Re: Ashcroft and the other energy scandal
One wonders what will come of this, since the entire Bush regime was installed to institutionalize conflicts of interest across big business and the federal government in the name of 'national security' (going way beyond defense contracting I assure you). Perhaps the investigations of Ashcroft will be encouraged if Bush thinks it will distract from any scandals leading more directly to him or Cheney. I get the feeling that both Ashcroft and O'Neill were chosen by the Bush-Cheney caudillo because they would make such lovely goose chases. Rumsfeld, too. If you need a map that shows the extent of the project, look here: http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/caspian/caspian2.html Charles Jannuzi
The politics of America is business
The other side of the story is , of course, the Unocal Afghan route, since gas or oil going out the other way ends up in Iranian or Russian control, a geostrategic no-no. Gas would have an immediate market on the subcontinent of S. Asia. The following is an excellent article out of Egypt that nicely summarizes the stories behind the story in understanding the Bush regime. The author really pulls in a lot of key information. It's a good read to review or get caught up on the need for a war in Afghanistan. The one piece of info. she misses out on, if I read the article accurately, is Carlyle Group's own Caspian Sea oil connections. It owns a Norwegian drilling company with ship-based deep water drilling techniques perfect for the Caspian, and, more significantly, Carlyle Group owns Groupe Genoyer, top supplier to 'process industries'--Genoyer makes and sells pipes, flanges, fittings and pumps for oil, gas, and chemical industries (it recently helped finish up a gas pipeline in Syria). Carlyle Group is also, like Halliburton, deep into gov't contracts, and not just military contracting. I think, if you look closely enough, you will see they benefit from more money going to airport security. http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/556/5war.htm (the article on line is worth it for the map alone) Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 October 2001 Issue No.556 Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Current issue | Previous issue | Site map Fuel for the war machine Big Oil, defence, and policy-making: Pascale Ghazaleh discovers some curious connections Outside the oil industry, not many people would have exclaimed over the news, in January 1998, that the Taliban had signed an agreement allowing a 1,272km, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic- feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project to proceed. The proposed pipeline, according to the US government's Energy Information Administration (EIA), would have transported natural gas from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad natural gas field to Pakistan, and was projected to run from Dauletabad south to the Afghan border, through Herat and Kandahar, to Quetta in Pakistan before linking up with Pakistan's natural gas grid at Sui. By March, however, Unocal, the company leading the project, had announced that details would not be finalised immediately due to the civil war in Afghanistan. In August, the company announced it was suspending its role in the pipeline because of the military action the US government was taking in Afghanistan, as well as fighting between the Taliban and the opposition. By the end of the year, according to an EIA Country Analysis Brief, Unocal was announcing its withdrawal from Centgas (the Central Asian Gas Pipeline Ltd.) -- the consortium responsible for building the pipeline -- citing low oil prices and turmoil in Afghanistan as making the pipeline project uneconomical and too risky. It had previously stated that the pipeline project would not proceed until an internationally recognised government was in place in Afghanistan. Unocal, however, was no stranger to unpopular governments: it was, after all, part of the consortium building a pipeline in Burma that human rights groups slammed for using forced labour and cooperating with a military dictatorship. Among the other members of that consortium, incidentally, was an oil company named Halliburton -- of which the CEO was none other than current Vice- President Richard Cheney. Unocal and Halliburton share other affinities, however: at the Collateral Damage Conference of the Cato Institute on 23 June 1998, Cheney himself made some of these clear, noting that 70 to 75 per cent of [Halliburton's] business is energy related, serving customers like Unocal, Exxon, Shell, Chevron and many other oil companies around the world. But back to Afghanistan. Until Unocal relinquished its shares in Centgas, it had held an 85 per cent stake in conjunction with the Saudi Arabian company Delta Oil (which became the leader of the consortium following Unocal's withdrawal). Other holders included Pakistan's Crescent Group, Russia's Gazprom, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering Construction Company, and two Japanese firms, Inpex and Itochu. When the consortium was formed, Marty Miller, Unocal Corporation vice-president responsible for new ventures in Central Asia and Pakistan, had explained that no other import project can provide such volumes of natural gas to [the markets of India and Pakistan] at a lower price. Market analyses, according to a Unocal press release dated 27 October 1997, indicate that Pakistan's electric power generation market will be the main consumer of the imported gas. To any amateur conspiracy theorist, that information seems almost too good to be true. Removing the Taliban from Afghanistan and installing an internationally recognised
Re: The politics of America is business
Is it any wonder Carlyle Group found Groupe Genoyer to be a must-have? The person who wrote this up positively 'GUSHES'! http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/archive/archive_00-03/00-03_informer-in tl.html Groupe Genoyer, a worldwide-leading group that manufactures steel flanges and fittings for the process industries particularly the oil, gas and chemical industries is continuing to grow after a series of acquisitions. In addition, Groupe Genoyer is one of the few global operators in supplying turnkey (piping) procurement to engineers and contractors for international projects. The group increased its sales by 50%, while becoming one of the worlds leading manufacturers of fittings (through the Italian Tecnoforge, acquired in January 1999), opening the American market of emergency manufacturing (through the American Custom Alloy and Dan-Loc acquired in May 1999). This move eventually opened the market of low-pressure flanges and the DIN market (with the German Wilhelm Geldbach acquired in July 1999). The group is well-equipped through the joint presence of its two divisions Projects and Industrial to fully cover the market and its various distribution channels using projects, distributors and stockists, as well as industry, wholesalers and end users on a case-by-case basis depending primarily upon geography. This structure offers the best possible choices to customers and promotes the companys continual development.
On ideology socialism
Young Marx defined his work as show the world why it is strugging He denied any dogmatism or philosophy and reform of consciousness consist entirely in making the world aware. So his later work tried to show the world why it is struggling and reform of consciousness in making the world aware. His theoretical work was not to establish new social system planning ,rather to struggle with various mystical consciousness emerged from forms ofcapitalist production. So his emphasis is not only economical analysis, rather strugging with mysterious consciousness which justify current system and oppress people's consciousness. Capital is not Bible of communist ,rather book of reply against many ideologue which justify status quo, including Adam Smith, Ricardo, Prohdon,Sismondy,Tookes, Fllarton etc, Below is letter from Marx to Ruge 1843 I am very pleased to find you so resolute and to see your thoughts turning away from the past and towards a new enterprise. In Paris, then, the ancient bastion of philosophy -- absit omen! [may this be no ill omen!] -- and the modern capital of the modern world. Whatever is necessary adapts itself. Although I do not underestimate the obstacles, therefore, I have no doubt that they can be overcome. Our enterprise may or may not come about, but in any event I shall be in Paris by the end of the month as the very air here turns one into a serf and I can see no opening for free activity in Germany. In Germany everything is suppressed by force, a veritable anarchy of the spirit, a reign of stupidity itself has come upon us and Zurich obeys orders from Berlin. It is becoming clearer every day that independent, thinking people must seek out a new centre. I am convinced that our plan would satisfy a real need and real needs must be satisfied in reality. I shall have no doubts once we begin in earnest. In fact, the internal obstacles seem almost greater than external difficulties. For even though the question where from? presents no problems, the question where to? is a rich source of confusion. Not only has universal anarchy broken out among the reformers, but also every individual must admit to himself that he has no precise idea about what ought to happen. However, this very defect turns to the advantage of the new movement, for it means that we do not anticipate the world with our dogmas but instead attempt to discover the new world through the critique of the old. Hitherto philosophers have left the keys to all riddles in their desks, and the stupid, uninitiated world had only to wait around for the roasted pigeons of absolute science to fly into its open mouth. Philosophy has now become secularized and the most striking proof of this can be seen in the way that philosophical consciousness has joined battle not only outwardly, but inwardly too. If we have no business with the construction of the future or with organizing it for all time, there can still be no doubt about the task confronting us at present: the ruthless criticism of the existing order, ruthless in that it will shrink neither from its own discoveries, nor from conflict with the powers that be. I am therefore not in favor of our hoisting a dogmatic banner. Quite the reverse. We must try to help the dogmatists to clarify their ideas. In particular, communism is a dogmatic abstraction and by communism I do not refer to some imagined, possible communism, but to communism as it actually exists in the teachings of Cabet, Dezamy, and Weitling, etc. This communism is itself only a particular manifestation of the humanistic principle and is infected by its opposite, private property. The abolition of private property is therefore by no means identical with communism and communism has seen other socialist theories, such as those of Fourier and Proudhon, rising up in opposition to it, not fortuitously but necessarily, because it is only a particular, one-sided realization of the principle of socialism. And by the same token, the whole principle of socialism is concerned only with one side, namely the reality of the true existence of man. We have also to concern ourselves with the other side, i.e., with man's theoretical existence, and make his religion and science, etc., into the object of our criticism. Furthermore, we wish to influence our contemporaries above all. The problem is how best to achieve this. In this context there are two incontestable facts. Both religion and politics are matters of the very first importance in contemporary Germany. Our task must be to latch onto these as they are and not to oppose them with any ready-made system such as the Voyage en Icarie. [A recently released book by Etienne Cabet, describing a communist utopia.] Reason has always existed, but not always in a rational form. Hence the critic can take his cue from every existing form of theoretical and practical consciousness and from this ideal and final goal implicit in the actual forms of existing reality he can deduce a true reality.
Re: Re: Re: software
Well, this is the way software lisencing has worked for many years in the mainframe/large computer industry. Often one has the option of purchasing or renting, but the practice has been around for many years. Alan At 3/26/2002, you wrote: I assume that everybody knows that software companies want to make their product much less like an estimate, by making customers pay annual rental fees for the use of software. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: Did the boom benefit workers??? ?
G'day Doug, Devine, James wrote: is there something about counting software as if it were a physical investment (and thus part of output and the numerator) that distorts productivity numbers? Shouldn't, much, though no one knows how to adjust it for quality either. It does enter into the growth accounting games that are the supposedly rigorous evidence for the productivity burst (e.g. Oliner Sichel and Jorgenson Stiroh). I see no conceptual reason why software shouldn't be considered an investment - without it, computers are useless, and it lasts a long time. Software is definitely investment, but it's been a very regular investment, no? Where I work, people are always getting perfectly functional computers or software suites whipped off their desks and replaced - loads of labour, living and dead, goes into this artificial cycle. If that experience is generalisable, we'd be talking high profits and productivity (which number depends on what price increases you manage squeeze out of your customers as much as it does on your plant and labour costs) for computer, software and corporate network consultancy firms and lower-than-necessary numbers everywhere else. Ain't that what the likes of Gordon and Preissl found in the 90s? Here at home, my Mac is 9 years old and so is the software that came with it. I type just as slowly on this as I do on the one at work, and get my e-mails at exactly the same speed (although Michael Keaney and Charles Brown's posts don't come wrapped). So, yeah, software does last a long time - as long as it takes you to replace it. And the pentium may be faster than the 486, but it's the 286 chip that's embedded in much of our electricity network - it'd run no better with a pentium, would it? Oh, and it'd cost no more to make a computer with a clockspeed of X than it would one of Y, would it? Each might have cost as much as the other to develop at the time, and I can't imagine plugging a pentium into a motherboard (if that's where chips go, I wouldn't have the faintest) is any harder than plugging in a 486. So some pentiums are called upon to do stuff a 486 couldn't have done, but a lot are not. And only some of that difference is a productive difference. How on earth would one find the proportions and numbers in all this? Allowing for the fact I'm missing the point, Rob.
Did the boom benefit workers????
Did the boom benefit workers by Doug Henwood 26 March 2002 20:24 UTC Let me add one more question. How does one measure productivity in a heavily service based economy? It ain't easy, to say the least. But it's not that easy to measure the 'real' value of computers either. The standard technique is essentially that a computer with a clock speed of 800 is twice the machine of one with a 400 clock speed. But there's not much evidence that that translates into twice as much usable output. If you're just typing letters or writing papers, it hardly makes any difference. And what happens if the value of the 800 machine craters because 1200s are introduced? Does its real value fall proportionally? Charles: Is that use-value or exchange-value you are measuring ? Or price ? Doug
Re: Sofware
The discussion of the value of old software/hardware brings up another idea that I have been pushing for years. Economics has no theory of depreciation, thus all measures of profits are squishy at best. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows
'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows by Max B. Sawicky 27 March 2002 04:05 UTC too bad advocates of LW think this study is trash (on technical grounds). mbs CB: Who are said advocates ? What are the technical failings ? ^^^ 'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows
RE: 'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows
'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows by Max B. Sawicky 27 March 2002 04:05 UTC too bad advocates of LW think this study is trash (on technical grounds). mbs CB: Who are said advocates ? What are the technical failings ? ^^^ 'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows I don't know about the methodology of this specific study, but it's always a good sign when someone who opposes some hypothesis does a study that backs it. It's as if Milton F. did a study which showed that the connection between the growth of the money supply and inflation was insignificant. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
RE: RE: 'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows
No doubt it is a politically useful 'man-bites-dog' story. I would expect advocates to milk the study for all they can. But as a word to those interested in the substance on an intellectual level, my advice is there are much better things to read. mbs 'Living Wage' Laws Reducing Poverty Levels, Study Shows I don't know about the methodology of this specific study, but it's always a good sign when someone who opposes some hypothesis does a study that backs it. It's as if Milton F. did a study which showed that the connection between the growth of the money supply and inflation was insignificant. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Interesting Develeopment
The Pacific News Service, a nonprofit radio broadcasting company, has created a new bimonthly print magazine for Silicon Valley's temporary workers. Given out free at bus stops and other places where young workers can be found, it's called Silicon Valley De-Bug. The magazine's 27-year-old editor Raj Jayadev has an activist social message and says the publication is doing something which Silicon Valley doesn't allow a voice for everyday people. There's this other demographic that researchers and the media have passed over young workers who aren't on the high-tech fast track or four-year university track. No one's paying attention to them. Jaydev says traditional labor-organizing hasn't worked for temp workers and considers the magazine an alternate form of organizing. The point is to start a dialogue among young and working people. What we want is for people to critically examine Silicon Valley, so they have a voice at the table at their workplace and in their communities. We want them to come up with the agenda. (San Jose Mercury News 26 Mar 2002) http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/2941314.htm - Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Re: Re: Did the boom benefit workers??? ?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Oh, and it'd cost no more to make a computer with a clockspeed of X than it would one of Y, would it? Each might have cost as much as the other to develop at the time, and I can't imagine plugging a pentium into a motherboard (if that's where chips go, I wouldn't have the faintest) is any harder than plugging in a 486. So some pentiums are called upon to do stuff a 486 couldn't have done, but a lot are not. And only some of that difference is a productive difference. How on earth would one find the proportions and numbers in all this? Allowing for the fact I'm missing the point, You're not missing the the point - these are exactly the problems with the conventional hedonic pricing model for computers. As Robert Gordon pointed out somewhere, probably half but not fully in jest, much of the additional storage capacity in PCs is going to downloaded MP3s - an increase in utility, perhaps, but not productive in the boss's sense. Doug
European Union Enacts Steel Tariffs
European Union Enacts Steel Tariffs MARCH 27, 13:24 ET By PAUL GEITNER AP Business Writer Romano Prodi and Pascal Lamy AP/Virginia Mayo BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The European Union's head office formally adopted tariffs of up to 26 percent on steel Wednesday to prevent a feared flood of cheap imports from countries hit by U.S. protective measures. Labeling the U.S. tariffs, which took effect last week, ``unfounded, unnecessary and unfair,'' EU officials said they were forced to respond in kind to safeguard Europe's own shaky steel industry. Warning against ``over-dramatization,'' however, they also appealed for a truce to avert a trans-Atlantic war. ``The EU is not seeking confrontation,'' European Commission President Romano Prodi said. ``We are quite simply defending, as we have to do, our natural interests.'' In Washington, the Bush administration said it would ask for consultations with the EU over the higher tariffs, the first step in bringing a case against the EU at the World Trade Organization. ``How can the EU demonstrate injury under the WTO rules when the United States hasn't even started collecting the new tariffs and there hasn't been time for an import surge,'' asked Richard Mills, a spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. The United States exports on an annual basis more than $1 billion in steel products to Europe. Trade commissioner Pascal Lamy insisted the EU was acting ``in strict respect'' for World Trade Organization rules, which allow countries facing a potentially harmful increase in imports to protect its own industry temporarily. EU steel imports have gone up 18 percent since 1998, he said. The EU charges the U.S. tariffs, which range up to 30 percent, are unjustified because U.S. imports have actually declined by 33 percent during the same period. Washington, however, looked at imports of 10 steel products between 1996 and 2000, the last year for which full-year data was available. It showed imports were at their highest levels for seven of those products in 2000, and at their second-highest levels for the other three, a U.S. trade official said on condition of anonymity. ``I think it's a more accurate picture to include a larger swath of time,'' he said, noting that WTO rules do not specify the time period. Looking at the broader business cycle, the EU's statistics reflect more the ``backend of a big surge,'' he added. The European steel industry group Eurofer welcomed the EU actions, which it said would ``provide the domestic industry with the necessary security from a sudden surge of steel imports.'' The EU measures are to take effect next week and last for at least six months unless U.S. President George W. Bush changes U.S. policy before that. ``These measures won't last a day longer than the American measures,'' Lamy said. The EU also has started WTO proceedings against the United States seeking up to $2 billion in compensation or retaliatory tariffs for the cost of the U.S. measures on European industry. However, Prodi stressed the EU was not seeking to ``call into question the close relationship we have between the U.S. and European Union.'' He called on Bush ``to not proceed any further down this path. ``We must not let short-term domestic interests dictate our policy nor should they be allowed to jeopardize the functioning of the market,'' he said.
what is Andersen worth?
what is Andersen worth? by Ian Murray 27 March 2002 03:57 UTC Michael Maybe we should make companies declare their ownership of politicians and regulators on the balance sheet and let us see how much they contribute to the net worth. -- = Yeah, but it goes the other way too. Companies often pay the great duopoly to prevent them from imposing or threatening to impose regs. they don't want. The pols. do the rent seeking; I think they used to call it extortion or something... ^ Charles: Yea, bribery ^^ So would that be a debit on the balance sheet? Ian
BLS Daily Report
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2002: Unemployment rates increased in 17 states and the District of Columbia in February and decreased in 17 states, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate in 15 states was unchanged from January. Employment and unemployment data for Michigan were not available. For the 10th consecutive month, North Dakota reported the lowest unemployment rate -- 2.9 percent, BLS said. Oregon and Washington posted the highest unemployment rates, 8.1 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively. Wisconsin had the largest monthly increase, 0.6 percentage point. Rhode Island posted the largest rate decline, 0.8 percentage point (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). The number of work stoppages involving at least 1,000 workers was at an historic low last year, with 29 major work stoppages during the year, idling 99,000 workers and resulting in 1.2 million workdays of idleness, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Three work stoppages in 2001 accounted for more than two-fifths of all workers idled as a result of strikes last year (Daily Labor Report, page D-9). The slump in California's information technology industry may end soon, and nonfarm employment growth will pick up after three negative quarters in 2001, but the state's heavy reliance on technology, especially for exports, and an uncertain state budget outlook means its recovery may lag that of the nation's by several quarters, a UCLA report says. Total nonfarm employment in California will grow by a meager 0.7 percent in 2002, and then by 2.2 percent in 2003, after negative growth in each of the last three quarters of 2001, the UCLA Anderson Forecast said (Daily Labor Report, page A-12). Workers who have changed jobs frequently in recent years are more likely to be the victims of job cuts than they were in the past, according to Victor Godinez, The Dallas Morning News, http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/2937598.htm. Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray Christmas, Inc. found in its most recent Job Market Index that 39.1 percent of unemployed job seekers in the fourth quarter had worked for four or more companies. That was up from 34.27 percent in the third quarter, suggesting that companies are quicker to cut job-hoppers. In addition, the percentage of job seekers who had worked for only one company in their careers dropped from 10.48 to 9.93 percent. 800 telephone call centers are proliferating, adding jobs at a faster pace than any other major occupation. At least 3.5 million people and perhaps as many as 6 million work in call centers, which are increasingly concentrated in lower-wage cities, making this work force roughly as numerous as the nation's truck drivers, assembly line workers or public-school teachers, says Louis Uchitelle writing in The New York Times (page A1). The centers offer fresh opportunity and flexibility. They draw employees mainly from the 30 million women who have a high school degree and a year or two of college. Many are second earners in their families, helping to anchor their households in the middle class despite the middling pay. But the centers also exemplify a trend in today's service economy that has held down wages of many middle and lower-income workers. Unlike factories, the centers can be relocated easily to lower-wage cities or even overseas. All it takes is to ship the computers and communications gear somewhere else. So even as the economy boomed in the late 1990's, surveys show that pay scales held steady at $7 to $14 an hour at most of the nation's 60,000 or more call centers. And the people in the jobs can never feel secure. Most centers make a priority of holding down labor costs , and as these jobs multiply, a large mass of women has become more vulnerable to layoffs and to what I would call plant closings, Rose Batt, a labor economist at Cornell University says. In part because of the growth of call centers, total employment of women has resisted the recession, declining less since 2000 than for men, who were particularly hard hit by the slump in manufacturing. For generations, convicts have made license plates or gone out, sometimes in chains, to clear roads and clear ditches. But in recent years, struggling rural communities have relied more and more on inmates to do jobs that public employees once did: tending cemeteries, cleaning courthouse restrooms, moving furniture, renovating municipal buildings, and even running errands for the police. The use of prisoners for manual labor has increased around the country, particularly in the South and Southwest where it not only fills the desperate demand for inexpensive laborers, but also helps prisons relieve overcrowding and supplement their budgets. A Justice Department survey showed that 124,000 inmates in state prisons or 10.4 percent of the total state prison population, and 45,000 local inmates or about 7
the state
[was: RE: [PEN-L:24399] what is Andersen worth?] Ian:Yeah, but it goes the other way too. Companies often pay the great duopoly to prevent them from imposing or threatening to impose regs. they don't want. The pols. do the rent seeking; I think they used to call it extortion or something. So would that be a debit on the balance sheet? More and more, I think of state bureaucrats and politicians under capitalism as a fraction of capital, similar to banking capital. Remember that industrial capitalists are willing to give up a part of the surplus-value (interest) to the bankers even though the latter don't produce surplus-value, since the bankers act as financial intermediaries, easing the flow of capital funds. Similarly, the industrial capitalists are willing to give up some surplus-value (taxes, bribes, campaign contributions) to the state apparatus because of individual services rendered, along with general protection of property rights and lawnorder. Just as with the relations between industrial and banking capital, the relationship between industrial capital and the state need not be totally happy all the time. Of course, if the working class and other dominated segments of society put enough pressure on the state, it can do better than that. Contrariwise, the capitalists can make sure that the cost of bribes, campaign contributions, and taxes is pushed onto the unwashed masses if the latter are poorly organized. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -Original Message- From: Charles Brown [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 1:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:24399] what is Andersen worth? what is Andersen worth? by Ian Murray 27 March 2002 03:57 UTC Michael Maybe we should make companies declare their ownership of politicians and regulators on the balance sheet and let us see how much they contribute to the net worth. -- = Yeah, but it goes the other way too. Companies often pay the great duopoly to prevent them from imposing or threatening to impose regs. they don't want. The pols. do the rent seeking; I think they used to call it extortion or something... ^ Charles: Yea, bribery ^^ So would that be a debit on the balance sheet? Ian
RE: Re: the state
I wrote: More and more, I think of state bureaucrats and politicians under capitalism as a fraction of capital, similar to banking capital. ... Carrol writes: This would fit in with Wood's argument (in _Democracy against Capitalism_) that capitalism artificially divided the political into the two separate realms of the political and the economy. If one takes politics to be concerned with the allocation of human activity, then economics is the guise that this political activity takes on under capitalism. And in the latest stages of capitalism the line has become thinner and thinner. I agree with her on this one. In fact, it's what I think of as the orthodox Marxist position. Under feudalism and other pre-capitalist modes of production (and post-capitalist ones like USSR-type systems), the state is not separated from the economy. The feudal lord is not only one's political boss, but one's economic boss (and so-called non-economic means are used to extort one's surplus-labor). With the rise of capitalism, we see the separation out of a separate state sector which monopolizes the use of violence (or gives license to individuals to use violence) and leaves the private capitalists as being mostly non-violent in their methods. JD
Re: the state
Devine, James wrote: More and more, I think of state bureaucrats and politicians under capitalism as a fraction of capital, similar to banking capital. Remember that industrial capitalists are willing to give up a part of the surplus-value (interest) to the bankers even though the latter don't produce surplus-value, since the bankers act as financial intermediaries, easing the This would fit in with Wood's argument (in _Democracy against Capitalism_) that capitalism artificially divided the political into the two separate realms of the political and the economy. If one takes politics to be concerned with the allocation of human activity, then economics is the guise that this political activity takes on under capitalism. And in the latest stages of capitalism the line has become thinner and thinner. Carrol
Re: Re: Iraq war and the Turkish economy
Here is the most recent stuff on Iraq and Kuwait agreement: Qatar Says Iraq, Kuwait Reach Deal at Arab Summit Wed Mar 27, 1:55 PM ET BEIRUT (Reuters) - Qatar said that it and fellow Gulf Arab state Oman had persuaded Gulf War (news - web sites) foes Iraq and Kuwait to agree on a statement at an Arab summit Wednesday. The issue of Iraq and Kuwait is now resolved and we have agreed on a statement between Iraq and Kuwait which is acceptable to the two sides, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani told reporters after the first day of the Arab summit in Beirut. A Kuwaiti minister said the document included new Iraqi compromises and a pledge by Baghdad to the effect that it would not repeat its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf confirmed only that a deal had been reached but did not confirm the Kuwaiti account of its contents. Delegates said the head of the Kuwaiti delegation, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, had applauded the speech of his Iraqi counterpart Izzat Ibrahim at the summit. - Original Message - From: Sabri Oncu [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: PEN-L [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 1:03 PM Subject: [PEN-L:24352] Re: Iraq war and the Turkish economy Here is the article I based my opinion on: From the Times of India Iraq breaks ground at summit, recognises Kuwaiti rights AFP [ MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2002 9:23:29 PM ] Possibly the above article was written before the first day of the summit ended? Several others, such as Jordan Times and CNN, verify the Reuters story. http://www.jordantimes.com/Tue/news/news4.htm http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/03/28/arab.summit.01/index.ht ml This one, Lebanese The Daily Star, seems somewhat in line with the AFP story. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/26_03_02/art1.htm Interesting.
Socioeconomic Democracy Book Announcement-pen
progressive economists network Dear Friends: The purpose of this communication is to announce the existence of, and provide an introduction to, Socioeconomic Democracy. The following items are briefly discussed below: 1. Definition of Socioeconomic Democracy. 2. Description of the forthcoming book Socioeconomic Democracy: An Advanced Socioeconomic System. 3. Book reviewers sought. 4. Teachers to consider using book as text sought. 5. Peaceful, determined, disgusted, and democratic citizen-revolutionaries sought. 6. Praeger/Greenwood (publisher of book). 7. Center for the Study of Democratic Societies introduced. 1. Definition of Socioeconomic Democracy. As originally conceived over thirty years ago, Socioeconomic Democracy (SeD) is a theoretical model socioeconomic system wherein there exist both some form of Universal Guaranteed Personal Income (UGI) and some form of Maximum Allowable Personal Wealth (MAW), with both the lower bound on personal material poverty and the upper bound on personal material wealth set and adjusted democratically by all participants of society. More extensive definitions, descriptions, and discussions exist in numerous places, including the Encyclopedia of International Political Economy published by Routledge in 2001 (right in there with capitalism, socialism, libertarianism, communism, anarchism, and (other) mixed (up) economies). 2. Description of forthcoming book Socioeconomic Democracy: An Advanced Socioeconomic System. The book, scheduled to be published by Praeger/Greenwood in Spring 2002, discusses many aspect of SeD. The book should be of interest to (at least) all those who are seriously concerned about the multidimensional harm (to individuals, societies, cultures, and the planet at large) caused by the extreme systemic maldistribution of material wealth intra- and internationally, and who are convinced that this problem should and can only be resolved democratically and peacefully by an informed and thoughtful citizenry. The Table of Contents is as follows: PREFACE INTRODUCTION 1 SOCIOECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: THE THEORETICAL MODEL 2 UNIVERSAL GUARANTEED PERSONAL INCOME Definition of UGI Forms of UGI History of UGI Unresolved Dilemmas of UGI 3 MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE PERSONAL WEALTH Definition of MAW Abbreviated History Distribution and Taxation of Wealth Possibilities Class Warfare 4 DEMOCRACY Majority Rule Qualitative Democracy Quantitative Democracy 5 SOCIETAL VARIATIONS Limits on Both MAW and UGI Limit on MAW, No Limit on UGI Limit on UGI, No Limit on MAW No Limit on Either MAW or UGI 6 JUSTIFICATIONS Anthropological Philosophical Psychological Religious Human Rights 7 SOCIOECONOMIC DEMOCRACY AND ISLAM Prophet Muhammad Islami Economics 8 INCENTIVE AND SELF-INTEREST Incentive from MAW Incentive from UGI Work Ethic 9 PRACTICAL APPROXIMATIONS Approximations to UGI Approximations to MAW Approximations to Democracy 10 FINANCIAL BENEFITS AND COSTS No Bound on Either MAW or UGI Bound on MAW, No Bound on UGI Bound on UGI, No Bound on MAW Bounds on Both MAW and UGI 11 PHYSICAL REALIZABILITY, FEASIBILITY, AND IMPLEMENTATION Voting Procedure Administrative Technicalities Legal Technicalities Economic Analysis Political Considerations Is It Possible? 12 RAMIFICATIONS Automation, Computerization, and Robotization Budget Deficits and National Debts Bureaucracy Children Crime and Punishment Development Ecology, Environment, and Pollution Economic Theory, Sorry State Thereof Education Elderly Feminine Majority Inflation International Conflict Intranational Conflict Involuntary Employment Involuntary Unemployment Labor Strife and Strikes Medical and Health Care Military Metamorphosis Natural Disasters Planned Obsolescence Political Participation Poverty Racism Sexism Untamed Technology Welfare Conclusion APPENDIX: EXERCISES FOR THE INTERESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX The website of the Center for the Study of Democratic Societies (CSDS) at http://www.centersds.com further describes the book and presents a (not too) Brief Introduction to Socioeconomic Democracy. The site also proudly presents courageous comments about the book by Ikram Azam (PFI), Sohail Inayatullah (WFSF), Philippe Van Parijs (BIEN), Sam Pizzigati (Maximum Wage and Too Much), the late Robert Theobald (Futurist and so much more), and Arnoldo Ventura (Special Advisor on Science and Technology to PM of Jamaica), for which this writer will ever be, and humanity will eventually be, most grateful. 3. Book reviewers sought. It is this writer's belief that this planet desperately needs a new, improved, and fundamentally democratized economic system and he so suggests in the book. Therefore, we seek
A20 Anti-War March Endorsers
http://www.a20stopthewar.org/endorse.php
EuroAnger
[Max, does Lamy need your help picking the 'right' districts? Let me know and I'll sned you his address] The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com Europe's anger at U.S. reaches boiling point David S. Broder Thursday, March 28, 2002 ROME The United States has been fighting a war in Afghanistan. It has troops in the field in the Philippines and in Colombia. It is trying to mediate the bloody Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. The last thing it needs is a quarrel with Europe. But that is exactly what has developed, as I was repeatedly reminded during a brief stay here for an international conference. The immediate irritant is steel. The looming and larger point of conflict is Iraq. And the underlying complaint is that the Bush administration, whose leader had gained significantly in standing since my last trans-Atlantic trip 11 months ago, has reverted to an earlier and unsettling pattern of behavior. From the European perspective, Washington looks unpredictable, erratic and impulsive - all the things that jar the allies' nerves. It would be easy to dismiss European mutterings as the nattering of nervous Nellies. But when questioning comes not only from chronic critics such as the French but also from such friends as Germany and even Britain, it may behoove Washington to take heed. The Europeans are not without power, as they demonstrated last week with their response to President George W. Bush's surprise decision to impose tariffs as high as 30 percent on steel imports from Europe and Asia. Americans living here or visiting for the conference I attended were hard-pressed to explain the glaring contradiction between Bush's professed support for free trade and his action to protect declining steelmakers in such political swing states as Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It does not matter, because the Europeans are not interested in excuses. They are furious. And they are ready to fight back. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the European Union is planning to target Florida orange juice and Wisconsin-made motorcycles - hitting two states that were virtual ties in the last presidential election. Their target list also includes steel exports from Pennsylvania and West Virginia and textiles from the Republican political strongholds of North and South Carolina. By hitting electoral college battlegrounds and states with key Senate and House races in November, the Journal said, the EU will strike Bush where it could hurt the worst: at the ballot box. The steel tariff decision - denounced by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in candid private comments that quickly became public - looks more and more like one of the worst of the Bush presidency. But all this is minor compared to European angst about Iraq. The axis of evil section of the State of the Union address came as a shock to countries that had offered Washington strong support for the first phase of the post-Sept. 11 war on terrorism. The linkage of Iraq, Iran and North Korea made no sense to them, and subsequent assurances that Bush had no immediate intention to take military action against the last two simply heightened fears that he planned to bomb or invade Iraq. Americans are being asked: What has happened in the past few months that makes it so imperative to remove Saddam Hussein? Is there any evidence that Iraq was implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks? With whom do you plan to replace Saddam? And what will a war with Iraq mean for Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia? If removing Saddam is vital to America's national interest, how are the interests of the neighboring countries to be protected? The Europeans would like to hear answers to all these questions. And they would like to believe that Washington is interested in hearing from them. The lack of consultation is a chronic complaint, but rarely has it reached this level of anxiety. Some Europeans believe Bush is on a mission of personal revenge against Saddam, determined to finish the work his father left incomplete at the end of the Gulf War. That trivializes his purpose. But the mere fact that such suspicions are being voiced is a warning that the slide in European-American relations needs to be addressed.
Re: EuroAnger
So the US exports price deflation in steel to the EU which then re-exports it and the accompanying distress to E. Asia? The US with its currency and trade bloc vs. the European one. More of the same, though the rhetoric heats up. Charles Jannuzi
