Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

1) Useful paper describing the Fed's capacity utilization method (with a little bit about others) at http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2004/200449/200449pap.pdf Apparently, the Fed (and everyone else) uses the Census Bureau's survey of manufacturing plants (capacity utilization only refers t

[PEN-L] unused capacity

* From: Michael Perelman : Gene's airline story is an excellent example of the delay in the market process. US Steel, as I mentioned yesterday, required a half-century before the market wiped out much of its excess capacity -- or, as Tom Dickens suggested, brought the prices of capital good

[PEN-L] crises

Devine, James wrote: > > In Marx's view of crises, there was no such thing as a permanent crisis. > Of course, that depends on one's definition of "crisis." ^ CB: Then there's the old question "crisis for whom ?". Might we say particular firms come and go, but no permanent crises for the

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Paul raised the question regarding my suggestion about the suspension of competition. I never said that competition had no impact whatsoever, but that in the case of the steel industry and the effect of strong competition was not felt for about 50 years after the formation of US steel -- even duri

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Gene, why do you think that they kept ordering the planes? On Thu, Feb 24, 2005 at 02:36:48PM -0800, Eugene Coyle wrote: > I think that the multiple bankruptcies in the airline industry were > caused by excess capacity. An excess capacity that was hidden in the > data about utilization rates. --

[PEN-L] Working class

1. Is the working class declining ? 2. What defines membership in the working class ? 3. Does the working class include others besides wagelaborers in material production ? 4. Do wagelaborers outside of the sphere of material production create value ? 5. What are service workers ? 6. Are teach

[PEN-L] In My Country

Ordinarily I do not review films that I hate. However, I will make an exception for "In My Country," a film that deals with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings in South Africa of the late 1990s and that achieves an awfulness of biblical proportions. It is of additional interest t

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Would it be wrong to suggest that M&A activity is a symptom of excess capacity, particularly when a merger/acquisition is followed by 'downsizing' -- the laying off of employees. Such activity reduces competition and allows the merged company to 'retire' the most obsolete and most depreciated capi

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

paul phillips wrote: Would it be wrong to suggest that M&A activity is a symptom of excess capacity, particularly when a merger/acquisition is followed by 'downsizing' -- the laying off of employees. Such activity reduces competition and allows the merged company to 'retire' the most obsolete and

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Breweries went from local to regional to national & now international. For industries with high start up costs, it could evolve that way. If however, firms become rooted in a single nation or bloc (Boeing vs. Airbus) oligopolistic cooperation may not work. On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 02:55:38PM -050

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Michael,     First a quick remark on the steel industry.  This from a memory.  Around 1967 the Europeans were adding a lot of new technology -- Basic Oxygen Furnace maybe? Whatever it was, it was a big advance, a much cheaper way to produce steel than the blast furnace.  US Steel nevertheless a

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Gene wrote:> Continental's CEO also put out once or twice a public plea to his confreres to stop expanding. He would if they would. But they wouldn't. < This is the standard collective goods problem/prisoners' dilemma. Each company thought that it would get some sort of advantage from expanding

[PEN-L] basket of currencies

Mr Mandelson called on Beijing to protect intellectual property rights and revalue the yuan, pegging it to a basket of currencies including the euro, rather than only the dollar. Is this the new international measure of value? Has the dollar already been nudged out by computerized formulae? Chris B

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

my understanding is that at least part of the problem was that the depreciation life of commercial aircraft turned out to be much longer than anyone had expected. dd -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: 25 February 2005 18:47 To: P

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Daniel, do you mean that the IRS changed the depreciation? Also, would you tell us more about the Carter era change in the calculation of Social Security that you mentioned? On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 09:59:15PM -, Daniel Davies wrote: > my understanding is that at least part of the problem wa

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

no, I just mean that the aircraft lasted longer than anyone had expected; the airline industry placed orders based on a set of assumptions about the useful life of their fleet, then found that the new ones were delivered but the old planes were still serviceable. Trying to save a buck, they sold t

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

How often do airlines actually purchase planes? Don't they generally lease them? On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 11:09:42PM -, Daniel Davies wrote: > no, I just mean that the aircraft lasted longer than anyone had expected; > the airline industry placed orders based on a set of assumptions about the

[PEN-L] Newt Gingrich, social constructivist - on tenure

We ought to say to [state university] campuses, it's over.We should say to state legislatures, why are you making us pay for this? Boards of regents are artificial constructs of state law. Tenure is an artificial social construct. Tenure did not exist before the twentieth century, and we had free s

[PEN-L] Will the next Pope be

George Ringo?

[PEN-L] Ricardo Hausman

Hausman was recently in the news trying to prove "fraud" in the Venez. elections. Here the Wall Street Journal makes him seem ok. Seeking Latin America Growth Some Economists Argue Government Policies May Be the Solution By BOB DAVIS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL February 23, 2005

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Here is what I have on the basic oxygen process. Oster, Sharon. 1982. "The Diffusion of Innovation Among Steel Firms: The Basic Oxygen Furnace." Bell Journal of Economics, 13: 1 (Spring): pp. 45-86. 49-50: The basic oxygen furnace was used to produce steel was developed in Austria in 1949, but eve

[PEN-L] Ronald Aronson considers Leon Trotsky

I want to draw comrades' attention to a long, serious but profoundly wrong-headed review of the new edition of Isaac Deutscher's biography of Leon Trotsky on the Nation Magazine website: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050314&s=aronson

Re: [PEN-L] unused capacity

Michael,     I just Googled "Burns Harbor steel" and found the following:     1962 - Bethlehem announces it will build a major integrated steel plant in   Burns Harbor, Ind., the most ambitious single project in its history to   produce sheet and plate steel for the fast-growing mid

Re: [PEN-L] Newt Gingrich, social constructivist - on tenure

Newt, why not a bill that says "No tenure without signing a loyalty oath"? They did that once before. Gene Coyle Eubulides wrote: We ought to say to [state university] campuses, it's over.We should say to state legislatures, why are you making us pay for this? Boards of regents are artificial cons

Re: [PEN-L] Newt Gingrich, social constructivist - on tenure

-Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eugene Coyle Newt, why not a bill that says "No tenure without signing a loyalty oath"? They did that once before. Gene Coyle --- Seriously, look for Newt to run in 2008

Re: [PEN-L] Newt Gingrich, social constructivist - on tenure

Bizarro Newt Gingrich writes: "We ought to say to corporate owners, it's over. We should say to state legislatures, why are you making us pay for this? Boards of directors are artificial constructs of state law. Ownership is an artificial social construct. Private corporations did not exist be

Re: [PEN-L] Newt Gingrich, social constructivist - on tenure

OK as long as you give a pass to people with 3 marriages to show how strongly they support family values. On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 06:42:12PM -0600, Eubulides wrote: > -Original Message- > From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eugene Coyle > > > Newt, why not a bill that

Re: [PEN-L] Oil & dollars

"And b) so what anyway; if you have some euros and want to buy something quoted in $, it is not exactly difficult to find someone who will sell you $." I think the point is that if it were generally true that oil purchases can be made only for dollars, so that you have to change your euros into dol

Re: [PEN-L] Oil & dollars

The article below does not say whether the oil futures market requires purchases in dollars. Is this the case? Also, some commentators claim that Iraq before the war was planning to sell its oil directly for Euros, breaking with the general practice of selling for dollars.  How would such a trans

Re: [PEN-L] Ricardo Hausman

Flavour of the month! Stickly sweet to me, full of carbs and no protein or vitamins. Avoid at all costs! Paul P michael perelman wrote: Hausman was recently in the news trying to prove "fraud" in the Venez. elections. Here the Wall Street Journal makes him seem ok. -- No virus found in this outg