[PEN-L:2036] Re: Global Depression
Here is an example of depressed prices.Obviously hog producers are not living high off the hog! P. 1 Manitoba Co-operator Jan 7, 1999 By Ron Friesen This Little Piggy was a joke Every farmer knows you don't get much for a pig these days. But a dollar and eight cents? That's what George Matheson took home for a boar he sold a few weeks back. The boar, a seven month old Duroc, had to be culled as a breeder. So off he went to Manitoba Pork on December 22. When he go there, the 118 kg animal fetched a measly 4.41 cents a kg for a gross return of just $5.20. It gets worse. There was a Manitoba Pork handling fee of $3 a head. There was also an 85 cent a head levy. And, of course, there was the good old GST (General Sales Tax)--27 cents. Total deductions: $4.12. Total receipts: $5.20. Net return: $!.08. Cheers Ken Hanly Of course these are Canadian funds! Nathan Newman wrote: -Original Message- From: Dennis R Redmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Except that we're not in a global depression, at least not yet. Sure, Asia is in the tank, but Japan is undergoing a steep recession, not an Indonesian-style collapse, and the US and the EU are still growing, albeit sluggishly. Global unemployment is at Depression levels and GDP and industrial capacity has fallen in real terms over the last year for a large number of counties. Some examples from this week's ECONOMIST: Fall in GDPFall in industrial capacity Hong Kong -7.1%-10% Malaysia -8.6%-10.4% Argentina 2.9%-6.9% Venezuela -4.8% South Africa -0.3%-6.9% Turkey +1.6%-2.3% Russia -9.9%-9.1% Brazil -0.1%+9.2% China's growth has slowed to below 10% and India is still just chugging along at about 5% - not enough to keep living standards ahead of population growth. You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Doug may be correct that the "crisis" for the financial class may have abated, but it has done so over the bodies of the industrial and agrarian class (who are suffering record low commodity prices, another sign of global depression). --Nathan
[PEN-L:2039] Re: Global Depression
On Sat, 9 Jan 1999, Nathan Newman wrote: You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Yes, but your list from the Economist includes only one First World country, or rather, region: Hong Kong. Finland took a -10% walloping from 1991-93, if I recall aright, but that didn't signify a global Depression, either, just another set of state bailouts of the system. When you look at the extensive interest rate cuts, bank bailouts, loan renegotiations and whatnot of 1998, it's hard to imagine that our ruling classes would ever allow a 1929-style meltdown to happen (which doesn't preclude a gradual, Japanese-style deflation of the American bubble, of course). They'd have to raise interest rates and totally cut off the semiperipheries from fresh credit, and not even the maniacs at the IMF are loony enough to peddle anything like that. -- Dennis
[PEN-L:2035] The paper bag test
Excerpt from a lecture, The Black Church As Institutional Actor in Contemporary Urban Environment, given on Thursday, April 16, 1998 in the Urban Sociology Class, taught by Dr. Shana M.B. Miller "The turn of the century also saw a great increase in the membership of the black churches. New churches were being formed at an amazing rate. In northern cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit, churches began popping up on the average of one every 2 months. And as quickly as a church would begin, it would become filled to capacity, thus creating the need for even more churches. "With the expansion of the black church, largely in urban areas, the role of the church continued to expand and redefine itself. Moving from the singular object of worship, it began to create more social programs. Reading and tutoring programs were created. Food pantries, job assistance, educational opportunities, the church started to become less of a singular place of worship and more like the community centers that we see in today's society. The benefit of this was that the church was often the only autonomous organization in the black community. It existed for blacks, was supported by blacks, and in turn, served the black community. "However, this was not a perfect situation. As the years rolled by and the ills of slavery slowly began to fade out of the constant thought of the congregations, as new problems surfaced, with lynchings becoming more current, with the advent of the KKK and other white supremacists groups, the black church started exhibiting some strange behavior. "Churches started getting more cliquish. The black church, like other elements of black society, began to buy into the misguided notion that the lighter the better, or to quote the old cliche, "White is right, if you're brown, get down, if you're black step back." The "House Nigger" and "Field Nigger" mentalities began to invade the church at an alarming rate. "We should all be familiar with the infamous "paper bag test" which was employed by many black organizations, most notably the black greek organizations and other college clubs, was finding it's way in to the black church. Many churches had an unwritten policy that darker skinned blacks were not accepted and therefore, not really welcome in the regular worship situations. A light skinned preacher was almost always more accepted than a dark skinned one. And in fact, the lighter the preacher was, the more he was accepted. "Some churches took this notion to an extreme. So prevalent was the practice of blacks being "color struck" that some churches, particularly in the northern areas of the midwest and the south painted the walls of their respective sanctuary a certain color, and if you were darker than the walls, you were denied entrance into the church, or given a seat in the rear of the church. The best example of this could be found at a church which would later become synonymous with Civil Rights, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, the home church of Dr. King. I am not sure if the walls are still the same color as they were years ago, but that church had a notorious reputation for shunning the darker brothers and sisters." Tom Walker http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
[PEN-L:2038] Re: Re: Global Depression
The item is probably reliable. Coal and coal products such as metallurgical coke, like other commodities, suffer from reduced demand globally and price collapse. The unemployment problem in China is very critical. One estimate has the number of unemployed exceeding 40 million, twice the size of Canada's population. The labor force in China is around 700 million of which agriclutural workers constitute 80%. The unofficial under-employment figure is as high as 40%, as measured by being currently paid lower than highest pay level in the previous three years. By some estimates, it is conceivable the underemployment figure is as high as 70%. The prospect for 1999 for the Chinese economy is dismal, as officially acknowledged last week by the Chinese Finance Minister. Henry C.K. Liu "Eugene P. Coyle" wrote: I heard a brief item on the radio yesterday. China is closing some (many) coal mines and is laying off 400,000 miners. Gene Coyle -Original Message- From: Dennis R Redmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Except that we're not in a global depression, at least not yet. Sure, Asia is in the tank, but Japan is undergoing a steep recession, not an Indonesian-style collapse, and the US and the EU are still growing, albeit sluggishly. Global unemployment is at Depression levels and GDP and industrial capacity has fallen in real terms over the last year for a large number of counties. Some examples from this week's ECONOMIST: Fall in GDPFall in industrial capacity Hong Kong -7.1%-10% Malaysia -8.6%-10.4% Argentina 2.9%-6.9% Venezuela -4.8% South Africa -0.3%-6.9% Turkey +1.6%-2.3% Russia -9.9%-9.1% Brazil -0.1%+9.2% China's growth has slowed to below 10% and India is still just chugging along at about 5% - not enough to keep living standards ahead of population growth. You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Doug may be correct that the "crisis" for the financial class may have abated, but it has done so over the bodies of the industrial and agrarian class (who are suffering record low commodity prices, another sign of global depression). --Nathan
[PEN-L:2037] Re: Global Depression
I heard a brief item on the radio yesterday. China is closing some (many) coal mines and is laying off 400,000 miners. Gene Coyle -Original Message- From: Dennis R Redmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Except that we're not in a global depression, at least not yet. Sure, Asia is in the tank, but Japan is undergoing a steep recession, not an Indonesian-style collapse, and the US and the EU are still growing, albeit sluggishly. Global unemployment is at Depression levels and GDP and industrial capacity has fallen in real terms over the last year for a large number of counties. Some examples from this week's ECONOMIST: Fall in GDPFall in industrial capacity Hong Kong -7.1%-10% Malaysia -8.6%-10.4% Argentina 2.9%-6.9% Venezuela -4.8% South Africa -0.3%-6.9% Turkey +1.6%-2.3% Russia -9.9%-9.1% Brazil -0.1%+9.2% China's growth has slowed to below 10% and India is still just chugging along at about 5% - not enough to keep living standards ahead of population growth. You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Doug may be correct that the "crisis" for the financial class may have abated, but it has done so over the bodies of the industrial and agrarian class (who are suffering record low commodity prices, another sign of global depression). --Nathan
[PEN-L:2033] Global Depression
-Original Message- From: Dennis R Redmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Except that we're not in a global depression, at least not yet. Sure, Asia is in the tank, but Japan is undergoing a steep recession, not an Indonesian-style collapse, and the US and the EU are still growing, albeit sluggishly. Global unemployment is at Depression levels and GDP and industrial capacity has fallen in real terms over the last year for a large number of counties. Some examples from this week's ECONOMIST: Fall in GDPFall in industrial capacity Hong Kong -7.1%-10% Malaysia -8.6%-10.4% Argentina 2.9%-6.9% Venezuela -4.8% South Africa -0.3%-6.9% Turkey +1.6%-2.3% Russia -9.9%-9.1% Brazil -0.1%+9.2% China's growth has slowed to below 10% and India is still just chugging along at about 5% - not enough to keep living standards ahead of population growth. You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Doug may be correct that the "crisis" for the financial class may have abated, but it has done so over the bodies of the industrial and agrarian class (who are suffering record low commodity prices, another sign of global depression). --Nathan
[PEN-L:2034] Re: Global Depression
Nathan Newman wrote: -Original Message- From: Dennis R Redmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Except that we're not in a global depression, at least not yet. Sure, Asia is in the tank, but Japan is undergoing a steep recession, not an Indonesian-style collapse, and the US and the EU are still growing, albeit sluggishly. Global unemployment is at Depression levels and GDP and industrial capacity has fallen in real terms over the last year for a large number of counties. Some examples from this week's ECONOMIST: Fall in GDPFall in industrial capacity Hong Kong -7.1%-10% Malaysia -8.6%-10.4% Argentina 2.9%-6.9% Venezuela -4.8% South Africa -0.3%-6.9% Turkey +1.6%-2.3% Russia -9.9%-9.1% Brazil -0.1%+9.2% China's growth has slowed to below 10% and India is still just chugging along at about 5% - not enough to keep living standards ahead of population growth. China's growth rate for 1998 was 7.8%, slightly below projection of 8%. No one expects Asian to have any good new at least until the 3rd quarter of 1999, if then. The real damage is that asset value of most Asian economies have dropped by over 50%. But the real danage is social and political. Henry C.K. Liu You can call this what you will, but there is a fundamental collapse of employment and production capacity around the world. Doug may be correct that the "crisis" for the financial class may have abated, but it has done so over the bodies of the industrial and agrarian class (who are suffering record low commodity prices, another sign of global depression). --Nathan
Re: [PEN-L:2016] Japanese Business Practice
From: Anthony P. D'Costa Associate Professor Comparative International Development University of Washington 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA Phone: (253) 692-4462 Fax : (253) 692-5612 On Fri, 8 Jan 1999, Tom Lehman wrote: Dear Pen-L, Enquiring minds want to know how much inter-firm competition is there in the Japanese domestic market. For example, product line competition between Japanese steel companies in their domestic market. Does it exist and to what degree? Inter-firm competition exists. It is considerable because the Japanese firms quickly imitate products and standards leading firms use. But the peculiarities of Japanese institutions circumscribe inter-firm competition in some interesting ways. In the steel industry, for example there is a division between small, electric furnace based producers and the large integrated producers, just as in the US. But unlike in the US, big integrated producers have "affiliated" firms in the electric arc furnace segment. Naturally the level of competition will be different. In the 1970s, the small independent producers competed vigourously, almost in a cut-throat manner. This latter aspect is generally avoided in Japan through various anti-recessionary cartels. Lot of firms went bust. They have restructured. But the big firms and their smaller affiliates don't compete, obviously. But they too had to restrcuture and continue to do so in the 1980s and 1990s. one independent firm (using electric furnace) that has done extremely well and has even challenged the big firms is Tokyo Steel. So there are some markets, the long products markets in which Tokyo Steel competes vigorously with the other--large firms and their affiliates. Is it as cut-throat as in the USA? I am particularly interested in competition in the Japanese domestic steel bar and rod market; and any possible spillover into our domestic market. There is certainly a spill-over, although I have not seen any recent numbers, since the domestic economy is in a recession and so is the East/SouthEast Asian region. Korea is a competitor to Japan in the Asian region. We understand that there is ancient bad blood between some Japanese firms. Anyone familiar with these or is this global urban legend? A special note of thanks to Bill Rosenberg for the New Zealand report. Your email pal, Tom L.
