Re: Heresy....
Name that film: "This ain't no movie, MFer" The point was to introduce discussion in counterposition to the hegemony/declining hegemony/euro vs dollar/emergence of global south crapola that is circulated ad nauseum by the "critiques," prognosticators, etc of the established order, and then recirculated by the "leftists" who feel all dressed up when wearing these hand- me-downs. Yes, let's indeed look at the economy, at the source of its predicament, at the decline in the rate of profit and its apparent recovery. Let's look at the source-- and that is no "profit squeeze" brought about by higher wages, particularly since unit costs of production during the 90s showed significant and sustained declines-- in everything from steel to semiconductors to soft-drinks to mining to oil production. Look at capacity and utilization rates and tell me if you see the basis for a sustained recovery. Not enough capacity has been destroyed-- YET. Some was destroyed in the bombing of Yugoslavia after the 97-98 decline in the rate of profit, and coupled with the jacking of oil prices, the bubble expanded for two more years. Some has been destroyed in Iraq, oil prices are back to $30 and the shadow of a bubble returns. But not enough has been destroyed, devalued, physically decimated, along with the living standards, the "social costs" of reproduction, to create a basis for anything more than more depreciation. As far as the election...and imaginary enemies, hypotheses-- well on 9/12, having congratulated myself on being absent-minded enough to have forgotten to attend the 9/11 9AM meeting with the Washington International Group on the 92 floor of the South Tower, I said the only thing surprising about the whole thing is that CNN didn't have a camera crew on every plane-- that it was a set up deal from jump street. That then was characterized as an paranoid conspiracy theory. Well paranoids have real enemies too. What do you think the next step, the unavoidable next step is for this clown cadre of capitalists if it looks like the electorate is going to exercise its power to choose polio instead of cancer? Look how much money the bourgeoisie have invested in Cheney's reelection. Look at the staggering payoff they reaped after 9/11. This isn't the 70s, the Beatles are not going to get back together, and the Congress isn't about to take step one in opposition to Cheney/Bush. Ergo, comparisons to Nixon are inapplicable. I don't care much to speculate on scenarios myself, I just threw that one out there hoping others would see the value in NOT discussing tactics, strategy, speculations regarding the 04 elections. dms
Re: Heresy....
The last place to seek refuge as this unfolds is in Nice. That's where the Marines will land in the first wave of the invasion of France. Gene Coyle Max B. Sawicky wrote: I saw that movie. Denzel Washington arrests Bruce Willis in the end, and everything goes back to normal. Subject: Re: Heresy Here's the scenario: 1. Police engage in violent assaults on demonstrators at GOP convention 2. Supposed terrorist plot to bomb convention is interdicted or successful 3. Iraq resistance increases. 4. Economy tanks, follows China into black hole. 5. Staged "terrorist" attack(s) on US on govt officials and offices. 6. National emergency declared. 7. Congress supports declaration. 8. Yours truly offers refuge and use of extra room in Nice, France apt. to one or two lucky people. Film at 11. dms
Re: Heresy....
In a message dated 12/29/03 9:34:42 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I saw that movie. Denzel Washington arrests Bruce Willisin the end, and everything goes back to normal. Comment Nope . . .Denzel plays the role of Alonzo in "Training Day" and screams "King Kong aint got nothing on me... 24/7 lock down . . .shoe program. " The black hole widens in China by a black hole by definition is not visible to the eye but because visible as expressed in something else. Agriculture. Not agriculture as produce but as a slowing of the conversion of agriculture producers into employed wage earners. This cannot be seen until it is made manifest as a distinct trend that can be charted and quantified. The year is 2007. How was this known? The crossing over from the periodic crisis of overproduction to the absoluteness of overproduction as the feature of the new era. How was this known? The new technological regime. What in the new technological regime revealed this? The falling rate of profit. What is the falling rate of profit? The radical decrease in the value embodied in commodities. What the hell is that? The proliferation of dollars stores filled with products from China. But I can afford the dollar store! Because the value of these products are falling faster than the price you are being paid for your labor power. Why should I care? Because chickens come home to roost. What the hell does that mean? That a lot of people wages are falling faster than yours. What? Denzel as Alonzo. "You bit*h mutherfu**er. 24/7 lock down. Pelican bay . . . shoe program." And the black hole widens but it cannot be seen with the eye but measured. Melvin P.
Re: Heresy....
"Max B. Sawicky" wrote: > > I saw that movie. Denzel Washington arrests Bruce Willis > in the end, and everything goes back to normal. > Very good. As I've said on a number of earlier occasions on several lists in critizing the dissolute use of the label "fascism," the danger of this sort of melodrama is that in fantasizing unreal threats it at least partly disables coherent resistence to quite unromantic authoritarianism which is always present in bourgeois democracies and can intensify painfully (Palmer Raids, internment of the Japanese, Truman [mislabelled McCarthy] Era, etc.). The elections will be held. They will not be stolen (any more than, e.g.,the Kennedy election was). The police will beat the shit out of people as they did in the 1870s an 1880s and 1890s and 1900s and 1910s and 1920s and 1930s and 1940s and 1950s and 1960s and 1970s and 1980s and 1990s. Men and women will be forced out of their jobs and have their lives ruined (as in the 1870s, 1880s.1990s). And so forth. The battle is an endless one as long as capitalism endures, and chasing after imaginary evils does not help. Carrol
Re: Heresy....
I saw that movie. Denzel Washington arrests Bruce Willis in the end, and everything goes back to normal. Subject: Re: Heresy > Here's the scenario: > > 1. Police engage in violent assaults on demonstrators at GOP convention > 2. Supposed terrorist plot to bomb convention is interdicted or successful > 3. Iraq resistance increases. > 4. Economy tanks, follows China into black hole. > 5. Staged "terrorist" attack(s) on US on govt officials and offices. > 6. National emergency declared. > 7. Congress supports declaration. > 8. Yours truly offers refuge and use of extra room in Nice, France apt. > to one or two lucky people. > > Film at 11. > > dms
Re: Heresy....
1 & 3 seem likely. But I wonder what we can gain from wild speculation. Anything can happen, but a powerful terrorist attack would assure Bush victory. Why cancel? I would rather that we discuss whether 4 will happpen before the election or if the economy will be on the upswing then. I liked the earlier story about outsourcing the congress to an Indian call center. On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 11:52:10AM -0500, DMS wrote: > Here's the scenario: > > 1. Police engage in violent assaults on demonstrators at GOP convention > 2. Supposed terrorist plot to bomb convention is interdicted or successful > 3. Iraq resistance increases. > 4. Economy tanks, follows China into black hole. > 5. Staged "terrorist" attack(s) on US on govt officials and offices. > 6. National emergency declared. > 7. Congress supports declaration. > 8. Yours truly offers refuge and use of extra room in Nice, France apt. > to one or two lucky people. > > Film at 11. > > dms -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Heresy....
Here's the scenario: 1. Police engage in violent assaults on demonstrators at GOP convention 2. Supposed terrorist plot to bomb convention is interdicted or successful 3. Iraq resistance increases. 4. Economy tanks, follows China into black hole. 5. Staged "terrorist" attack(s) on US on govt officials and offices. 6. National emergency declared. 7. Congress supports declaration. 8. Yours truly offers refuge and use of extra room in Nice, France apt. to one or two lucky people. Film at 11. dms
Re: Heresy....
Takes me back to when we thought Nixon would cancel the elections. mbs . . . 7. There will be no US presidential election in 2004. Happy New Year, Lock and loadand face front because it's coming head on. dms
Heresy....
is always in order. Here's some wood for the fire: 1. Dominant position of US in the world economy is NOT dependent on "dollar hegemony." 2. Invasion of Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with Iraq's adoption of the Euro as the currency for oil transactions. 3. Invasion of Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with the scarcity-- imagined, looming, anticipated, wished for-- of oil. No such scarcity exists 3. Euro and European Union as the successor to the dollar and the US is a "never happen," as we used to say, for many reasons, not the least of which is that there is no United Europe. 4. Chinese sales of US Treasury securities are not ominous turns of events for the US as the debt is dollar denominated and the purchases of oil will recycle the dollars into the larders the oil majors. 5. The emergence of the "global South" as an economic power is vastly overrated. The growth in South-South trade slowed during the second half of the 90s after the NIE currency crises and is hampererd by south-south tariffs and trade restrictions. 6. China is the mother of all bubbles with an economy so fragile, so lop-sided in development, so crumbling at its base-- agriculture, so riddled, no- determined- by overproduction that its sudden and rapid devaluation is a dead cinch lock in 2004. 7. There will be no US presidential election in 2004. Happy New Year, Lock and loadand face front because it's coming head on. dms
