date:20070816

from the August 16, 2007 edition - 
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0816/p01s03-wosc.html


China sounds retreat against encroaching deserts
Decades of flawed agricultural policies have led to rapid desertification.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Zhengxin, China

Behind the walled farmhouses, where fields of cotton and fennel bask in 
bright sunshine, the desert begins. Pale ochre sand dunes loom over rows 
of carefully tended crops that represent a lifetime of labor for the 21 
families who live here.


As the desert closes in, this community has been told to leave, so that 
their fields can be replanted with native grass. Local authorities say 
this will revive the parched land and halt the sand dunes, and have 
promised new land and housing to villagers. The forced move is an 
admission that China's grandiose plans to turn its arid land into farms 
have run dry.


In recent years, China has met some success in slowing the sands by 
imposing curbs on grazing in Inner Mongolia and other measures.


But with China's average annual land loss of about950 square miles to 
desertification, according to researchers at the Chinese Academy of 
Sciences, in addition to vast swaths of land turned over to industry and 
housing, the amount of farmland available to feed a large population is 
being pinched.


In all, more than 10,500 residents of Minqin County in northwest Gansu 
Province, along the ancient Silk Road, are due to be relocated over the 
next three years.


It's a tactical retreat after decades of cropping that exhausted scarce 
water resources. What matters now, say experts, is preventing this and 
other marginal land from turning into vast dust bowls where nothing grows.


"Minqin is an example of what's happening all over China. If we lose 
villages here, we can expect to lose villages in other places," says Sun 
Qingwei, a researcher on desertification at the Chinese Academy of 
Sciences in Lanzhou, the provincial capital.


For decades, China has been trying to hold back the deserts that cover 
one-third of the country and produce seasonal sandstorms that scour 
Beijing and other northern cities. Experts say deforestation and 
overfarming are to blame for desertification, though global warming may 
become a greater factor in the future, as the Tibetan glaciers that feed 
China's waterways are melting.


China has more than 20 percent of the world's population and only 7 
percent of its arable land. China announced Monday that rising food 
prices pushed the inflation rate in July to 5.6 percent, a 10-year high. 
Adding to the pressure on farmland is rampant environmental degradation 
that has poisoned waterways and soil.


Attempting to stop the sandy tide

To combat the encroaching Tengger and Badain Jaran deserts, China has 
planted billions of trees – to replace felled forests and as barriers 
against the sand. This isn't a panacea, though, say experts, as thirsty 
trees can exacerbate the problem by sucking up groundwater.


"Planting trees is one way, but it's not that simple. It doesn't tackle 
the fundamental issue" of water resources, says Wu Bo, a professor at 
the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Beijing. "We need to calculate how 
much water the trees will absorb, or else it could have a negative impact."


Villagers in Zhengxin have taken on this challenge, with limited 
success. When the irrigation channels began to run dry, Lu Xianglin 
switched from wheat to cotton and fennel on his 12 acres. He also 
planted trees to protect his fields from sandstorms. He says he still 
gets good yields using flood irrigation and earns a decent income for 
his family of six, who live in a walled courtyard house.


Other farmers haven't stuck it out: About 1 in 3 have left Zhengxin in 
the past 10 years after their wheat crops wilted. Young people who can 
find jobs in the towns rarely return.


Last week, Mr. Lu joined the other men in his village on a 
government-arranged trip to see the land that has been set aside for 
their relocation, nearly 40 miles to the south. The next day, he was 
back pruning his cotton fields, shaking his head at the plan. The 
prospect of uprooting his family troubles him, as does the idea of 
abandoning the land that fed his forefathers. He prefers to stay and 
keep up the fight.


"With enough water, this problem can be solved," Lu says. "We can plant 
trees and grass, and they will grow bigger. That will stop the desert."


Experts say that farmers in Zhengxin could switch to drip irrigation to 
lessen their water intake for growing crops, but warn that it may be too 
late to reverse the soil erosion. Elsewhere in the region, farmers have 
erected brick greenhouses this year as part of a plan to grow vegetables 
using less water. Roadside signs above the windswept plains urge farmers 
to "Save Water, Protect the Environment."


A legacy of flawed past policies

Elderly residents remember when there was plenty to go around. 
Hongyashan r

Re: [PEN-L] North American worker cooperation

2007-08-16 Thread Eugene Coyle


Thanks for this, Julio.

Gene Coyle


On Aug 16, 2007, at 5:57 AM, Julio Huato wrote:


Michael Perelman wrote:


Maybe he was with the miners.  He is
supposed to be very well known.
His first name is Napoleon.  The steel
workers were defending him.  He
is probably with the steel workers in the
US now. The government charged him
with corruption, but it seemed like he
was doing too good of a job.
Anyway, I have not heard about his case
for a while.


Okay.  Yes, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia is the leader of the union.  What I
posted on this has been composed and passed along on the basis of
e-mails I receive from a friend in Mexico whom I trust.  The
information is a bit telegraphic, but there's not much in the
newspapers.

So, based on the very little I know, I'll try to provide some broader
context for those interested.

The unionized workers' movement in Mexico is what is.  Like in most
other countries (rich and poor) it is not characterized by high
standards of honesty or democratic practices.  In Mexico, the movement
started in earnest in the mid- and late 19th century by anarchists and
then socialists and Christians, who organized workers in various
industries.  They played a key role before, during, and after the
Mexican revolution of 1910.  As the revolution became an
institutionalized regime in the 1920s, the unions were purged of
anarchists, socialists, and communists, and co-opted as political
structures providing a popular-base prop to the regime, an electoral
base, and even shock troops against the opposition -- all under the
political umbrella of the PRI (originally under a different name).

There was some give and take -- obviously.  A progressive labor
legislation was enacted, etc. But, basically, the design was to keep
the workers' movement as a political appendix of the state under the
PRI and to preempt the political independence, democratic, and
militant development of the working class in Mexico.  Paramount among
their fears was communism.  The leaders at the time were rabidly
anti-communist and used everything to keep the communist out.

Not surprisingly, the unions became extremely corrupt and brutal in
their practices.  Again, no doubt, base workers continued to receive
something -- incremental advances in their working and living
conditions, better real wages, etc. as Mexico's economy boomed ahead
almost without pause during 50 years or so.  Until the macroeconomic
conditions became much more volatile -- in the 1970s.

For decades (and until the present), the radical left had a very hard
time penetrating the union movement.  Of course, there was brutal
repression and all that.  There were many episodes used to teach
exemplary lessons to the communists.  Recently, Elena Poniatowska, a
Mexican writer, was given the Romulo Gallegos Prize in Venezuela for
her book on the history of the bloody repression of the railroad
workers then led by Demetrio Vallejo in the late 1950s.  (Elena was in
Caracas to receive the prize and interviewed Chavez.  The interview is
available on youtube.  In Spanish.  But that's another thread.)

All in all, the main reason for the failure of the left was a
disconnect between the strategy of the left and the outlook and
disposition of the base workers themselves, who -- to some undeniable
extent -- had been deeply corrupted by decades of corporatism,
political submission, prevarication, and mafia brutality.

Throughout this whole period, just like the union movement in general
was under the iron grip of Fidel Velazquez, a very picturesque icon in
Mexico's political system under the PRI, the miners and metal workers'
union was under the control of a similarly corrupt and brutal PRI
leader, Napoleon Gomez Sada -- a metal worker from the norther state
of Nuevo Leon (the father of the current leader, Napoleon Gomez
Urrutia).

To give a sense of the way in which the mining and metal industries
evolved in Mexico, let me say that, historically (of course),
intensive mining in Mexico goes back to colonial times.  The Spanish
crown extracted huge amounts of silver and gold from Mexico's subsoil
and the colonial economy was largely dominated by extractive
activities.  There are many mining regions all over the country.  In
the mid 19th century, some serious metal manufacturing emerged in the
north of Mexico: Nuevo Leon and then Coahuila.

Let's skip to the 1970s, when the government of Luis Echeverria
created a large state-owned steel company in a port along the Pacific,
facing Asia, the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan (Michoacan is a
state in the central/southwest of Mexico).  When I was student in the
Universidad Michoacana, as political activists in the student movement
in Morelia, my comrades and I (we were all teenagers) supported the
attempts made by various leftists groups to infiltrate the union in
Sicartsa (the steel making company in Lazaro Cardenas).  The fights
were bloody and the press rarely reported anything.  At the time (mid-
to late 1970s), the press was

Re: [PEN-L] Environmental Ironies

2007-08-16 Thread ann li

While I understand the irony, is it really environmentally bad in either
context when the regulatory mechanisms (as set-asides) will still be in
place for subsequent land development? This of course assumes that the
State (or the Feds) will not be co-opted by developers wherein lies the
bigger irony. Also, is it a matter of scale in terms of farm ownership
and the relative sizes of land held? The ecology of the region as USFWS
sees it and of course its regulatory overlap with Depts of Ag are part
of the complex policy surface ( which includes risk assessments by all
those lawyers (although aren't such vultures unprotected species?)). One
hopes that a migratory plan would be considered for the affected species.

Does the Coastal Commission's regulatory behavior also contain similar
ironies in terms of who controls coastal properties (and access
including off-shore leases)?

Ann

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1033039/owners_turn_off_spigot_on_rice_fields_hoping_to_develop/index.html?source=r_science

"Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are aware of the
decline in rice growing in the Natomas basin. The agency doesn't
interfere in agricultural practices such as crop rotation, said Cay
Goude, assistant field supervisor.

But she said landowners are mistaken if they think drying up their land
now will lessen the habitat set-aside requirements for them later on.
She noted that the habitat conservation plan adopted for development in
the city of Sacramento's portion of Natomas required a half-acre to be
set aside for every acre developed -- regardless of whether the acre
being developed was considered valuable habitat.

"Taking it out of rice is irrelevant because we've always looked at the
entire basin as a whole," Goude said. "Every area within (Natomas) is
habitat for one of the listed species."

Landowners are clearly not viewing the matter in that light, however,
Roberts said. His interpretation was confirmed by private conversations
with property owners who said the current advice from lawyers is not to
grow rice.

"The lawyers are telling them there's just so much money at risk, they
don't want to take a chance," Roberts said.

Subject:
Environmental Ironies
From:
Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date:
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:55:45 -0700

Wetland rice in dryland California does not make sense, except with the
benefits of
enormous agricultural subsidies. Now, some farmers are making an
environmentally
good decision for environmentally bad reasons. First, they want to sell
their land
to contribute to suburban sprawl. They fear that an endangered species,
which finds
a good habitat in their rice paddies, might make it difficult to sell
their land to
developers.
Vellinga, Mary Lynne. 2007. "Owners Turn Off Spigot On Rice Fields
Hoping To Develop
In Natomas." Sacramento Bee (14 August): p. A 1.
"Rice fields are drying up in the Natomas basin, and agricultural
economics aren't
the only reason why. The shift out of rice is part of an effort by
landowners north
of the Sacramento city limits to avoid harboring endangered garter
snakes, which
spend much of their lives in water, said a half-dozen people who either
own land in
the basin or are familiar with the situation. Landowners who hope to
one day
develop don't want to have their properties viewed as valuable wetland
habitat by
federal and state wildlife regulators. So they're letting their fields
sit fallow
or growing crops that require little or no irrigation."

[PEN-L] Mexico has taken a dual-track approach to human rights

2007-08-16 Thread Alejandro Valle Baeza


Mexico has taken a dual-track approach to human rights, Oaxaca is a good
example of it:

"Mexico: Amnesty International completes High Level Mission - President
Calderon commits to human rights

Press release, 07/08/2007

(Mexico City) Amnesty International today concluded its high level
mission to Mexico with a meeting between President Felipe Calderon and
Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan. It was preceded by
earlier meetings with senior ministers, legislators, members of the
National Supreme Court, members of civil society, survivors of human
rights abuses and the state government of Oaxaca.

Speaking at a press conference Ms Khan stated:

Mexico has taken a dual-track approach championing human rights on the
international stage, while failing to ensure their effective
implementation at home equally for all Mexicans.

The purpose of Amnesty International's mission has been to clarify the
commitment of the new administration to human rights and their
willingness to put an end to this schizophrenic approach to human rights."
...
"Following a year of monitoring, extensive field visits to Oaxaca and
meetings with officials at state and federal level, survivors of human
rights violations and civil society, Amnesty International's report
Oaxaca: clamour for justice
 documents a
pattern of police abuse (including, arbitrary arrest, torture and
ill-treatment and harassment) committed by state as well as federal
officials. The organization also recognizes that criminal offences may
have been committed by the protesters.

One year down the road, there is still no tangible progress in bringing
to justice those responsible for violating human rights or committing
criminal offences in Oaxaca.
State agencies primarily responsible for investigating abuses in Oaxaca
are themselves accused of committing human rights violations. Apart from
investigating a number of killings, federal authorities have shown no
willingness to undertake or ensure effective and impartial
investigations into the wide range of human rights violations that have
taken place.

Amnesty International called on President Calderon to ensure that there
is no impunity in Oaxaca, either of those responsible for criminal
offences during the protest or of officials accused of human rights
violations."

Full press release and more information in:
http://news.amnesty.org/mavp/news.nsf/print/ENGAMR410482007

Alejandro Valle Baeza


--

Posgrado Facultad de Economía

Av. Universidad 3000 Circuito interior

México 04510, DF México

Tel. 55-56222148 fax 55-56222158

Re: [PEN-L] Mexico has taken a dual-track approach to human rights

We owe a debt to Julio and Alejandro for keeping us on top of matters in Mexico.

For an interesting take on Oaxaca, see

http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4204&volume_id=254&issue_id=309&volume_num=40&issue_num=45&l=1
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] The Financial Market & China

> On 8/15/07, Jayson Funke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > By putting more money into circulation, does the Fed not create the
> > potential to induce higher inflation by creating too much money chasing too
> > few goods?


On 8/15/07, raghu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ... the case of overnight loans
> like Friday's, there is no time to invest or spend the money on
> anything other than financial securities, so it stays within the
> financial economy. That's why the Fed insists on making a distinction
> between "liquidity" and "money".

this is key. Also, under its current operating procedures, the FOMC
won't allow the fed funds rate to go below its target. The ff rate was
exceeding the FOMC target at the time of the liquidity infusion.

--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Re: [PEN-L] Wal-Mart Never Read Keynes

they in terms of microeconomics, while Keynes was macroeconomics. Even
more apt is Marx's GRUNDRISSE, where he talked about how each
capitalist sees wages as a cost and doesn't see the macro-effect on
consumption.

On 8/15/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Wal-Mart, which has worked hard to lower wages around the world, is now 
> getting
> hoisted by its own petard.  The company has been discovering over the last 
> couple of
> years that its sales depend upon the prosperity of the people to whom it 
> markets.
>
> Hudson, Kris and James Covert. 2007. "Wal-Mart Recovery Dealt a Blow." Wall 
> Street
> Journal (15 August): p. A 2.
>
> Chief Executive Lee Scott said that "Wal-Mart's customers continue to cite 
> "money
> and finances, the increase in cost of living and gas prices" as top concerns, 
> and
> that they are clustering their spending around paycheck dates on the 1st and 
> 15th of
> the month."



--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

[PEN-L] PSTML: Political Short-Term Memory Loss, John D. Rockefeller, And Venezuela

2007-08-16 Thread The Buffalo In Da' Midst

[August 16 2007] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: PSTML:
Political Short-Term Memory Loss - The U.S. Government Wants You To
Forget That The Current Venezuelan Constitution Was Written By
Rockefeller Backed Industrialists And Hugo Chavez Promised To Reform
It When Elected



...Or at archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/tth_070816

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to warn 
investors, they conned them.


Sabri Oncu wrote:


Rating agencies hit by subprime probe
By Tobias Buck in Brussels

Officials in Brussels, and many other critics, believe the ratings agencies
failed to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of investing in
securities backed by US subprime mortgages – the sector whose troubles
triggered the recent global market volatility.

--

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com

[PEN-L] "American Democracy" Means Freedom For Iraqi Women

2007-08-16 Thread The Buffalo In Da' Midst

The freedom to prostitute yourself.

CNN.com 

Iraqi women: Prostituting ourselves to feed our children

* Story Highlights
* Aid workers: Violence, increased cost of living drives women to
prostitution
* Group is working to raise awareness of the problem with Iraq's
political leaders
* Two Iraqi mothers tell CNN they turned to prostitution to help
feed their children
* "Everything is for the children," one woman says

By Arwa Damon
CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The women are too afraid and ashamed to show
their faces or have their real names used. They have been driven to
sell their bodies to put food on the table for their children -- for
as little as $8 a day.

"People shouldn't criticize women, or talk badly about them," says
37-year-old Suha as she adjusts the light colored scarf she wears
these days to avoid extremists who insist women cover themselves.
"They all say we have lost our way, but they never ask why we had to
take this path."

A mother of three, she wears light makeup, a gold pendant of Iraq
around her neck, and an unexpected air of elegance about her.

"I don't have money to take my kid to the doctor. I have to do
anything that I can to preserve my child, because I am a mother," she
says, explaining why she prostitutes herself.

Anger and frustration rise in her voice as she speaks.

"No matter what else I may be, no matter how off the path I may be, I
am a mother!" VideoWatch a woman describe turning to prostitution to
"save my child" »

Her clasped hands clench and unclench nervously. Suha's husband thinks
that she is cleaning houses when she goes away.

So does Karima's family.

"At the start I was cleaning homes, but I wasn't making much. No
matter how hard I worked it just wasn't enough," she says.

Karima, clad in all black, adds, "My husband died of lung cancer nine
months ago and left me with nothing."

She has five children, ages 8 to 17. Her eldest son could work, but
she's too afraid for his life to let him go into the streets,
preferring to sacrifice herself than risk her child.

She was solicited the first time when she was cleaning an office.

"They took advantage of me," she says softly. "At first I rejected it,
but then I realized I have to do it."

Both Suha and Karima have clients that call them a couple times a
week. Other women resort to trips to the market to find potential
clients. Or they flag down vehicles.

Prostitution is a choice more and more Iraqi women are making just to survive.

"It's increasing," Suha says. "I found this 'thing' through my friend,
and I have another friend in the same predicament as mine. Because of
the circumstance, she is forced to do such things."

Violence, increased cost of living, and lack of any sort of government
aid leave women like these with few other options, according to
humanitarian workers.

"At this point there is a population of women who have to sell their
bodies in order to keep their children alive," says Yanar Mohammed,
head and founder of the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq.
"It's a taboo that no one is speaking about."

She adds, "There is a huge population of women who were the victims of
war who had to sell their bodies, their souls and they lost it all. It
crushes us to see them, but we have to work on it and that's why we
started our team of women activists."

Her team pounds the streets of Baghdad looking for these victims often
too humiliated to come forward.

"Most of the women that we find at hospitals [who] have tried to
commit suicide" have been involved in prostitution, said Basma Rahim,
a member of Mohammed's team.

The team's aim is to compile information on specific cases and present
it to Iraq's political parties -- to have them, as Mohammed puts it,
"come tell us what [they] are ... going to do about this."

Rahim tells the heartbreaking story of one woman they found who lives
in a room with three of her children: "She has sex while her three
children are in the room, but she makes them stand in separate
corners."

According to Rahim and Mohammed, most of the women they encounter say
they are driven to prostitution by a desperate desire for survival in
the dangerously violent and unforgiving circumstances in Iraq.

"They took this path but they are not pleased," Rahim says.

Karima says when she sees her children with food on the table, she is
able to convince herself that it's worth it. "Everything is for the
children. They are the beauty in life and, without them, we cannot
live."

But she says, "I would never allow my daughter to do this. I would
rather marry her off at 13 than have her go through this."

Karima's last happy memory is of her late husband, when they were a
family and able to shoulder the hardships of life in today's Iraq
together.

Suha says as a young girl she dreamed of being a doctor, with her mom
boasting about her potential in that career. Life couldn't have taken
her further from that dream.

"It's not like we were born into this, nor was it

[PEN-L] Eric Mielants: "The Origins of Capitalism and the Rise of the West"


http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/eric-mielants-the-origins-of-capitalism-and-the-rise-of-the-west/

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

I called it a quote to distinguish it from your contribution.  I know that you 
are
not as foolish as the author.  I just thought that the contention of failing to 
warn
was worth pointing out.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 09:34:13AM -0700, Sabri Oncu wrote:
> > The first quote is ridiculous. The agencies didn't just fail to warn
> > investors, they conned them.
> >
> > Sabri Oncu wrote:
>
> Hey! I did not write that. I just forwarded it. But I agree with you.
>
> Sabri
>
>
>
> 
> Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who 
> knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.
> http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread Sabri Oncu

> The first quote is ridiculous. The agencies didn't just fail to warn
> investors, they conned them.
>
> Sabri Oncu wrote:

Hey! I did not write that. I just forwarded it. But I agree with you.

Sabri

Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. 
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433

[PEN-L] US's largest mortgage lender might file for bankruptcy


NY Times, August 16, 2007
Mortgage Lender Moves to Shore Up Cash
By VIKAS BAJAJ

Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, said today 
that it had tapped $11.5 billion in emergency loans from 40 of the 
world’s largest banks in an effort to shore up its cash position.


The company, which relies heavily on raising money from Wall Street to 
finance its loans, acted a day after a prominent analyst suggested that 
it might have to file for bankruptcy if banks and investors shut off the 
spigot of money to Countrywide.


Shares of the company were down about 16 percent, or $3.45, to $17.84, 
after falling 13 percent on Wednesday. The stock is down 57 percent for 
the year.


In a statement released early today, the company also said that 90 
percent of the home loans it will now make will be to standards set by 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the big purchasers of mortgage loans, 
because it is not able to sell them to other buyers. Less than two 
months ago, the company had said about 50 percent of its loans were 
eligible to be bought by the two government-sponsored agencies.


“Countrywide has taken decisive steps, which we believe will address the 
challenges arising in this environment and enable the company to meet 
its funding needs and continue growing its franchise,” David Sambol, the 
company’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.


Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings, the bond ratings firms, cut 
their ratings on Countrywide and said further cuts might be in the 
offing. They also cut the ratings of Residential Capital, the home 
lending arm of GMAC, to junk status.


The swift and severe deterioration in Countrywide’s financial position 
signals how quickly the problems in the mortgage market have spread. On 
Aug. 2, the company issued a statement to emphasize that it had a strong 
and diverse funding sources that it relies on.


Indeed, as of the end of June the company had agreements in place that 
theoretically would let it borrow up to $186 billion if it needed to. 
But much of that was from short-term sources and was not committed. 
About $50 billion of the funds were in repurchase agreements and 
commercial paper lending, which lenders can refuse to make available for 
many reasons. Another $81 billion was in secured financing agreements, 
but even those are not completely reliable.


“It’s a classic banking crisis,” said Andrew Feltus, a bond portfolio 
manager at Pioneer Investments in Boston. “You are lending long and you 
are borrowing short, and when that short lending goes away you are 
squeezed.”


By the end of September, Countrywide said, it will be moving 
substantially all of its mortgage lending business into its bank 
subsidiary, where it has more stable access to funds through customer 
deposits and committed lending facilities. The company will most likely 
also draw more funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank, a network of 
government chartered banks that raise money in the capital markets and 
lend it to community banks to make mortgages.


In the first six months of the year, Countrywide made $245 billion in 
home loans, up about 9 percent from the same period in 2006, according 
to Inside Mortgage Finance. It had a 17.4 percent share of the national 
mortgage lending market by dollar value.

Re: [PEN-L] "American Democracy" Means Freedom For Iraqi Women

2007-08-16 Thread ravi


On 16 Aug, 2007, at 12:26 PM, The Buffalo In Da' Midst wrote:

The freedom to prostitute yourself.



Dude, you are so pre-fifth-wave-feminism! Prostitution is empowering!
After all, before this wave, the women were unpaid prostitutes to
their husbands (a fair point) but now have the power to participate
in the economy. What's-her-name would be happy that these women have
now gotten up and gone to work.

   --ravi

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread Sabri Oncu

Michael:

> I called it a quote to distinguish it from your contribution.

Sorry Michael! After all, English is not my native language. I have been
watching CNBC since the morning. I strongly recommend that you take a look.
They are scared bad!

Sabri


  

Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect.  Join Yahoo!'s user panel 
and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

[PEN-L] Dow Jones Average vs. Iran

How much further will the Dow Jones have to fall before we need to go to war 
with
Iran?
 --
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] "American Democracy" Means Freedom For Iraqi Women

2007-08-16 Thread The Buffalo In Da' Midst

I categorically refuse to discuss prostitution as a form of 'liberation'.

You can believe whatever you like.


On 8/16/07, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 16 Aug, 2007, at 12:26 PM, The Buffalo In Da' Midst wrote:
> > The freedom to prostitute yourself.
> >
>
> Dude, you are so pre-fifth-wave-feminism! Prostitution is empowering!
> After all, before this wave, the women were unpaid prostitutes to
> their husbands (a fair point) but now have the power to participate
> in the economy. What's-her-name would be happy that these women have
> now gotten up and gone to work.
>
> --ravi
>

Re: [PEN-L] de Brunhoff, Dumenil & Levy

2007-08-16 Thread Paul


Jayson F. asks

Has anyone read La Finance Capitaliste by de Brunhoff, Dumenil, Levy etc?
It does not seem to have made it into English translation.
If anyone has read it can you provide a brief synopsis? It would be much
appreciated.


I have not yet seen the book (I believe it came out in France only a few
months ago) but since no one else has replied, here is what I know.  Hope
it helps.

The book is aimed at an audience similar to Dumenil's recent "Capital
Resurgent: Roots of the Neoliberal Revolution" -- neither high academia
(e.g. no math), nor mass consumption.  Its line of analysis is also quite
similar - classical, "meat and potatoes" Marxism rooted in "late" 3rd or
4th international-like analysis.  The book focuses on how finance has
emerged as a dominant force (and weak point) under neo-liberal
capitalism.  Lenin and Hilferding provide important historical
foundations.  A major theme is how capitalism is returning to its
pre-1930's formations and that themes like those in Hilferding's
FinanzKapital are newly relevant.  {To me, there been a recent
mini-rediscovery of Hilferding, etc., much like the upsurge in
rediscovering classical analyses of imperialism.  But mostly extending well
worn paths; not too much written yet that either looks afresh or tries to
reassess prior dichotomies a century old.  Of course, easier said than done.}

As Jayson probably knows, the book has five articles from four sets of
authors - but it was more harmonized than most books of essays and the
authors are like-minded mainstream classical marxists, so they form a
coherent tour d'horizon.  (In fact the book was the product of a seminar
given about five years ago in the basement of the Maison des Sciences
d'Hommes and I happened to have been invited to attend one of the sessions)

The table of contents (in French) is available at:
http://hussonet.free.fr/finacap-.pdf

Dumenil's first chapter is available (in French) on his website look at the
links in the left frame:
http://www.jourdan.ens.fr/levy/exindex.htm

Below is a quick translation of Dumenil's outline of his chapter.  Hope
this helps.
Paul
---

The first chapter initially reviews the principle aspects of the analysis
Karl Marx gives financial mechanisms and the use we make of it.  This
review shades into the theses of Hilferding and Lenin.  But the core of
the chaper is devoted to a strictly historical interpretation, including
up to contemporary capitalism.  This includes:
- the birth of finance and its first period of hegemony
- the loss of this hegemony in the Keynesian compromise after WWII
- Finance's reconquest on hegemony through neo-liberalism.
That is quite a bit.

The detailed analysis of Marx's analytic framework is reverved for the
next chapter.  That is also where we discuss the theses of the great
continuators: Hilferding and Lenin and their relation to Marx.  Thus the
second chapter goes deeper into theory.  There we focus on the
relationship between the theory of capital and the analysis that Marx
gives to financial mechanisms.  This gets complex and one can not go into
all of the twists and turns of the analytic framework so one obviously
misses a bit the theoretical foundations provided by the study of
capitalism.  But such a shortcut does not prevent providing a Marxist
interpretation of finance and it at least permits squeezing a bit of the
subtleties from a incomplete text [Capital] and from a thought still in
flux.  This is just as true for Hilferding and Lenin, as for Marx although
Marx took many more theoretical detours than those who continued his work.

The first two sections are introductory in nature.  The 1st section is
devoted to the definition of finance and stays within the general spirit
of Marx as our reference point.  The 2nd section goes over the
principle  lessons we find from Marx's analysis of financial mechanisms:
the analalytic framework and the main thesis concerning the history of
capitalism.  In a way, this section summarizes the conclusions of the
following chapter.  The 3rd section deals with a period of about a
century, from the end of the 19th C to the end of the 70's.  The 4th
section describes contemporary capitalist finance in the neoliberal era:
the upper part of the capitalist class and the financial
institutions.  The 5th section analyzes the dynamics of finance's new
hegemony.  What are its methods and its future?  This section mainly
focuses on the present situation and future projections.

So there is is a chronological dimension to this presentation:  1) up to
1980 2) neoliberalism in the recent past 3) where goes neoliberalism.

[PEN-L] Waiting for the end of the world

Published on Mute magazine - Culture and politics after the net 
(http://www.metamute.org)


Waiting For the End of the World
By Jeff Strahl

Would a financial crisis mean recession, depression or revolution? And 
haven’t we been waiting a long time for this liberating, or devastating, 
catastrophe? Jeff Strahl surveys the prophets and naysayers and gives 
his own take on ‘a global crisis of unprecedented proportions’


Expectation of a global economic collapse is a lot like waiting for 
Godot. It even features a ‘first coming’, namely the 1929 crash and 
subsequent global depression. Such a development has been described 
innumerable times in the last century. But the discussion has become 
very lively in the last few months, due to factors such as the crisis in 
the sub-prime housing loans market, increasing attention to ballooning 
debt levels of all sorts, and rising global trade tensions.


Mainstream media discussion has of course largely discounted the very 
possibility of a global economic collapse ever since... the last 
collapse. The argument usually revolved around the assertion that 
regulatory measures adopted during and after the 1930s make such a 
collapse pretty impossible, including the preclusion of disastrous trade 
conflicts due to the world economic structure becoming more and more 
integrated, and the stakes all national capitals have in making sure 
that cooperation continues. This consensus even includes much of what 
passes for left media, e.g., Left Business Observer, whose editor Doug 
Henwood is regularly called upon to provide commentary on ‘progressive’ 
media outlets such as Pacifica Radio, during which he downplays any 
possibility of a catastrophic crisis.[1] Henwood and his cohorts have of 
course generally come to adopt neo-Keynesian perspectives, even when 
they still claim an affinity with Marxist analysis, describe problems as 
basically the results of corporate greed and incompetent right-wing 
policy makers, and prescribe little more than traditional liberal 
palliatives such as a hike in the minimum wage and higher taxes on the rich.


Outside this consensus, one sees analysts such as James Petras, who pens 
articles on the state of global capital such as ‘Crisis of US Capitalism 
or the Crisis of the US Wage and Salaried Worker?’[2] He contends that, 
from the perspective of capital, everything is just fine. 
Mega-corporations are making money, there is no profitability crisis, no 
crisis of capital whatsoever, and exploitation is going on as normal.


Further along, we have people with occasionally vaguely left politics 
who do see a mounting problem with the global economy in particular due 
to the debt situation, who predict that a major crisis is looming, but 
eschew the notion that such a crisis would afflict the capitalist system 
as a whole. Rather it would be confined to the US, or only affect the 
set up of the system as it is right now, i.e., under US control and 
domination. Mike Whitney has written a series of articles on the 
mounting liquidity crisis, including one in which he asserts that what’s 
needed is a new compact of cooperation between labour and capital.[3] 
Henry Liu also sees the crisis as one which will primarily impact the 
US, leading to a new era of supremacy in the world market for what he 
calls China’s ‘market socialism’.[4] Former US Treasury Department 
official (in the Carter administration) Richard Cook espouses ‘reforms’ 
such as social credit, an idea discredited back in the 1930s (when it 
was popular with Fascists), but who remembers?[5]


Then we have those who see a generalised global collapse as becoming 
increasingly likely, and predict that its onset will pretty 
automatically produce a situation which will lead to a revolution. These 
include ‘Anticipation Laboratory’ Leap2020 and various ultra-left 
sects.[6] The idea is that mass degradation will push people to realise 
that the capitalist system itself is at fault, that it is unsustainable, 
and that human happiness, indeed our very survival, will require a total 
transformation of the system. This is held in spite of the failure of 
past episodes of mass crisis, including the ’30s, to actually lead to 
such a turn of events.


The nature of the crisis is such that reformist measures, if ever they 
could work, no longer are able to do so. One needs to remember that 
Marx’s analysis of capital was in its rawest, most fundamental form, 
based upon an admittedly fictitious (albeit valid in essential ways) 
situation of a single global capital facing the entire world’s 
population of wage workers. Capital survives by forcing that population 
to work a full day while only a decreasing fraction of that day is 
equivalent to the socially necessary labour time required to produce 
what it takes for that population to survive as wage workers under the 
given conditions. All labour performed in addition to socially necessary 
labour time (i.e. the time it takes for the worker

Re: [PEN-L] Waiting for the end of the world

2007-08-16 Thread Doug Henwood


On Aug 16, 2007, at 3:03 PM, Louis Proyect quoted Mute:

 This consensus even includes much of what passes for left media,  
e.g., Left Business Observer, whose editor Doug Henwood is  
regularly called upon to provide commentary on ‘progressive’ media  
outlets such as Pacifica Radio, during which he downplays any  
possibility of a catastrophic crisis.


I sent a response to Mute, but haven't heard back from them. In any  
case, here it is:


Jeff Strahl thinks I’m a naif, or a sellout, or something  
unattractive, because I fail to see the end of the world just around  
the corner. He writes  :


Mainstream media discussion has of course largely discounted the very  
possibility of a global economic collapse ever since... the last  
collapse….This consensus even includes much of what passes for left  
media, e.g., Left Business Observer, whose editor Doug Henwood is  
regularly called upon to provide commentary on ‘progressive’ media  
outlets such as Pacifica Radio, during which he downplays any  
possibility of a catastrophic crisis. Henwood and his cohorts have of  
course generally come to adopt neo-Keynesian perspectives, even when  
they still claim an affinity with Marxist analysis, describe problems  
as basically the results of corporate greed and incompetent right- 
wing policy makers, and prescribe little more than traditional  
liberal palliatives such as a hike in the minimum wage and higher  
taxes on the rich.


The rest of his article is mainly a review of all the other people  
who don’t measure up to his high standard of expecting imminent  
collapse. But I’ll leave them to defend themselves and just stick  
with his criticism of me.


The main reason I downplay the possibility of catastrophic crisis is  
that I’ve learned from the last four or five that the bailout  
managers are good at their job. I didn’t always respect their skills  
so. After the October 1987 stock market crash, I feared doom would  
arrive sometime in 1988. It didn’t. Ok, maybe it was running late —  
1989 then. Some S&Ls collapsed, the leveraged buyout mania expired,  
the stock market, after a few years of recovery, had a mini-crash,  
and…not much happened. There was a recession, and a delayed recovery,  
but the world went on. So around about 1991, I finally threw in the  
towel. Spending a few hundred billion in federal cash bailing out the  
savings & loans and driving down interest rates and keeping them  
there kept things from imploding. And a few years later, the Nasdaq  
was the site of mania.


Fast forward a decade and here we are again. This time housing is the  
recent mania, and the U.S. subprime mortgage market is threatening  
the world with systemic crisis. Will Armageddon make its long-delayed  
appearance? Could be; Strahl to the contrary, I’d never deny the  
possibility of utter collapse. U.S households are up to their ears in  
debt (something doomsters have been saying for the last 30 years),  
and the U.S. current account looks like hell. You could imagine a  
scenario in which the U.S. gets cut off from foreign funding, and/or  
the Chinese banking system blows up, and/or the world devolves into  
rival trading blocs, and/or…pick your own horror show. The U.S. is  
politically isolated in the world, and the EU or East Asia or Latin  
America could be happy to see our economy tank — though of course  
we’d probably take them down with us. Any of this could happen.  
Politicians and central bankers can’t always control events, and the  
gang in charge in DC isn’t the most impressive crew ever assembled.  
(Collectively, the Federal Reserve is one of the least experienced in  
modern history, and the Bush administration is a gang of hacks and  
jackals.) Survival isn’t guaranteed.


But, looking at history, the odds are that it’s not 1929 all over  
again. To claim it is, Strahl should really try to put together some  
evidence into a coherent argument instead of mocking people who lack  
his vision. He, like many others, seems almost to *want* a crackup,  
because it might make the somnolent masses wake up and finally come  
around to embracing revolutionary socialism. But they could just as  
easily become jackbooted xenophobes or crazed survivalists.

Re: [PEN-L] Dow Jones Average vs. Iran

2007-08-16 Thread Jeffrey Fisher

just noticed in the economist email i got today the following:

"America confirmed that it was considering designating Iran's *Revolutionary
Guards *as a terrorist organisation. The force is a political and commercial
as well as military power in Iran. The move might make it vulnerable to
international sanctions."

or, say, invasion.

j

On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> How much further will the Dow Jones have to fall before we need to go to
> war with
> Iran?
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
> michaelperelman.wordpress.com
>

--
Jeffrey Fisher
DemocracyInAction.org | Director of Community Development
o: 202.558.2808 x115 | m:773.960.3599
http://www2.democracyinaction.org/blog

*Wiring the progressive movement*

Re: [PEN-L] US's largest mortgage lender might file for bankruptcy

I'm glad we owe them money rather than vice-versa!

On 8/16/07, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> NY Times, August 16, 2007
> Mortgage Lender Moves to Shore Up Cash
> By VIKAS BAJAJ
>
> Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender, said today
> that it had tapped $11.5 billion in emergency loans from 40 of the
> world's largest banks in an effort to shore up its cash position.

--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out
of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.

On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to warn
> investors, they conned them.
>
> Sabri Oncu wrote:
> >
> > Rating agencies hit by subprime probe
> > By Tobias Buck in Brussels
> >
> > Officials in Brussels, and many other critics, believe the ratings agencies
> > failed to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of investing 
> > in
> > securities backed by US subprime mortgages – the sector whose troubles
> > triggered the recent global market volatility.
> --
>
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
> Chico, CA 95929
> 530-898-5321
> fax 530-898-5901
> www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com
>


-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Re: [PEN-L] Dow Jones Average vs. Iran

it wouldn't be an invasion since the US armed forces are tied down in
Iraq & Afghanistan. It would most likely involve strategic bombing.
Maybe nuking. The precendent was set when Israel bombed Iraq almost
(more than?) 2 decades ago. They even got a Bob Dylan song
("Neighborhood Bully") out of it.

On 8/16/07, Jeffrey Fisher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> just noticed in the economist email i got today the following:
>
> "America confirmed that it was considering designating Iran's Revolutionary
> Guards as a terrorist organisation. The force is a political and commercial
> as well as military power in Iran. The move might make it vulnerable to
> international sanctions."
>
> or, say, invasion.
>
> j
>
> On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > How much further will the Dow Jones have to fall before we need to go to
> war with
> > Iran?
> > --
> > Michael Perelman
> > Economics Department
> > California State University
> > Chico, CA 95929
> >
> > Tel. 530-898-5321
> > E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
> > michaelperelman.wordpress.com
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Jeffrey Fisher
> DemocracyInAction.org | Director of Community Development
> o: 202.558.2808 x115 | m:773.960.3599
> http://www2.democracyinaction.org/blog
>
> *Wiring the progressive movement*


--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

They do get their income from setting ratings.  I just looked at Moody's which 
is a 
dot.com, I doubt that they are non-profit.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:44:12PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
> To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out
> of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
> conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.
> 
> On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to warn
> > investors, they conned them.
> >
> > Sabri Oncu wrote:
> > >
> > > Rating agencies hit by subprime probe
> > > By Tobias Buck in Brussels
> > >
> > > Officials in Brussels, and many other critics, believe the ratings 
> > > agencies
> > > failed to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of 
> > > investing in
> > > securities backed by US subprime mortgages  the sector whose troubles
> > > triggered the recent global market volatility.
> > --
> >
> > Michael Perelman
> > Economics Department
> > California State University
> > michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
> > Chico, CA 95929
> > 530-898-5321
> > fax 530-898-5901
> > www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
> way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] Dow Jones Average vs. Iran

With Iran bordering on both countries & US troops there, I don't see how the US
could just bomb without getting involved.  Or would the pilots be greeted with
flowers?

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:47:22PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
> it wouldn't be an invasion since the US armed forces are tied down in
> Iraq & Afghanistan. It would most likely involve strategic bombing.
> Maybe nuking. The precendent was set when Israel bombed Iraq almost
> (more than?) 2 decades ago. They even got a Bob Dylan song
> ("Neighborhood Bully") out of it.
>

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread Marvin Gandall


Jim Devine wrote:


To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out
of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.

On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to warn
investors, they conned them.


As the piece posted by Michael yesterday noted, the agencies rate the
mortgage-backed securities packaged by Wall Street underwriters and sold to
investors, and receive rich fees for doing so - usually twice as much as
their take for rating plain-vanilla corporate bonds, which are less
complicated. The report described how they work in "collaboration, behind
the scenes, with the underwriters...making sure (the MBS) gets high-enough
ratings to be marketable". ("How Rating Firms' Calls Fueled Subprime Mess",
Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2007)

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread raghu

Michael is right. They are most certainly not non-profit. Moody's and
McGraw-Hill (parent of S&P) are both NYSE listed public companies (MCO
and MHP). It is true, that these companies have the impossible job of
serving clients whose stated goal is to "maximize" the value of their
ratings. But they seem to be in denial over the resulting conflict of
interest. And they maintain the ridiculous claim that "transparency"
of the rating process is somehow a good thing.
-raghu.


On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> They do get their income from setting ratings.  I just looked at Moody's 
> which is a
> dot.com, I doubt that they are non-profit.
>
> On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:44:12PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
> > To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out
> > of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
> > conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.
> >
> > On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to warn
> > > investors, they conned them.

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread Doug Henwood


Firms pay for their ratings! - Doug

On Aug 16, 2007, at 7:26 PM, raghu wrote:


Michael is right. They are most certainly not non-profit. Moody's and
McGraw-Hill (parent of S&P) are both NYSE listed public companies (MCO
and MHP). It is true, that these companies have the impossible job of
serving clients whose stated goal is to "maximize" the value of their
ratings. But they seem to be in denial over the resulting conflict of
interest. And they maintain the ridiculous claim that "transparency"
of the rating process is somehow a good thing.
-raghu.


On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

They do get their income from setting ratings.  I just looked at
Moody's which is a
dot.com, I doubt that they are non-profit.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:44:12PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:

To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly
out
of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.

On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to
warn
investors, they conned them.

Re: [PEN-L] North American worker cooperation

2007-08-16 Thread Julio Huato

I wrote:

> The information is a bit telegraphic, but there's
> not much in the newspapers.

I'll correct this.  Actually, running searches I did find good
information on the strike and the history of the conflicts on both La
Jornada and El Universal online.  So let me start by amending some
things I wrote that are flat wrong:

I said that there were strikes against 2 different companies.  Also
that the strike in Sombrerete, against another company, was about to
start.  Bot things are wrong.

In fact, the strike is against companies that, although with different
local names, all belong in the same holding of companies, the Grupo
Mexico (www.gmexico.com).  The main owner of the holding is German
Larrea, the "King of Cooper," a big supporter of Salinas and, after
him, every other big politician who could help him out.  He got the
company after a rushy privatization process under Carlos Salinas.
Larrea also own railroads -- which he acquired during the Zedillo
administration.

And the strike in Sombrerete, also against a company of the Grupo
Mexico, began at the same time as the other two (on July 30, 2007).  I
had written erroneously that this strike was about to start. What is
still pending about the strike in Sombrerete is the judicial ruling on
its "existence."

In the previous posting, I didn't finish what I was typing about
Sicartsa, the former state-owned company in Lazaro Cardenas,
Michoacan.  That was another victim of the corrupt process of
privatization under Salinas. That one was swallowed by what became the
Grupo Villacero (www.villacero.com), sold to the brothers Julio and
Sergio Villarreal Guajardo.

After the death of Napoleon Gomez Sada in 2002, the son Napoleon Gomez
Urrutia -- current leader of the union -- was elected by the board and
ratified by union assemblies as the new top leader.  However,
president Fox and the companies didn't like the idea a bit.  Why?

This is another case in which the class struggle takes rather ugly
forms.  Gomez Urrutia, as son of the old union patriarch, was raised
as a privileged child in a rich family.   You know, being a
traditional union leader in Mexico pays.  Gomez Urrutia studied
economics in the UNAM, the public university, but he then went to
Oxford and got a Ph D.  He also did graduate work at a university in
Berlin.  Then, during several years, he was the director of the Casa
de la Moneda -- Mexico's mint and member of the board of several
companies, state-owned and private corporations.  He also tried to run
for governor of Nuevo Leon, but failed.  He was a prominent bureaucrat
in the state-owned industry sector: planning director of the
state-owned holding Siderurgica Mexicana (which packaged into one
Altos Hornos de Mexico, Sicartsa, and Fundidora Monterrey) during the
Lopez Portillo administration.  Later on, in the Salinas'
administration, he was director of Compania Minera Aztlan, which he
dutifully readied for privatization.

But then, prior to his father death, he joined the union determined to
inherit the father's union empire.  In spite of his past, known to
everybody, his reputation as a workers' leader took a turn.  Nobody
seriously disputes his history as a corrupt, authoritarian union
leader.  It's clear that he expanded the family fortune at the public
expense.  The workers don't ignore this.  In fact, workers seem to
like the fact that he's been an insider among insiders in the sector.
A worker responded to a question from a journalist about Gomez Urrutia
saying, "I know all that.  But he can't rob me, because I don't have
anything he can steal.  On the other hand, I know from experience that
the union is know treated with more respect and he's attained benefits
for workers that we never had before.  He knows how to deal with the
companies."

Even before he became the leader of the union, he began to debate
semi-publicly with Rodriguez Alcaine (see my previous posting), then
the main union leader in Mexico.  He even tried to lead the Congreso
del Trabajo (the coordination board of Mexico's unions, which is often
consulted by the government and corporate groups) while his father was
still alive.  He argued for a tougher attitude in the labor disputes.
He advocated a harder attitude against capital and a more aggressive
stance against the PAN (at a time when the PRI was collapsing or had
already collapsed).  To this day, he's remained an staunch PRI guy and
believer that the PRI can regain power, although the current
leadership of the party is not close to him.  He also advocated a
greater initiative in contacting U.S. and Canadian unions and inviting
their financial support.

For those who expect a black-and-white description of Gomez Urrutia,
I'm sorry to disappoint them.  I can get into his brain and don't care
much about his personal motivations.  His character embodies very
bizarre contradictions, but those contradictions express the realities
of Mexico's labor movement.  It is what it is.  I cannot comfortably
say that his reputa

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread sartesian

Moody's is not a dot.com, but is one of the big three rating agencies in
the US with a long history of providing debt ratings for both sovereign
and corporate issues.

It is a for profit business, selling its services to buy-side
institutions and firms, and the sell-siders who want to know how and why
their paper is costing them more, or less, than the next guy's.

As is always the case, money talks, and most of the time it says "I want
more."  So what happened with the telecom analysts, flacking good
reports, in exchange for their kids admission into pre school,  to the
accounting firms,  cooking books on the Food Channel for Worldcom,
Enron, happened with the rating companies--  co-branding the CDO's for a
price.

- Original Message -
From: "Michael Perelman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

They do get their income from setting ratings.  I just looked at Moody's
which is a
dot.com, I doubt that they are non-profit.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:44:12PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
> To be fair to the ratings agencies, they don't get money directly out
> of setting ratings (I think they're not-for-profit). They aren't
> conpeople as much as they don't want to rock the boat.
>
> On 8/16/07, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The first quote is ridiculous.  The agencies didn't just fail to
warn
> > investors, they conned them.
> >
> > Sabri Oncu wrote:
> > >
> > > Rating agencies hit by subprime probe
> > > By Tobias Buck in Brussels
> > >
> > > Officials in Brussels, and many other critics, believe the ratings
agencies
> > > failed to act quickly enough to warn investors about the risks of
investing in
> > > securities backed by US subprime mortgages - the sector whose
troubles
> > > triggered the recent global market volatility.
> > --
> >
> > Michael Perelman
> > Economics Department
> > California State University
> > michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
> > Chico, CA 95929
> > 530-898-5321
> > fax 530-898-5901
> > www.michaelperelman.wordpress.com
> >
>
>
> --
> Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
> way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

I only said that the address was dot.com.  Sorry for the confustion.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 09:37:06PM -0400, sartesian wrote:
> Moody's is not a dot.com, but is one of the big three rating agencies in
> the US with a long history of providing debt ratings for both sovereign
> and corporate issues.

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

On 8/16/07, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Firms pay for their ratings! - Doug

then why does anyone trust these ratings?

again, I don't think they're cons as much as they "play the game," not
wanting to disturb anyone.

I was wrong: I thought that Moody's was like the Audit Bureau of
Circulations (which is a not-for-profit). The ABC is paid by
advertisers to "rate" newspapers (making sure that they don't cheat in
reporting their circulations, a key determinant of advertising rates).
(BTW, my father used to be a middle-level exec at the ABC. Or maybe a
high level one, but it wasn't a big organization at the time and he
never could become the boss.)
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) --  Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

2007-08-16 Thread raghu

On 8/16/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 8/16/07, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Firms pay for their ratings! - Doug
>
> then why does anyone trust these ratings?
>

I don't think anyone really trusts them. As you say, the three main
rating agencies are part of the game in the very real sense that
securities law explicitly gives them a special status as Nationally
Recognized Securities Rating Organizations (NRSROs). So for instance
pension funds cannot buy anything that is not certified credit-worthy
by Moody's or S&P. Other countries also have similar laws recognizing
the same companies, making them extraordinarily powerful.

Here's a very nice introduction to the rules of the game:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_14/b3777054.htm

-raghu.

Re: [PEN-L] rating agencies

The ratings are important because certain investors, eg pensions, cannot invest 
in
junk unless the junk gets a good rating.  One of the tragedies will be many of 
the
people who will be left holding the bag will be blameless, esp. people who are
depending on pensions.
 --
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

[PEN-L] WSJ nonsense????

Did anyone read the Thursday opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal blaming 
Fannie
& Freddie for "making" other lenders shift into more risky investments?
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] WSJ nonsense????

Here was the ridiculous part:

"I ... lay the blame at the feet of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and their
congressional cronies), whose unchecked growth into second mortgages, subprime 
loans
and many other assets -- not to mention their continued creep into the upper
echelons of the home-mortgage industry through their current lending limit of
$417,000 -- has pushed other mortgage-market participants further out on the 
risk
spectrum in search of a livelihood."
Penner, Ethan. 2007. "Fannie, Freddie and the Housing Bust." Wall Street 
Journal (16
August): p. A 11.



--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

Re: [PEN-L] WSJ nonsense????

2007-08-16 Thread Carrol Cox

Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> Here was the ridiculous part:
>
> "in search of a livelihood."

Whether the remainder is sheer nonsense or partially valid, this is a
hoot: billion dollar+ outfits needing a "livelihood" indeed.

Carrol

Re: [PEN-L] WSJ nonsense????

Yes, I also enjoyed that.

On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 10:54:35PM -0500, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Michael Perelman wrote:
> >
> > Here was the ridiculous part:
> >
> > "in search of a livelihood."
>
> Whether the remainder is sheer nonsense or partially valid, this is a
> hoot: billion dollar+ outfits needing a "livelihood" indeed.
>
> Carrol

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

[PEN-L] Meltdown in a Parallel Universe