Re: [PEN-L] takings/regulation/eminent domain/externalities
-Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charles Brown Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 8:04 AM In no way do I intend this comment to endorse Epstein or the Federalist Society theories on Takings, but there is an odd twist on this topic in a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision ( the majority of the Michigan Supreme Court are Federalist Society members). The articles copied below give the bigger picture, but in a word, the facts of this case were actually not so bad from a class standpoint. The Poletown case from 1981 ( which was overruled by the 2004 decision) allowed eminent domain to be used to take little property owners' property to give it to a big property owner, General Motors. So, the more recent case, not involving General Motors, overruled taking private property for other _private_ owners. This is , of course, not the worst potential under the Epstein/Federalist Society theories. It put some real teeth back in the public purpose dimension of eminent domain. Along with Michael, I fear that other applications of Federalist Society reasoning on this may have bad class implications. Charles - Of course, there is the Repugs preferred method of takings which is far tougher to deal with: http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=539sid=200 News Release How George W. Bush Scored Big With the Texas Rangers By Charles Lewis and the Center for Public Integrity WASHINGTON, January 18, 2000 - When George W. Bush first embarked on a deal to buy the Texas Rangers professional baseball team in 1988, he already had his eye on the governor's mansion in Austin. But he knew that to have a shot at winning, he would need better credentials than a string of unsuccessful oil companies and a failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1989 he told Time magazine, My biggest liability in Texas is the question, 'What's the boy ever done?' He could be riding on Daddy's name. But his father's connections were instrumental in helping Bush overcome that perception. Back in 1973, when the senior George Bush was the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Bush befriended one of father's assistants, Karl Rove. Rove cut his teeth alongside the senior Bush's chief political strategist, Lee Atwater. Rove would become George W.'s own Atwater, helping to run his 1978 bid for Congress and laying the groundwork for his 1994 run for governor. As the Rangers deal got under way, Rove told Bush that baseball was his ticket to the big time. It gives him . . . exposure and gives him something that will be easily recalled by people, Rove said. Rove's calculation turned out to be right on the money. It all began in fall of 1988, when William O. DeWitt Jr., Bush's partner in a Texas oil-and-gas exploration company called Spectrum 7, called to let him know that Eddie Chiles, the owner of the Texas Rangers, was looking for a buyer. Ueberroth Presses for Deal Chiles, a family friend who called Bush Young Pup when he was a kid, was eager to sell to Bush. And so Bush and DeWitt quickly assembled a team of investors. They hit a snag when Peter Ueberroth, then commissioner of Major League Baseball, told them he wouldn't approve the sale without more investors from Texas. Ueberroth believed that local owners would be less likely to relocate the team. The commissioner, a GOP donor himself, wanted the deal approved before his term expired at the end of 1989, and so he and then-American League president Bobby Brown took it on themselves to line up Fort Worth financier Richard E. Rainwater. Rainwater and Bush weren't exactly strangers. Rainwater was a contributor to his father's presidential campaigns and, later, an overnight guest in the Bush White House. Until 1986, he was the chief money manager for the Bass brothers, Fort Worth billionaires who financed drilling in Bahrain by the Harken Energy Corp., a company that in 1986 had bought out Spectrum 7, one of Bush's oil companies. By 1988, Rainwater was managing his own fortune. He agreed to put money in the Rangers, but only if his trusted associate, Edward Rusty Rose, was installed as general managing partner along with Bush. With this arrangement in place, Bush and his partners bought the team from Chiles on April 21, 1989, for $86 million. To scrape together his $500,000 stake in the Rangers, Bush borrowed the money from a bank in Midland where he once was a director. He owned 1.8 percent of the Rangers. (He later invested an additional $106,302). Bush made up for his minor stake by taking more than his share of credit for bringing the owners together. I wasn't going to let this deal fail, he said last year. I wanted to put together the group. I was tenacious. Others close to the deal paint a different picture. George W. Bush deserves great credit for the development of the franchise, Ueberroth said. However, the bringing together of the buying group was the result
Re: [PEN-L] Query
Michael Pollak wrote: On Mon, 14 Feb 2005, Doug Henwood wrote: Real hourly earnings for all private sector workers: Jan 73 (high) to May 95 (low):-18.1% May 95 to Nov 03 (latest high): + 9.9% Nov 03 through Jan 05 (latest): - 1.0% latest vs Jan 73 peak:-10,8% BTW, going back to these original totals, 3 questions: 1) What's the figure for the Jan 73 high through the Nov 03? (As a peak to peak measurement, that would be the most legitimate long-term measure, right?) Well, if something declines 18.1%, then rises 9.9%, it ends up at 90% of its initial value. So, off 10%. 2) Are these changes in the median or the average? (I was wondering if that was another difference between this BLS measure and the Soc Security meausure, on top of the fact that that latter included an additional quintile.) Both are means, not medians. 3) What's the difference between the median and average wage now, out of curiousity? It's not reported regularly. Household mean income is usually about 33% higher than median. Doug
[PEN-L] Cuban independent libraries
NY Times, February 22, 2005 A Cuban Revolution, in Reading By DAVID GONZALEZ With all the shirts adorned with the solemn face of the Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara being sold in the city's souvenir shops, one would think he had once adopted New York and not Cuba as his home. That thought - not to mention that face - puzzles some Latins in Manhattan whose families had no choice but to leave Havana after the Cuban revolution. More than 45 years later, these exiles are still here, Fidel Castro is still there, and Che is all over as fashion statement. But a group of these Cuban-Americans - whose politics range from liberal to conservative - decided to make their own statement. At the beginning of this year, members of the Cuban Cultural Center, an arts group that usually sponsors exhibitions and concerts, adopted an independent library in Cuba. They chose one in Las Tunas, Cuba, the Felix Varela Independent Library, which is named for a Cuban priest famous for his work for immigrants and the Roman Catholic church in Lower Manhattan in the 1800's. The library itself, like some 100 others that have been founded since 1998, offers Cubans an alternative to the official media or state-run libraries. They carry newspapers and magazines from around the world or books considered taboo by the regime - like Animal Farm by George Orwell. I know firsthand what it is not having something interesting to read, said the jazz saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who left Cuba in 1980 and who voted to adopt the library. I know what it is like to have to hide to read something that the government calls subversive. Almost two years ago, about 11 independent librarians in Cuba were among 75 dissidents, journalists and others arrested and given prison sentences of up to 28 years for essentially collaborating with enemies of the state. Most are still in jail, despite an international outcry. Although New York is home to magnificent libraries, world-class publishers and fierce champions of free expression, the cultural center is the only group in the city so far to adopt an independent library. They hope their action will send a dual message. It's not just about sending whatever books we can, but we want the people in Cuba to know they are not alone and that someone here recognizes what they are going through, said Rafael Pi Roman, an anchor on Channel 13 who belongs to the cultural group. The dilemma is, we are doing this in a city where people have too often seen Fidel Castro as a romantic figure. The main advocate for the independent libraries is Robert Kent, a reference librarian at the New York Public Library (whose gift shop drew exile protests last year for selling watches emblazoned with Che's face). He visited Cuba often in the 1990's, and began taking books there, ultimately with the aid of some exile organizations. His work recently led the Cuban government to accuse him of being Roberto X, a spy conspiring to assassinate a high-ranking official. I'm still trying to figure out who's cashing all my C.I.A. paychecks, he said jokingly. He is earnest, however, in insisting that librarians must defend intellectual freedom or risk tarring their reputation. He and his supporters hope to persuade members of the American Library Association, a national group whose members issued a statement last year that expressed deep concern over the dissident arrests as well as over the United States embargo against the island. While the group said the reasons for and conditions of the dissidents' detention should be fully investigated by human rights investigators, it did not urge the dissidents' immediate release. You don't throw people in the slammer for expressing ideas, said John W. Berry, the chair of the A.L.A.'s international relations committee. In this case it was complicated by Cuban law and the notion that some of the dissidents were accused of accepting money and material from the U.S. government in an effort that, in the Cuban government's mind, was seen as undermining their government. Mark Rosenzweig, a library association member who directs the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, an archive of Communist Party documents, said those arrested were political partisans in cahoots with the United States government. These people were caught up in an unfortunate affair set up by the regime change experts in the United States, said Mr. Rosenzweig, whose archive is in the same West 23rd Street building as the Communist Party USA. I can't say they got what they deserved, but they ended up violating the laws of the Cuban state. They were tried in trials which to the best of my knowledge conformed to the principles of Cuban legality. Human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - which for years have been denied entry into Cuba - have no doubts about what happened in 2003 and have repeatedly called for the release of people they consider prisoners of conscience. But they know that any criticism they make of
[PEN-L] Making good on democracy
NY Times, February 22, 2005 Bush Says Russia Must Make Good on Democracy By ELISABETH BUMILLER BRUSSELS, Feb. 21 - President Bush warned Russia on Monday that it must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law, but said he believed that the nation's future lay within the family of Europe and the trans-Atlantic community. The president's words opened his first trip across the Atlantic since his re-election and were part of a speech aimed at building a new relationship with Europe after the dispute over the American-led invasion of Iraq. Mr. Bush's 31-minute speech in the grand setting of Concert Noble, a 19th-century hall, declared that in a new era of trans-Atlantic unity, the United States and Europe must work together to rebuild Iraq, seek peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, insist that Iran not develop nuclear weapons and demand that Syria end its occupation of Lebanon. But the speech, the start of a four-day journey to Belgium, Germany and Slovakia, was most striking for his toughest words yet about President Vladimir V. Putin's rollback of democratic reforms and crackdown on dissent in Russia. Mr. Bush is to meet with Mr. Putin on Thursday in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava. We recognize that reform will not happen overnight, Mr. Bush said. We must always remind Russia, however, that our alliance stands for a free press, a vital opposition, the sharing of power and the rule of law - and the United States and all European countries should place democratic reform at the heart of their dialogue with Russia. full: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/international/europe/22prexy.html === The Boston Globe, October 5, 1993 US reaffirms full support for Russian leader; By Peter G. Gosselin and Michael Putzel, Globe Staff President Clinton stood firmly behind President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia yesterday, blaming rebel parliamentarians for provoking a bloody showdown with the Russian military and lauding Yeltsin as Russia's best hope for democracy. In a steady stream of statements from Washington and California, where Clinton was traveling to tout his health plan, the president and senior administration officials said Yeltsin's decision to attack the Russian parliament building was justified and was executed with a minimum of bloodshed. Strobe Talbott, the US ambassador at large, said in Washington that one US Marine and four American journalists were wounded, apparently by stray bullets in a day of heavy gunfire around the now-blackened marble office tower known in Moscow as the White House. Defending the Russian president he has backed without reservation through two major political crises, Clinton said in San Francisco, Things got out of hand. If such a thing happened in the United States, you would expect me to take tough action against it. (clip) Louis Proyect Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
[PEN-L] A genocidal economy?
Villia Jefremovas. Brickyards to Graveyards: From Production to Genocide in Rwanda. SUNY Series in the Anthropology of Work. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. xi + 162 pp. Maps, schemata, figures, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $59.50 (cloth), ISBN 0-7914-5487-8; $21.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7914-5488-6. Reviewed by: Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania. Published by: H-Genocide (January, 2005) A Genocidal Economy? Villia Jefremovas' book, Brickyards to Graveyards: From Production to Genocide in Rwanda, is a fascinating account of the Rwandan brick industry before 1994 that raises many important questions about the Rwandan genocide. Jefremovas posits, as her title suggests, a crucial link between economic organization in Rwanda and the mass killing of 1994. Based on field research conducted in Rwanda between 1984 and 1986, she argues that her five field sites serve as lenses through which the lead-up to the events that so horrified the world in 1994 can be viewed (p. 2). She bases this argument on the fact that most of the pre-genocide massacres and later mass-killing occurred in regions where Jefremovas, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Carleton University, found a high degree of economic stratification that was reflected in the brick industry. The implication is that in areas of greater economic inequality, the call to genocide found more fertile ground. Jefremovas points out that resources in the regions that experienced some of the worst massacres before and during the genocide were monopolized by a few powerful patrons connected with the leading Hutu Power faction within the ruling party. This resource inequality would make peasants in the regions (mostly the northwest) much more dependent upon their patrons, and hence vulnerable to their genocidal demands. Such a line of argument suggests that people engaged in genocide primarily as economic actors. This explanation of the Rwandan genocide, often referred to as the resource crunch thesis, has been put forth in less sophisticated ways since the genocide began, most notably in a USAID-commissioned report from November 1994.[1] The resource crunch thesis argues that population growth within the context of severely limited resources accounts for the willingness of people to take up arms against their unarmed neighbors. In Jefremovas's words: [the genocide] did not arise out of ancient hatreds but through overt political manipulation, ruthlessly orchestrated by a morally bankrupt elite. Factors such as the growing landlessness, disparities between rich and poor, the ambitions of an increasingly ruthless elite losing their grip on power, regional politics, and regional dynamics played a central role in the genocide and political slaughter. There is no doubt there was a difference in how Hutu and Tutsi were treated--nonpolitical Hutu were terrorized while nonpolitical Tutsi were killed--but, as Filip Reyntjens argues, the socioeconomic aspects of the killings also should not be ignored As the killings gained momentum, the violence became more complex and less linked to purely political ends. There was outright robbery. Personal vendettas were settled. Property under dispute could be appropriated by one claimant from another on the basis of accusations. Human Rights Watch/Africa points out repeatedly that political authorities needed to chastise the mobs for looting without killing. People who had excited the jealousy of their neighbors by being marginally more affluent were attacked (p. 119). Critics of the resource crunch thesis accuse its authors of treating Africans as an unthinking, amoral mass. Mahmood Mamdani, for example, writes in his When Victims Become Killers (which was published a few months after Jefremovas's study): My critique of those who tend to accent the economic and the cultural in the understanding of the genocide is that their explanation obscures the moment of decision, of choice, as if human action, even--or, shall I say, particularly--at its most dastardly or heroic, can be explained by necessity alone.[2] Jefremovas avoids this pitfall of economic approaches to genocide by consistently restating the complexity of the factors that made the genocide possible, and by focusing on individuals. Indeed, one of the strengths of Jefremovas's book is that it is filled with people. full: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=80031109089734 Louis Proyect Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: [PEN-L] those independent cuban librarians
Tim Wheeler in People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/21/03: [Rhonda] Neugebauer, a bibliographer in Latin American Studies at UC-Riverside, and Larry Oberg, a librarian at Oregon's Willamette University, went to Cuba in July 2000 to study the island's system of 400 public libraries and 6,000 school libraries. Today, 97 percent of Cubans are literate, the highest rate in the western hemisphere. Before the 1959 socialist revolution, they point out, a majority of Cubans were illiterate and there were 32 libraries in the whole country. Neugebauer and Oberg visited over a dozen independent libraries in several cities including Havana and Santiago. On their return, they issued a 21-page report titled, Payment for Services Rendered: U.S.-Funded Dissent and the Independent Libraries Project. By interviewing the owners of these libraries they discovered that they were carefully chosen drop-off and contact points for personnel from the U.S. Interests Section . the 'independent librarians' . told (us) that . they received regular visits from U.S. Interests Section personnel who dropped off packages on a monthly basis along with money. The report continues, Since it was the first time any mention of money had been made in reference to their work, I asked, 'What is the money for? For services rendered, the librarian responded. These libraries help the opposition in Cuba and our leadership in Miami. They tell us what to do. They receive our reports and news. They give us money so we can do what we do here, be dissidents and build opposition to the Cuban government. By coincidence, the report continues, We arrived at one 'library' when a meeting was being held of 'independent librarians,' 'independent teachers,' independent trade unionists' and some type of 'independent religious' organization. The 10 dissidents described to us the interconnected nature of their work against the Cuban government using a variety of front groups they called 'independent.' However, most of their meetings did not appear to be about library service or collections. Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at Residencias Anauco Suites Departamento 601 Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1 Caracas, Venezuela (58-212) 573-4111 fax: (58-212) 573-7724
[PEN-L] Honored for hilarity
Federation Interviews Louis Proyect The Glorious Revolutionary Federation of Fortune 500 Killers announces a new weekly feature: interviews with our rank-and-file. Our first interview is with Comrade Louis Proyect. Comrade Proyect is a programmer at Columbia University, and a former member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). He operates the famous marxmail.org mailing list. He is also known for hilarious missives on culture and politics, available at http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mypage.htm. Recently, the Federation honored Comrade Proyect with a Glorious Revolutionary Lifetime Achievement Award in Consciousness Raising for his efforts. The Federation spoke to him recently. Question: Comrade Proyect, thanks for doing this interview. Could you tell us a little bit about your life and political history? full: http://www.pressaction.com/ Louis Proyect Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: [PEN-L] Price vs wage indexing, from the Republicans
At Wal-Mart, my resident expert tells me, the low-level managers, whose lives are working-class in many ways (nature of tasks and level of income, for example), still identify with the company more than the workers. The crucial difference is of course the privilege to boss others. Once granted, kingly airs are hard to suppress. In more than one case, I've noticed that people with just a little bit of power (e.g., a guy at Disneyland who sets up the rope barriers for people waiting in lines for a ride) take on airs. That, of course, is what's wrong with profs. JD
Re: [PEN-L] Price vs wage indexing, from the Republicans
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 2/22/2005 12:53:04 PM In more than one case, I've noticed that people with just a little bit of power (e.g., a guy at Disneyland who sets up the rope barriers for people waiting in lines for a ride) take on airs. That, of course, is what's wrong with profs. JD you probably don't mean to be taken so literally jim but above is not only thing wrong with profs... mh -- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
Re: [PEN-L] Price vs wage indexing, from the Republicans
No, there's nothing else wrong with profs! Jim Devine, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine/ -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael Hoover Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 10:05 AM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Price vs wage indexing, from the Republicans [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2/22/2005 12:53:04 PM In more than one case, I've noticed that people with just a little bit of power (e.g., a guy at Disneyland who sets up the rope barriers for people waiting in lines for a ride) take on airs. That, of course, is what's wrong with profs. JD you probably don't mean to be taken so literally jim but above is not only thing wrong with profs... mh -- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
Re: [PEN-L] A genocidal economy?
The old pluralist school of political sociology (mostly ex-Marxists and/or serious, though flawed, students of Marx) had one major valid point: when cleavages (societal divisions) coincide, there's trouble, i.e. when ethnic antagonism corresponds to class animosity. Jim Devine, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine/ -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Louis Proyect Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 9:03 AM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: [PEN-L] A genocidal economy? Villia Jefremovas. Brickyards to Graveyards: From Production to Genocide in Rwanda. SUNY Series in the Anthropology of Work. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. xi + 162 pp. Maps, schemata, figures, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $59.50 (cloth), ISBN 0-7914- 5487-8; $21.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7914-5488-6. Reviewed by: Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania. Published by: H-Genocide (January, 2005) A Genocidal Economy? Villia Jefremovas' book, Brickyards to Graveyards: From Production to Genocide in Rwanda, is a fascinating account of the Rwandan brick industry before 1994 that raises many important questions about the Rwandan genocide. Jefremovas posits, as her title suggests, a crucial link between economic organization in Rwanda and the mass killing of 1994. Based on field research conducted in Rwanda between 1984 and 1986, she argues that her five field sites serve as lenses through which the lead-up to the events that so horrified the world in 1994 can be viewed (p. 2). She bases this argument on the fact that most of the pre-genocide massacres and later mass-killing occurred in regions where Jefremovas, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Carleton University, found a high degree of economic stratification that was reflected in the brick industry. The implication is that in areas of greater economic inequality, the call to genocide found more fertile ground. Jefremovas points out that resources in the regions that experienced some of the worst massacres before and during the genocide were monopolized by a few powerful patrons connected with the leading Hutu Power faction within the ruling party. This resource inequality would make peasants in the regions (mostly the northwest) much more dependent upon their patrons, and hence vulnerable to their genocidal demands. Such a line of argument suggests that people engaged in genocide primarily as economic actors. This explanation of the Rwandan genocide, often referred to as the resource crunch thesis, has been put forth in less sophisticated ways since the genocide began, most notably in a USAID-commissioned report from November 1994.[1] The resource crunch thesis argues that population growth within the context of severely limited resources accounts for the willingness of people to take up arms against their unarmed neighbors. In Jefremovas's words: [the genocide] did not arise out of ancient hatreds but through overt political manipulation, ruthlessly orchestrated by a morally bankrupt elite. Factors such as the growing landlessness, disparities between rich and poor, the ambitions of an increasingly ruthless elite losing their grip on power, regional politics, and regional dynamics played a central role in the genocide and political slaughter. There is no doubt there was a difference in how Hutu and Tutsi were treated--nonpolitical Hutu were terrorized while nonpolitical Tutsi were killed--but, as Filip Reyntjens argues, the socioeconomic aspects of the killings also should not be ignored As the killings gained momentum, the violence became more complex and less linked to purely political ends. There was outright robbery. Personal vendettas were settled. Property under dispute could be appropriated by one claimant from another on the basis of accusations. Human Rights Watch/Africa points out repeatedly that political authorities needed to chastise the mobs for looting without killing. People who had excited the jealousy of their neighbors by being marginally more affluent were attacked (p. 119). Critics of the resource crunch thesis accuse its authors of treating Africans as an unthinking, amoral mass. Mahmood Mamdani, for example, writes in his When Victims Become Killers (which was published a few months after Jefremovas's study): My critique of those who tend to accent the economic and the cultural in the understanding of the genocide is that their explanation obscures the moment of decision, of choice, as if human action, even--or, shall I say, particularly--at its most dastardly or heroic, can be explained by necessity alone.[2] Jefremovas avoids this pitfall of economic approaches to genocide by consistently restating the complexity of the factors that made the genocide possible, and by focusing
Re: [PEN-L] The Central Park Gates
I prefer The Somerville Gates, which were put up at a cost of $3.50 and have a very modest environmental impact: http://www.not-rocket-science.com/gates.htm and http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/19/arts/design/19gate.html?incamp=article_popular_2 Carl From: Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mariewinn.com/newsletter.htm THE CITY Seeing Orange By TED CAPLOW Published: February 20, 2005 THE exhibit that began last weekend in Central Park is many things to many people. For me and my beagle, Hazel, with whom I share a daily walk to work through the park, The Gates is just a distraction. What she wants to know is, where have all the squirrels gone?
Re: [PEN-L] How Liberalism Came to the U.S.: Structural Flaw
At 16:26 22/02/2005, louis wrote: As long as American capitalism is forced to go lean and mean in competition with its G-7 partners, there is not much room for old-fashioned liberalism. forced? only the g-7? and 'new-fashioned' liberalism? michael Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at Residencias Anauco Suites Departamento 601 Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1 Caracas, Venezuela (58-212) 573-4111 fax: (58-212) 573-7724
Re: [PEN-L] Hunter Thompson
From: Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] Like many other conveyors of conventional liberal thought, Thompson felt compelled to denounce Ralph Nader last year did not receive above post for some reason, saw carl remick's comment, read louis' complete post at pen-l archive... louis suggests that thompson's end evokes image of spalding gray jumping from ferry, nah to that, while not sure how useful (even as literary allusions) such comparisons are, similarity to hemingway's end is kinda macabre given that one of first articles thompson had published was on hemingway's suicide, description of hemingway at end of piece could have been written about thompson (hell, he articulated rationale - sick, washed up, blah, blah, blah - for doing himself in 40 years in advance of the act)... in any event, beyond their demise and some other possible parallels, thompson dug hemingway, can imagine that he thought - quite correctly in my opinion - that spalding gray was yuppie whiner in time when mediocrity is celebrated (think tarantino in film)... hadn't kept up with thompson for years, although old friend of mine had, he would periodically send me snippets, best thing about thompson (in manner similar to charles bukowski) was that you didn't have to read his pieces from the beginning nor did you have to read entire pieces, start anywhere, his acerbic prose was good for a laugh... while thompson always seemed to have soft spot for certain dems (his gushing over jimmy carter in early 76 was most egregious example of which i'm aware), i don't think 'conventional liberal' tag fit him, he was anti-authoritarian - akin to libertarian in number of ways - who in 'early days' occasionally came across as left-winger *and* contrarian who understood need to 'fight the power' even if he didn't do much of it himself (may, however, partially explain his 2000 vote for nader)... not sure examining thompson's 'politics' would be worth time but have hunch that one would find little beyond the obvious that would hold together... on other hand, consideration of thompson as 'self-promoter' might be quite fruitful in these days of surly reaction... michael hoover -- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
[PEN-L] CEO's as gilded intelligentsia
A lament in the City Comment column of the Business Section of the London Evening Standard - the paper read by most middle class commuters - Anthony Hilton tonight. while the caes described may be isolated, they are actually happening out there, and we ignore them at our peril The chairman of one of our larger companies told me the other day that when he was hunting round for a new chief executive last year, he assumed that he would be flooded with offers. He was shocked to find that the phone did not ring. It got little better when he let the headhunters loose, for what he discovered - which was quite different from when he was beginning his career - was how few of today's ambitious 40 year olds have much interest in running a public company. Their objections are not to the job but to almost everything that goes with it - the governance, the plethora of board committees, the excessive attentions of analysts and fund managers, the unpleasantness of pay and other personal details being publicly broadcast and the growing danger of being personally sued by disgruntled shareholders if something goes disastrously wrong. Separately, the director of an American listed company claimed that its audit committee, of which he was a member, now met monthly by telephone conference call and the meetings lasted three or four hours. He added that the legal advice the directors received was never to say anything because then they could not be held to account for their words. So they just listened. We may not quite have reached that point here, but look at the trend. Twenty years ago, audit committees barely existed but when they did, they met annually. Then a meeting to coincide with the interims was added. Now it is the norm for them to meet quarterly, and the meetings run for three or four hours. In this country, it may still be permissible for members to speak, so we are not quite as process-driven as the US, but there are still odd things happening. I heard of a retired senior partner of one of the big four accounting firms sho has let his membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants lapse and has advised his accountant friends to do likewise. Not paying the sub means the member loses the right to use the letters FCA after his or her name. This lowers the profile and makes the director less of a target if something goes wrong. COMMENT by CB If this article could just blame government bureaucracy it would. But it doesn't. Indeed some of the most striking examples of the burden of public scrutiny come from the even freer market of the US. It is not just a moan in the wider fabric of supply and demand, implying that to avoid this shortage of supply, they should just offer even more monumental salaries to the highest flyers. But those salaries would not only now be published. More significantly there is a web of public accountability even though capitalist laws of production apply and the companies are privately owned - increasingly often by other corporations of fund managers. The author speculates that there could be a further move away from the public company as an embodiment of the ownership of the means of production by a capitalist - a collective structure in which there is a division of powers, to ensure safety to public scrutiny - a chairman obliged to come from outside with his power circumscribed by the head of the sudit committee, by the snior non-excutive director (cince the non-exec's will no longer be able to trust the execs), and probably by the head of the nominations and remunerations committee, leading to four separate centres of power - five if you count the chief executive. Whatever permutations in structure of these seriously publicly accountable companies, this is now a gilded stratum of higher intelligentsia subtly different from the capitalist magnates of the past, caught up with risk management and management of public perceptions, momentum and the laws of chaos theory. This is a further twist in the socialisation of the means of production, inseparably linked with the increasing rationalisation of finance capitalism. Is it really possible to bring back red-blooded owner-entrepreneur capitalism? Probably not as the dominant mode of capitalist production. Chris Burford London
[PEN-L] World Bank claims WTO status hurts China's rural poor
WB report at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=detailseid=000 160016_20040907115309 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050222/IBCH INA22/TPBusiness/International WTO status hurts China's rural poor: World Bank Tuesday, February 22, 2005 Updated at 8:23 PM EST Agence France-Presse PARIS -- China's rural poor have suffered a sharp 6-per-cent drop in living standards since Beijing's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, according to a World Bank report released yesterday. The study consequently urged Chinese authorities to take steps to correct what it said has been an uneven distribution of benefits from WTO membership between rural and urban areas. It found that market-opening measures and other economic reforms that came with WTO accession have been worth more than $40-billion (U.S.) a year to the Chinese economy and have added about $75-billion a year to real incomes worldwide. While China has experienced remarkable growth in its trade as a result of its WTO accession, it now faces the challenge of adjusting labour policies to improve productivity in the rural sector and to allow workers to move to more competitive sectors, said Will Martin, an editor of the study. Its findings were based on a survey of 84,000 Chinese households. While nearly 90 per cent of urban households reported income and consumption gains, rural households overall sustained an average income loss of 0.7 per cent. The poorest rural households . . . suffered a sharp 6-per-cent drop in their living standards, as measured by consumption, due to the combined effect of a drop in real wages and an increase in the prices of consumer goods, the World Bank said in a statement. The report called for reforms to the system governing the movement of people from rural to urban regions. It said proposed reforms could boost rural wages 17 per cent and allow about 28 million people to leave the agricultural sector. The study also urged increased education and stepped-up delivery of agricultural technology to help farmers increase productivity.
[PEN-L] venezuela solidarity conference
INVITATION 3rd International Solidarity Gathering with the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela Learning from the World and Sharing our Experiences February, 2005 Dear Friends From Around the World: This year marks the third anniversary of the heroic actions by the people of Venezuela, who took to the streets arm in arm with their military brothers and sisters and demanded the return of their President. Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was forcefully removed from his post by a military coup backed by the Venezuelan oligarchy, the corporate media and the U.S. government. On April 13, 2002, his democratically-elected government was restored thanks to popular mobilization supported by loyal members of the armed forces, and backed by the 1999 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. From April 13 - 16, 2005 Venezuela will host the third International World Gathering, which seeks to broaden and strengthen the international solidarity network that supports the Bolivarian revolutionary process, and at the same time reach out to new sectors. This invitation is being extended to our friends who have joined us in the past, and to those new friends who may be interested in the topics included in the program that will be discussed during the gathering. Some topics of discussion include: labour issues, women, local governments, housing, indigenous and afro-descendents issues, and alternative media. We welcome your participation by sharing your experiences and thoughts. (See attached program) This year, the gathering will take place in different states and municipalities around the country, where various additional activities will take place. Our intention is that international delegates experience, and be in contact with the Venezuelan people and the country's different expressions. Preliminarily, we request that you send us your topic of interest, in order to assist us in the initial allocation of resources for the workshops. Registration will be open until March 31, 2005. Please send your completed registration form (still to come) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In our next correspondence, we will forward our website address which will include full registration information and more detailed information on the event. As this is an international solidarity event, we request that those organizations and delegates who register for the event cover their own costs of accommodation, food, and transportation. However, if you consider that your situation requires specific attention, please forward your request for food, lodging and transportation and it will be reviewed and considered by the organizing committee to allocate the necessary resources. It is with great revolutionary enthusiasm that we await your presence, participation and _expression_ of solidarity. Yadira Pirela, Organizing Committee Comite Impulso [EMAIL PROTECTED] === 3rd International Gathering in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution April 13-16, 2005 Learning from the World and Sharing our Experiences PROGRAM (PRELIMINARY VERSION) Given the size of the two previous large events, our aim is not to make this year's gathering a massive event, but to make it a high quality event. The even will be recorded on audio visual, and the main works gathered (main presentations on the different topics), recorded and edited to subsequently use them to promote the process. It is our aim to make use of these resources as a formation tool inside and outside of Venezuela. DATES: APRIL 13 - 16, 2005 Wed., April 13 (Noon) Official opening ceremonies in Caracas lead by President Hugo Chávez Frías Thurs., April 14 (morning) Travel to participating states Thurs. April 14 to Sat., April 16 Workshops in the different states Sat. April 16 (afternoon) Return to Caracas Sat. April 16 (8:00 pm) Closing ceremony in Caracas with the attendance of President Hugo Chávez Frías GENERAL OBJECTIVE Offer a space that gives the opportunity to Venezuelans to learn about experiences from other places in the world. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES To bring to Venezuela experiences from other countries that may be useful in order to implement those proposed tasks for this new phase in the Bolivarian revolutionary process To widen the spectrum of those who support the revolutionary Bolivarian process outside of Venezuela, while at the same time, reach out to new groups and sectors To show foreign visitors the most novel and recent Venezuelan experiences METHODOLOGY Day-workshops for registered delegates. Evening (7:00 PM) conferences with panel presentations by international guest speakers - Open to the public. Audio visual materials will be used wherever possible. This gathering will be a decentralized event. Each one of the identified states will cover a specific topic. Two general topics will be covered in all host states: the missions and how a popular victory was won during the revocatory referendum. Two 20-min. videos
Re: [PEN-L] World Bank claims WTO status hurts China's rural poor
Maybe some of out China experts could chime in on this -- Marty, Jonathan, John. I think that many of us would appreciate learning more. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
[PEN-L] Greening of America, Part II
[Whatever became of Charles Reich anyway?] Revenge of the Right Brain Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion. By Daniel H. Pink When I was a kid - growing up in a middle-class family, in the middle of America, in the middle of the 1970s - parents dished out a familiar plate of advice to their children: Get good grades, go to college, and pursue a profession that offers a decent standard of living and perhaps a dollop of prestige. If you were good at math and science, become a doctor. If you were better at English and history, become a lawyer. If blood grossed you out and your verbal skills needed work, become an accountant. Later, as computers appeared on desktops and CEOs on magazine covers, the youngsters who were really good at math and science chose high tech, while others flocked to business school, thinking that success was spelled MBA. Tax attorneys. Radiologists. Financial analysts. Software engineers. Management guru Peter Drucker gave this cadre of professionals an enduring, if somewhat wonky, name: knowledge workers. These are, he wrote, people who get paid for putting to work what one learns in school rather than for their physical strength or manual skill. What distinguished members of this group and enabled them to reap society's greatest rewards, was their ability to acquire and to apply theoretical and analytic knowledge. And any of us could join their ranks. All we had to do was study hard and play by the rules of the meritocratic regime. That was the path to professional success and personal fulfillment. But a funny thing happened while we were pressing our noses to the grindstone: The world changed. The future no longer belongs to people who can reason with computer-like logic, speed, and precision. It belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind. Today - amid the uncertainties of an economy that has gone from boom to bust to blah - there's a metaphor that explains what's going on. And it's right inside our heads. Scientists have long known that a neurological Mason-Dixon line cleaves our brains into two regions - the left and right hemispheres. But in the last 10 years, thanks in part to advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have begun to identify more precisely how the two sides divide responsibilities. The left hemisphere handles sequence, literalness, and analysis. The right hemisphere, meanwhile, takes care of context, emotional expression, and synthesis. Of course, the human brain, with its 100 billion cells forging 1 quadrillion connections, is breathtakingly complex. The two hemispheres work in concert, and we enlist both sides for nearly everything we do. But the structure of our brains can help explain the contours of our times. Until recently, the abilities that led to success in school, work, and business were characteristic of the left hemisphere. They were the sorts of linear, logical, analytical talents measured by SATs and deployed by CPAs. Today, those capabilities are still necessary. But they're no longer sufficient. In a world upended by outsourcing, deluged with data, and choked with choices, the abilities that matter most are now closer in spirit to the specialties of the right hemisphere - artistry, empathy, seeing the big picture, and pursuing the transcendent. Beneath the nervous clatter of our half-completed decade stirs a slow but seismic shift. The Information Age we all prepared for is ending. Rising in its place is what I call the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of abilities that we've often overlooked and undervalued marks the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls behind. ... http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/brain.html Carl
