re: Eurovison song contest....II
Queries Jim D: I don't know how a discussion of the Eurovision contest (something I had never heard of before) got on pen-l. But is there any significance to the fact that a transsexual (transgenderal?) from Israel won the contest? Does it represent some sort of sexual sea-change? More a _political_ sea-change that's incidentally sex-connected, and most particularly in Israel, where it's symptomatic of a new class-based party coalition that requires a dramatic surmounting of identity politics. (See Eric Lee's article in the May 4th issue of The Nation.) Queries Doug: On a sort-of related topic, how did people of the 1950s perceive Liberace and Little Richard? As gay? As just "odd"? How'd they pass through the prevailing homophobia? In the '50s adults may have already been under fire, but they still ruled. Milwaukee-bred Liberace zestfully played old favorites that moms and dads could relate to. He often exercised his good diction to express an apparently genuine adoration of his mother, and that too went over well, as did his mode of dress, where neatness and good grooming balanced out his "gypsy" shirts and longish hair. In the '50s homophobia was itself unrecognized as a concept: if a guy was pegged as "queer" mere disdain and avoidance were the usual consequent attitudes, as gays were not politically organized or suspected of pushing their "lifestyle" through a massive subliminal cultural offensive. Liberace was, at worst, called a mama's boy, which played to his desired image anyway. Had he been a private person of no talent he would have been called "a confirmed bachelor." Really, invective in those days - not coincidentally prior to the development of media politics - was quite a muted phenomenon. About Little Richard I know nothing. valis
McCloskey's Rhetoric
I just got a review copy of a 2nd ed of McCloskey's book on Rhetoric. Is it worth reading? Doug
re: Eurovison song contest....
James Devine wrote: I don't know how a discussion of the Eurovision contest (something I had never heard of before) got on pen-l. But is there any significance to the fact that a transsexual (transgenderal?) from Israel won the contest? Does it represent some sort of sexual sea-change? On a sort-of related topic, how did people of the 1950s perceive Liberace and Little Richard? As gay? As just "odd"? How'd they pass through the prevailing homophobia? Doug
BLS Daily Reportboundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BD7DE3.EEA85E40
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. -- =_NextPart_000_01BD7DE3.EEA85E40 charset="iso-8859-1" BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1998: Job creation rebounded in the latest employment report, with the = economy creating a seasonally adjusted 262,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs in April, while the unemployment rate fell to a 28-year low of 4.3 = percent, BLS reports. The surge in employment was led by the services industry, which created 139,000 new jobs during the month, and growth also was strong in construction, real estate, finance, and computer services. But manufacturing hiring was weak for the third consecutive month after several months of strong growth, BLS says (Daily Labor Report, page = D-1, Statement of BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham on Release of the April Employment Report Given Before the Joint Economic Committee, May 8, 1998, page E-4). __In the latest sign of the economy's extraordinary health, the Labor Department has reported that the unemployment rate plunged to 4.3 percent last month. But analysts said inflationary pressures remain muted enough to keep the Fed from raising interest rates (John M. = Berry, in The Washington Post, May 9, page C1).. __Stocks halted a three-session losing streak today, as traders found little to worry about in a stronger-than-expected April employment report. The report also showed that average hourly earnings rose 4 cents to a record $12.67. The data were stronger than expected, but not so much that = they could resolve a 2-week debate over whether the inflation-leery Fed = might slow the economy with higher interest rates (The Washington Post, in an Associated Press article, May 9, page C2). __The nation's unemployment rate tumbled in April to 4.3 percent, the lowest level in nearly 3 decades, and employers added more than a quarter-million jobs to payrolls, the Labor Department said yesterday. "You always have to be cautious with one month's data," said Tom Nardone, chief of labor force statistics at BLS, which compiles the = jobs report. "But it does look as if unemployment has ratcheted down = again." Manufacturing, buffeted by the economic crisis in Asia and a pileup of inventories at the end of last quarter, is virtually the only cool spot in an otherwise hot labor market. Some 10,000 factory jobs disappeared last month, mostly in export sensitive industries like electronics and heavy machinery. But Nardone pointed out that the losses were small relative to the strong gain of 169,000 industrial jobs from September through January. Wage inflation, while hardly alarming, is creeping = up. Compared with the 4.4 percent increase of the last 12 months, wages = grew just 3.7 percent and 3.1 percent in the 2 previous years. The biggest gains in pay showed up in the service sector in general and financial services in particular. Pay in finance, insurance, and real estate was up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, for example. For the last couple of years, solid growth in productivity has offset part of the rise in wages, and the strong dollar, lower oil prices and the shift = to managed health care have helped to suppress price pressures (The New York Times, May 9, page 1).=20 __The economy is getting better all of the time, so now economists really have something to worry about, says The Wall Street Journal, = page A2. The economy grew at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the first quarter, and inflation was almost nonexistent. Is this a new economy? Or just a fluke that has got to give way to reality=85and soon? The Journal's page 1 graph is of the unemployment rate, 1990 to the = present. __The powerful U.S. economy is having a dramatic impact on minority workers, offering unprecedented gains to groups often left behind economically, says USA Today (page 1B). Average hourly earnings for blacks grew 4.8 percent the past year, compared with 4.4 percent for = the entire U.S. workforce, the Labor Department said Friday. Among blacks, the unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent last month, from 9.2 percent in March and 9.9 a year ago. The jobless rate for Hispanics was at a record low of 6.5 percent in April, down from 6.9 percent the month before and 8 percent in April 1997, Labor said. Despite huge business investments in computers, "the expansion that began in the early 1990s has remained the slowest in the post World War II period. Labor productivity=85is the heart of the matter=85Business = has increased its investment in computers by more than 30 percent a year since the early 1970s, but the rate of growth of productivity has = fallen from 2.85 percent a year between 1947 and 1973, to about 1.1 percent a year since 1973," says Jeff Madrick, the editor of Challenge magazine. The economist Robert Solow, a Nobel Prize recipient, made a similar observation several years ago: "You can see the computer age = everywhere but in
Re: where have all the talking heads gone?
May I ask a stupid question. I'm out of town for a few days Hoiw does one unsubscribe to the pen-l list so that emails don't pile up for a week John Mason Doug Henwood wrote: Congratulations to Doug and Louis on your new e-mail lists, but since I have not (yet?) subscribed to either of them, my e-mail life seems awfully quiet now that I only get 2 messages a day on pen-l and not 40-50. Oh, heavens, I didn't want this to happen. I was hoping lbo-talk would be a place for economics to connect with the noneconomic world, and not draw away from PEN-L. If this continues, I may have to take drastic action. Doug -- MZ
re: Eurovison song contest....
I don't know how a discussion of the Eurovision contest (something I had never heard of before) got on pen-l. But is there any significance to the fact that a transsexual (transgenderal?) from Israel won the contest? Does it represent some sort of sexual sea-change? in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html "Dear, you increase the dopamine in my accumbens." -- words of love for the 1990s.
mail postpone
suspend +Fikret Ceyhun voice: (701)777-3348 work + +Dept. of Economics (701)772-5135 home + +Univ. of North Dakota fax:(701)777-5099 + +University Station, Box 8369e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] + +Grand Forks, ND 58202/USA +
Re: McCloskey's Rhetoric
Yes, McCloskey seems to have one string on his violin but it is an interesting string. You can get the point fairly quickly without agonizing about the small details. Doug Henwood wrote: I just got a review copy of a 2nd ed of McCloskey's book on Rhetoric. Is it worth reading? Doug -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: McCloskey's Rhetoric
Michael Perelman wrote: Yes, McCloskey seems to have one string on his violin but it is an interesting string. You can get the point fairly quickly without agonizing about the small details. *Her* violin. Doug
The Independent Institute
Pen'ers: Does anyone know anything about the Independent Institute? As best I can tell it's a quite conservative policy-issues forum (its advisors list reads like a who's who of the right) -- but I'd like to know about its FUNDING. It's recently released a book disclaiming global warming (by Fred Singer). Is the Institute another of those Richard Mellon Scaife funded things? Or, is it funded by the "Global Climate Coalition", the oil-company-funded organization responsible for most of the recent public ity given the "skeptical view" on global warming? ... Thanks in advance for any info' anyone can provide. Cheers -- Eric Schutz
BLS Daily Reportboundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BD7DE9.B69FAE50
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. -- =_NextPart_000_01BD7DE9.B69FAE50 charset="ISO-8859-1" -BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1998: RELEASED TODAY: "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - April 1998" indicates that the U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.1 percent in April. The decrease was attributable to the continued decline in nonpetroleum import prices. The U.S. Export Price Index fell 0.3 percent in April, the same as in the previous 2 months. The Business Council of New York State has released a survey in which 44 percent of the responding employers reported a moderate or severe gap between their job needs and their newly hired workers' skills. The survey of 148 New York companies found that reports of a skills gap were relatively consistent among small, medium, and large companies. In addition, 67 percent of respondents reported that their existing employees needed to improve or acquire basic skills.(Daily Labor Report, page A3). Sunbeam Corp. announces it will cut some 6,400 jobs in the United States and Latin America (Daily Labor Report, page A-12; The New York Times, page D1; The Wall Street Journal, page A3). The U.S. Postal Service won permission yesterday to increase the price of mailing a letter to 33 cents, a one-cent hike that postal regulators said they doubt the agency, which has rung up annual profits of more than $1 million for 3 years running, needs before January "at the earliest". The cost of a first-class stamp has risen steadily since 1971, when the U.S. Postal Service was created as an independent agency. The Postal Rate Commission has endorsed the first price increase since 1995 (The Washington Post, page A17). __The Postal Rate Commission has proposed raising the price of a first-class stamp by a penny, to 33 cents, in part to fund upgrading of equipment and service. Other rates and the cost of sending other classes of mail would change by varying degrees. Hardest hit would be catalog retailers and magazine publishers (The Wall Street Journal, page A4). Gasoline prices jumped 2.7 cents a gallon in the past 2 weeks, marking a 6.5 cent climb since hitting a low ebb March 20, an industry analyst said. A price survey of all grades, self and full service, for the 2 week period ending Friday, at 10,000 stations, showed a weighted average pump price at $1.1391 (The Washington Post, page C11). DUE OUT TOMORROW: Producer Price Indexes-April 1998 -- =_NextPart_000_01BD7DE9.B69FAE50 b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQWAAwAOzgcFAAwAEQAEAC0AAgAqAQEggAMADgAAAM4HBQAM ABEABQAmAAIAJAEBCYABACEwQ0FENTEyQTdCRTlEMTExODg4RTAwMjBBRjlDMDMwOAAcBwEE gAEAEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAkAUBDYAEAAICAAIAAQOQBgBgCQAAHEAAOQBw uj+X6X29AR4AcAABEQAAAEJMUyBEYWlseSBSZXBvcnQAAgFxAAEWAb196WIl KlGtDel7EdGIjgAgr5wDCAAAHgAxQAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGkAAHgAw QAENUklDSEFSRFNPTl9EAAMAGUAAAgEJEAEAAACeBgAAmgYAAHwKAABMWkZ1 BMW9RP8ACgEPAhUCpAPkBesCgwBQEwNUAgBjaArAc2V0bjIGAAbDAoMyA8UCAHDccnESIAcTAoB9 CoAIzx8J2QKACoENsQtgbmcxuDAzMwr7EvIB0CAKhQgtQkwF8ERBSUwCWQfwRVBPUlQsoCBUVUVT GUBZGgAiTRpwIDEyGgAxOcg5ODoKi2xpAcEXnwMKoxmgTEVBU0VEBRoQTxphOiAgIlWALlMuIElt cBTRQiAAcGQgRXgfk1CZBRBjZR9gH/BleAeRQlwJ8GRhc2ge8EGnE5ADERsyIiALgGQgsPRhdAeR dBHABUAjYCDQex8qIJkgBYEVMCGwCYAg4DAuMSBwBJAgwAIwPyKxIfQfUBoQI8EldiB3TyGwH9AC QAUQYnUBkWz5INB0byOjBaACMAuAClC3IAAFgRxQbiDQJtFuAiDHJlAosAbwZXVtIrAfhHsiESDA cydVHyMgLyVQZuxlbAMgJhAzJk8aACOy/HNhB4Af0AQgJtEjshOQ+GV2aQhgBCASIARgAjDeaCyw CoUKhSeCQjHwKrGTBBEIUW5jAxFvZgezulkFsGsGAAGQIyAgEcBvBCAVMCkwJcNhMJAIcHZkZXkm wndoILAh0DTeNC83NOEjshUwcx+QItHZFuAgZR+AFMB5BJA2Iv8fkjajBGM1wgWxEfA3IBUwQCBn YXAgYhIAd4sJ4SOiaQXAam9iKxA9CeBkKHEf8T0EKsB3bL83QDegFTEoQDVhOiEnMJA6awMQbCy2 NvU04TE0/jg1CAWgH4AAcAiQBCACEP80gD4iI4E6ZAQgNOE20UAD3zwzPLA8ETZBIxBpNyA+0fsp 0QCQcyMgJqEwsAIgOaD+cwDALtAaAAeAIuArwBoA8x/iC2ByZymyQlUnUSDwPR/QZCLgKgACIBoA Njf/OBo5FSaROkkjZj0xISBGQf85iQeRPaJMMilwK/EDYDcg8zuSANBxdT8RPHAhsCCw2T/mKEQL cD7RTAGgBbEeUjpzGgAKsEhxQTMpeydRMrxTNIA8gDCwNFFy/nAfUABwKyA0gQeRScAoQD9AESnA KPAwkANwINA2LNw0MBhgPWExB1UDADqy/zWjPeRRUCoBE9AHgCChNtDrUO9R+C0a8DsnczUXB2Pp UhVEMVtUV0cxNZEJ0fUFQEoIYW4HQFIZMr8j5PxQb0ZQB0AGUjHAIME/YNsDoCZRbQQBSeEgOhBG Uf0LIGE3QE6yNJAn9DFUILL/NOEAwAMQOYI20CkwAkAEkH8pUhcgKcBLgkfhNNAqwC1/JoM3oD+Q I1QfkGDzFTBn3nVFcQWwBCAwoGk+IzdAumQIYGIjlFJBNJB5GgBvN5Q2AzSAOaB1PGBUoXX7YRFP AWZJwEPjBGA8ESNh/QOgJCYwYjAu0GJyAhAFwP8vIDoQEdFrggMAFuAaAD2ktzyAboEg0EoAcGxA cjdA3iIjhW7xHFBiwSInVQWg70ZQQ/RssBHgdGcQC2AEEf9g8R+ANfQEADzRRlFJkFmi5zPxIMEb MDcxatI81GB//2GDKGElkjqzPeIisjpwIYFvRnNqgydVYNVSNcIIUG3/YjY2AiGBaPFMMyDQc0Nk RfNjh3WWOTVZYF1EIcA5gU8pYAOgYNJSFjE3X0df/l96n3usTwFoESXhO1AEAO85gmQbcy90MWI3 QDbQeYF+bmrBZfsm0QqxI5EpcGa/QvJr4AnAdTE5kTThZU+xfnAHgEaCH/ER8GFjJ1FP/yOxBcA7
Re: Harvey
I finally got to read the Foster/Harvey debate in MONTHLY REVIEW. My impression is that both authors had some good points and some weak ones too. What we have to do is learn from each, along with their errors. I know that this sounds wishy-washy. But in the case of that debate, it makes sense. in w-w solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html "There's nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine... Been here 4 1/2 billion years. We've been here, what a 100,000 years, maybe 200,000. And we've only engaged in heavy industry a little over 200 years. 200 years vs. 4 1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we're a threat? The planet isn't going away. We are." -- George Carlin.
