[PEN-L:2008] Re: Megaeconomic diagnosis
Peter Dorman on the PKT list (this also goes to the list PEN-L) says: .If Keynes were surveying the current situation, would he be inclined to write a book entitled "The Economics of the Debt", calling attention to the macroeconomic parallels between the burden imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles and the burden imposed on much of the third world by accumulated debt? I ask because I'm intrigued but don't really know how far this analogy can be taken. I just want to point out that my indebtedness diagnosis includes not only third world debt. Included is also indebtedness within the richer countries. And also any financial asset/debt relationship, i.e. not only bank loans but bonds, stock - all sorts of securities who give the holder a claim on future dividends from some debtor source. Financial polarization is proceeding within the richer countries, not only between rich and poor countries. It also proceeds within the poor countries. I think the indebtedness explanation also sheds light on the explosive growth of financial sectors worldwide: When society gets more financially polarized, there is an increasing market for mediating and handling of debt/asset relationships. I have launched these views on and off for a couple of years now, and I still haven't heard any explanation why the reasoning is wrong. I have a suspicion that the simple accumulation mechanism of compound interest (dividends) leading to exponential* asset/debt growth, known since ancient times and condemned by f.inst. Aristotle, in The Bible and the Qura'an, is considered too quaint (can a serious modern economist support an explanation which is recognized already in the Old Testament?) and too trivial, to play a central part in explaining the dynamics of complex, modern capitalism. It is IMO a case of not seeing the forest for all the trees. One important factor that IMO confuses the issue for many economists, is the phenomenal real growth observed in most countries for a significant part of the last 50 years. But such growth may occur, and may give all members of a society increasing living standards, IN PARALLELL WITH INCREASING INDEBTEDNESS. The presence or absence of productivity increase and production increase has no important bearing on the financial polarization process.This process is fundamentally similar in antique society and today, as long as money and interest is present. And the crisis one bogs down into is also essentially the same. In antique societies, which were static agrarian ones, the debt crisis led to catastrophe with people being sold off for slavery/dying from hunger. Under modern dynamic capitalism, real growth is (or has been) so fast due to technological developments that the effects of indebtedness are ameliorated. But financially the mechanism is similar and just as serious, and as i said in an earlier message, if further polarization due to accumulation shall be (homeostatically) held in check _only_ by a high rate of insolvencies ensured by feedback from the fragility that follows from indebtedness, then the world (in an average sense) will stay bogged down in this situation. One solution (beside large scale debt forgiveness; a "jubilee") is to lower the interest rate. One may show that an interest rate i d * (1-s)/s ensures a reversal of polarization, i.e. debts are paid off faster than they may accumulate. Here i = average interest rate [per cent/time unit] d = average rate of repayment [per cent/time unit] s = average creditor savings rate out of incoming financial flows [per cent] Thus low savings rates and/or high rates of repayment allow a higher interest rate without polarization occuring. --- * Note that an exponential path is characterized by a small slope for a fairly long initial period, before it explodes. Thus polarization may proceed (slowly) for decades without alarms being raised. regards, Trond - | Trond Andresen ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | | Department of Engineering Cybernetics | | The Norwegian Institute of Technology | | N-7034 Trondheim, NORWAY | | | | phone (work) +47 73 59 43 58| | fax (work) +47 73 59 43 99| | private phone +47 73 53 08 23| | private cellular phone +47 90 16 69 30| | | | http://www.itk.unit.no/ansatte/Andresen_Trond | -
[PEN-L:2007] Net'Strike against French Government
Friends, I thought someone wants to join in. English instruction below the Italian one. Massimo De Angelis (University of East London) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 23:46:08 +0100 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Net'Strike - Sciopero della rete NET'STRIKE Sciopero della rete First hour Prima ora 21-12-1995 dalle 18:00 alle 19:00 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. (France time zone) Partecipa al primo sciopero globale della rete Internet Enjoy the first global strike in Internet Attention!!! You find english translation at the bottom of message! Istruzioni per l'uso: - Diffondi e promuovi questo messaggio. - a) Il giorno 21-12-1995 dalle 18:00 alle 19:00 (data e ora cambiano a seconda del fuso orario; consulta la tabella n.2 in fondo al messaggio) collegati ai siti web del governo francese (vedi elenco indirizzi nella tabella n.1 in fondo al messaggio, oppure ritaglia e usa l'home page che trovi nella tabella n.3 in fondo al messaggio). b) Ripeti l'operazione piu' volte (a intervalli di pochi secondi) per un'ora. Una manifestazione di 1000, 10.000, 100.000 utenti in fila uno dietro l'altro in un corteo globale nei cavi dei siti internet del governo francese. Il risultato di tale sciopero sara' quello di paralizzare per un'ora l'attivita' in rete del governo francese. BOICOTTIAMO LE ISTITUZIONI GOVERNATIVE FRANCESI! Il governo francese mostrando un totale disprezzo per il proprio popolo, per la comunita' internazionale, per la gente comune che vorrebbe crescere i propri figli in un mondo migliore: - prosegue i suoi esperimenti nucleari nel Pacifico; - continua ad utilizzare il nucleare "civile" come principale fonte energetica; - continua a perpetrare i suoi progetti di "ristrutturazione sociale" nonostante l'eccezionale partecipazione dei francesi alle manifestazioni di protesta. Per questo intendiamo togliere, anche se solo parzialmente e solo per periodi limitati, alle istituzioni governative francesi i privilegi a cui tanto tengono tutti i potenti, i signori della guerra, della fame e dell'ingiustizia sociale: l'accesso ai sempre piu' potenti mezzi comunicativi e ai canali informativi, quegli stessi privilegi che vengono negati alla stragrande maggioranza della popolazione mondiale. Continueremo le nostre azioni con ogni mezzo necessario, utilizzando strumenti perfettamente legali, anche se presto i potenti della Terra, che disprezzano la volonta' dei popoli dovranno rendersi conto di quanto potenti possano essere simili mezzi. Questo e' il primo, ma non sara' l'ultimo degli scioperi che promuoveremo in rete. Se vuoi essere contattato per le prossime iniziative spedisci un messaggio al seguente indirizzo: [EMAIL PROTECTED] con subject: Net'Strike e come testo del messaggio il tuo indirizzo internet Attacco comunicativo globale - Massive Comunicative Attack Strano Network === English translation *** Instructions: - Spread this message everywhere - a) In the date 21/12/1995, 6pm-7pm (day and hour change in relationship to the time zone, look at the list no. 2 at the bottom of the message), link to sites of French Government (look at the list no. 1 or cut and copy the home page of the list no. 3); b) reply said procedure several times for an hour by using intervals of few seconds. A demonstration of 1000, 10.000, 100.000 netusers all together making part of a line crossing French Government's sites. The result of this strike will be to stop for an hour network activities of French Government. BOIKOTT THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT'S INSTITUTIONS!. French Goverment has shown a total contempt for French people, for international community, for common people who just would like to grow up their sons in a better world as it: - goes on with nuclear experiments in Pacific Ocean's islands - goes on with use of nuclear energy as mainly source of "civil" energy - goes on with its projects of "social redrawing" without taking into account the enormous presence of people in recent demonstrations of protest against such kind of policy. These are the reasons that drove us to to take off to french government (for a while...) some of the privileges that every powerful man involved in war-games and exploitation plans like very much: The access to the ever growing important new information media. The same privileges denied to all common people. We will go on with our demonstrations with any means, using all technologies, always respecting the law. Those political fellows which do not take into any account people's needs will understand very soon the real power of new information technologies. This is the
[PEN-L:2009] Re: Something completely different
On Thu, 14 Dec 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Andrew Kliman here, responding to Jim Jaszewski's ad hominem response to my post re why I left the Marxism list. If that's your idea of what ad hominem is, then no wonder people like you have difficulty reaching agreement with people like me... But the rest exhibits a persistent tendency of some on the Marxism list--the tendency to divert the discussion. Jim thinks that's okay, but instead of reproducing my comments in context, he snips bits and pieces in order to make it sound like (a) I only care about my own needs, (b) I somehow implied that the list could not go on without me, and (c) I was comparing my talents and achievements to Marx's. Ya. Sure. I took you out of context -- more likely I brought to the fore your unconscious motivations. This is bullshit. My whole post, and the post as a whole, was meant to criticize the charges that people who've left the Marxism list have done so (implicitly: that ALL have done so) because they are ivory-tower academics who don't care about real issues of concern to real people, and especially that one is not "much of a Marxist" if s/he leaves the list because of its "grittiness and informality." My point about Marx is that his work required serious thought, patience, concentration, and discipline, not the continual "gritty" and "informal" diversions that characterize the Marxism list. By these criteria, Marx was not much of a Marxist, because he sat in the library instead of being active in the mid-1880s equivalent of the Marxism list--spending all day and night at the pub with the blokes in a freewheeling inebriated banter. You really don't get it, do you?? The Marxism List is about REAL LIFE. Scholarship is a big part of it, but not *ALL* of it. If that peeves some academics, then so be it... And I've got no doubt that there exist enough types like this that the Marxism list will continue and thrive. For those who have the time to wade through all the nonsense, and let their discussions get sidetracked by others so that development of ideas is made all the harder, I'm sure there will continue to be gems in the Marxism list among all the junk, and I'm glad that the list exists for them. As for the others on the list, let the dead bury the dead. Again: you are just another one who cannot see that they are really complaining about List *VOLUME*... Do some self-criticism, bub. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ |stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal | | if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig| | more info: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ | Jim Jaszewski [EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP Public Key available. | | http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/~ab975/Profile.html | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
[PEN-L:2010] Re: Info from France
At 4:45 PM 12/15/95, bill mitchell wrote: to doug and the other romantics I am not now, nor have I ever been, a romantic. Back in my lit crit days, I even wrote papers on Shelley's irony. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:2011] Labor video list (fwd)
Forwarded message: Date: Sat, 16 Dec 1995 10:08:00 -0600 From: Jim Davis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Labor video list Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-to: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 15 Dec 95 21:40:50 -500 Subject: Labor beat list To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . ANNOUNCING: . . Labor Beat now has an Internet weg page. If you also have a web page, . please add a reference to it: . . .Labor Beat[ ] A Chicago-based organization which develops .and distributes progressive television, radio, and Internet .communications on labor and social issues. More than three .hundred Labor Beat television programs and Labor Express .radio programs have now been produced. . . *** Reference: http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/discussions/cpsr/lb . . . . Whether or not you have the resources to visit Labor Beat's web page -- . . Labor Beat's list of videos will be sent to you automatically by email. . Send a message to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]", subject "(any)", with the . message body "send http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/discussions/cpsr/lb . /vids.txt". . . (Request it again soon, since a major update is about to be posted.) . . A printed illustrated version of the list is available from: . Labor Beat / 37 S. Ashland Blvd. / Chicago IL 60607 . Phone: (312) 226-3330 . Fax: (312) 561-0908 . EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . .
[PEN-L:2012] bigtime radio fun
Any volunteers or nominees to be on my radio show this Thursday, between 5 and 6 PM NYC time, to talk about "the" deficit (i.e. the US government's) with some hawk from the coalition that's doing all those awful TV ads? Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:2013] Re: Something completely different
touche, you cheeky devil
[PEN-L:2014] Modern Holiday Greetings
Seasons Greetings (Author Unknown)
The recent announcement that Donner and Blitzen have elected to take
the early reindeer retirement package has triggered a good deal of
concern about whether they will be replaced, and about other
restructuring decisions at the North Pole.
Streamlining was appropriate in view of the reality that the North
Pole no longer dominates the season's gift distribution business.
Home shopping channels and mail order catalogues have diminished Santa's
market share and he could not sit idly by and permit further erosion
of the profit picture.
The reindeer downsizing was made possible through the purchase of a
late model Japanese sled for the CEO's annual trip. Improved
productivity from Dasher and Dancer, who summered at the Harvard
Business School, is anticipated and should take up the slack with no
discernible loss of service. Reduction in reindeer will also lessen
airborne environmental emissions for which the North Pole has been
cited and received unfavorable press.
I am pleased to inform you and yours that Rudolph's role will not be
disturbed. Tradition still counts for something at the North Pole.
Management denies, in the strongest possible language, the earlier leak
that Rudolph's nose got that way not from the cold, but from substance
abuse. Calling Rudolph "a lush who was into the sauce and never did
pull his share of the load" was an unfortunate comment, made by one of
Santa's helpers and taken out of context at a time of year when he is
known to be under executive stress.
As a further restructuring, today's global challenges require the
North Pole to continue to look for better, more competitive steps.
Effective immediately, the following economy measures are to take
place in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" subsidiary:
The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree never turned out to
be the cash crop forecasted. It will be replaced by a plastic hanging
plant, providing considerable savings in maintenance.
The two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost
effective. In addition, their romance during working hours could not
be condoned. The positions are therefore eliminated.
[The three French hens will remain intact. After all, everyone loves
the French.]
The four calling birds were replaced by an automated voice mail system,
with a call waiting option. An analysis is underway to determine who
the birds have been calling, how often and how long they talked.
The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of Directors.
Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could have negative
implications for institutional investors. Diversification into other
precious metals as well as a mix of T-Bills and high technology stocks
appear to be in order.
The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer be
afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one egg
per goose per day is an example of the decline in productivity. Three
geese will be let go, and an upgrading in the selection procedure by
personnel will assure management that from now on every goose it gets
will be a good one.
The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in better
times. The function is primarily decorative. Mechanical swans are on
order. The current swans will be retrained to learn some new strokes
and therefore enhance their outplacement.
As you know, the eight maids-a-milking concept has been under heavy
scrutiny by the EEOC. A male/female balance in the workforce is being
sought. The more militant maids consider this a dead-end job with no
upward mobility. Automation of the process may permit the maids to
try a-mending, a-mentoring or a-mulching.
Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number. This function will
be phased out as these individuals grow older and can no longer do the
steps.
Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill. The high cost of Lords plus the
expense of international air travel prompted the Compensation
Committee to suggest replacing this group with ten out-of-work
congressmen. While leaping ability may be somewhat sacrificed, the
savings are significant because we expect an oversupply of unemployed
congressmen this year.
Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple case of
the band getting too big. A substitution with a string quartet, a
cutback on new music and no uniforms will produce savings which will
drop right down to the bottom line.
We can expect a substantial reduction in assorted people, fowl,
animals and other expenses. Though incomplete, studies indicate that
stretching deliveries over twelve days is inefficient. If we can drop
ship in one day, service levels will be improved.
Regarding the lawsuit filed by the attorney's association seeking
expansion to include the legal profession ("thirteen
[PEN-L:2015] Re: (c)lass position of professors
I love the way Terry McDonough said that: Academia retains a guild structure and along with the mafia and the Catholic Church is one of the few relatively uncontaminated feudal institutions still viable within the twentieth century capitalist social formation. I would like to agree with what Terry said simply for its eloquence of expression. However, Blair Sandler's and Jerry Levy's points make it clear that the analogy doesn't hold. I still want to account for why I found Terry's comment so appealing. It might be useful to recall a distinction that Marx made between the *formal* and *real* subsumption of labour under capital within manufacturing and machine production, respectively. One could describe academic labour as being "formally subsumed" under capitalist relations of production and still hold that the academic labour process itself (including guild-like methods of recruitment and promotion) has not yet been transformed into a "properly capitalist" labour process. This whole discussion brings to mind a point about the "relations of production" that is terribly easy to overlook and has severe political consequences. It's tempting to think of relations of production as simply something that happens on the "shopfloor" -- i.e. relations between workers and bosses. But relations of production encompass hierarchical, market and socialization factors. The "shopfloor" might best be thought of as the place in a Venn diagram (three overlapping but non-concentric circles) where the three "spheres" intersect. But the three spheres also take up a lot of non-shopfloor space (where they don't intersect). I think this is why there is such a huge difference between objective "class position" and subjective "class consciousness". ^ "Only in mediocre art does life unfold as fate." -- Michael Ignatieff Tom Walker knoWWare Communications http://mindlink.net/knowware/
[PEN-L:2016] re: french song
This song was originally written by Joe Hill, and is from an album by Tom Juravich The long haired preachers come out every night, try to tell you what's wrong and what's right, till you ask about something to eat, then they answer in voices so sweet; You will eat by 'n by in that beautiful land in the sky (way up high) Work and pray live on hay you'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie) Well the Starvation Army they play, they sing and they clap and they pray, till they've got all your coin on the drum, then they tell you that you're on the bum. (Refrain) If you work hard for your children and your wife (or husband) try to get something good in this life, Well you're a sinner and a band man they tell, and when you die you will sure got to hell. (Refrain) Workin' folks of all nations unite, side by side for freedom we'll fight, when this world and its wealth we have gained, to the grafters we'll sing this refrain: You will eat by and by when you've learned how to cook and how to fry. Chop some wood do you good and you'll eat in the sweet by and by. (That's no lie)
[PEN-L:2017] Minimum wage revisited
Dear PENers, I want to run some simulations concerning the wage rate and rate of profit in manufacturing, by using "profit squeeze" hypothesis. The symbols:r = (Y-W)/K = (y-w)/k Where: r=rate of profit in manufacturing Y=manufacturing output; W=wages in manufacturing; K=capital stock in manufacturing. y=Y/L (average productivity per man-hour); w=W/L (average hourly wage rate); k=K/L (capital-labor ratio) L=employment in man-hours To run simulations I need employment figure in "man-hours" or "human-hours" from 1950 or 1960 to present. I have data for L in persons, not in man-hours. I suppose I could crudely estimate man-hours employment data multiplying (L in persons) by (average weekly hours) by (52 or 50).But that would be too crude to have any relevance. Are there anybody out there who know the employment data in manufacturing in terms of man-hours? Many thanks in advance. Happy holidays Fikret Fikret Ceyhun Dept. of Economics e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Univ. of North Dakota voice: (701)777-3348 office University Station, Box 8369(701)772-5135 home Grand Forks, ND 58202 fax:(701)777-5099
[PEN-L:2018] Debt Trap
Trond Andresen had an interesting post on debt polarization, which is reproduced below. I would like to add the followign note which explains why Third World debt grows as it does. The table is a simulation based on some assumptions, which are not too unrealistic. And if we look at the Third World debt data, we observe its accumulation as the simulation table indicates. THE DEBT TRAP: 1. New borrowing needs: M - X = new borrowing or debt refinancing. M + debt service = X + new loans. M=imports X=exports where: NL= new loans DS= debt service M = X + (NL - DS) NT=(NL-DS): net resource transfer or net proceeds M = X + NT 2. As NT declines, M declines too. And NT becomes negative, then part of the export earnings will have to be allocated to debt service and a fraction to imports. This sets a crisis in the debt-ridden country. 3. Here are the assumptions: Interest rate is 10 percent; Debt amortization is 5 percent New borrowing needs grow 10 percent, due to development projects Calculations are explained by formulas given at the bottom of the table New Debt Service NetDebts Loans Interest Principal Total Transfers Outstanding Year (1) (2)(3) (4)(5)(6) 1 2000200 100 300 1700 1900 2 2200410 210 620 1580 3890 3 2420631 331 962 1458 5979 4 2662864 464 13281334 8177 5 2928611 17211207 10495 6 32211372772 21431078 12944 7 354 1649949 2597946 15538 8 3897194411443087810 18292 9 4287225813583616671 21222 10 4716259415944187528 24344 11 5187295318534806381 27678 12 5706333821385477229 31246 13 627737522452620572 35070 14 6905419827986995-90 39177 15 7595467731777855-260 43595 16 8355519535958790-435 48355 17 9190575440549809-619 53490 18 10109 6360456010920 -811 59039 19 11120 7016511612132 -101265043 20 12232 7728572813455 -122371548 -- Column (1)t = (1)t-1(1.1) Column (2)t = [(1)t + (6)t-1] Column (3)t = [(1)t/20 + (3)t-1] Column (4)t = (2) + (3) Column (5)t = (1) - (4) Column (6)t = [(1)t + (6)t-1] - (3)t EXTERNAL DEBT OF LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (COMBINED) (Billions of US dollars) 1970 1975198019851990 TOTAL DEBT(EDT) $68 bil.167 573 966 1,281 DEBT SERVICE(TDS) $5.5bil.4.5 92.0128.7 143.4 NET TRANSFERS $4.5bil.19.030.2-17.6 -21.6 DEBT SERVICE/EXPORTS9.6% 9.1 21.127.919.8 TOTAL DEBT/GNP 10.3% 12.428.046.141.8 LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES 198019851990 Total Debt Stocks (EDT) $129 bil. 242 407 Total Debt Service (TDS) $13 bil 25 37 Net Transfers$11 bil 5 7 Total Debt Service/Exports [TDS/XGS] 10.3% 21.7 20.0 EDT/GNP 16.4% 28.6 41.4 Source: World Bank, World Debt Tables, 1988-89 and 1990-91 editions. Low Income Countries are those in which 1990 GNP per capita was no more than $610, and Middle Income Countries are those in which GNP per capita was more than $610 and less than $7,620. THE LOST DECADE: An unusual comment by a conservative US weekly. Excerpts from U.S. News World Report, Oct. 2, 1989, p.51. There is a widespread sense that the 1980s have been a "lost decade" for much of the developing world, especially for the deeply indebted nations of Africa and Latin America. Nor is the emerging approach of the 1990s necessarily cause for celebration. Unless the debt burden is scaled back dramatically, it will continue to be a very serious problem that will stifle development for years to come Statistics tell much of the decade's grim story. National income per capita among developing countries either stalled or fell substantially. Fueled by rising interest rates and a fall off in exports, debt service as a share of export earnings climbed. At the same time, new commercial bank-lending dried up; as a result, the developing world, which had recorded a $29 billion net inflow in financial resources for 1982, saw a staggering $100 billion outflow from 1985 through 1988. The implication of this hemorrhage for capital-starving nations are harrowing. Cutting the debt overhang and reversing the net
