Re: [PEN-L] recession?

Jim: > It's not worth my time to go stat-by-stat. > But my impression is that at least for > _changes_ in the unemployment rate, that > rate fits popular experience. It's not so > hot for the _level_. Why is it that you are so obsessed with the US Jim? Is the US only country on earth that publi

Re: [PEN-L] recession?

I'm only obsessed with the US because the thread was talking about that country. On 9/28/06, Sabri Oncu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Jim: > It's not worth my time to go stat-by-stat. > But my impression is that at least for > _changes_ in the unemployment rate, that > rate fits popular experience

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

Another comment on golf (a sport about which I know nothing. I was once fired from a caddy-training program after about an hour). One of the commentatorson US NPR (John Feinstein?) had some revealing tid-bits talking about why the US lost the recent Ryder Cup contest to Europe. The Europeans won

[PEN-L] civil liberties on the march ...

[... backward] September 28, 2006/New York TIMES Editorial Rushing Off a Cliff Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority

Re: [PEN-L] recession?

Is more necessarily good and less bad? Couldn't a moderate recession be part of a healthy adjustment process? I ask this question because it seems to me that the central tent pole of ideology is the supremacy of more. Enough has no standing and reduction is considered a humiliation. Once you accep

[PEN-L] The myth of Tokyo Rose

NY Times, September 28, 2006 Iva Toguri D’Aquino, Known as Tokyo Rose and Later Convicted of Treason, Dies at 90 By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN Iva Toguri D’Aquino, the Japanese-American convicted of treason in 1949 for broadcasting propaganda from Japan to United States servicemen in World War II as t

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

What is teamwork in golf? Kicking your opponent's ball into the rough? On Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 07:16:16AM -0700, Jim Devine wrote: > > One of the commentatorson US NPR (John Feinstein?) had some revealing > tid-bits talking about why the US lost the recent Ryder Cup contest to > Europe. The Euro

Re: [PEN-L] recession?

Sandwichman wrote: Is more necessarily good and less bad? Couldn't a moderate recession be part of a healthy adjustment process? I ask this question because it seems to me that the central tent pole of ideology is the supremacy of more. Enough has no standing and reduction is considered a humilia

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

godnose. I know that it can be more of a teamwork sport than, say, tennis. (Of course, tennis is another rich person's sport.) On 9/28/06, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: What is teamwork in golf? Kicking your opponent's ball into the rough? On Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 07:16:16AM -070

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

On Thursday, September 28, 2006 at 07:51:07 (-0700) Michael Perelman writes: >What is teamwork in golf? Kicking your opponent's ball into the rough? Basically it boils down to camaraderie and routine strategies. The strategies are pretty straightforward, and this aspect of the game is certainly

[PEN-L] Robert Frank on increasing needs

September 28, 2006 Economic Scene/New York TIMES The More We Make, the Better We Want By ROBERT H. FRANK Productivity growth has raised living standards in the United States more than 40-fold since 1790. In his 1930 essay, "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren," John Maynard Keynes specu

[PEN-L] yuan's up

China lets currency rise at a rapid pace [from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/28/business/yuan.php] By Keith Bradsher The New York Times Published: September 28, 2006 HONG KONG China's government allowed the country's currency to rise through 7.9 to the dollar for the first time on Thursday,

[PEN-L] health costs & benefits

September 27, 2006 Economix/ New York TIMES [this column seems to be the NYT's answer to Freakonomics.] The Choice: A Longer Life or More Stuff By DAVID LEONHARDT The most authoritative report on the cost of health insurance came out yesterday, and it's sure to cause some new outrage. The avera

Re: [PEN-L] Robert Frank on increasing needs

There is not a word in all this about the pervasive role of advertising. Advertising can cause people to feel that their existing needs can only be met by zillions of different products so there is no end to the creation of demand and hence the desire to expand income and thus work longer or rob mo

Re: [PEN-L] Robert Frank on increasing needs

It is good that Robert H. Frank raises this issue in the NYT. But as in his other essays, the analysis is predictably shallow. Gene Coyle On Sep 28, 2006, at 8:27 AM, Jim Devine wrote: September 28, 2006 Economic Scene/New York TIMES The More We Make, the Better We Want By ROBERT H. FRANK

Re: [PEN-L] Robert Frank on increasing needs

It seems like the "relative needs" thing ought to be cut in two ways - the "desire to exceed" and the "desire not to be left behind." After all, we usually talk about "keeping up with the Jones's", not "keeping ahead of the Jones's". On that basis the quality thing becomes inextricable from the st

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

Carrol Cox writes: >> > the ghastly American charge >> > of players across the 17th green following Justin Leonard's miraculous >> > putt." >> >> Anyone on this list have any idea of what _that_ was all about. >> >> Carrol Golf - something I do know about. Justin Leonard made a miraculous putt o

Re: [PEN-L] Robert Frank on increasing needs

Robert H. Frank wrote, "To demand quality for its own sake is to be a discerning buyer. But to flaunt one's superiority is to be a boor, a social moron." Compare this to Dogberry's remark to Seacoal, cited by Marx in Capital, "To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but reading and wri

[PEN-L] Just Foreign Policy News, September 28, 2006

Just Foreign Policy News September 28, 2006 Summary: U.S. A majority of Americans want the US to increase diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear ambitions, while 70% oppose the use of U.S. troops to thwart Iran, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released Thursday. Meanwhile, the House of Represen

[PEN-L] more on the National Intelligence Estimate

Here's more on the National Intelligence Estimate from Matt Rothschild, editor of the PROGRESSIVE magazine: The other aspect is especially noteworthy—and alarming—for progressives. And that is the document's inclusion of "anti-globalization" as a source of terrorism. "Anti-U.S. and anti-globali

Re: [PEN-L] The role of U.S. capitalists in cold war policy

Walt -- I hope this helps, although I have not limited myself to the Cold War era. There should be many additional sources, several come to mind. Jules Archer's "The Plot to Sieze the White House," although mainly about the story described in its title, contains a lot on the experiences and views

[PEN-L] More Kurdish feuding with Iraq Government

Analysis: Kurd oil feud is Iraq's future By BEN LANDO UPI Energy Correspondent WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government has threatened to break away from Iraq in a dispute over control of oil resources, revealing deeper fragmentation between provincial and federal

[PEN-L] hugs

check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Re: [PEN-L] Golfing for Bush

Thanks. That just seems boorish, not terribly evil -- regarding the put, not your essay. On Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 11:14:43AM -0700, David B. Shemano wrote: > > Golf - something I do know about. Justin Leonard made a miraculous putt on > the 17th hole and the US players ran onto the green and c

Re: [PEN-L] hugs

think of all the diseases you could get from hugging strangers. ;-) On 9/28/06, Dan Scanlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 -- Jim Devine / "it is all the more clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criti

Re: [PEN-L] hugs

On 9/28/06, Dan Scanlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 A fellow sandwichman. -- Sandwichman