution of income may not have been as skewed as that of Europe once we consider that China's workers could still draw on family support. Yes, Frank wants the best of all possible worlds for China:"However, no matter through what institutional mechanisms those cheap subsistence wage goods were or were not distributed, they could only have been made available by an agriculture that was more productive and thereby able to produce those wage goods cheaper in China that in Britain and Europe" (307). But (b) takes us to number 2, which, when examined closely, betrays Frank's whole thesis. However we are dealing with an older, more experienced Frank; variable number 2 relies on Mark Elvin's highly sophisticated explanation about the failure of late-traditional China's economy, a model known as the "high-level equilibrium trap". This model needs to be carefully studied. thanks, ricardo
[PEN-L:3432] Re: Re: Re: Psychoanalysis
rob wrote: (we need not follow >Foucault, who seemed to think history is nought but an accumulation of >documents written by victors with the future in mind - history has left >plenty that wasn't particularly meant to tell stories years or centuries >later well, i think foucault agrees. as would walter benjamin. i think maybe you are confusing what foucault (and benjamin) see as official history and the possibility of a history which breaks with such 'stories from the point of view of the victors'. angela
[PEN-L:3457] Re: Re: Canada (Ken)
Ill try to be brief butTom brings up a host of issues not easily addressed in summary form .. Tom Walker wrote: > If Ken will pardon my unsympathetic executive summary, I find the following > main points in his argument (which Paul Phillips "heartfully endorses"): > > 1. The Canadian welfare state was shoved down the throats of the ruling > class by the revolutionary demands of the Canadian working class. I am merely > claiming I don't claim that. I don't speak of the revolutonary demands of the working class. Perhaps u could quote where I say that...All these demands are reformist. If they had been revolutionary the ruling class couldn't have conceded them. They just didnt come aboutwithout struggle to force concessions from capital. In the sense that the struggle achieved these concessions it was a victory... > 2. Government monopolies, credit unions, union control of pension funds, > worker-owned businesses and retail and producer co-ops are a threat to capital. > > and > > 3. You don't get a socialist garden by cultivating the prettiest capitalist > weeds. This doesn't even lead you along the path to a socialist garden. > > 1. Perhaps it would interest Ken to look at some of the parliamentary > discussions and policy papers that preceded adoption of such "working class > victories" as the Canadian Pension Plan and Unemployment Insurance. Those > programs are the ones I am most intimately familiar with and I have no > reservation in pointing out that "linkage" between contributions and > benefits was and is held to be of utmost importance in keeping those > programs essentially "market-based" and intra-class in their income > redistributive effects. The image of a recalitrant Canadian ruling class > capitulating to the revolutionary fervor of the workers sounds like > something out of a 1970s maoist pipe dream of the future. But Ken is saying > that is what actually happened in Canadian history. Show me the documents, Ken. > Again you speak of the revolutionary fervor of the workers. If only that were the case..and I didnt mention it.. it must be a function of your excitement. I readily admit that the CPP has all sorts of warts and no doubt was designed as you claim. But what leftist would ever claim that reformist victories result in programmes untainted by capitalist interests? I would mention too that you cite just one pension plan, the CPP, which is contribution based, but thereis also the OAS plan which is not and would cover people who are not wage laborers. There is also a supplement for low income people. I have a good water supply but a limited supply of documents just at hand. Perhaps Paul or Bill Burgess have some... > 2. and 3. Government monopolies, credit unions, worker-owned businesses and > retail and producer coops do business with private capital every hour of > every day. Unions are in the business of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING with > capitalist employers. I will simply point out that Ken's positions on 2 and > 3 are contradictory. How could the institutions Ken lauds be "a threat to > capital" if they DON'T have any criteria for distinguishing between the > ugliest and prettiest "capitalist weeds"? Of course they do. How could they do otherwise I would like to know. And how does itfollow that they are not a threat to capital? If they arent a threat why would capital dearly like to get rid of publicly owned unions, weaken unions, etc. Why were credit unions for so long limited in what they could.do..Wasnt it so they could not compete with the banks? > > > 4. "The game plan. I grant you the proper game plan for a revolution doesnt > seem clear." > > I will be presenting an executive summary of the game plan on Friday. I'll > let you know what kind of reception it gets. > > regards, > > Tom Walker Is that an executive summary of your game plan I hope.. Cheers, Ken Hanly
[PEN-L:3456] Re: Currently in local free rags...
Just to add on a couple of points. Temps dont have time to be involved in university governance either. Faculty used to have a great deal of input into how the university was run, going much beyond control of course content and offerings. Temps may have no time for serving on senate, committees, etc. nor to be active in faculty associations. Their interests are liable to be neglected. I know of at least one large philosophy dept. where temps. are not allowed to attend dept. meetings let alone vote on issues. Some of the members who disenfranchise temps think of themselves as progressive. One member said to a temp who worked at Brandon and at that department responded to his complaint of low pay and piece work. You should be glad to get the experience to put on your resume. We could get temps to teach for nothing, there is such a surplus. Great solidarity.. This dept. is in Canada by the way not the mean US :) CHeers, Ken Hanly valis wrote: > Just in case no undergrad student of yours has yet, > apparently unprovoked, let fly a personal testimony > that's also the founding document of a new generation, > leaving you with jaw agape and the lesson utterly forgotten, > the cover story of this week's Shepherd Express - Milwaukee's > beacon of unsubsidized truth - has been released into the ether. > > www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/20/07/headlines/cover_story.html > before it's too late. > > A perhaps more relevant freebe cover story, "Slaves of Academia," > is found in the other, smaller, local beacon, The Metro, which > has thus far shunned such frills as a Website. > I have mailed Robert McGuire a request for the file, but for > now I'll just laboriously reproduce his first few paragraphs. > > > >I'm a good teacher, I think. I have a sense of responsibility > to my writing students at Marquette University and Carroll College, > and I know my stuff. I know how to get students to keep their > paragraphs focused on a main point and to make the thesis into > something significant and interesting to read. >But I wouldn't necessarily recommend my classes, because I don't > believe I serve the students as well as I should. >My little sister is beginning her college search now and what > I've been advising her is that what matters most in college, > what most affects the quality of your learning, is the relationship > you have with your teachers. The thing is, my students and I don't > have any relationship. I don't have the time for it. >I am the temp worker of the academic world. I teach on a course- > by-course basis at two schools and keep my ear to the ground about > openings at other schools for when my temporary assignments run out. > Because the pay is so low, I must overload my plate with work (some > of it as a free-lance writer) and can't invest the time that a teacher > should into a college writing class. >I have no time to get involved in campus and departmental life. > I don't see my students at drama department productions. They don't > bump into me in the student union. My office hours are minimal. > I am in my classroom for my students, but otherwise I am largely absent. >This is very different from the kind of teachers I had for freshman > composition or introduction to philosophy a decade ago. They were on > campus five days a week, in their offices every afternoon and were > valued counselors I got to know over a period of years and still visit. > But my sister is more likely to have a temp worker like myself for most > lower-level courses. Because of an explosion in the use of temporary > faculty in recent years, students are less likely to develop any > relationship with their teachers. This is bad news for the quality of > education. >Some readers may chuckle at this idealistic vision of teacher/student > relationships. We all know about professors who don't make themselves > available and who are never in their offices during the posted hours. > But the rise in temp instructors is making that the rule rather than > the exception. And it used to be that choosing a less affordable, > teaching-oriented liberal arts college over a research-oriented public > university was a protection against the anonymous campus. It no longer is. > >=== > > The rest of the article has numbers, instances, quotes and other meat. > Hopefully the author will come through with the file. > >valis
[PEN-L:3462] Re: Canada (Ken)
Ken wrote, >I don't claim that. I don't speak of the revolutonary demands of the working class. >Perhaps u could quote where I say that...All these demands are reformist. If they >had been revolutionary the ruling class couldn't have conceded them. The way you put it, Ken, was ambiguous enough for me to interprete it as actual revolutionary demands of the workers but for you to have meant it only as some future potential demands: Ken: "While the welfare state may have saved capital from even more radical demands and staved off revolutionary demands, the welfare state was more or less forced upon the ruling class. [snip] The welfare state was a great victory for the working class." One can "stave off" either actual or only potential demands. >In the sense that the struggle achieved these concessions it was a >victory... The argument is not (or shouldn't be) about whether something that occured in the past was a "victory", it is about the current status of the institutions established by that "victory". Even genuine victories have a nasty habit of turning into idols -- this is what I call small "s" stalinism. Some of my best friends are paid employees of "progressive organizations" and if I let them they will whine to me incessently about how hard it is to get those institutions to do anything actually politically progressive. They also have a tendency to award themselves medals for continuing to fight the good fight within their bureaucratized organizations. Those imaginary awards for valour are above and beyond their salaries. Just try to get support from one of those organizations to do what is at any rate a resolution approved annually at their convention and you'll see what the anarchists mean by the formula, talk - action = 0 Meanwhile, there always seems to be enough cash in the kitty to hold yet another of their sparsely-attended stale donut bake sales. > Is that an executive summary of your game plan I hope.. Yup. regards, Tom Walker
[PEN-L:3460] Re: Colonial trade
Ricardo: Our positions are close enough that we have to be careful in defining the propositions under discussion. To start from the last but perhaps most fundamental point > Colin concludes: "But I would ask you to consider whether the very > question of locating e.g. "the main factor in the > industrialization of England" inside or outside > Europe is sensible. Surely the force of AGF's > argument is that we have had a truly international > economy for a very long time." > Again, the numbers are against Frank's claim there was a world > economy dominated by Asia, since the Asian economy was much smaller > (with very few links to the European one) as compared to the > intra-European world-economy... Let me clarify that I am not taking a position on whether the world economy was Asia-centered at some point (or 8000 years old or any of that). I do feel confident in arguing that there's been a Europe- centered world economy for the last 400 years or so, in the context of which the european industrial revolution occurred. If that is granted and if it can be shown that significant scale economies existed in industries like textiles, and/or that leading sectors drew surpluses from colonial activities (of which slave trading was just part), then I think the case for colonialism's decisive role in the Industrial Revolution is fairly good, and the broader point that we cannot treat European development as a separate thing should be established. Relatedly, to say that the slave trade (or even the totality of the colonial trade) "accelerated an industrialization process which would have happened only more slowly," as you quote Landes as saying, is a bit vacuous. Apart from being a counterfactual that we can't prove, it also begs the question of how fast is "more slowly." At this point I'm repeating myself. The scale- economies argument, the leading-sector argument, and the argument Barkley articulated that even modest amounts of extra capital investment are significant if maintained over time, all need to be addressed directly if we're going to get any farther. Most generally it has been put to you that analysis of aggregates cannot take us very far in understanding qualitative change. Perhaps there is a basic methodological difference. On the Asian sink question, I clearly misunderstood your original post: > But even if Europe extracted a lot of capital > from the colonies, did not Frank tell us that a high proportion of it > ended up in Asia or China as the ultimate "sink"?! Whatever happened > to Asia's "massive balance of trade surplus with > Europe"? Really, this is a major unrecognized problem in > Frank's very thesis. Can you tell me which AGF proposition the sink disproves, and why? Or are you arguing that there is an internal AGF contradiction and if so, what is it? Best, Colin
[PEN-L:3452] RE: Emo Phillips visits the school psychologist
> > I went to school, ya know. . . . Great stuff. He was on TV some time ago and was not very good. Where can we get more Emo? Max
[PEN-L:3459] Re: Doug's question
At 04:19 PM 16/02/99 +1100, angela wrote: >racism works because >it echoes the structural logic of this 'fear of castration'... It seems to me there are very shaky grounds for accepting that this "structural logic" really exists. Of course there may be something to it, but I can't understand building a whole political approach around it, which seems to me is what has been done. I thought Ken Hanley asked a series of very relevant questions about the usefullness of the similar notion of the phallus, but they have not been addressed. I have never tried to challenge and undermine racist attitudes of fellow white workers by explaining it is because we fear castration. Does this really work? Like, where? Bill Burgess
[PEN-L:3451] Emo Phillips visits the school psychologist
I went to school, ya know. I went to grammar school and once we were taking a test and I was copying this other kid's paper, and I guess the teacher heard my xerox machine. She said, "Emo, am I stupid or were you cheating?," and I said, "Ah, yes and no." She sends me to the principal's office and I get there and sit down and he looks at me and says, "Emo, Emo, Emo." I said, "I'm the one in the middle, you drunken slob." He said, "Emo, how would you like to repeat the fifth grade?" I said, "I don't know if I could do it exactly, but I could try." He said, "I could expel you!" I said, "You'll have to catch and eat me first, ya wierdo." He said, "Emo, you'll have to see the school psychologist." And I said, "But why do I have to see the school psychologist?" So he shows me the petition. So I went to the psychologist and he says, "Emo, what does this inkblot look like to you?" I said, "Well, it's kind of embarrassing." He said, "Emo, everyone sees something silly. Don't be embarrassed. Tell me, what does this inkblot look like to you?" I said, "Well, uh, to me, um, it looks like, uh, standard pattern number 3 in the Rorshach series to test obssessive compulsiveness." And he got kind of depressed, so I said, "OK, it's a butterfly." And he cheered up. "And what does this inkblot look like?" I said it looks like a horrible, ugly blob of pure evil, that sucks the souls of men into a vortex of sin and degredation." He said, "No, uh the inkblots over there, that's a photo of my wife you're looking at." "Oh, was I far off?" He said, "No, that's the sad part." And he gave me a chocolate easter bunny and I ate the bunny, then I thought, hey, this isn't easter. "Is this a test?" And he said, "Yes." "And what does it mean?" He said, "Had you eaten the ears first you would have been normal. Had you eaten the feet first you would have had an inferiority complex. Had you eaten the tail first you would have had latent homosexual tendencies and had you eaten the breasts first you would have had a latent oedipal complex." "Well...go on, what does it mean when you bite out the eyes and scream 'stop staring at me?'" He said, "It means you have a tendency towards self destruction." I said, "Well, what do you recommend?" He said, "Go for it." Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:3445] Psychoanalysis
>This is the early Freud. He rejected the seduction theory. It's been >revived by the recovered memory industry, with the intellectual assistance >of Jeff Masson, the former Romeo who mended his ways & took up with >Catherine MacKinnon. Generally, I think daily newspapers are a poor guide >to philosphy and intellectual history, though they are a lot easier to read >than the real thing. > >Doug If the "recovered memory industry" bases itself on the scandalously unscientific "early Freud", what does this say about Freud's approach? What did he replace it with? The Oedipal Complex? Which is based on the notion that when patients repress their sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex, they develop medical complaints like vomiting or dizzy spells? This is a step upwards? If you believe that the Oedipal Complex has anything to do with medical science, then you can believe anything. For Freud successful resolution of the Oedipus complex was the precondition for healthy sexuality, which he called the genital phase. This occurs when the boy abandons his sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex in favour of a more suitable love object. In the case of the girl, disappointment over not having a penis is transcended by the rejection of her mother in favour of a father figure. In both cases, sexual maturity means heterosexual behaviour. This is mumbo-jumbo. It is false science based on conjecture mixed with literary references. It is astonishing that psychoanalysts made a living based on these superstitions throughout the 40s and 50s. Nowadays, physicians prescribe medication, which is about the best thing you can do for people who are suffering. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:3444] Re: Psychoanalysis
Louis Proyect wrote: >Yet when patients backtracked, he would simply take this to be further >proof of the reality of the abuse: they were simply trying to "repress" the >awful memory. This is the early Freud. He rejected the seduction theory. It's been revived by the recovered memory industry, with the intellectual assistance of Jeff Masson, the former Romeo who mended his ways & took up with Catherine MacKinnon. Generally, I think daily newspapers are a poor guide to philosphy and intellectual history, though they are a lot easier to read than the real thing. Doug
[PEN-L:3454] Modern Psychiatry: A Memoir
In my time as an inpatient, I was disturbed that the use of ECT( electroconvulsive therapy) and "quiet rooms" were so widespread. I thought these torture methods had gone the way of the dinosaur. About 1/3 of the patients on the ward I was on, were getting ECT. I'd stand in the hall and watch the nurses wheel them out on stretchers, unconscious.. These people would walk around like zombies for a few causes, amongst other things, people to temporarily forget whether they are a man or a woman. He said that this often occurs but passes after a few days(!) I then launched into a half-hour tirade against the biological model. The doc responded with "o.k. I'll give you some medicine that will make you feel better." Totally hopeless. I asked a young Hindu woman who was getting ECT about it., (she was in for a suicide attempt and had given birth to a child while on the ward.--she tried to hang herself while pregnant--I came to know her quite well) She said that it helps and the most frightening thing is that you go under general anesthesia where there is a few seconds when you can't breathe before the nurses start breathing for you through one of those bags. "Quiet Rooms" or solitary confinement are used for people who exhibit "antisocial" behavior on the ward.IMO, the worst thing you can do to someone who is losing their grip on reality is to put them into solitary. One woman got put into the quiet room for 4 days. When she got out, I asked her why they had put her in there. She replied "to drive me crazy".ECT and solitary confinement should be banned for they do more harm than good. This has been documented by, amongst others, Peter Breggin in his many books. Breggin argues that ECT causes permanent brain damage. The point of ECT and psychotropic drugs, it seems to me, is to induce a chemical lobotomy amongst people deemed a nuisance to society. We did art therapy too. They brought in this art therapist who'd give these cool psychoanalytic interpretations of your artwork. There was also this criminal defense lawyer speed freak on the ward who had his wife bringing speed to him on the ward.He was in bad shape;he looked like he was making his last stand. He was doing a drawing and the whole sheet ended up completely black."My wife called the cops on me, she said I was out in the backyard trying to dig myself to the center of the earth". Many of the nurses and doctors themselves were heavily medicated and had at one time been patients. A Felliniesque circus. There was a brand new Yamaha stand up piano on the ward. A doctor came goose-stepping behind me and said "Hmmm, your playing Chopin instead of Scriabin today, I think your getting better. Maybe we will release you soon." One morning I was sitting in the garden enjoying a cigarette when a very old women sat beside me and said "My, I've forgotten how nice it is here in the springtime." "Have you been here before", I replied. " Haven't we all?" That would be a great beginning to a novel. Sam Pawlett p.s. I delivery man came into work the other day. The following conversation took place. DM:"Have you ever heard of a band called ZZ Top, man?" SP:"yeah" DM: "They wear overalls like us, eh."
[PEN-L:3441] Psychoanalysis
>This repressed memory stuff is precisely anti-Freudian, since anyone who's >been influence by Freud knows that memories are often deeply influenced by >fantasy and contain all sorts of backward projections. A Freudian analysis >of these abuse hysterias would focus on the fantasies of the adults >involved, with their anxiety about infantile sexuality and projections of >their own guilty desires. If you're going to attack Freud, please make an >effort to understand what you're attacking. > >Doug Sunday Telegraph (London) September 4, 1994, Sunday How Freud became the father of lies PSYCHOLOGY 'Recovered memories' of child abuse have roots in a failed Seduction Theory BY ROBERT MATTHEWS TO MANY people, the mere mention of the name Sigmund Freud conjures up the idea of half-baked ideas about the mind, backed by tenuous evidence. Now critics of the "father of psychoanalysis" have been given further ammunition by a re-examination of another of his supposed breakthroughs: the "recovery" of memories of child abuse. Although the issue is now at the centre of some highly publicised cases, Freud was working on the connection between child abuse and neurosis almost a century ago. In April 1896 he presented a paper to the Society for Psychiatry and Neurology in Vienna entitled The Aetiology of Hysteria, proposing that the main cause of this collection of mind-induced symptoms - ranging from tics and vomiting to paralysis - was repressed memories of childhood abuse. He based his "Seduction Theory" on patients who, having recalled such memories, appeared to recover from their symptoms. One of his most famous cases was "Miss G de B", the cousin of his friend Wilhelm Fleiss, who came to Freud suffering from speech difficulties, a tic, and eczema and lesions around her mouth. During one of her visits Freud dropped the bombshell of his conviction that her father had sexually abused her. "When I thrust the explanation at her she was at first won over," Freud told Fleiss. The results were also dramatic: "She has never felt as well as on the day when I made the disclosure to her." However, the girl soon had second thoughts. "She is now in the throes of the most vehement resistance," said Freud. The father also seemed to be less than impressed by Freud's explanation. Freud told Fleiss: "She committed the folly of questioning the old man himself, who at the very first intimation exclaimed indignantly 'Are you implying that I was the one?' and swore a holy oath to his innocence." Two Canadian researchers now claim Freud also pioneered the very same pseudo-scientific methods widely held to lie behind many modern cases of "repressed" memories. Dr Russell Powell, of Grant MacEwan College, and Dr Douglas Boer, of the Ontario Regional Treatment Centre, have looked again at Freud's accounts of his methods, and uncovered substantial evidence of the use of coercion, and an unwillingness to consider explanations other than those based on sexual abuse. At least Freud was open about his methods: in one of his textbooks he describes how he dealt with patients so obtuse as to be "unwilling" to confront traumatic memories. "The work keeps coming to a stop and they keep on maintaining that this time nothing has occurred to them. We must not believe what they say; we must always assume, and tell them, too, that they have kept something back because they thought it unimportant or found it distressing. We must insist on this. We must repeat the pressure and represent ourselves as infallible, till at last we are really told something." Freud was singularly unimpressed by patients' claims that he had put it all in their heads in the first place: "In all such cases I remain unshakably firm," he wrote, adding that he would explain to such a patient that attempts to disown the "memories" were "only forms of his resistance and pretexts raised by it against reproducing this particular memory". In their research, published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Reports, Powell and Boer point out that many of Freud's patients could see problems with his approach. As with Fleiss's cousin, Freud liked to tell them what he was after, and then hector them until he got it. In the case of Fleiss's cousin, the researchers note that Freud decided the father was guilty simply because he had a speech impediment like that of his daughter. Inconsistencies and contradictions held no fear for Freud, it seems. While taking his patients' reports of incest at face value, he accepted that their reports of other assaults could not be relied on. His conviction that the abuse was real stemmed partly from the distress caused when patients recalled the "memories". Yet when patients backtracked, he would simply take this to be further proof of the reality of the abuse: they were simply trying to "repress" the awful memory. Freud buttressed his views by arguing that his patients recovered after recalling the memories and that, in some cases, he had inde
[PEN-L:3440] Death toll mounts in blast at US
" Death toll mounts in blast at US auto plant By Helen Halyard 16 February 1999 On Sunday 44-year-old Ken Anderson of Wyandotte, Michigan became the fourth worker to die as a result of the February 1 powerhouse explosion at Ford Motor Company's Rouge complex outside Detroit. Eleven other workers remain hospitalized at the University of Michigan's burn unit, Detroit Receiving Hospital and St. Vincent Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. Of these, seven are still in critical condition. A task force consisting of representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Ford Motor Co., the UAW, insurance companies and the Dearborn Fire Department are currently investigating the cause of the blast. A report is expected by the end of the month. Reports made available to the WSWS by OSHA show a definite pattern of repeated violations of safety and hazardous conditions in every building comprising the 1,100-acre sprawling Rouge facility. However, within a day of the explosion the UAW and Ford said there was no relationship between the blast and cost cutting-measures that have been carried out by the company for the past 10 years. In the course of the past decade 12 workers, not including those who died in the recent explosion, have been killed at the Dearborn facility. In this same period, Ford has gone from near bankruptcy to its present position as the world's most profitable automaker. At the power plant, site of the February 1 blast, Ford was cited and fined on March 5, 1996 and again in June 1997, following complaints called in to OSHA for problems with machine controls. During this same period numerous complaints were filed over hazardous conditions in the glass plant, Dearborn Assembly, the tool and die plant, Dearborn Engine and the frame and stamping plants. Serious violations, those that did or could result in death or serious injury, numbered 155. There were also 72 repeat violations and 200 other citations. Fines issued to the company totaling $190,275, a paltry sum when compared to Ford's profits, are still being negotiated. The role of the United Auto Workers leadership at Rouge has been disastrous for workers. Pursuing a policy that identifies the interests of workers with those of Ford Motor Co., union leaders have allowed the deterioration of safety at the Dearborn facility, setting the stage for the fatal explosion. Workers at the Rouge complex have taken issue with the official position of the UAW that the explosion was just an "unfortunate accident." The World Socialist Web Site spoke to workers outside the Dearborn Assembly plant, which is located approximately 200 yards from where the blast took place. Physically shaken by the tragedy, they expressed bitterness toward Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers. "There have been other times when accidents have happened, people have been killed, and production continued," one worker commented. "Ford is mainly interested in production. Ford says it is for teamwork, but the team concept really means you do all of the work and the company reaps the profits." During a planned inspection of the assembly plant on May 28, 1991, Ford was cited for two serious violations, 10 repeat violations and 17 others. These included exposed live wires, inadequate air pressure, no guards for open-sided floors, platforms and runways and broken equipment. When questioned why the company did not carry out the necessary repairs, a worker explained, "It's because of cost cutting. You go to the union, they say 'we're going to do this,' but nothing ever happens. People say we don't have a union. You put new personnel in there, but it still seems like nothing is done. It is the company that runs the
[PEN-L:3439] America's workplaces--among the deadliest in the
From World Soicialist Web Site WSWS : Workers Struggles : North America America's workplaces--among the deadliest in the industrialized world By Jerry White 13 February 1999 The February 1 tragedy at the Ford Rouge complex in Michigan highlights what is a growing and pervasive problem. On average 17 workers are fatally injured at work every day in the US. Annually more than 6,000 workers are killed and another 50,000 to 60,000 workers die from occupational diseases. In addition, 7 million workers are injured on the job each year. According to the latest available figures from the National Census of Fatal Occupational injuries, 6,218 workers were killed in 1997, up from 6,112 the year before. The largest portion of deaths (22 percent) involved workers killed in job-related highway crashes, including truck drivers and others who operate motor vehicles. Deaths from on-the-job falls, railway crashes, and being caught in running equipment, such as manufacturing and agricultural machinery, all reached a six-year high in 1997. The US ranks worst in workplace injuries compared with 15 other industrialized countries. It has the highest occupational injury rate and trails 10 other nations with a fatality rate of 5.9 deaths for every 100,000 workers. Great Britain and the Netherlands reported job death rates of 1.1 for every 100,000 workers. Norway invests the most money on job safety and health activities--about $11.36 for every citizen. By contrast, the US spends only about $1 per citizen on worker safety programs. Only two countries surveyed spend less. Great Britain reports having more workplace health and safety inspectors than any of the 15 nations studied--one inspector for every 2,354 workers. America was second to last with one inspector for every 54,435 workers. More than 60 percent--281,000 reported cases--of the reported workplace illnesses in 1997 involved repetitive motion injuries, particularly in the auto manufacturing, meatpacking, apparel and poultry industries. Tens of thousands of workers also became ill from exposure to harmful chemicals. In 1971 the US government enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Though extremely limited, the law subjected most private employers, for the first time in US history, to safety inspections and penalties for violations. Prior to its enactment there was little to compel employers to even report on job injuries and deaths. According to some estimates over 187,000 lives have been saved and millions of injuries prevented because of these elemental protections. The current OSHA law still does not cover 8.1 million state and local government employees. Although these public employees encounter the same hazards as private sector workers, in 27 states they are not provided with protection under OSHA. From the time of enactment, however, these regulations were bitterly opposed by big business. Over the last few years a number of bills have been introduced in Congress to make compliance with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act standards voluntary, limit OSHA standards, and cut funding for safety training by 90 percent. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's current budget is $336.7 million. This is less in real dollar terms than the 1975 budget, although the nation's work force has grown by nearly 50 million. There are only 2,140 federal and state OSHA inspectors responsible for enforcing the law at more than 7 million workplaces. At its current staffing and inspection levels, it would take federal OSHA 109 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just once. In many cases even when OSHA inspections occur they are largely ceremonial. Management is well informed
[PEN-L:3438] Re: Psychoanalysis
Louis Proyect wrote: >Look, scientists have done quite a good job refuting the notion that >traumatic childhood events can be "repressed". If you want to familiarize >yourself with their work, the best place to look is in the books dealing >with all the preposterous charges made against parents and day care center >workers like Margaret Kelly Michaels in New Jersey, who spent years in >prison because children were coached by evil psychotherapists drunk on >Freudian dogma. This fucked-up notion of "repressed memories" is a >throwback to the Salem Witch trials, where "proof" of complicity with Satan >was established on the same footing. This repressed memory stuff is precisely anti-Freudian, since anyone who's been influence by Freud knows that memories are often deeply influenced by fantasy and contain all sorts of backward projections. A Freudian analysis of these abuse hysterias would focus on the fantasies of the adults involved, with their anxiety about infantile sexuality and projections of their own guilty desires. If you're going to attack Freud, please make an effort to understand what you're attacking. Doug
[PEN-L:3437] Psychoanalysis
Paul Kneisel: >Perhaps Proyect will inform us of his academic authority to write, sans >qualifiers, that Freud has "absolutely no authority." One is also >scientifically curious what "real scientists" refuted repressed memories >and the academic journals where they published. Look, scientists have done quite a good job refuting the notion that traumatic childhood events can be "repressed". If you want to familiarize yourself with their work, the best place to look is in the books dealing with all the preposterous charges made against parents and day care center workers like Margaret Kelly Michaels in New Jersey, who spent years in prison because children were coached by evil psychotherapists drunk on Freudian dogma. This fucked-up notion of "repressed memories" is a throwback to the Salem Witch trials, where "proof" of complicity with Satan was established on the same footing. Freudian psychoanalysis is 20th century religion. Capitalism has undercut the authority of traditional religion, so the poor lost souls who need some cheering up go to a shrink rather than a priest. Some day in the future when humanity has a chance to study the barbarism of the 20th century, much attention will be devoted to the phenomenon of licensed physicians trying to cure people of their unhappiness by listening to them talk for 50 minutes. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:3453] Water as a commodity -Reply
Glad you mentioned this issue, Michael. I wanted to mention a couple of recent press articles on CALFED and water "marketing" in case you hadn't seen them. I wrote one for the Berkeley environmental magazine TERRAIN, and a similar, more recent piece appeared in the SF Bay Guardian by Heather Abel. Both are critiques of water marketing and CalFED plans to build more dams and canals to supply the new water market. Abel's piece is available on the Butte Environmental Council web site, , and I could send you mine if you're interested.
[PEN-L:3442] Salem redux
=> With no intent to support or refute Louis in the issue he has just broached, I offer the following investigation, accessible in full - with a careful outline and many linked sub-files - at www.tiac.net/users/hcunn/witch/fellpress1.html valis Fells Acres day-care Ritual Abuse case and the Boston press Copyright © 1997 by Hugo S. Cunningham Individual, non-commercial reproduction allowed, provided this notice is retained. 18 Nov 1997 modified 30 Nov 97 only minor modifications have been made since Skip ahead to table of contents (index) Exit Fells Acres article and return to HSC index page Fells Acres day-care Ritual Abuse case: Witch-bound Massachusetts needs a helping hand-- again! The Louise Woodward au-pair trial focused international attention on the Massachusetts criminal justice system. (She was convicted of second-degree murder on 30 Oct 97, reduced on appeal to "manslaughter" 10 Nov 97.) Was justice done, or did prosecutorial zealots create a crime where none had existed? (Having missed two weeks of the trial, I plead neutrality.) Why did so many, some quite knowledgeable, assume the worst about justice in Middlesex County MA? After all, there was physical evidence in the Woodward case, even if its significance was hotly disputed. Much of this distrust stems from the Fells Acres ritual abuse case, where three totally innocent people drew horrendous (20- and 40-year) prison terms on nothing more than the testimony of toddlers who were repeatedly and coercively interviewed until they "disclosed" mythical abuse -- a 1980s version of the "spectral evidence" used in the 1692 Salem witch trials. The prosecutor responsible has enjoyed political cover from a faction in one of our largest local newspapers, with a "tonton macoute" journalistic ethic. A 150-word summary of the case follows. For more detail, check the web-site references in Section 1 of the Appendix. Starting in 1984, the office of Middlesex County DA Scott Harshbarger announced that Violet Amirault, her daughter Cheryl Amirault LeFave, and her son Gerald Amirault, owners of the successful 20-year-old Fells Acres day-care center in Malden MA, had suddenly converted it into a factory of child pornography and the most horrifying ritual abuse of helpless toddlers. Juries were persuaded to convict the Amiraults in 1986 (Gerald) and 1987 (Violet and Cheryl), due exclusively to the coached testimony of 3- and 4-year old children. No physical evidence or adult witness for any of the charges was ever found, despite the fact that the day-care center had always been open to a steady stream of unannounced parents and tradesmen. Starting in 1991, psychologists demonstrated how the leading questions used in cases like Fells Acres can brainwash child witnesses, but the Massachusetts legal establishment has, at least until very recently, proven extremely reluctant to correct a scandal. ===
[PEN-L:3449] Re: Water as a commodity
Michael Perelman wrote, >Still, it is probably as inequitable. Michael, Don't you mean inaquitable? regards, Tom Walker
[PEN-L:3448] Re: Canada (Ken)
If Ken will pardon my unsympathetic executive summary, I find the following main points in his argument (which Paul Phillips "heartfully endorses"): 1. The Canadian welfare state was shoved down the throats of the ruling class by the revolutionary demands of the Canadian working class. 2. Government monopolies, credit unions, union control of pension funds, worker-owned businesses and retail and producer co-ops are a threat to capital. and 3. You don't get a socialist garden by cultivating the prettiest capitalist weeds. This doesn't even lead you along the path to a socialist garden. 1. Perhaps it would interest Ken to look at some of the parliamentary discussions and policy papers that preceded adoption of such "working class victories" as the Canadian Pension Plan and Unemployment Insurance. Those programs are the ones I am most intimately familiar with and I have no reservation in pointing out that "linkage" between contributions and benefits was and is held to be of utmost importance in keeping those programs essentially "market-based" and intra-class in their income redistributive effects. The image of a recalitrant Canadian ruling class capitulating to the revolutionary fervor of the workers sounds like something out of a 1970s maoist pipe dream of the future. But Ken is saying that is what actually happened in Canadian history. Show me the documents, Ken. 2. and 3. Government monopolies, credit unions, worker-owned businesses and retail and producer coops do business with private capital every hour of every day. Unions are in the business of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING with capitalist employers. I will simply point out that Ken's positions on 2 and 3 are contradictory. How could the institutions Ken lauds be "a threat to capital" if they DON'T have any criteria for distinguishing between the ugliest and prettiest "capitalist weeds"? 4. "The game plan. I grant you the proper game plan for a revolution doesnt seem clear." I will be presenting an executive summary of the game plan on Friday. I'll let you know what kind of reception it gets. regards, Tom Walker
[PEN-L:3436] Currently in local free rags...
Just in case no undergrad student of yours has yet, apparently unprovoked, let fly a personal testimony that's also the founding document of a new generation, leaving you with jaw agape and the lesson utterly forgotten, the cover story of this week's Shepherd Express - Milwaukee's beacon of unsubsidized truth - has been released into the ether. www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/20/07/headlines/cover_story.html before it's too late. A perhaps more relevant freebe cover story, "Slaves of Academia," is found in the other, smaller, local beacon, The Metro, which has thus far shunned such frills as a Website. I have mailed Robert McGuire a request for the file, but for now I'll just laboriously reproduce his first few paragraphs. I'm a good teacher, I think. I have a sense of responsibility to my writing students at Marquette University and Carroll College, and I know my stuff. I know how to get students to keep their paragraphs focused on a main point and to make the thesis into something significant and interesting to read. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend my classes, because I don't believe I serve the students as well as I should. My little sister is beginning her college search now and what I've been advising her is that what matters most in college, what most affects the quality of your learning, is the relationship you have with your teachers. The thing is, my students and I don't have any relationship. I don't have the time for it. I am the temp worker of the academic world. I teach on a course- by-course basis at two schools and keep my ear to the ground about openings at other schools for when my temporary assignments run out. Because the pay is so low, I must overload my plate with work (some of it as a free-lance writer) and can't invest the time that a teacher should into a college writing class. I have no time to get involved in campus and departmental life. I don't see my students at drama department productions. They don't bump into me in the student union. My office hours are minimal. I am in my classroom for my students, but otherwise I am largely absent. This is very different from the kind of teachers I had for freshman composition or introduction to philosophy a decade ago. They were on campus five days a week, in their offices every afternoon and were valued counselors I got to know over a period of years and still visit. But my sister is more likely to have a temp worker like myself for most lower-level courses. Because of an explosion in the use of temporary faculty in recent years, students are less likely to develop any relationship with their teachers. This is bad news for the quality of education. Some readers may chuckle at this idealistic vision of teacher/student relationships. We all know about professors who don't make themselves available and who are never in their offices during the posted hours. But the rise in temp instructors is making that the rule rather than the exception. And it used to be that choosing a less affordable, teaching-oriented liberal arts college over a research-oriented public university was a protection against the anonymous campus. It no longer is. === The rest of the article has numbers, instances, quotes and other meat. Hopefully the author will come through with the file. valis
[PEN-L:3446] Water as a commodity
I live on a small orchard in Chico. We are pretty well endowed with ground water, but the climate is arid except for a rainy season between September and May. The land is as fertile as anywhere in the world, but without water, its major agricultural use would be for winter graizing. The state is moving toward making groundwater into a commodity. Sellers in the North of the state can contract to sell to buyers in the South. The problem is that when a large property owner sells groundwater, he sells groundwater from the entire acquifer. So if a larger owner sells, "his" water, he is really selling "mine", but I have no recourse. At the same time, the price of commodity-water will rise. Of course, water in California is underpriced for farmers, due to massive subsidies whereby the state and federal government provide very inexpensive water to farmers, who then have programs to help them dump and divert produce, lest the price fall too low. Urban dwellers, including the affluent, pay far more than the farmers. For most people the California, of course, water costs are trivial. However, we are moving toward massive water shortages in the West. Already, the Bass brothers are buying up farmland, not to farm, but just to sell the water. The whole system is scandalous, although it is not as painful as the situation Patrick Bond describes. Still, it is probably as inequitable. Chinatown was a great film, no? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
[PEN-L:3407] Re: Re: Psychoanalysis
Hello again penners, I remember Habermas (in *Knowledge & Human Interests* - chs 10-12) and Postone (in *Time, Labor, and Social Domination* - ch 9) taking a tip from the realm of psychoanalysis for their critical theory (I should stress P. disagrees with H. about damned nearly everything else) that brings to mind Ange's reference to Freud's qualifications on memory. The past is not something to be dug up so much as it is something that should be suspected of invisibly dominating our present. In the dialectic of present and past, objectified historical time is an alienated lump which weighs on us today and will thus delineate the future for which we're bound. In that sense, presenting us with alternative histories is a big chunk of presenting us with a very different present and, concomitantly, a whole menu of futures. I don't mean this quite in the sense of a repressed memory (it would be too much to ask for the sort of clarity, accuracy and certainty we should be pursuing in a criminal law court), but rather in the sense of inviting coherent accounts which correspond to the artefacts (we need not follow Foucault, who seemed to think history is nought but an accumulation of documents written by victors with the future in mind - history has left plenty that wasn't particularly meant to tell stories years or centuries later - from scold's bridles and those turn-of-the-century 14-inch girdles with which we tormented our women, to all those old treaties Jim Craven so regularly quotes at us, to those short hoes doubtlessly still hang over Virginian fireplaces, even to things history is succeeding in making us forget about our own very selves, like the eight-hour-day and the manicured lawns of Kent State U.). The idea being that we draw people's attention to real things rather than text books or the Discovery Channel. Thus armed, the theory goes, people might indeed see history as something that is always being appropriated by some interest or other. This may lead them into inquiring into what their interests might be, with an eye to doing some appropriating of their own. Which is pretty well what psychoanalysis is all about, I suppose. Only it's about the social and not the individual. And it's about intersubjective reconstruction rather than instrumental excavation. And it's about destabilising the present to open up the future. All very airy-fairy - but, hey, we are talking about psychoanalysis. And some of us are teachers, too. The babblings of a very tired man, I'm afraid - it's getting light outside, and I have had a singularly unproductive night of it. On the other hand, a large brush-tail possum did come visiting just after midnight, and I did get to watch a stunning little frog crawling across my study-shed window in patient-but-vain pursuit of moths, and a few inches behind that, the morning drizzle has outlined a six-foot web, in the middle of which a two-inch-wide (five inches if you add the legs) Golden Orb spider is busy wrapping a death shroud around a less vigilant moth (boy GO spiders are only 1/4 inch long - no phallus in charge there ... ). And now the Galahs are waking up, festooning the grass in pink, grey and white. All stuff a bloke could miss if he were to take PhD dissertations too seriously ... Cheers, Rob. -- > From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:3382] Re: Psychoanalysis > Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:41:42 -0500 > >Louis Proyect wrote: > >>If that was only the case. Psychoanalysis has very limited value in >>explaining how people behave. For example, when psychoanalysts write about >>fascism, they usually go off on the most ridiculous tangents about sexual >>attitudes of the German masses, or Hitler's psychopathology in particular. >>There is nothing at all abnormal about German society in the 1920s. If >>anything, it was more open-minded and healthy than any other country in >>Europe. What happened is that it was subjected to enormous strains due to >>the collapse of world capitalism and a section of the population went nuts. > >Why people embrace politicians and parties against their own material >self-interest is one of the great mysteries of politics. And there's no >doubt that lots of people embraced fascism who later suffered from it. Why >does anti-Semitism have the power it does, even in societies with few or no >Jews? Why do so many working class Americans hate welfare moms with what >looks like an irrational passion? It has more than a little to do with sex >and race. There's many a slip between the material/social world that >Marxists analyze and the world as people see and act on it. > >This isn't a matter of either/or - you have to analyze the "enormous >strains" on German society that made "a section of the population [go] >nuts" but you also have to understand how and why they went nuts, and why >they acted the way they did. > >Thanks for using the term "went nuts"; it makes my point fo
[PEN-L:3443] Re: The WREN water system etc.
>The manner in which collective ownership can often provide cheap >and simple solutions to problems is illustrated by the water >supply systems in the small town in which I live. >The town was settled in stages. At first there were not enough >people to set up a municipal water supply. Settlers as they came >in started co-operatively owned but quite informally structured >water systems. Most did not have enough money for individual >wells so each person chipped in so much money and a well would be >dug with lines running to each >members property...These systems still survive many decades after >they were begun. Are you on the Ogallalla aquifer?
[PEN-L:3426] Stiglitz stumbles in SA
This article, by George Dor of the Alternative Information and Development Centre (http:\\www.aidc.org.za) and Mercia Andrews, vice president of the SA NGO Coalition, is being published in various outlets including International Viewpoint (April '99)... Unemployed can't bank on Stiglitz: More of the same from the World Bank During the World Bank Chief Economist and Vice President, Joseph Stiglitz' recent visit to South Africa, he and his entourage of staff met with about 50 people working in NGOs at the South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO) offices in Johannesburg. In the course of the meeting, the illusion that the World Bank is undergoing fundamental transformation was shattered. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are notorious for imposing structural adjustment programmes on and entrenching poverty in countries across the globe. These institutions have played a significant role in redirecting South Africa's transformation from the rights, policy directives and targets as set out in the Constitution and the RDP to an approach more in keeping with structural adjustment. The World Bank has been an important player in, to mention a few examples, the post- 1994 market-driven housing and land policies, the user pays approach to water delivery, the increasing privatisation of infrastructure and services, the Growth Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR) and cuts in spending on education, health and social welfare. We heard nothing from Stiglitz to suggest that we can now expect the bank to shift to a more people-centred approach. Yet, his visit generated extensive media publicity portraying the man and the bank in glowing terms. As such, he succeeded to a significant degree in achieving perhaps the primary objective of his visit, legitimising the World Bank in denial of the poverty and hardship it is responsible for. This is well illustrated by the title, subtitle and content of the Mail and Guardian article on January 15 to 21 1999, "Unemployed can bank on Stiglitz: Reflecting the changing face of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz is a hero in some left-wing circles", in which the author concludes: "His intention ... is noble: to free the poor from the powerlessness that is such a feature of poverty." The seriousness with which Stiglitz and the World Bank are pursuing the appearance of legitimacy is reflected in the various meetings allocated to church leaders, NGOs and other non-governmental agencies in South Africa, one of a series of visits to countries affected by the bank. The lack of a critical approach by the media in the face of the World Bank's impact on the South African majority and the ease with which Stiglitz has been able to achieve his objective in many quarters is alarming. For some, it is a case of money talks: the bank's offer of working with the IDT and the financial benefits this entails for the IDT is perhaps too tempting to refuse. For others, it is more a case of failing to scratch beneath the surface and perhaps a yearning for a "hero" to get us out of the chaos of the current global crisis. The superficial appearances are thus conveyed as fact and the reality of the World Bank's ongoing negative impact remains hidden. Much of the impetus for the more positive way in which the World Bank is being portrayed emanates from a talk by Stiglitz in Helsinki in January 1998, in which he criticised the "Washington Consensus", namely the World Bank, IMF and US economists and their neo-liberal structural adjustment approach. We asked him for his views on the contradiction between his speech in Helsinki and the World Bank contribution to the GEAR strategy. He told us he didn't know much about South Africa. We asked specifically about the World Bank staff member responsible for GEAR's severe fiscal deficit targets, the resultant cuts in spending on meeting basic needs and whether the more flexible approach he conveyed in Helsinki should have been followed in South Africa. His performance during the meeting was that of a conductor of a united entourage, creating the image of a World Bank working in harmony. Yet he responded that the World Bank "is not militaristic" and that "there is no litmus test" for bank staff or, to put it in other words, there is no clear bank policy on critical issues and bank staff have substantial leeway to do as they please. We put it to him that perhaps the bank should take action against its staff member on the GEAR team who got the employment predictions so horribly wrong by suggesting that GEAR would generate hundreds of thousands of jobs each year when, in reality, hundreds of thousands are being lost. Everything in his tortuous reply suggested that he was not particularly concerned whether bank staff members produce work of poor quality and that staff members can get away with shoddy work that has a profound impact on people's chances of finding employment. On the call to cancel third world debt, he questioned whether the resources
[PEN-L:3425] Re: Ozzie Bondage & commodified water
Comrade, they're doing it to us as well in South Africa. Will send you off-list some of the issues that the social movements here are raising as an effort to counter the commodification logic, to halt the mass cut-offs of water supplies in townships (affecting households and entire neighbourhoods where 75% of people can't pay the bills), to factor in public good externalities that reflect extreme water-market imperfections, to demand 50 litres per person per day free of decommodified water, and in the process to try to realise the constitutional right to water in the 1996 Bill of Rights, which like all liberal governance platitudes is to be taken with a large grain of salt... Naturally we're losing these battles on a daily basis, to New Guard ANC technocrats advised by World Bank missions operating on "Washington Consensus" principles. By the way, since in October you may recall that I'd given thumbs up to Stiglitz after a private chat in which he said he'd be taking these market imperfections seriously in infrastructure design, I'll post something written by some NGO comrades a month or so ago during a Stiglitz visit which documents his performance here, where he essentially bolstered a dreadfully backward World Bank office in Pretoria in front of 50 NGO critics. Appalling... P. > From: Rob Schaap <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Australia's most scarce natural resource, water, is becoming "commoditised". > > Once regarded as a free gift from God, water is now being traded ... And, > depending on the state of commodity markets and seasonal conditions, it > could get pricey. That's one reason why a lot of smart money is already in > the water game ... Water exchanges that facilitate water trading are > springing up across > Australia's vast irrigation areas, brokers compete for business and web > pages exist that enable water to be traded online. > > Want some water? Check out www.irrigate.net. > > Water is the newest game in town. Water licences that bestow the right > to irrigate are increasingly becoming a separate property right. For the > first time, the value of water is being decoupled from the value of land > and the market is increasingly putting a price on this water ... This sea > change has occurred because of rising environmental concerns, a stronger > green movement and resulting changes in Government policy. > > And these changes, which have resulted in caps on water allocation and > in many areas a halt to issuing new water licences, have contributed to > the change in the status of water from free resource to tradable commodity. > > "In the absence of water trading, achieving an efficient use of water > resources . . . would have required an efficient allocation of water > resources," says ABARE, the Australian Government economic > research agency. > > "In practice, achieving an efficient allocation (administratively) > would have required a great deal of information and expertise." > > Good thing the price mechanism allocates everything perfectly without > anybody having to do anything, eh? > > With the advent of trading, the water licence itself -- the access to > water -- is now attracting a price. Irrigators can now buy and sell > water licences, on a temporary or permanent basis, in the relatively > new water marketplace ... Water has been trading since the early > 1980s, albeit in an extremely distorted and confused market-place. > The bulk of trading has been in temporary transfers. Trading in > permanent transfers accelerated in the early 1990s. > > But water trading is limited to those holding rights to water. At this > stage, it cannot be bought and sold by non-users. It is inter-irrigator > trading. What this has done is to increase the opportunity cost to > irrigators of not using water if an irrigator has excess water available > under the water licence. As a result, this excess is increasingly being > sold to those with a water deficiency. > > How long before the virtues of competition ensure excesses are NOT sold to > them, eh? Might we soon see water lakes, analogous to those famous cheese > mountains and wine lakes we hear about in Europe? > > And while water licences are increasingly seen as an asset class of > their own, there is still poorly defined security of ownership. > > Once ya have property rights, the fate of ownership ain't long in defining > itself most securely. Concentration and centralisation is my bet. It's > only logical that ownership be extended to non-irrigating licence traders, > eh? > > Or are these the ravings of a paranoid? > > Back to the #*! PhD ... > > Cheers, > Rob. > >
[PEN-L:3431] Re: Canada (Ken)
Just for a change some hopeful words coming out of the north. I still recall the adrenalin rush of negative anticipation the sight of Sid Shniad's by-line began to bring: uh-oh, yet more nasty shit being pulled in Canada. Something like 30 years I lived for a time in Winnipeg. Although too wrapped up in personal stuff to take a look at the political scene then, I can still say that I've never experienced a softer, more benign big city environment - certainly not on this continent. To live without having my elbows out or dodging other elbows was truly a dry acid trip. valis
[PEN-L:3386] Re: Psychoanalysis
-Original Message- From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Actually, Marx is taken much more seriously than Freud nowadays. Freud as >"scientist" has absolutely no authority. louis, for someone who constantly bemoans 'fads', your use of 'nowadays' as a term which bears any weight in establishing the value or otherwise of particular conceptions is a little peculiar, or else entirely cynical. All of the main tenets he stressed >(repressed memories in particular) have been demolished by real scientists. 'repressed memories', which is to say that term that comes into being as a juridical proof of a crime, is of course, rubbish, and for many of the reasons that freud pointed out: namely, that rememberances are always fantastic rememberances, or at the very least tainted, and would hardly consitute proof in the juridical sense. these so-called 'real scientists' of yours seem to be incapable of reading. >What persists is Freud as visionary, Freud as prophet, etc. This is why he >is so important to people like Zizek. He allows such fake radicals to >formulate a critique of bourgeois society that leaves the main institutions >intact, while focusing our attention on our individual pysches or sexual >behavior. first, you cannot have read much of zizek to be making such wild assertions. second, your joy in declaring certain kinds of activism 'fake' becuase they 'focus attention on psyche and sexuality' has to be one of the more inane remarks i've heard in this discussion so far. are the 'main institutions' somehow separable from sexual and psychic processes? i would also add that zizek is one of the more insightful analysts of racism i've read lately. is this too not a 'main institution'? there are indeed numerous problems with freud and freudian analysis, none of which you come close to relating. (and, btw, butler and zizek have very different takes on freud) For example, when psychoanalysts write about >fascism, they usually go off on the most ridiculous tangents about se xual >attitudes of the German masses, or Hitler's psychopathology in particular. >There is nothing at all abnormal about German society in the 1920s. If >anything, it was more open-minded and healthy than any other country in >Europe. What happened is that it was subjected to enormous strains due to >the collapse of world capitalism and a section of the population went nuts. a 'section of the population went nuts'? now we're getting scientific. only the crudest kind of american pop-psychology is interested in establishing explanations of nazism within the terms you set above, and for obvious reasons. but this bears little resemblance to psychoanalysis, let alone that practiced by zizek. i would not insist that you read zizek, or anyone else, but you seem to have made up your mind to crusade a little on matters you have read even less of, for reasons which even zizek might offer some help in explaining. angela
[PEN-L:3380] Ozzie Bondage & commodified water
> 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. --Next_Part_3001973695_20969529_MS_Mac_IMN G'day Penners, The local bond market is copping a hiding because US bonds are copping a hiding because the Japanese government bonds are copping one and the talk here is of a reversal in Greenspan's thinking on interest rates (our marketeers can understand him even if he does not understand himself). Ten-year bond yields are up 30 points in less than a fortnight. As is its way, The Australian Financial Review assures us: "But despite the negative vibes, the Japanese situation is sending throughout global bond markets, analysts remain confident that it is too early to get too bearish on bonds ... The economy will slow this year and a Reserve Bank rate cut is in the wings, they believe ... " Yeah, yeah. As if the RBA can cut with impunity if everybody else is raising their rates. As if low inflation - the bulls' instant but only mantra when a pessimistic word is heard - has suddenly become a permanent fixture in the world, invulnerable even to the tumbling currency that would follow a cut in a world of hikes. "The Australian dollar was steady in New York, ending at US64.55=A2, but commodity prices remain a problem, especially after the Commodity Research Bureau index fell to a fresh 21-year low on Friday." Commodity prices matter just a tad more than this implies - commodities are what we export. And speaking of raw materials; the dead hand of Hayek has taken its first dip into Australian water. Natural scarcity is on its way to becoming market-driven scarcity. Capitalism and Environmentalism coming together in the only way they can. How long, I wonder, before water hoarders wipe out competitors through the simple expedient of death by thirst. Am I right in seeing something like America's pollution licence trade developing here? Again from the AFR: Australia's most scarce natural resource, water, is becoming "commoditised". Once regarded as a free gift from God, water is now being traded ... And, depending on the state of commodity markets and seasonal conditions, it could get pricey. That's one reason why a lot of smart money is already in the water game ... Water exchanges that facilitate water trading are springing up across Australia's vast irrigation areas, brokers compete for business and web pages exist that enable water to be traded online. Want some water? Check out www.irrigate.net. Water is the newest game in town. Water licences that bestow the right to irrigate are increasingly becoming a separate property right. For the first time, the value of water is being decoupled from the value of land and the market is increasingly putting a price on this water ... This sea change has occurred because of rising environmental concerns, a stronger green movement and resulting changes in Government policy. And these changes, which have resulted in caps on water allocation and in many areas a halt to issuing new water licences, have contributed to the change in the status of water from free resource to tradable commodity. "In the absence of water trading, achieving an efficient use of water resources . . . would have required an efficient allocation of water resources," says ABARE, the Australian Government economic research agency. "In practice, achieving an efficient allocation (administratively) would have required a great deal of information and expertise." Good thing the price mechanism allocates everything perfectly without anybody having to do anything, eh? With the advent of trading, the water licence itself -- the access to water -- is now attracting a price. Irrigators can now buy and sell water licences, on a temporary or permanent basis, in the relatively new water marketplace ... Water has been trading since the early 1980s, albeit in an extremely distorted and confused market-place. The bulk of trading has been in temporary transfers. Trading in permanent transfers accelerated in the early 1990s. But water trading is limited to those holding rights to water. At this stage, it cannot be bought and sold by non-users. It is inter-irrigator trading. What this has done is to increase the opportunity cost to irrigators of not using water if an irrigator has excess water available under the water licence. As a result, this excess is increasingly being sold to those with a water deficiency. How long before the virtues of competition ensure excesses are NOT sold to them, eh? Might we soon see water lakes, analogous to those famous cheese mountains and wine lakes we hear about in Europe? And while water licences are increasingly seen as an asset class of their own, there is still poorly defined security of ownership. Once ya have property rights, the fate of ownership ain't long in defining itself most securely. Concentration and centralisation is my be
[PEN-L:3430] The WREN water system etc.
The manner in which collective ownership can often provide cheap and simple solutions to problems is illustrated by the water supply systems in the small town in which I live. The town was settled in stages. At first there were not enough people to set up a municipal water supply. Settlers as they came in started co-operatively owned but quite informally structured water systems. Most did not have enough money for individual wells so each person chipped in so much money and a well would be dug with lines running to each members property...These systems still survive many decades after they were begun. Since everyone had their own well or was a member of a coop system no town water system developed. I am on what is called the WREN water system (named after a street, named after a bird) There are 12 households on the system. At a cost of 60 dollars each a year we get all the water we want. No meters. No rules. And we have money in the bank--actually the credit union. There is a municipal sewer system costing 72 dollars a year. The same type of water sytem exists in Menzie-the location of the Menzie Token Leftist Institute as you will recall The population of 7 support a well over 300 feet deep and much superior to WREN water. The well has just recently been deepened and upgraded with the help of a grant from the provincial government. We even have a tap so that free riders can come and get all the water they want at no cost. And they do, everyone knows its there and its good water. We don't intend to shut off the tap or put in a meter machine so that you can drop in a quarter forso many litres :) We are those nice Canadians that Michael admires. Common throughout rural Manitoba are community wells. These wells are primarily used for water for cattle and non-drinking uses but many of them have potable water as well. These are absolutely free. Rural people have successfully lobbied for these wells. To suggest that these should be metered and based upon a user pay principle would be worth more in lost votes to any Conservative govt. than revenue it might generate. By the way, although the Menzie Token Leftist Institute is now just a storage house, I hope to have it habitable by summer, so if any token leftist from abroad needs a flophouse, feel free to visit.. Cheers, Ken Hanly
