RE: Re: Piracy?
>The editor of the new book on the Grateful Dead says that they owed much of >their popularity to bootleg tapes that spread the word about the band. That's referring to the tapes recorded at concerts, which they encouraged ... the good ol' hippie capitalists were as aggressive as anyone else in defending the copyright on their studio albums, and for that matter, on controlling the use of their copyrighted artwork. dd ___ Email Disclaimer This communication may contain confidential or privileged information and is for the attention of the named recipient only. It should not be passed on to any other person. Information relating to any company or security, is for information purposes only and should not be interpreted as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any security. The information on which this communication is based has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but we do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice. All e-mail messages, and associated attachments, are subject to interception and monitoring for lawful business purposes. (c) 2002 Cazenove Service Company or affiliates. Cazenove & Co. Ltd and Cazenove Fund Management Limited provide independent advice and are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and members of the London Stock Exchange. Cazenove Fund Management Jersey is a branch of Cazenove Fund Management Limited and is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Cazenove Investment Fund Management Limited, regulated by the Financial Services Authority and a member of IMA, promotes only its own products and services. ___
Re: Moussolini's Corporation
- Original Message - From: "Lisa Stolarski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Found this at this site > > http://cityhonors.buffalo.k12.ny.us/city/aca/hist/ibhist/ibhiststud/histlit. > html > > > > Under his new government policy, every economic activity in the country was > put under a government-appointed panel, called a corporation. > Representatives of management and labor, in each industry served on these > panels. All profits under the corporate state went to the government. The > Parliament became nothing more than a instrument for the corporations. > > > It seems that Moussolini's "corporation" was one that was created by the > state. > > Still unraveling this mystery. > > Lisa S. > >From one of James Boyle's recent exams: http://www.law.duke.edu/boylesite/exam98.htm 2.) "Furthermore, the realists understood, as had the classics, that the whole structure of the classical scheme depended upon the coherence of private law and the public/private distinction. Thus, the realists spent little time attacking the methodology of constitutional law and concentrated instead upon undermining the coherence of the key private-law categories that purported to define a sphere of pure autonomy. For example, Morris Cohen's Essay "Property and Sovereignty" pointed out that property is necessarily public not private. Property means the legally granted power to withhold from others. As such, it is created by the state and given its only content by legal decisions that limit or extend the property owner's power over others. Thus, property is really an (always conditional) delegation of sovereignty, and property law is simply a form of public law.. Realism had effectively undermined the fundamental premises of liberal legalism, particularly the crucial distinction between legislation (subjective exercise of will) and adjudication (objective exercise of reason.) Inescapably it had also suggested that the whole liberal worldview of (private) rights and (public) sovereignty mediated by the rule of law was only a mirage, a pretty fantasy that masked the reality of economic and political power. Since the realists, American jurists have dedicated themselves to the task of reconstruction" Discuss and criticize this quotation with reference to the history of American tort law, using examples drawn from either the development of the law of product liability or the law of causation.
Moussolini's Corporation
Found this at this site http://cityhonors.buffalo.k12.ny.us/city/aca/hist/ibhist/ibhiststud/histlit. html Under his new government policy, every economic activity in the country was put under a government-appointed panel, called a corporation. Representatives of management and labor, in each industry served on these panels. All profits under the corporate state went to the government. The Parliament became nothing more than a instrument for the corporations. It seems that Moussolini's "corporation" was one that was created by the state. Still unraveling this mystery. Lisa S.
Bush - Hitler Comment
Question: How relevant do you all think the Bush-Hitler comment was? I think that German Chancellor was right on...the "war on Iraq" is a strategically timed diversion from an ailing economy prior to an important election. Hitler was known for employing political diversions. Considering Saddam has been doing what he is doing for several years it makes sense that Bush and the republicans would want to exploit this issue for the benefit of the election. Can anybody give me a synopsis of the German economy prior to the invasion of the Sudatenland? I know it was bad and there was a huge war debt being paid by the German people. How did their economy then compare or contrast with our economy now? I think it is telling that the Germans might try to warn of us fascist or protofascist tactics used by the Bush administration. Who would know better the seductive appeal of fascist rhetoric? Logged on to a site which displays old German propoganda, their version of the invasion of the Sudatenland seems pretty reasonable. The Nazis, after all, declared they were liberating oppressed German people in Austria. Interestingly, Britain and France went along on the first conquest--they were willing to give up the Sudatenland to avoid stepping to the Germans and only opposed Hitler when he moved on Poland. Also, did any of you read about Bush's family's assets being frozen in 42 because they were trading with the enemy? Also, do any of you know anything about alleged Nazis coming to the US and joining the Republican Party in the late 40s and early 50s? I had checked this out some time ago and the sources seemed to be coming from a major French paper but I can't remember the name of it. I found several references to the Moussolini quote on the net but never did find the source. Still looking. Someone asked for the source of "Fascism should rightly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." If it is out there, eventually I will find it. Lisa S.
just what is imperialism in the 21st century
[with the goal of angering Ms Spears I pirated the following from Max's blog in the hopes we might have an amiable discussion of the topic given the event planed in DC and London this weekend.Max, be forwarned; I'll hire Michael and Justin as expert witnesses if we wind up in court..] http://maxspeak.org/gm/index.html TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF IMPERIALISM. Thinkers influencing the Bush Administration, if you'll pardon the oxymoron, are advocating a new imperialism, so I think it's o.k. for us to talk about it too. But what is it? On the simplest level, though I am no expert on Marx and Lenin, I suppose they understood imperialism as one more developed country using force in another to extract raw materials for a song, exploit cheap labor, and seize property. Or competing with other developed countries to do so. You believe what your eyes plainly see. Capital could be accumulated in such a setting. Alternatively, it might be accumulated in conditions more beneficial to the colony's inhabitants. In either case, it need not be accumulated by anyone in the colony's indigenous population. The U.S. runs a trade deficit. This means foreigners accumulate claims to U.S. dollar-denominated assets. So foreigners receiving pounds does not mean they are being exploited by the U.K. -- quite the opposite is more likely. You could say that by buying (consuming) more than it sells, the U.S. is exploiting the rest of the world, denying it capital. Alternatively, if the U.S. ran a trade surplus with, say, Indonesia (it may, for all I know), we could say Americans are accumulating ownership in Indonesian assets. That doesn't sound good either. So I would come back to the simplest issues as being the most important. What are the conditions of the working class and peasantry? What are they giving up in terms of labor, and what are they getting in return as income? What is the state of their wealth? What is happening to the public property of the indigenous population - so-called "natural capital"? The use of external force, in the form of special bodies of armed men, to impose negative consequences in these dimensions is what I would call imperialism. They might be wearing hats that say "United Nations," but the facts on the ground are what matter. Alternatively, the use of market power, especially in finance (i.e., creditors' or buyers' cartels, both private and 'public institutions'), to bring about those negative consequences I would also call a form of imperialism. All of this could be legal, but legal is beside the point. Sustainable human development is the object. That's what this week's festivities in Washington are about. A problem is that a bigger issue looms over the demonstrators' talking points: the escalating conflict in the Middle East and South Asia. Surely there is some important connection, but what? In the ancient 1960s there was a similar bifurcated issue focus. On one side there was the war in Southeast Asia. On the other the compelling matters of race and civil rights. Then too we tried to devise ways of relating these things. We didn't do very well. People took to forced systems of thought that borrowed (superficially, I would say) from Marx. Assorted conmen and con-women with experience in this lore persuaded a lot of young and inexperienced people to devote years of their lives to fruitless organizational activities. I want to stress that there were a lot of good people in every nook and cranny as well, and no lack of good intentions in general. Today all mobilizers for global justice have the challenge of considering how to connect their agenda to events that threaten to suck the oxygen out of every other conversation. We will succeed by eschewing conspiracism, dogma, and obscurantism, and by not hurrying. A well-formed idea can travel a long way. Bullshit disintegrates quickly. The absence of any credible military threat like "world communism" means that Americans with a superficially conservative political profile are interested in this topic as well. I don't expect they will all necessarily warm to the welfare state, but a skeptical view of the projection of U.S. power abroad on the Right is a force to be respected. Critics of globalization need to be flexible enough to devise alliances with libertarians against imperialism, empire, or whatever you'd like to call it, at the same time they maintain or create cooperation with the moderate left and center on welfare state/'good government' issues. In general, look twice before you unload on somebody. You might have something in common.
Re: News from Germany
On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Michael Perelman quotes Johannes saying: > I do not know whether this is common knowledge outside Germany, but the > German Greens are definitely to the right of the Social Democrats. This > is not just my opinion as a malevolent Marxist, but it is confirmed by > today's Financial Times. Johannes is of course right, this has long been completely accepted. But to be precise, where the Greens are clearly to the right of the Social Democrats is on economic and welfare state reform. They are to their left on foreigners, pacifism, and nuclear energy, although perhaps not by much anymore, except on the first. Basically the Greens have become the left version of the FDP, and vice versa. They've become the two center swing parties and together they arguably decided the election. Not because of who they would ally with, which seemed pretty given, but because of which of them people decided to vote for. The FDP seems to have been punished for its hints of anti-semitism and did much worse than expected. The Greens were clearly buoyed by their old identification as the anti-war party once Iraq became an issue; they did better than anyone had hoped. Had they both come in the way people had predicted, it would be the right forming a government now, and the FDP telling them it wanted more labor market reform. Michael
confront imf/wb in dc
>From the combined lists of globalizethis.org +++ please forward this important info! + QUARANTINE CORPORATE RULE WITH NON-VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION CONFRONT THE IMF/WB IN WASHINGTON DC SEPT 28-29, 2002 Stop the corporate greed epidemic! Info for affinity groups joining the Sept 28th Mass Action Greetings friends, colleagues, and fellow direct action organizers, We are planning large-scale, highly visible, festive actions to protest the IMF/World Bank meetings on Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30. We will take direct action to challenge the walls that shut out people here and around the world from participating in the decisions that impact our lives and communities. We will act to make our demands, and to engage more of civil society in the growing global discourse about corporate power versus justice, democracy and a sustainable future. Now is the time for people who believe in non-violent direct action to step forward and show the world that the global justice movement is more creative, powerful and alive then ever! In this post. 1. Schedule of events Sept 28th and 29th 2. Direct Action Scenario 3. Message 4. Visions for Action/Guidelines 5. Sunday Sept 29th - People's Assemblies 6. Convergence (Gathering and Trainings) 7. Affinity Groups 8. Legal/Jail Solidarity 9. Contact Us! Affinity Group check-in list CONTACT US TO COORDINATE! Check in line 202-299-1054, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.globalizethis.org DC WELCOME CENTERS : (please note - Mobilization for Global Justice and the Anti-Capitalist Convergence are separate groups focusing on different actions on different days. However we are working to coordinate to insure that activists can plug into both actions and maintain our solidarity. The welcome centers are quite close together and full materials about trainings, meetings and ongoing actions should be available in both centers.) Mobilization For Global Justice : Saint Stephen's Church 1525 Newton St. NW. On the corner of 16th and Newton. In the basement. Directions from Colombia Heights metro on the green line: Walk two blocks east on Irving to 16th St. Take a right on 16th and walk aprox. 5-6 blocks until you get to Newton. Church is on the right. Open Wed. 9/25 - Fri. 9/27 9am - 9:30 pm. Sat. 9/28 9am - 1pm For more info check out www.globalizethis.org Anti-Capitalist Convergence: Welcome Center at Case Del Pueblo in Calvary Methodist Church 1459 Colombia Rd NW METRO = Green line Colombia Heights Open Wed 25th - Saturday 28th 9 am - 10 pm 202-306-3636 For more info check out www.abolishthebank.org * #1. SCHEDULE SATURDAY SEPT 28TH - 11 am - Feeder rally/march(s) - currently only an AIDS march is scheduled 12 Noon - gather on ellipse rally/concert includes ECO-bloc/Earth march delegation and potentially other self-organizing contingents (see www.globalizethis.org for details) 2 pm - permitted march begins 4 pm - march returns to ellipse and rally/concert continues into the evening 4.30 - quarantine enforcement actions at the police perimeter. SUNDAY THE 29TH 11- 2pm - People's assemblies, Farragut Square (K and 17th NW) 2 pm - Globalize Peace March Don't forget - the World Bank/IMF will continue to meet all day Sunday. We encourage ongoing actions however MGJ is focusing our support infrastructure on Saturday. * #2. DIRECT ACTION SCENARIO At this point the WB has leaked that they will be putting up their usual significant perimeter of barricades. Our actions will be geographically focused around the perimeter. The perimeter will have to be opened up at certain intersections to let delegates and other personnel in/out. We may or may not know where these in/out zones will be until they are opened. If we do have prior knowledge of their locations, that information will be relayed to affinity groups at the action spokes council. The MGJ will be coordinating a communications team to direct people to the in/out zones as these zones may change. In/out zones will probably be the most arrest likely areas. People who don't want to be arrested can then be directed away. All affinity groups will be considered Truth Inoculation Squads who will present the truth to the delegates. (i.e. The truth about debt, the truth about structural adjustment, the truth about social and environmental devastation). Maybe we will do this with our very bodies, or with giant banners or puppets, or with something that you have thought of and we have not. Be creative. The MGJ has consensed upon two broad areas of action that we are proposing to the action spokes councils: 1) In keeping with the quarantine theme, folks can dress up in medical clothing and wrap (with hazard tape etc.) and decorate the barriers. We encourage people to engage in inoculation theatre around the perimeter. Bring Hazardous Materials Suits, face masks etc. 2) Occupy space with creative blockading actions. Some ideas . . . a soccer game, a hoola hoopin' troop, a dance party, a human chain, a marching
china; the political ecology of black carbon
- Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 2:10 PM Subject: BLACK CARBON CONTRIBUTES TO DROUGHTS AND FLOODS IN CHINA David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington September 26, 2002 (Phone: 202/358-1730) Robert J. Gutro Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. (Phone: 301/286-4044) Caroline Ladhani Columbia University, New York (Phone: 212/854-6581) RELEASE: 02-183 BLACK CARBON CONTRIBUTES TO DROUGHTS AND FLOODS IN CHINA A new NASA climate study has found large amounts of black carbon (soot) particles and other pollutants are causing changes in precipitation and temperatures over China and may be at least partially responsible for the tendency toward increased floods and droughts in those regions over the last several decades. In a paper appearing in the September 27 issue of SCIENCE, Surabi Menon of NASA and Columbia University, New York, and her colleague, James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, indicate black carbon can affect regional climate by absorbing sunlight, heating the air and thereby altering large-scale atmospheric circulation and the hydrologic cycle. Using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies climate computer model and aerosol data from 46 ground stations in China, Menon and Hansen conducted four sets of computer simulations to monitor the effects of black carbon on the hydrologic cycle over China and India. The aerosol data from the Chinese ground stations were provided by Yunfeng Luo, a co-author on the study from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the four numerical simulations, Menon and Hansen isolated specific factors such as sea surface temperature, other greenhouse gases and aerosols, and analyzed whether changes in those factors would be responsible for hydrologic cycle changes. Out of the four scenarios, the effect of increased amounts of soot (over southern China) created a clear tendency toward the flooding scenario that has been occurring in southern China and the increasing drought over northern China that has persisted over the last several years "If our interpretation is correct, then reducing the amount of black carbon or soot may help diminish the intensity of floods in the south and droughts in the northern areas of China, in addition to having human health benefits," Hansen said. Currently research is being conducted to verify a similar pattern over India. Black carbon or soot is generated from industrial pollution, traffic, outdoor fires and household burning of coal and biomass fuels. Soot is a product of incomplete combustion especially of coal, diesel fuels, biofuels and outdoor biomass burning. Emissions are large in China and India because cooking and heating are done with wood, field residue, cow dung, and coal, at a low temperature that does not allow for complete combustion. These resulting soot particles absorb sunlight, just as dark pavement becomes hotter than light pavement in the summertime. When soot absorbs sunlight it heats the air and reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. The heated air makes the atmosphere more unstable, creating rising air (convection), which forms clouds and brings rainfall to regions that are heavily polluted. The increase of rising air in southern China is balanced by an increase of sinking air (subsidence) and drying in northern China. When air sinks, clouds and thus, rain cannot form, creating dry conditions. For example, deserts are places where subsidence occurs. In recent years, northern China has suffered from an increased severity of dust storms, while southern China has had increased rainfall that is thought to be the largest change in precipitation trends since the year 950. Menon and Hansen believe that human-made sunlight-absorbing aerosols may be responsible. This research continues long-term observations of global climate change and was funded by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise and the National Science Foundation. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is dedicated to helping us to better understand and protect our home planet. For more information and images, see: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020822blackcarbon.html -end- * * * NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], leave the subject blank, and type only "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message.
test
Re: Re: Piracy?
"The Internet Debacle," by Janis Ian http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html When I research an article, I normally send 30 or so emails to friends and acquaintances asking for opinions and anecdotes. I usually receive 10-20 in reply. But not so on this subject! I sent 36 emails requesting opinions and facts on free music downloading from the Net. I stated that I planned to adopt the viewpoint of devil's advocate: free Internet downloads are good for the music industry and its artists. I've received, to date, over 300 replies, every single one from someone legitimately "in the music business." What's more interesting than the emails are the phone calls. I don't know anyone at NARAS (home of the Grammy Awards), and I know Hilary Rosen (head of rhe Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA) only vaguely. Yet within 24 hours of sending my original email, I'd received two messages from Rosen and four from NARAS requesting that I call to "discuss the article." Huh. Didn't know I was that widely read. Ms. Rosen, to be fair, stressed that she was only interested in presenting RIAA's side of the issue, and was kind enough to send me a fair amount of statistics and documentation, including a number of focus group studies RIAA had run on the matter. However, the problem with focus groups is the same problem anthropologists have when studying peoples in the field - the moment the anthropologist's presence is known, everything changes. Hundreds of scientific studies have shown that any experimental group wants to please the examiner. For focus groups, this is particularly true. Coffee and donuts are the least of the pay-offs. The NARAS people were a bit more pushy. They told me downloads were "destroying sales", "ruining the music industry", and "costing you money". Costing me money? I don't pretend to be an expert on intellectual property law, but I do know one thing. If a music industry executive claims I should agree with their agenda because it will make me more money, I put my hand on my wallet.and check it after they leave, just to make sure nothing's missing. Am I suspicious of all this hysteria? You bet. Do I think the issue has been badly handled? Absolutely. Am I concerned about losing friends, opportunities, my 10th Grammy nomination by publishing this article? Yeah. I am. But sometimes things are just wrong, and when they're that wrong, they have to be addressed. The premise of all this ballyhoo is that the industry (and its artists) are being harmed by free downloading. Nonsense. Let's take it from my personal experience. My site (www.janisian.com ) gets an average of 75,000 hits a year. Not bad for someone whose last hit record was in 1975. When Napster was running full-tilt, we received about 100 hits a month from people who'd downloaded Society's Child or At Seventeen for free, then decided they wanted more information. Of those 100 people (and these are only the ones who let us know how they'd found the site), 15 bought CDs. Not huge sales, right? No record company is interested in 180 extra sales a year. But. that translates into $2700, which is a lot of money in my book. And that doesn't include the ones who bought the CDs in stores, or who came to my shows. Or take author Mercedes Lackey, who occupies entire shelves in stores and libraries. As she said herself: "For the past ten years, my three "Arrows" books, which were published by DAW about 15 years ago, have been generating a nice, steady royalty check per pay-period each. A reasonable amount, for fifteen-year-old books. However... I just got the first half of my DAW royalties...And suddenly, out of nowhere, each Arrows book has paid me three times the normal amount!...And because those books have never been out of print, and have always been promoted along with the rest of the backlist, the only significant change during that pay-period was something that happened over at Baen, one of my other publishers. That was when I had my co-author Eric Flint put the first of my Baen books on the Baen Free Library site. Because I have significantly more books with DAW than with Baen, the increases showed up at DAW first. There's an increase in all of the books on that statement, actually, and what it looks like is what I'd expect to happen if a steady line of people who'd never read my stuff encountered it on the Free Library - a certain percentage of them liked it, and started to work through my backlist, beginning with the earliest books published. The really interesting thing is, of course, that these aren't Baen books, they're DAW---another publisher---so it's 'name loyalty' rather than 'brand loyalty.' I'll tell you what, I'm sold. Free works." I've found that to be true myself; every time we make a few songs available on my website, sales of all the CDs go up. A lot. And I don't know about you, but as an artist with an in-print record catalogue that dates back to 1965, I'd be thrilled to see sales on my old ca
Re: Piracy?
The editor of the new book on the Grateful Dead says that they owed much of their popularity to bootleg tapes that spread the word about the band. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE REQUEST
Dear Friend, You may be surprised to receive this letter from me, since you do not know me personally. I am DUMEN MOMOH, the son of NDIATA MOMOH, the most popular black farmer in Zimbabwe. He was recently murdered in the land dispute in my country. I got your contact through network online hence decided to write you. Before the death of my father, he had taken me to Johannesburg to deposit the sum of US8.5 million (Eight million, Five Hundred United States dollars), in one of the security company, as he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe. This fund was deposited in a box as gemstones for concealment and to avoid much demurrage from the Security Company. This land problem came when Zimbabwean President, Mr. Robert Mugabe introduced a new land Act Reform wholly affecting the rich white farmers and some few rich black farmers who are opposed to him and this resulted to the killing and mob action by Zimbabwean war veterans and some lunatics in the society. In fact, a lot of people were killed because of this Land reform Act for which my father was one of the victims. The problem is yet unresolved as some white farmers who could not quit are being arrested by the government. It is against this background that my family and I fled Zimbabwe for fear of our lives of which i am currently staying in the Netherlands seeking political asylum . Moreover,I have decided to transfer my father's money to a more reliable foreign account WHERE IT WILL BE SAFE AND SECURE AND NOT TRACED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF ZIMBABWE. Since the law of Netherlands prohibits a refugee (asylum seeker) to have such amount of money in any bank account or to be involved in any financial transaction of such magnitude throughout the territorial zone of Netherlands,I am seeking a partner, who I have to entrust my future and that of my family in his hands. I must let you know that this transaction is risk free If you accept to assist me. All I want you to do for me is to make an arrangement with the security company to clear the consignment (funds) from their affiliate office here in the Netherlands. I have already given directives for the consignment to be brought from South Africa to The Netherlands. All modalities will have to be put in place like change of ownership of the consignment in your name as the empowered sole beneficiary so that you can be contacted by the security company and clear the consignment on my behalf. I have two reward options for you. Firstly, I can give you a certain percentage preferably 20(percent)of the funds for your role in clearing the consignment and ensuring that the fund is transferred into an account which you have control over. Secondly,you can go into partnership with me for the proper profitable investment of the funds in your country. Whichever option you want, feel free to notify me. I have also mapped out 5( five percent) of this money for all kinds of expenses incurred by you to defray them at the successful completion of this transaction. You may reply me by giving me your telephone and fax numbers so that i will send to you all the necessary documents once you have decided and willing to help while maintaining the absolute secrecy required in this transaction. Thank You. Yours sincerely, Dimen Momoh __ Check out all the latest outrageous email attachments on the Outrageous Email Chart! - http://viral.lycos.co.uk
fwiw
maybe 2 word telegrams to his fraudulency would be better: no war Dear Friends and Colleagues: With war against Iraq looming, this is the right time to call President Bush and express your view. Please take a moment now and call the Whitehouse: Call: 202-456- (9AM-5PM). Be sure you say clearly whether you oppose or support going to war. Please, don't wait. Time is running out. Call and tell him today. To promote democracy in this all important decision of war and peace, please send this message to friends and/or lists you have, as seems appropriate. Sincerely, Tom De Luca
Piracy?
NY Times, Sept. 26, 2002 ADVERTISING Artists Fight Music File-Sharing By LAURA M. HOLSON WHEN it comes to musical styles, Britney Spears, Luciano Pavarotti and Sean Combs, lately known as P. Diddy, do not appear to have much in common. But in a series of advertisements that begin running today (http://www.musicunited.org), they are joining with 86 other recording artists to speak out against unauthorized music file-sharing, claiming it threatens the livelihood of everyone from recording artists and writers to sound engineers and record-store clerks. "Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD?" asks Ms. Spears in one commercial to be shown in coming weeks. "It's the exact same thing, so why do it?" In a print ad, Shakira, the hip-swiveling Latin pop star, urges the public to just "Say no to piracy." And Mr. Combs in a statement released by the Recording Industry Association of America, which is largely financing the multimillion-dollar campaign pleads with consumers to "Put yourself in our shoes!" The new campaign, which officially runs under the auspices of a coalition of music professionals called Music United for Strong Internet Copyright, was developed by Amster Yard, a division of the IPG Sports and Entertainment Group, which also represents the Recording Industry Association of America. It comes at a difficult time for the recording industry. Sales of CD's fell nearly 7 percent during the first half of this year, largely, the industry claims, because of Internet piracy and file-sharing. The campaign breaks the same day as the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property begins hearings on piracy and the Internet. The recording industry has long been criticized for failing to assuage disillusioned consumers who want cheaper and more accessible music over the Internet. The Department of Justice, meanwhile, is investigating whether the paid on-line music sites developed by the record labels violate antitrust provisions by hampering smaller competitors. The recording industry, too, has been criticized by artist rights groups, who complain that the industry's accounting rules favor the labels and that the standard seven-year recording contract is akin to indentured servitude. On Tuesday, in fact, representatives of the Recording Artists Coalition, which include the former Eagles singer Don Henley who is not included in the new campaign, were at a California State Senate hearing testifying about the industry's accounting practices. But mutual interests have brought them together for this campaign against file-swapping. What will be interesting to watch, industry executives say, is whether consumers are alienated by a campaign that speaks of the travails of wealthy artists like Mr. Combs, who has some fans who are hard pressed to afford not only his shoes but also the suits and jackets he sells under his Sean John clothing line. "This is not a campaign created to engender sympathy," said Hilary Rosen, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America. "We are saying there is a significant problem and it is affecting us and it is illegal." David Munns, the vice chairman of EMI Recorded Music, added, "There is a whole generation of people that don't know illegally swapping files is stealing." Not everyone agrees that the most pressing problem facing the industry is theft. In a study released yesterday by KPMG, the tax and financial accounting firm, media companies were chided for spending too much time combating pirates instead of tackling the more difficult issue of finding new ways to profit by distributing music and movies online. And other critics say that the industry's poor performance in finding new artists that appeal to consumers is more responsible for the malaise than any threat from the Internet. === salon.com 6/14/2000 Courtney Love does the math The controversial singer takes on record label profits, Napster and "sucka VCs." Editor's note: This is an unedited transcript of Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference, given in New York on May 16. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Courtney Love June 14, 2000 | Today I want to talk about piracy and music. What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist's work without any intention of paying for it. I'm not talking about Napster-type software. I'm talking about major label recording contracts. I want to start with a story about rock bands and record companies, and do some recording-contract math: This story is about a bidding-war band that gets a huge deal with a 20 percent royalty rate and a million-dollar advance. (No bidding-war band ever got a 20 percent royalty, but whatever.) This is my "funny" math based on some reality and I just want to qualify it by saying I'm positive it's better math than what Edgar Bronfman Jr. [the president and CEO of Seagram, which owns Pol
News from Germany
I stole this from Lou's Marxism list. I do not know whether this is common knowledge outside Germany, but the German Greens are definitely to the right of the Social Democrats. This is not just my opinion as a malevolent Marxist, but it is confirmed by today's Financial Times (see below). Johannes East Germans and Greens likely to secure gains By Haig Simonian and Hugh Williamson in Berlin Published: September 26 2002 5:00 | Last Updated: September 26 2002 5:00 [...] The Greens have indicated they expect to play an enhanced role in government after their strong election result. [...] Ahead of Wednesday's talks, the Greens urged the SPD to endorse more business-friendly reforms to the rigid labour market, signalling that the government's plans to reduce unemployment could be a stumbling block. Christine Scheel, the Greens' finance expert, said proposals to encourage the creation of low-income "mini-jobs" should be made more attractive to companies - a stance opposed by trade unions and sections of the Social Democrats. Full article http://makeashorterlink.com/?N27352BE1 -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
CEPR: Paying the Bills in Brazil: Does the IMF's Math Add Up?
September 25, 2002 Center for Economic and Policy Research Paying the Bills in Brazil: Does the IMF's Math Add Up? By Mark Weisbrot and Dean Baker Executive Summary (full paper is at www.cepr.net) The IMF has recently approved a $30 billion loan to Brazil, with the idea that the government should eventually be able to stabilize its growing public debt burden at a sustainable level. This paper looks at the trajectory of the country's debt to assess whether such an outcome is likely. The evidence indicates that Brazil is extremely unlikely to reach a sustainable level of debt service, and return to a normal growth path, until a partial default has allowed the country to write off some of its debt. Brazil's public debt rose from 29.2 percent of GDP in 1994 to nearly 62 percent of GDP at present. (See Figure 1). The budget deficit is currently running at about 6 percent of GDP for 2002. The real interest rate on Brazil's debt has averaged 16.1 percent over the last eight years (1994-2001). With interest rates at this level, deficits quickly grow through time; as this year's deficit increases next year's interest burden, the debt burden becomes explosive. The paper examines several possible scenarios for Brazil's debt (see Figure 2): ·Assuming a 16.1 percent annual real interest rate for the future, the same as its average over the last eight years: This scenario is explosive, with the debt-to-GDP ratio quickly reaching implausible levels.[2] By 2009, the debt is projected to exceed 100 percent of GDP. It would be more than 188 percent of GDP by 2016. Of course these levels would not be reached; along this path, financial markets would demand ever higher risk premiums, which would raise the interest rate to higher levels yet, and default would cut short the process of accelerating debt accumulation. ·The implicit real interest on the public debt for the first six months of 2002 was 15.5 percent, or 33.5 percent at an annual rate. If we take an extremely conservative estimate for the 2nd half of the year, and project an annual rate of 21.0 percent for the year 2002, the debt is rapidly explosive. If we assume annual interest rates at the (underestimated) 21.0 percent rate for 2002, the ratio of debt-to-GDP would reach more than 100 percent in 2007. By 2012, the ratio of debt-to-GDP would pass 200 percent. On this path, which may best represent Brazil's current situation, the financial markets will very quickly give up hope that Brazil will be able to repay its debt in full. ·Assuming, as an optimistic scenario, that the real interest rate falls to 10 percent over the next two and a half years and stays at this level (real rates this low were achieved only once in the last eight years): the debt-to-GDP ratio will still rise to extremely high levels. By the end of 2010 it would reach almost 80 percent of GDP. By 2016, it would have grown to almost 90 percent of GDP. As in the other scenarios, these projections assume that the interest rate does not rise, even though the debt-to-GDP ratio grows substantially. This is almost impossibly optimistic, as investors would surely become increasingly concerned about the probability of default as the debt-to-GDP ratio continued to rise. The paper also considers the possibility of stabilizing the debt-to-GDP ratio by running larger primary budget surpluses (see Figure 3). This would require such huge primary budget surpluses that it would not be potentially achievable. There is also the possibility that the central bank could switch to a much lower short-term interest rate policy -- the nominal rate is currently still high at 18 percent -- and thereby eventually lower the interest burden of the debt. This would be difficult for a number of reasons, including the exchange rate risk, and the risk of default -- which is difficult to reverse now that the debt-to-GDP ratio is so high. But in any case, a trajectory that includes a new central bank policy with much lower short-term interest rates is not on the agenda, and is definitely not part of the IMF's current loan agreement. Therefore the projections included in this paper would cover the range of possibilities that could be expected if Brazil continues its current policies. On the basis of current policies, as well as past and present economic data, a scenario under which Brazil's debt burden stabilizes at a sustainable level would have to be regarded as an extremely low-probability event. It would depend on Brazil's economic and fiscal policy meeting targets that could not be regarded as plausible, and/or a world in which international financial markets behaved very differently than they have in the past. If the IMF cannot produce a credible intermediate or long-range projection under which Brazil could stabilize its debt service at a sustainable level, then the purpose of this $30 billion loan agreement is questionable.
incompetence
[Financial Times] Gerard Baker: A gathering of incompetents By Gerry Baker Published: September 25 2002 20:03 | Last Updated: September 25 2002 20:03 There are many reasons to question the judgment of the protesters who will try to disrupt the International Monetary Fund/World Bank/Group of Seven meetings this weekend. But the most important is that they seem to be operating under the sorry delusion that the people gathering in Washington have the inclination, let alone the ability, to control global economic activity. The real reason concerned citizens should be taking to the streets this weekend is not that the world's leading economic policymakers have wicked designs on the globe. It is, rather, that with growth chugging to a halt, financial markets plumbing depths that have not been seen in six years and business and consumer confidence ebbing visibly, they are demonstrating that they do not really have much in the way of a design at all. Too much can be expected of policymakers, of course. In the end, the grand schemes of even the most powerful officials are rarely a match for the billions of individual market decisions made every day. But in times of trouble, good policy can help at the margin; bad policy can hurt more. And a brief tour of the policy performance and outlook in the G7 is dispiriting. If this is the committee to save the world, the world had better start clambering down the precipice. In descending order of incompetence, let us start with Japan. You have to hand it to the Japanese. Every time it seems that policy in that blighted country cannot get any worse, it promptly does so. Last week, the Bank of Japan announced its latest cunning plan to pull the economy out of a decade-long slump. It would buy equities off the balance sheets of banks faced with a dwindling capital base from the continuing agony in Japanese stock markets. The plan never looked likely to get off the ground; far from tackling the central problem of the banks' bad loans, it offered yet another way for banks to avoid dealing with the issue. And the damage it could do to the central bank's own balance sheet was eye-watering. Sure enough, as this paper reported yesterday, the BoJ is now suggesting that the plan was not really a serious proposal at all, merely a bit of shock therapy to force the government to take aggressive action on the bad loan problem. In other words, having spent 10 years rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic, policymakers in the world's second largest economy are now reduced to bickering, as the iceberg heaves into view, about which direction the chairs should face and who should put them there. Then there is Europe. Gerhard Schröder certainly played the anti-American card to secure a come-from-behind win in the German elections and it is understandable that American officials are upset. But the Bush administration's angst over Mr Schröder's rhetoric misses the point. The real cause for concern is that the re-election of Mr Schröder almost certainly condemns Germany to yet more years of rigid labour markets, a stifling regulatory environment, long-term fiscal horrors and economic stagnation. This is not to say Edmund Stoiber would have represented a radical change; in most respects the Christian Democrats' policies offered no better fix for German ills than the Social Democrats. But the sobering point is that the vote represented a popular reaffirmation of the status quo in a country that is rapidly becoming the Japan of Europe. Costive conditions in Europe's largest economy might not matter too much to the world if European fiscal and monetary policy were providing some lubrication. But European Union's stability and growth pact, originally far too inflexible, is now breaking down in an inchoate way. Meanwhile the European Central Bank remains determined to fight the last war. As European growth spirals lower, the ECB continues to preoccupy itself with the risks of inflation (remember inflation? It was big in the 1970s and 1980s). That brings us to the US. To be fair, policymakers in Washington have been more aggressive in their use of policy to restart the stalled economy. That is especially true on the monetary front; the fiscal stimulus of last year was, at best, a happy accident. But the credibility of America's economic leaders is under challenge in a way we have not seen for years. Paul O'Neill's accident-prone journeys through the thickets of international markets have not helped build confidence in US policy. And at the Federal Reserve, the once-untarnished reputation of Alan Greenspan is starting to look a little frayed. His recent defensiveness about Fed policy during the late-1990s stock market excesses - and continuing uncertainty about whether even aggressive monetary stimulus can jump-start a post-bubble economy - have rendered judgments about his effectiveness necessarily conditional. Even if US credibility can be restored, the efforts of economic policymak
Re: RE: Heroin supplies increase
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/2282617.stm - Original Message - From: "Max B. Sawicky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 5:54 AM Subject: [PEN-L:30576] RE: Heroin supplies increase > I'd appreciate a link(s) for this, if available. > > thanks, > max > > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Chris Burford > Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 4:12 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:30574] Heroin supplies increase >
RE: Heroin supplies increase
I'd appreciate a link(s) for this, if available. thanks, max -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Chris Burford Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 4:12 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:30574] Heroin supplies increase
RE: Re: Re: Singapore
Singapore also has substantial government ownership of industry - Government-linked companies, according to the WTO's March 2000 Trade Policy Review of Singapore [sorry to quote such a source!], "some of which are the largest in Singapore ... account for around 25% of the market capitalization of the Stock Exchange of Singapore". It has a strong strategic investment policy, the government aiming to encourage high value-added manufacturing and services. Neither are things as "free-market" as they are sometimes made out to be. There's a bit more about this in a paper I put together regarding New Zealand's FTA with Singapore (now signed) - see http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Trade/i ndex.html Though I think Lee Kwan Yew started off life as a socialist, that is long gone and the picture I get (without having Anthony's direct knowledge) is consistent with Anthony's - authoritarian state capitalism which has been very successful in raising living standards. Bill > -Original Message- > From: Anthony D'Costa [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, 26 September 2002 17:12 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:30571] Re: Re: Singapore > > Let me see how best to respond to these issues. My remarks off the > cuff are inserted below: Cheers, Anthony > > xx > x > Anthony P. D'Costa, Associate Professor > Comparative International Development > University of Washington Campus Box 358436 > 1900 Commerce Street > Tacoma, WA 98402, USA > > Phone: (253) 692-4462 > Fax : (253) 692-5718 > xx > x > > On Wed, 25 Sep 2002, Paul Phillips wrote: > > > This query was put to me by a colleague and former pen-l-er. > > Anybody familiar enough with Singapore to suggest an answer for > > this student? > > > > Paul Phillips > > Economics, > > University of Manitoba > > > > >> >Professor Vorst, > > > > >> > I am particularly interested in the last part of your > lecture > > >> >today, where you were comparing the economics of smaller countries > to > > >> >larger countries with regards to their imports/exports. I am very > > >> >interested in the idea that a very small country, like Singapore, > which > > >> >imports most, if not all of their needs for maintaining life. Yet > it is a > > >> >thriving, wealthy country. > > Singapore is a wealthy country by most economic measures. It is a > city state having been kicked out by Mahathir's Malaysia in 1967 > or 1969. S'pore is largely Chinese (80+%), mostly from the coastal > regions of China, some by marrying local Malays became Peranakans. They > are culturally unique having a mix of both Chinse and Malay, not to > mention their cuisine called nonya. So ethnic Malays comprise close to > 20% and a small percentage of ethnic Indians, mainly Tamils from the > southern state of Tamil Nadu, a good number of them being Muslims. > > Lee Kuang Yew was a clever man. Despite rising from a labor group he > essentially marginalized them on precisely because he was aware of > Singapore's vulnerability. Trained in cambridge UK (I believe) where he > must have had tough time given his basic dislike of liberalism. S'pore > was already an entrepot port, importing for processing before exporting. > S'pore's export stats are often over 100% because of this double-counting. > >From some fishing and ship repair activities, LKY jumped into the > bandwagon of MNC based exports plus the usual subcontracted out work based > on > low wages (the new international div of labor argument) as it no natural > resources to speak except if it can called that good deep water port > facilities. But in order to provide a stable environment for FDI, LKY had > a social policy that essentially recognized the importance of inter-ethnic > balance. Mind you the Chinese are dominant in every way but LKY ensured > that the other two minorities were not left behind. So there has been > almost an unwritten policy of quotas (not liberal at all),where a % of > the three ethnic communities are represented proportionately in govt, > univs, etc. > > LKY also believed in meritocracy and bureaucracy (I can vouch for its > effectiveness, given that I had to deal with immigration (the INS here is > a shame)). LKY later appropriated Confucianism, justifying the > hiererchical nature of government, the power of the state over civil > society, believed in engineering society through economic incentives and > penalties, but really relied on a legal system borrowed from England but > implemented with an Asian falvor (flogging is real). S'pore is also known > as "fine" city. > > In terms of policy S'pore followed the free trade route but by making > best use of what it had, port facilities and its people. But there is a > twist to all this it ensured free trade would work in its favor by >
Heroin supplies increase
Since the liberation of Aghanistan from the fundamentalist Taliban regime, the BBC reports that the supply of heroin has increased by 1400%. Most of this goes to western Europe. The advantage of this is that the proletarian youth of England will be more likely to become dependent on heroin than crack cocaine, and this is less associated with violence. But there could be dangers of fatal overdoses if users suddenly get supplies of much greater potency for the same price, in a poorly regulated market. Really the unintended consequences of liberal economics and politics are rather poorly analysed. Chris Burford London
