Re: [PEN-L] Stiglitz on Benjamin M. Friedman (The ethical implications of economic growth)
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Economists have long been a natural constituency in favor of growth. don't economists believe in defining key concepts? what is growth? is it growth of real GDP? or something like the Genuine Progress Indicator? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] structure agency [was: TRUE COST ECONOMICS MANIFESTO]
On 12/4/05, David B. Shemano [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Doesn't this suggest that the philosophical Marxist critic should feel symphathy for the capitalist, as opposed to envy or hatred? If so, why was Marx (and most Marxists) so vitriolic and personal in his (and their) criticisms? Or is that an unfair generalization? Marx made it clear right at the start of his CAPITAL that he was not criticizing capitalists as persons. Rather, he was criticizing the capitalist as a social role (a position of power) in society. The actual capitalist was only a bearer of that role. Since capitalists typically fight like hell to preserve their social roles (violating generally-accepted rules of morality and democracy), in practice it's hard to adhere to Marx's social-philosophical discipline. But many Marxists have done so anyway. Others have not. Envy is typically not part of Marxist theory or practice. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Lexus coopts Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs
I don't [BUY PREPARATION H -- IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR BUTT!] see why you [PISSWEISER -- THE KING OF BEERS!] are so upset [ZOLOFT WILL RAISE YOUR SPIRITS!] with the commodification [THE CHICAGO COMMODITY EXCHANGE, THE HEART OF AMERICA!] of everyday life [HE LIKES IT! MIKEY LIKES LIFE CEREAL!]. seriously, Pohl Kornbluth's sci-fi novel The Space Merchants (1953) seems more and more relevant these days. It's about a world dominated by advertisers, involving environmental destruction and near-slave labor. On 12/5/05, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I guess that everybody is aware of how big corporations appropriate underground or avant-garde culture to hype new products. The Ramones' Blitzkreig Bop is used by Anheiser Busch and AT T, while William S. Burroughs once showed up in a Nike commercial. Before Tom Frank became the resident expert on red state America, he used to write about this phenomenon in the pages of Baffler. The articles were collected in the aptly named Commodify Your Dissent. After watching a Lexus commercial on TV lately (http://cache.ultramercial.com/d/001-232/lexus_flash.html), it became obvious to me that the ad agency was borrowing from Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs. For a comparison with Glass's music, play http://www.glasspages.org/dance3.au from his Einstein on the Beach, which was an minimalist performance piece choreographed by Lucinda Childs. Her style has been described as follows: Childs developed her own special style which aimed neither to make shock waves, nor set trends. Her trademark has always been a sort of choreo-mathematics, repetitive movement sequences that are arranged in intricate geometrical patterns, that if observed overhead would give a kaleidoscopic effect. -- www.marxmail.org -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] bubble symptoms
from SLATE:The Los Angeles Times leads with the dramatic increase in mortgage fraud across the nation, as swindlers capitalize on inflated house prices and regulatory laxity Reports of mortgage fraud have tripled during the last two years, the LAT reports, and the cost to banks has quadrupled to roughly $1 billion. Such cases range from simply fudging income statements to elaborate schemes involving stolen identities and straw buyers. Mortgage brokers, relatively new and unregulated players in the financial industry, are often the instigators. There is little government oversight of the mortgage market, and lenders keep quiet about fraud so as not to expose themselves to scrutiny. Honest homeowners end up footing the bill, the paper says, because lenders build the cost of fraud into the loan rates, much the way retailers raise the price of items that frequently are shoplifted. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] recession obsession
recently fallen, which suggests that Mr. Ellis's favorite indicator - inflation-adjusted wages - might be on the verge of turning around. Still, the economy has rarely escaped pain after years of slowing real wages, even if there is sometimes a lag. Mr. Ellis began to use his system at Goldman Sachs in the early 1970's, and it played a big role in his success as a retail analyst. It also earned him needling when he strayed from Wall Street's usual sunny forecasts. Slowing wage growth started worrying him in late 1998, for instance, but friends told him that the wealth that had been created by the long bull market would keep the economy booming. They did, but only temporarily. Rising house values might well have played a similar role in the last couple years. These things can postpone a decline in spending growth, he said, but they can't prevent it. If Mr. Ellis is wrong, he will have picked a bad time to commit his ideas to paper. If he is right, Wall Street's forecasts next December will revolve around the question of whether the slowdown of 2006 will become the recession of 2007. You can guess what their answer will be. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] from EmailNation
the NATION magazine reports: Former National Writers Union president Jonathan Tasini, one of the most outspoken progressive activists in the US labor movement, is expected this week to launch a Democratic primary challenge to New York Senator Hillary Clinton on a progressive platform that features a call for bringing US troops home from Iraq. Tasini has scheduled an announcement for Tuesday morning in New York City, setting up a campaign that could apply unexpected pressure from the left on Clinton, who until recently has been one of the strongest Democratic backers of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1pid=41233 Check out Tasini's website for info on his candidacy. http://www.tasinifornewyork.org/ anybody know anything about this guy? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] structure agency [was: TRUE COST ECONOMICS MANIFESTO]
David B. Shemano wrote: My questions is how should a Marxist think of this individual life? Should we symphathize/feel sorry for him, because he thinks he is happy but is really self-estranged? Or should we point to his life and happiness and say that once the revolution comes, everybody can live his life, but capitalism is unjust in the meantime becase only the few lead that life? On 12/5/05, Doug Henwood wrote: I vote for #2, with the necessary adjustments being made for reality constraints. The promises of bourgeois society - free expression, free development of the individual, etc. - should be made good for all of us. of course, the guy in question would likely suffer from some major transition costs, just like the poor and working classes do now every time capitalism goes through a transition (capital mobility, changing exchange rates, etc., etc.) -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] labor productivity in the US
Productivity Expands at a Faster Pace By MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press Tuesday, December 6, 2005; 8:44 AM WASHINGTON -- The productivity of American workers shot up at the fastest pace in two years during the July-September quarter, helping to ease fears that inflation pressures were threatening to get out of hand. steep rises of labor productivity are usually a cyclical phenomenon, due to more complete use of overhead labor as demand increases. They happen toward the end of the cyclical expansion. To conclude that we should fear inflation less, it should be an uptick in the long-term trend growth of labor productivity. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that productivity, the key component for rising living standards ... again, it should be the trend rate that we look at. Even then, wages have been falling behind productivity growth of late, so it's hard to say anything about the majority's living standards. Rising productivity has mostly been helping profits of late... The big jump in worker efficiency help to push labor costs down ... Efficiency must be the most misused word in economics, specifically here. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] labor productivity in the US
me: steep rises of labor productivity are usually a cyclical phenomenon, due to more complete use of overhead labor as demand increases. They happen toward the end of the cyclical expansion. To conclude that we should fear inflation less, it should be an uptick in the long-term trend growth of labor productivity. Doug Henwood wrote: That was supposed to be the explanation for the productivity boom of the late 1990s, and I even used it myself. But it continued through the recession and weak recovery. So something else has been going on - a mix, I'd say, of real and continuing increases in the rate of exploitation, compounded by real conceptual and measurement problems. It's possible that the often-criticized re-jiggering of the CPI in the 1990s (that lowered the measured inflation rate) also raised real output measures and thus measured labor productivity. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] my life-style vindicated!
From SLATE: A study [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051205/hl_nm/moderate_drinkers_obesity_risk_dc] says people who have one alcoholic drink a day are 54 percent less obesity-prone than teetotalers are. (But those with four or more drinks a day are 46 percent more obesity-prone.) Another study [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051205/hl_nm/coffee_dc] indicates that among people who weigh too much or drink too much alcohol, those who drink more than two cups of coffee a day are only half as prone to chronic liver disease. Each study involved more than 8,000 people. Cynical take: Wash out your fat with liquor, then rinse out your liquor with coffee. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] Minuteman candidate loses
the border and punish employers providing the jobs for an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States. His message helped him raise $500,000 across the country — a startling sum for a minor-party candidate in such a safe district. The election continued a whirlwind political career for Campbell, who served one four-year Assembly term and a portion of a second before being easily elected to an open state Senate seat. The newly elected congressman will be sworn in immediately. So assured of his victory, Campbell and his family had already booked flights this morning to Washington. He also has picked many of his new staffers, who will begin work today. His first order of business: I don't even own a winter coat. I'm going to have to get one there. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] annals of neoliberal thinking
from H.I. Liebling, U.S. Corporate Profitability and Capital Formation: Are Rates of Return Sufficient? (Pergammon Press, 1980) After concluding that the US corporate profit rate had indeed fallen, Liebling adds that it was due to smaller profit margins (due to high labor costs) and high energy prices along with the costs of environmental protection. This in turn hurt capital formation (capital accumulation) and labor productivity growth (p. 82). He calls for tax policies which would promote after-tax profitability (p. 83). To avoid the inflation that might result from the demand-side effects of this policy, he also wants to promote saving. This involves moderating the growth of government expenditure, increased corporate saving, and increasing individual saving (p. 84). In other words, a lot of the neoliberal policies are (in Liebling's book) a response to the falling profit rate. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] intelligent design
On 12/8/05, Charles Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: intelligent design I have two objections to your argument here, Charles. First, you are evaluating religion based on the criteria for evaluating science. That says that religion isn't science. Well, I wan't saying it is and, with some possible exceptions, that's not what the ID folks claim either. CB: I agree you weren't saying that religion isn't science. I had the impression that Jim D. was criticizing the recent trends in some places in the U.S. to teach ID as part of natural history by saying that religion isn't science. So, I wasn't saying you were saying that religion isn't science. I was agreeing with Jim D. that religion isn't science , and that that would be a basis for ID in natural history being not taught in natural history , but taught in natural mythology ( I don't think Jim D. said all that at the end. Apologies if I misrepresent Jim D.'s train of thought on this thread.) ^ I didn't say all that. But I agree. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] intelligent design
On 12/8/05, Sandwichman wrote: .I don't think it is either scientists or priests who promote a mythical conflict between science and religion. It is, rather, newspaper editors and talk show producers. That is to say, the class of salaried intellectuals-in-uniform who populate the infotainment--advertextbook spectacle complex. then how do you explain the case of a bunch of religious folks in Pennsylvania who got elected to the school board and then introduced ID into the school science curriculum? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] battling headlines
from SLATE: One final glimpse—The [Washington POST]: RICE ACTS TO CLARIFY U.S. POLICY ON PRISONERS. The LA [TIMES]'s slightly different take: RICE FAILS TO CLARIFY U.S. VIEW ON TORTURE. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] what the hell!
On 12/8/05, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Maybe Schwarzenegger will grant Tookie clemency from the death sentence today. I have a speculation that's wilder than the one I posted by the idiot pundit (about Dubya announcing that he was pulling out of Iraq, which of course didn't happen). That is, because of his big loss in the special election, Ah-nold is going to not only grant Tookie clemency but cut himself lose from his GOP base (which dislikes him these days anyway) and become, in effect, a Democrat. (He recently appointed a DP activist as his chief of staff.) He's also going to announce that he's not running for re-election as governor. Thus, he'll be free to raise taxes, which is what CA needs. dream on! -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] lefty textbooks
Sherman tells me that a new edition (with a third co-author) will be coming out in a couple of years. He also admitted that the previous editions were somewhat sloppy and said that the new one would be much better. On 12/8/05, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good point, but how long has it been since Hunt Sherman? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Wolcott's latest on Pajama Media
None would condemn him for seeking other inklings of steady income, but not if it meant working the piano bar in a house of ill-repute. so what's wrong with playing the piano there? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] perhaps of interest (from the Global Development And Environment institute).
New Publications for the Hong Kong WTO Process Kevin P. Gallagher and Timothy A. Wise, from GDAE's Globalization and Sustainable Development Program, will be attending the WTO meetings in Hong Kong December 13-18 to present the institute's research on the social, economic, and environmental impacts of trade liberalization. They will present their findings to negotiators and in parallel NGO forums taking place in Hong Kong. In addition, the institute has released new publications relevant to the negotiations: 1. Report and Working Paper: The Shrinking Gains from Trade: A Critical Assessment of the Doha Round Projections http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/shrinking_gains.html 2. Working Paper: Policy Space for Development in the WTO and Beyond: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights, by Ken Shadlen http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/Shadlen.htm 3. Working Paper: Identifying the Real Winners from U.S. Agricultural Policies, by Timothy A. Wise http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/RealWinners.htm 4. Report: Preserving Policy Space for Sustainable Development: The Subsidies Agreement at the WTO, published by the Trade Knowledge Network http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/TKN.htm For a full listing of GDAE publications relevant to the Hong Kong ministerial meeting, Gallagher and Wise's speaking itineraries in Hong Kong, and contact information for them there, please go to: http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/WTO05.htm For more on GDAE's Globalization and Sustainable Development Program: http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/globalization.html -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] Fwd: The New Fed man is scary...
Contrarian Chronicles Ben Bernanke scares me -- already Fed chairman reveals his lack of real-world experience and an arrogant confidence the economy can be managed. By Bill Fleckenstein We got a peek into our new Fed chairman's brain Wednesday -- and it wasn't pretty -- when Greg Ip, Fed stenographer (née Wall Street Journal reporter), penned a story titled Long Study of Great Depression Has Shaped Bernanke's Views. No understanding of booms or busts Anyone with even an ounce of common sense -- and a similar degree of familiarity with the Depression -- will quickly see that Bernanke has no comprehension of the fact that booms and busts are related. More than related. To a degree -- honest people can argue how much -- booms cause busts. They don't just precede them. Booms derange prices and therefore misdirect investment. Bernanke says that the Fed should never prick a bubble but only clean up the mess afterward. I disagree with him there, too, but this Fed doesn't just stand around watching bubbles inflate. It's inflating them, both with its monetary policy and with its tonsils. Bernanke's tenure will prove this in spades as the residue from the prior stock mania and fallout from the leveraged-housing bubble cave in on him. It's also apparent that he has no understanding of why Communism failed, or that capitalism involves creative destruction. Anyone reading Ip's article can quickly see that when things turn dicey here, the dollar will be shredded and gold will explode. (I'm guessing the bond market will be wrecked, as well.) I was going to dissect the article this week, but a friend beat me to the punch. I decided not to produce my own rebuttal, since my friend's take was so succinct and spot-on. Though he asked me not to identify him, here it is: Lead the economy by the nose Ip writes: 'While some have criticized him for saying in 2002 the Fed could print money to end deflation, the comments typify his willingness to question orthodoxy.' Oh, no, they don't. What his comments actually typify is Bernanke's own brand of orthodoxy, at the root of which is an arrogant belief that a central bank can lead a market economy around by the nose. Ben Bernanke By manipulating the funds rate, says the Maestro-designate, the Fed can fine-tune the measured rate of inflation, promote full employment and assure financial stability. For Bernanke, booms have nothing to do with busts. The common-sense theorists of the so-called Austrian School (including Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises) might as well never have been born. So, on top of the arrogance of the central economic planner, add the arrogance of the cock-sure college professor. The gold price isn't going up for nothing. -- Bill Fleckenstein is president of Fleckenstein Capital, which manages a hedge fund based in Seattle. He also writes a daily Market Rap column on his Fleckenstein Capital Web site. His investment positions can change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The views and opinions expressed in Bill Fleckenstein's columns are his own and not necessarily those of CNBC or MSN Money. At the time of publication, Bill Fleckenstein was short Research in Motion and long Fannie Mae puts. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] a major element in the compound cronium
The recent hurricanes and gasoline issues are proof of the existence of a new chemical element. A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named *Governmentium*. Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take over four days to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration! This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons. [forwarded by my (self-avowedly) social-democratic cousin.] -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] econophysics
December 11, 2005/New York TIMES Econophysics By CHRISTOPHER SHEA Victor Yakovenko, a physicist at the University of Maryland, happens to think that current patterns of economic inequality are as natural, and unalterable, as the properties of air molecules in your kitchen. He is a self-described econophysicist. Econophysics, the use of tools from physics to study markets and similar matters, isn't new, but the subfield devoted to analyzing how the economic pie is split acquired new legitimacy in March when the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, in Calcutta, held an international conference on wealth distribution. Econophysicists point out that incomes and wealth behave suspiciously like atoms. In the United States, for example, beneath the 97th percentile (roughly $150,000), the dispersion of income fits a common distribution pattern known as exponential distribution. Exponential distribution happens to be the distribution pattern of the energy of atoms in gases that are at thermal equilibrium; it's a pattern that many closed, random systems gravitate toward. As for the wealthiest 3 percent, their incomes follow what's called a power law: there is a very long tail in the distribution of data. (Consider the huge gap between a lawyer making $200,000 and Bill Gates.) Other developed nations seem to display this two-tiered economic system as well, with the demarcation lines differing only slightly. To an econophysicist, the exponential distribution of incomes is no coincidence: it suggests that the wealth of most Americans is itself in a kind of thermal equilibrium. To change it, you will have to fight entropy, Yakovenko says. That people aren't mindless atoms and that governments try limited wealth redistribution doesn't really matter, he adds: large, complex systems have their own statistical logic that trumps individual, and state, decisions. In March, Yakovenko told New Scientist that short of getting Stalin, efforts to make more than superficial dents in inequality would fail. Recent increases in inequality in the United States, he adds, stem from the rising fortunes of the top 3 percent; there has been little change in the rest of the distribution. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] counterfeiting
from today's SLATE news summary: The day's best read is a long takeout in the LA [TIMES] on a massive counterfeiting ring run out of North Korea. Though its existence has long been rumored, recent criminal prosecutions have afforded an unprecedented glimpse into the racket, which teams Chinese gangsters and Irish terrorists with Stalinist apparatchiks using equipment from Japan, paper from Hong Kong and ink from France to mass-produce phony $100 bills at a mint burrowed in a remote mountain. The aim is to get rich while also undermining confidence in the dollar abroad. didn't the CIA use counterfeiting as a weapon against the USSR during the Cold War? or against other governments it didn't like? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] counterfeiting
you have to remember that Kim Jong Il is a madman, at least according to the crazy people running the US. Actually, to call these folks crazy is an insult to those who genuinely have mental disabilities. On 12/12/05, Eugene Coyle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why would they want to undermine confidence in the dollar? Seems to undercut their profits. Gene Coyle Jim Devine wrote: from today's SLATE news summary: The day's best read is a long takeout in the LA [TIMES] on a massive counterfeiting ring run out of North Korea. Though its existence has long been rumored, recent criminal prosecutions have afforded an unprecedented glimpse into the racket, which teams Chinese gangsters and Irish terrorists with Stalinist apparatchiks using equipment from Japan, paper from Hong Kong and ink from France to mass-produce phony $100 bills at a mint burrowed in a remote mountain. The aim is to get rich while also undermining confidence in the dollar abroad. didn't the CIA use counterfeiting as a weapon against the USSR during the Cold War? or against other governments it didn't like? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] econophysics
Pareto. I think the econophysics folks think that economics is so bad that they don't have to study it at all. It's like the leading lights at MIT economics, who don't study econ. unless it's mathematical. On 12/12/05, Max Sawicky [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Didn't Pareto or some dude gin up this notion 100 years ago? December 11, 2005/New York TIMES Econophysics By CHRISTOPHER SHEA Victor Yakovenko, a physicist at the University of Maryland, happens to think that current patterns of economic inequality are as natural, and unalterable, as the properties of air molecules in your kitchen. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Vietnam and Mexico
Larry Elliott of the GUARDIAN writes: lexander Hamilton, the first US Treasury secretary, dissented from this view. In a package presented to Congress in 1791, he proposed measures to protect America's infant industries. America went with Hamilton rather than Smith. For the next century and a half, the US economy grew behind high tariff walls, with an industrial tariff that tended to be above 40% and rarely slipped below 25%. This level of support is far higher than the US is prepared to tolerate in the trade negotiations now under way. he's got the date wrong. The US didn't follow Hamilton (for a sustained period) until 1861 or so, when the South pulled out of Congress and couldn't vote against protection. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Vietnam and Mexico
It was, in an era of Shays rebellion and the French revo.with all the anxiety they provoked amongst elites re the unwashed masses, easier to tax foreign goods than to tax one's own citizenry. true, but the Southern cotton kings didn't like that tax. In fact, the US civil war had some characteristics of the liberal vs. conservative civil wars over tariffs that hit some Latin American countries. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] No Clemency from Arnold
On 12/13/05, Bill Lear wrote: The point is that this is part of the constellation of irrational violence that the rulers use to instill fear, maintain control, inflate images of tough leaders, dampen democratic sentiment and sympathy for others, etc. There is a reason the U.S. is both the most formally democratic and the most barbaric state on the planet. right. But it's good to avoid staying at a high level of abstraction all the time; that's why I introduced the details about CA politics. It's also a mistake to stay at the concrete/empirical level all the time. I don't know if the US is the most formallty democratic or not. The electoral college is anti-democratic, along with some other democratic institutions here. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] scientific objectivity redux
from SLATE's news summary today:The Wall Street Journal notices that many articles in scientific journals carry the byline of top-flight academics but are actually written by ghostwriters in the pay of drug companies. Not that there's anything wrong with that, insists one drug company exec. Authors have to sign off on everything, he pointed out, adding, This is properly viewed as a way to more efficiently make the transition from raw data to finished manuscript. http://www.slate.com/id/2132151/ -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] news from tinsel town
for what it's worth, the announcer on the local US National Public Radio station (KCRW) twice referred to a recently-released movie as Bareback Mountain. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Tomas Palley on China
in weather prediction (that does better than economic prediction, BTW), when they say 40 percent chance of rain, it's because 40 percent of the weatherpeople polled predicted rain. Or at least so I am told. raghu wrote: How does one interpret Stephen Roach's 40% risk of a hard landing in 2006? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] a poll of Iraqis by Iraqis
SLATE: none of the papers seem to flag a fascinating poll about Iraq taken by Iraqis. Respondents were overall pretty darn optimistic about Iraq's future, and they want the U.S. gone pretty darn badly. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/12_12_05_iraq_data.pdf -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] the war against Christmas
Activist Judge Cancels Christmas The ONION/December 14, 2005 | Issue 41•50 WASHINGTON, DC—In a sudden and unexpected blow to the Americans working to protect the holiday, liberal U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt ruled the private celebration of Christmas unconstitutional Monday. Enlarge ImageActivist Judge Cancels Christmas [photo] Per the court order, city workers take down the Christmas tree from New York's Rockefeller Plaza. In accordance with my activist agenda to secularize the nation, this court finds Christmas to be unlawful, Judge Reinhardt said. The celebration of the birth of the philosopher Jesus—be it in the form of gift-giving, the singing of carols, fanciful decorations, or general good cheer and warm feelings amongst families—is in violation of the First Amendment principles upon which this great nation was founded. In addition to forbidding the celebration of Christmas in any form, Judge Reinhardt has made it illegal to say Merry Christmas. Instead, he has ruled that Americans must say Happy Holidays or Vacaciones Felices if they wish to extend good tidings. Within an hour of the judge's verdict, National Guard troops were mobilized to enforce the controversial ruling. Sorry, kids, no Christmas this year, Beloit, WI mall Santa Gene Ernot said as he was led away from his Santa's Village in leg irons. Write to your congressman to put a stop to these liberal activist judges. It's up to you to save Christmas! Ho ho ho! Said Pvt. Stanley Cope, who tasered Ernot for his outburst: We're fighting an unpopular war on Christmas, but what can we do? The military has no choice but to take orders from a lone activist judge. Across America, the decision of the all-powerful liberal courts was met with shock and disappointment, as American families quietly took down their holiday decorations and canceled their plans to gather and make merry. They've been chipping away at Christmas rights for decades, Fox News personality John Gibson said. Even before this ruling, you couldn't hear a Christmas song on the radio or in a department store. I hate to say it, America, but I told you so. [photo] Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals issues his ruling. Gibson then went into hiding, vowing to be a vital part of the Christmas resistance that would eventually triumph and bring Christmas back to the United States and its retail stores. The ban is not limited to the retail sector. In support of Reinhardt's ruling, Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Jew, introduced legislation that would mandate the registration of every Christian in the United States and subject their houses to random searches to ensure they are not celebrating Christmas. Getting rid of every wreath or nativity scene is not enough, Kennedy said. In order to ensure that Americans of every belief feel comfortable in any home or business, we must eliminate all traces of this offensive holiday. My yellow belly quakes with fear at the thought of offending any foreigners, atheists, or child molesters. America's children are bearing the brunt of Reinhardt's marginal, activist rulings. Why did the bad man take away Christmas? 5-year-old Danny Dover said. I made a card for my mommy out of paper and glue, and now I can't give it to her. Shortly after Dover issued his statement, police kicked down his door, removed his holiday tree, confiscated his presents, and crushed his homemade card underfoot. A broad, bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has been working closely with the White House, banding together in the hope of somehow overruling the decision. So far, however, their efforts have been fruitless. Our hearts go out to the Americans this ruling affects, Sen. Chip Pickering (R-MS) said. If it's any condolence, I wish you all a Happy Holidays, which, I'm afraid, is all I'm legally allowed to say at this time. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] the war against Christmas
I think that the rock-bottom requirement is that Santa be forced (by the threat of a fine) to clean up after his reindeer. On 12/14/05, Leigh Meyers [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Activist Judge Cancels Christmas Absolutely... The two reindeer rule is insufficient. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] a poll of Iraqis by Iraqis
On 12/14/05, Daniel Davies wrote: They nearly called it off because of the security situation, but they (pretty heroically) pulled it off in the end. On the other hand, the poll is likely to underestimate the true level of support for Al-Sadr, Saddam and the insurgents, for basically the same reasons that American polls underestimate support for the Republicans. call me naive, but why is that? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] a poll of Iraqis by Iraqis
On 12/15/05, Michael Perelman wrote: What kind of poll results would you expect from a poll that asked if you were a racist or a homophobe? on the latter, all sorts of people have admitted not liking gays -- or the gay life-style -- to me. It's not seen as being in the same league as racism (which is taboo in the US, even as many are indeed racist). -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] a poll of Iraqis by Iraqis
me: on the latter, all sorts of people have admitted not liking gays -- or the gay life-style -- to me. It's not seen as being in the same league as racism (which is taboo in the US, even as many are indeed racist). Doug: Needless to say, lots of Republicans would reject both labels, esp, as Jim points out, the racist one. We really need to do a better job of understanding the appeal of right-wing politics than seeing adherents as nothing other than bigots. Sure, some of them are, but all that stuff about freedom and values has some actual content. right. Also, we need to get beyond restricting our attention to individual attitudes. What distinguishes the broadly Marxian theory from liberal theory is its emphasis on structural factors, as in institutional racism. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] Bolivia
[from the International Relations Center] Two Opposing Views of Social Change in Bolivia By Raúl Zibechi Bolivia's social movements divide roughly into two camps on the issue of how to effect structural reforms: those who advocate that the central government should play the leading role, and those who insist that organized civil society must play that role. Raúl Zibechi interviews leading voices on both sides of this debate that is coursing through Bolivia's powerful social movements. Not just another debate among leftist intellectuals, it's an issue that has come to the forefront of Bolivian society and politics with the rising power of Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS). Raúl Zibechi, a member of the editorial board of the weekly Brecha de Montevideo, is a professor and researcher on social movements at the Multiversidad Franciscana de América Latina and adviser to several grassroots organizations. He is a monthly contributor to the IRC Americas Program ( www.americaspolicy.org). Translated from Spanish by Nick Henry. See new IRC commentary online at: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/2987 With printer-friendly pdf version at: http://americas.irc-online.org/pdf/reports/0512views.pdf So What if Morales Wins in Bolivia By Ronald Bruce St John Evo Morales, indigenous candidate and bête noire of the Bush administration, looks set to become the next president of Bolivia. In polls released less than two weeks before elections scheduled for December 18, 2005, Morales leads with 36% of the vote, compared to 30% for former President Jorge Tuto Quiroga and only 12% for cement magnate Samuel Doria Medina. Once again misreading events in Bolivia, the White House is up in arms with the real prospect of a Morales victory. In the end, the 2005 presidential elections in Bolivia are about what is best for the Bolivian people and who will make that decision, a ruling elite or an indigenous majority. The foreign policy of the Bush administration puts the promotion of democracy center stage, and it is time for the White House to practice what it preaches. Bolivia is currently moving toward what former President Quiroga has termed the most important election of our lives. Let the democratic process play out. The Bolivian people must decide for themselves where they want to take their country. With a large Amerindian population, Bolivia looks bound for majority rule, for the first time ever, in a free and fair election. If Morales wins, he must be allowed to govern. Ronald Bruce St John, an analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org), has published extensively on Latin American issues for over three decades. Author of The Foreign Policy of Peru (1992) and La Política Exterior del Perú (1999), he is currently working on a history of Bolivian foreign policy. See new IRC commentary online at: http://fpif.org/fpiftxt/2988 With printer-friendly pdf version at: http://fpif.org/pdf/gac/0512morales.pdf For More Information Bolivia's Referendum About More Than Gas By Ronald Bruce St John (August 30, 2004) http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/1090 -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] CATO scholarship not for sale!
this seems quite hypocritical. Shouldn't absolutely everything at the Cato Institute be for sale, since markets are the highest stage of humanity? For example, it might soon change its name to the Preparation H Cato Institute. Just as our libertarian friend might change his name to David Ty-D-Bol. On 12/16/05, Eugene Coyle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Our scholarship is not for sale, Mr. Dettmer said. Already sold. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Dialectical Economists
Did Lyndon Larouche once write Dialectical Marxism (under the pen-name Lyn Marcus)? On 12/17/05, Charles Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Who will write the book to complement _The Dialectical Biologist_ ? -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] leftist neoliberalism
Mike P: Leftist neoliberalism may not be as paradoxical as it seems. the Libertarian Party used to have a 2-dimensional diagram to describe differences in political ideology (along with a self-test which, if I remember correctly, was biased to suggest that the taker was a libertarian). I don't remember what was measured along the axes, but it was something like this: left vs. right: sympathy for the poor vs. sympathy for the rich. up vs. down: centralized solutions vs. decentralized solutions (allowing more individual freedom). a leftist neoliberal would involve sympathy for the poor but seeking decentralized solutions. I would replace the up/down axis with top-down solutions vs. bottom-up (popular democratic) solutions (or maybe it's a third dimension). Neoliberals say they believe in decentralized solutions, but they are imposed from above (the IMF, World Bank, US Treasury, empowering big companies and banks and the rich in general). -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] economist under death penalty - Ethiopia
he was a medical doctor, not an economist. On 12/17/05, Charles Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Allende was an economist who got the death penalty -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Dialectical Economists
Mike Lebowitz's BEYOND CAPITAL (2nd ed.) gives quite a dialectical view of (Marxian) economics. On 12/18/05, Doyle Saylor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings Economists, No doesn't work for me, but sort of kind of is like what Charles asked for. Here's what I think Charles wants, a readable engaging not hyper theoretic, look at economists that actually gives some interesting meaning to saying the economist has a bit of a dialectical or contradictory parts to them. Thanks, Doyle On Dec 17, 2005, at 6:18 PM, Autoplectic wrote: On 12/17/05, Charles Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Who will write the book to complement _The Dialectical Biologist_ ? http://eserver.org/clogic/2002/saraka.html Robert Albritton, Dialectics and Deconstruction in Political Economy. New York: Palgrave, 2001. Softcover. 203 pages. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] FW: From Juan Cole 12/19/2005 06:44:00 AM
-- Forwarded message -- From: Cole, Juan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Dec 19, 2005 6:43 AM Demonstrations over Fuel Price Increases in Iraq Al-Zaman: Now that the elections are safely over, the government of Ibrahim Jaafari has tripled the price of gasoline and made substantial increases in the price of gas and heating oil, in contravention of its campaign promises. Hundreds of demonstrators came out in Kut and Karbala to protest the increases, which hit the poor especially hard in the winter. Many Iraqis consider the subsidized prices a way of sharing in the country's oil wealth, which may generate as much as $50 billion this year, and which goes directly into government coffers. The cheap fuel also does, however, allow a lot of smuggling and it is expensive for the state, and Jaafari's move seems designed to ensure that no government has to take responsibility for it. He is a lame duck prime minister and a new government will be formed in the coming months. This move may also be a sign that Jaafari will not continue as prime minister. It is the sort of policy that would have been pushed by the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Adil Abdul Mahdi, a former Marxist who has become a free marketeer, and who is a leading candidate for prime minister. ... Guerrillas detonated roadside bombs and conducted assassinations all over Iraq http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C19%5Cstory_19-12-2005_pg7_1 late Saturday and through Sunday, leaving two dozen dead. A GI was killed at Fallujah. One of the suicide bombers killed a woman and injured 11 persons at the Shiite shrine neighborhood of Kadhimiyah in northeast Baghdad, in a further attempt to stir sectarian passions. Many of the targets in this spree of violence were the Iraqi police and military. There are a lot of credible complaints coming in about fraud http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1670522,00.html in the recent Iraqi elections. A lot of the complaints concern the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite fundamentalist list, which had won the Jan. 30 elections in many provinces and was therefore able to erect a Chicago-style party machine. As in the old days in Chicago, the election was so democratic that even some of the dead got to vote http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/dead-men-voted-in-poll-claim-iraq-parties/2005/12/18/1134840742751.html . -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] Ernest Mandel
If the labor theory of value has been around so long, why isn't it understood yet? On 12/25/05, Autoplectic [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 12/25/05, Brian McKenna [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: PEN-Lers, How do the readers of this list regard the work of Ernest Mandel? I'm reading over his Marxist Economic Theory and I am impressed by his vast store of knowledge and his erudition. I like how he discusses the history of the labor theory of value (Thomas Aquinas came close to deciphering it. . .Smith glimpsed it. . .Ricardo gave up etc.). -- As an aside, it was the Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun who first hit upon an ltv: According to Ibn Khaldun, labor is the source of value. He gave a detailed account of his labor theory of value, presenting it for the first time in history. It is worth noting that Ibn Khaldun never called it a theory, but had skillfully presented it (in volume 2 of Rosenthal translation) in his analysis of labor and its efforts.6 Ibn Khaldun's contribution was later picked up by David Hume in his Political Discourses, published in 1752: Everything in the world is purchased by labour.7 This quotation was even used by Adam Smith as a footnote. What is bought with money or with goods is purchased by labour, as much as what we acquire by the toil of our body. That money or those goods indeed save us this toil. They contain the value of a certain quantity of labour which we exchange for what is supposed at the time to contain the value of an equal quantity. The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it enables him to purchase or command. Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.8 http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/oweissi/ibn.htm -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] navigating the medical system
there are advocacy groups for the ageing. Maybe you can find them on-line. Also, try calling the CEO of the hospital or whoever the head honcho/a is. On 12/26/05, Leigh Meyers [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One word: Ombudsman, The hospital should have the phone #. Just asking for the number may make them jump. California's system seems to be pretty effective, can't comment on the other states. Leigh On 12/25/05, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My mother in law is very ill, needing to go into a home, but the hospital is neglecting he. She can't even reach the buzzer to call for nurses. If anybody knows the most effective way to protest, please contact me off line. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Leigh [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.leighm.net http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] The key to our success lies with a realistic, less ideological, more humble economics - Paul Ormerod
which book didn't I like? On 12/27/05, Walt Byars [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Which one? One of the ideas I have pushed is that product markets are deflationary. Alternatively, you can create competitive pressures by making factor markets more costly. Increasing wages or resource costs are not deflationary. I worked this out in a book that Jim Devine did not like. Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] life in Middle America
[will it fly in Peoria?] Old soldier robbed banks to finance double life Last Updated Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:41:33 EST CBC News A 64-year-old former U.S. marine who robbed banks to pay for a double life that included drugs and prostitutes was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in jail. The twist to the story is that William Alfred Ginglen was only caught by police after one of his sons, a police officer in Peoria, Ill., recognized his image captured by a surveillance camera at one of the banks. Ginglen, a grandfather of seven, was nabbed in August 2004. He pleaded guilty last July to seven counts of armed bank robbery, and two counts of carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence. Officer Jared Ginglen had to review the video surveillance image from one of the robberies several times before believing the man wearing sunglasses, a hat and a white filter mask really was his dad. He then called his two brothers, and the three of them went to confront their father. They didn't find him at home, but found clothing seen in the video images and went to police with their information. Ginglen was arrested the next day. Police found the gun used in at least two of the robberies, as well as Ginglen's journal, in which he documented the minute details of the robberies and the double life he led. Ginglen wrote about his expensive crack cocaine habit and how he was trying to support a longtime girlfriend and her daughter, prosecutors said. Ginglen was accused of netting more than $50,000 US during the nine-month crime spree. There are no winners here today. The whole thing has been a tragedy for my family, Jared Ginglen said after his father was sentenced. The sons said they didn't regret turning him in. In fact, they credited their father for instilling in them a strong sense of right and wrong. Since he taught us all of this and raised us to be good, maybe some day the light bulb will come on, said Garrett Ginglen, 41, an engineer. He turned to crime, and we had an opportunity to stop it, said Clay Ginglen, 36, a music teacher. He was robbing banks with a gun. He could have easily hurt anyone – a bank teller, a policeman. He could have been hurt as well. The sons said they had no idea their dad had fallen on such hard financial times. Ginglen was a well-respected member of the community, working as an industrial engineer and supervisor, regularly attending church and serving on various community boards. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
Re: [PEN-L] capitalism and christianity; the revised version
On 12/30/05, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 08:26 PM 12/30/2005, you wrote: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/books/30book.html December 30, 2005 Books of The Times | 'The Victory of Reason' Capitalism, Brought to You by Religion By WILLIAM GRIMES Rodney Stark comes out swinging right from the bell in The Victory of Reason, his fiercely polemical account of the rise of capitalism. Mr. Stark, the author of The Rise of Christianity and One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism, is sick and tired of reading that religion impeded scientific progress and stunted human freedom. To those who say that capitalism and democracy developed only after secular-minded thinkers turned the light of reason on the obscurantism of the Dark Ages, he has a one-word answer: nonsense. Idealist twaddle. right. The Austin AMERICAN-STATESMAN trashed that book last Sunday. -- Jim Devine Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
[PEN-L] happy new year!
for a quick summary of the year now ending, look at Merriam-Webster Online's list of the top 10 most looked-up words of 2005 [i]n order of popularity: 1) integrity, 2) refugee, 3) contempt, 4) filibuster, 5) insipid, 6) tsunami, 7) pandemic, 8) conclave, 9) levee, 10) inept. [thanks to SLATE's news summary] -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] happy new year!
maybe that word will hit the big time in 2006. On 12/31/05, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: where is impeachment? On Sat, Dec 31, 2005 at 09:43:25AM -0800, Jim Devine wrote: for a quick summary of the year now ending, look at Merriam-Webster Online's list of the top 10 most looked-up words of 2005 [i]n order of popularity: 1) integrity, 2) refugee, 3) contempt, 4) filibuster, 5) insipid, 6) tsunami, 7) pandemic, 8) conclave, 9) levee, 10) inept. [thanks to SLATE's news summary] -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Lowering opportunity costs through destroying opportunities...
a great book! On 1/1/06, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Giving workerrs a small plot to cheapen the cost of wages was a central theme in classical political economy. They also worried that too big a plot would allow workers to escape the need to work for wages. This calculus was a central theme in my Invention of Capitalism. On Sat, Dec 31, 2005 at 11:27:21PM -0800, paul phillips wrote: The best theoretical analysis of the need for capitalist ventures to socialize, or off-lay the fixed cost of providing labour so that employers needed only to pay a nominal 'marginal' or 'cheapened' wage is by Evsey Domar, The Causes of Slavery and Serfdom, Journal of Economic History, March 1970. It was also a central theme in Clare Pentland's Labour and Capital in Canada 1650-1860 (Toronto: Lorimer, 1981) which I edited and wrote the introduction for. Paul Phillips , Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Manitoba Michael Perelman wrote: There are 2 pressures that capital can apply. You have hit on one (of which primitive accumulation is the most obvious examples). The other is to extract pyaments, which force workers to come up with some sort of obligation -- colonialists requiring people to pay taxes, which can only be paid in cash, which requires working for the colonialists. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.9/217 - Release Date: 12/30/05 -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] what's in store in 2006?
emptor: The author, a historian, has a fair amount of expertise with the past, but knows nothing out of the ordinary about the future.] -- Posted by Juan to Informed Comment at 1/01/2006 06:37:00 AM -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
of a working class man who marries into a bourgeois family. But Allen's vision and that of Dreiser's could not be further apart. Dreiser was a stern critic of the wealthy and even joined the Communist Party at the very end of his life. Despite Allen's frequent characterization of himself as a schlemiel (Yiddish for loser), in real life he has had much more in common with the wealthy family that the tennis pro marries into. After Allen began writing jokes professionally in his teens, he embarked on a fabulously successful career in show business. I was constantly reminded of this as I passed his three-story townhouse on East 92nd Street on my way to my own apartment building. That place was used by Soon-Yi's and her adopted child, while Woody had his own penthouse on Fifth Avenue. When critics complain about the absence of Blacks or workers in his film, it can at least be said that he is making art about what he knows best, namely the life-styles of the rich and famous. So why did I stick with this film until the conclusion? It has to be said that it has a formal elegance that is found in only the work of the most gifted directors. One could conceivably be entertained by this film if there was not a single work of dialogue. Indeed, the work that it reminded me of was not by the moralistic Dreiser at all. I kept thinking of the films of Stanley Kubrick, which also combined formal elegance with a studious refusal to moralize. In particular, I thought of Barry Lyndon, the film based on Thackeray's novel that depicts the marriage of a lowly Irishman into a British aristocratic family. Barry Lyndon was as much of a cipher and nearly as repellent as Chris Wilton, but one was drawn into his saga despite this. -- www.marxmail.org -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
okay. I forgot that part. They're testing the fire alarms in my office building. My mental state is a lot like Harrison's in the middle of Vonnegut's dystopic Harrison Bergeron, where he is smart and so has to wear a klaxon on his head to make him equal to others. (That short story is a favorite of the anti-affirmative action types, but it's better than they are.) I guess I have to drive home. Yuk. On 1/2/06, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 11:10 AM 1/2/2006, you wrote: hey, Louis, it's bad form to give away crucial plot-twists, especially those toward the end of the film. However, your review is spot-on. But I distinctly said at the beginning: On 1/2/06, Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Warning: This film review will reveal the surprise ending of Woody Allen's latest film. -- www.marxmail.org -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] King Kong
WARNING: I give away a crucial plot detail below. Yes, the ape dies at the end. Whew! that's over. Despite its extreme length, this is an extremely good flick, the reason why God invented popcorn. The special effects, the plot, much of the script, and even the acting are very good. The main problem I had was the treatment of the natives on Skull Island as an irrational force of nature. But, if you think about it, this other isn't as bad as civilization is (as represented by Jack Black's movie producer, Denham). As in the original, Denham ends the film by saying that it wasn't airplanes that killed King Kong. It was beauty (Fay Wray, as wonderfully played by Naomi Watts) that killed the beast. But it really was greed (Denham's) that killed Kong. It's interesting that the other hero (besides Watts and Kong) is a Clifford Odets-type playright played by Adrien Brody (who does people's theatre). -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] King Kong
On 1/2/06, Walt Byars [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Its hard to believe that the movie portrayed Denham as bad as it did the natives. He was a money loving opportunist, and tricked everyone on the boat (although I think to an extent its portrayed as he is the smart guy with a brilliant idea that everyone else won't realize so he'll just have to trick him. This is especially clear when he is pitching the idea to his financiers at the beginning, who are portrayed as even worse). Denham's perfidy (and that of the other movie moguls) is a theme of the whole movie, whereas the horrible scenes with the natives was just one fragment of the whole movie. The natives seem part of the same image put forth by the dinosaurs and insects on Skull Island. I don't know if Denhan a brilliant idea as much as he flits from one idea to another in an opportunistic way. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
films of Stanley Kubrick ... combined formal elegance with a studious refusal to moralize. On 1/2/06, Carl Remick [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Actually, I can't imagine a movie more incandescent with moral outrage than Kubrick's Paths of Glory, one of the greatest antiwar films ever. Dr. Strangelove is pretty strong, too. I guess Kubrick lost his moral commitment after awhile. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] torture in the news
from SLATE's news summary:Yesterday's [Washingon] Post noted President Bush's penchant for signing statements, which give the White House interpretation of a law being, well, signed. The idea is to have challenges to a law on paper and thus give the administration a potential leg up in future court cases. The signing statements are an attempt to address specific provisions of legislation that the White House wishes to nullify, said one presidential historian. He added that they are also in an effort to significantly reposition and strengthen the powers of the presidency relative to the Congress. ... what the WP didn't pick up on—and what nobody else seems to either: The White House issued just such a signing statement—an apparent attempt at nullification—for Sen. McCain's anti-torture amendment. The statement says: The executive branch shall construe [the amendment] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President ... of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks. The president acceded to the McCain amendment just a few weeks ago and ended up praising it. Anybody care to ask the White House whether, given the above language, it considers the government absolutely bound by McCain's ban? -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
a lot of films -- e.g., The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense -- rely on surprise as part of their art. Without it, they wouldn't be as fun. On 1/3/06, ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: During my first few years in the USA, I used to be amused by the seriousness with which adults treated movie endings or candy. While growing up, I had learned that such things as mystery and sweets were for children. For quite a while, I could not believe that my adult friends in the US where in fact dead serious when they chided me for discussing a book or movie in a manner that even gave away a bit of the plot development. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
I wrote: a lot of films -- e.g., The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense -- rely on surprise as part of their art. Without it, they wouldn't be as fun. ravi: Crying game was a bit hyped, no? And Sixth Sense was entirely hyped. In fact it is a good example of Carrol's point: without even knowing the ending, I not only guessed at the little surprise but also found it entirely untenable. Just because there's a lot of hype doesn't mean a film can't be fun. (Great films don't need hype, but you can't expect very many films to be great. They can be fun instead. King Kong was hyped, but extremely fun.) Part of enjoying a film is what you do, i.e., to figure out the surprise ahead of time. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Match Point
some films are great and don't suffer from having their surprises revealed, whereas others are just fun. Movie reviewers typically focus on the great films; some lambaste the merely fun ones for not being great. But what's wrong with a little escapism? (If escapism is out, then throw away all your beer.) On 1/3/06, ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Don't know if you are just joking or also making a subtle point here, but I read one anyway (what was it that Gadamer wrote about great works being the act of creation between the writer and reader? ;-)) and I think it makes my point nicely... -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] symbolic colors?
RJ Gordon's new macro textbook is in full color (raising costs, natch). Is there any meaning to the following? US = red UK and EU = blue Canada = grey [his spelling] Japan = orange Germany = black Italy = green. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] Government debt erased
RETURNED ABRAMOFF DONATIONS ERASE NATIONAL DEBT Lawmakers Scramble To Shed Trillions in Tainted Cash Politicians in Washington hurried today to dump trillions of dollars worth of campaign donations from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, giving the money to the Treasury Department and all but wiping out the national debt. Congressmen, senators, and other politicians lined up around the block outside the Treasury building to give back their Abramoff riches, many of them carting piles of hundred-dollar bills in wheelbarrows. We are processing the Abramoff money as quickly as we can, said Donna LeBrock, a window teller at the Treasury Department. There's just so much more of it than we ever imagined. The unexpected windfall of tainted cash means that the national debt, long considered an albatross on the U.S. economy, has all but vanished for the first time in the nation's history. At a press conference at the White House, President Bush said that the sudden influx of returned donations from the disgraced lobbyist was proof that his economic policies were working. Our program of receiving tainted political donations and then hurriedly returning them is finally paying off for the American people, Mr. Bush told reporters. At the Department of Health and Human Services, a spokesman said that some of the newly returned Abramoff cash would go to treat an epidemic of amnesia among politicians in Washington, many of whom can no longer remember meeting, speaking to, or having dinner with Jack Abramoff. Elsewhere, a marine who was arrested for not going to Vietnam forty years ago is expected to plead insanity, claiming that he was under the delusion that he was Vice President of the United States. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Chavez as anti-Semite?
At 17:02 09/01/2006, Max S wrote: And the SID (Socialists in Denial) award goes to . . . Leigh: He's talking about the decendants of the people who crucified christ... the ROMANS. here's what ML posted, in more readable form: On 1/9/06, michael a. lebowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why SID, Max? Do you know something beyond what a zionist news agency has circulated? Here's a note I posted to Marxmail when Louis posted his note: I sent the following off to a friend who asked about the charge being circulated: --- Don't believe that crap. It's clear that Chavez meant the capitalists (given Jesus's role as first socialist revolutionary and Judas as the first capitalist). If I recall correctly, Chavez was speaking at a refuge for street kids the day before Christmas (apparently a very inspiring speech-- I was in Chile at the time). Here's the quote: http://www.ww4report.com/node/1426#comment-4211? translation of relevant passage Submitted by http://www.ww4report.com/user/3 David Bloom on Sat, 12/31/2005 - 15:12. The world has enough for everyone, then, but it turns out that some minorities, the descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones who threw Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way in Santa Marta, over there in Colombia. A minority seized ownership of the wealth of the world, a minority seized ownership of the gold of the planet, of the silver, of the minerals, of the waters, of the good lands, the oil, of the wealth, basically, and the riches have been concentrated in few hands: less than 10% of the population of the world owns more than half the riches of the whole world (Trans: Weekly News Update on the Americas http://home.earthlink.net/~nicadlw/wnuhome.html http://home.earthlink.net/~nicadlw/wnuhome.html) Michael A. Lebowitz my comment: I don't think that the Romans -- who were the ones who crucified Christ -- were capitalists, but the Roman slave-owners were the ruling class of the day. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] we're doomed, doomed!
. Warnings: Minimal legislation to protect ports and chemical plants. Federal budget cut border patrol 90%. Vigilantes patrolling. FEMA an under-funded disaster. 12. Class gap widening. Warnings: CEOs and the rich get increasing share of wealth, ownership and tax cuts, while labor's income is reduced and latest budget cuts mainly hurt lower economic classes. 13. Congressional pork-barrel. Warnings: Pork, tax cuts and out-of-control spending. And with no veto threats, Congress runs amuck like teenage addict with stolen credit cards. 14. International credibility. Warnings: Image problems: Wiretapping, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, secret prisons, and more. 15. Real estate as a trigger. Warnings: Speculation. Cheap money. Home-equity loans used to fund current expenses. 16. Personal-savings shortfall. Warnings: National savings rate now below zero, down from 8% in early 80s. We're now obsessed consumers, blind to saving for tomorrow. 17. Consumer-debt bubble. Warnings: Americans are living beyond their means. Consumer debt is $2 trillion, an all-time high. Personal bankruptcies rising. 18. Political scandals and trials. Warnings: Libby, DeLay, Rove, Scanlon, Abramoff, Frist, Ney; the list is growing. 19. Hedge fund risks. Warning: Doubled since 2000 to over $1 trillion as pension funds, discouraged with the stock market, are taking bigger risks, further endangering retirement funds. 20. Excessive P/E ratios. Warnings: Not just Google at 50 times; the stock market is about 30% overvalued. In last summer's poll 86% of our readers said there was a better than 50-50 chance of America's economic bubble exploding. With multiple trigger points, we have the makings of a perfect storm. In this new poll we want you to tell us when you think it will happen and which of these trigger points will push us into a recession and another bear market. Send us your thoughts about these two crucial issues. Later we'll summarize the results and offer strategies. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Black democractic althlete-politicians
how about Kobe Bryant for President? He shares a lot with Bill Clinton... On 1/11/06, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have any star black athletes won major elective office as democrats? I am thinking of Lynn Swann running for governor in Penna., JT Watts as a rep. from OK. Charles Barkley suggesting a few years ago that he would run for gov. of Alabama. The white athletes have not done well either. Macmillan was a rep. from Maryland we all know Bill Bradley. On the other side, we have coach Tom Osborne, Jim Bunning, ... and even in an earlier time Vinegar Bend Mizell. Steve Largent was pretty right wing. Oh yes, Gerald Ford was an all american football player. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Black democractic althlete-politicians
'twas a jest. On 1/12/06, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jim's response makes me think that presidents without extra-marital sex -- Nixon, W.? -- might be worse presidents than those who did play around. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] question michael a. lebowitz
At 02:58 13/01/2006, Soula wrote: I recently heard a critical coment that Chavez development policy consists of small cottage like indistry where every family would be self sufficient with its own chicken coop. this kind of development can be the basis for more modern development later on, by providing the grass roots with assets, including education, and with purchasing power (boosting the domestic market). (It's akin to the aborted 40 acres and a mule plan for the ex-slaves after the Civil War in the US.) It also creates a fundamental popular basis to defend V if and when it's invaded by the US. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
Economists play a bait and switch game. The basic idea concerning human choice _is_ tautological: people do what they want to do. (How can you tell what someone's preferences are? simple, revealed preference, i.e., what they do.) But there is another version, which appears in textbooks and lectures, of the simple-minded maximizer of a given utility function who doesn't care about others' utility, etc. This radical individualist is at the center of the economists' conception, but when attacked, he falls back on the tautological version. This is the bait and switch. The old econ. vision of humanity should go away, if we're lucky, now that experimental (or behavioral) economics is becoming popular. It turns out (from the research of the guy in the office next door to mine) that people have a built-in sense of what's fair (a social notion that's totally missed by homo economicus). More, we have to look to where preferences or goals come from. This suggests that sociology should be seen as complementary to the goal-seeking behavior posited by economics. There's also the psychodynamic perspective (the broadly defined psychoanalysic view), in which human choice is a product of an internal conflict of motives (ego vs. id vs. superego). BTW, when Julio quotes Marx, it's irrelevant to the question at hand. He writes: In mid 19th-century Europe, a revolutionary critic wrote that what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality. Purposefulness is a material attribute of human labor -- and, more generally, of all conscious activity, in all historical epochs. It doesn't disappear under capitalism: it only takes particular, in some cases perverse forms. sure, people have conscious purposes, but that's very different from the neoclassical conception, in which those purposes are typically seen as individualistic and almost always seen as arising somehow from outside of society (dropping from the sky or determined by genes). (Like Marx, the neoclassicals ignore internal conflicts. They should know better, since most of them come after Freud.) -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] Cooper on UFW
. This time around, the union will have to take the public critique seriously and institute some real reform lest it flirt with extinction. Those of us who are sympathetic to the ideals of Cesar Chavez perhaps have the greatest responsibility to be honest with ourselves and with the UFW. We achieve absolutely nothing by apologizing for the UFW's failure or rationalizing the more venal aspects of the Chavez family management. The next time one of the UFW fund-raising letters comes your way, instead of writing a check, you might want to write back a note to Chavez's son-in-law and current UFW president Arturo Rodriguez. Tell him that as soon as he can show you a concrete strategic plan to organize unions for California farm workers, you will show him the money. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
On 1/13/06, Julio Huato [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... What is definitely *not* trivial is the bunch of results that follow from it, when -- as it is always the case in economic theory -- you combine it with other premises, e.g., a certain rule descriptive of economic possibilities or opportunities, consistency conditions at the aggregate level, etc. it's been my contention for awhile that it's not the utility maximization part of economic theory that has the content as much as the premises, i.e., the (objective) constraints. Even then, one can't prove that the demand curve slopes down (i.e., that the quantity demanded rises as price falls) from utility maximization and an income constraint. One thing in neoclassical economics that should be admired is that it admits that it can't make that proof. Or at least its sophisticated users do. (Similarly, its sophisticates accept the theory of the second best.) As noted elsewhere, there's a bait and switch going on. Or to use a different metaphor, the scientific-looking garb of neoclassical economics is worn by neoliberal ideologues and dictators at the IMF and similar types. Speaking of metaphors, it would be good for neoclassical economics if its users were to admit that their theory is nothing but a system of metaphors. JD
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
I wrote: I should mention two main problems with the GE benchmark. It lacks two concepts that may seem old-fashioned and unsophisticated but are still used by economists, i.e., production and (historical) time. The concept of money has also never been successfully introduced into the GE framework except by using Patinkin-type unrealistic assumptions. there's another concept lacking in GE theory that should be mentioned: uncertainty. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
as I said: revealed prefrence is how you tell what someone's preferences are. And *that* is an *empirical* exercise. The problem with revealed preferences is *the inductive leap*, but that problem is common to all inductive reasoning, which is to say, to all empirical work!! In terms of theorizing, I see no reason to privilege inductive reasoning over deductive reasoning -- or vice-versa. But in the end, it's empirical reality -- the facts, practice -- that matter, not the theory. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] Medicrap
From SLATE's news summary: The Washington Post leads with the story we've been hearing a lot of lately: the many problems plaguing Medicare recipients since the new prescription drug program went into effect two weeks ago, leaving sick and poor beneficiaries without medicine. Ohio and Wisconsin joined 14 other states Friday in a pledge to cover the drug costs of low-income seniors who are being denied or overcharged for medication. ... The Medicare debacle is pitting states against the federal government in some cases, as state officials trying to do right by Medicare recipients may find themselves losing a serious amount of cash. Some have already racked up unexpected drug bills totaling more than several million dollars because they've bailed out the beneficiaries screwed over by the new program, but the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mark McClellan, said he did not have the authority to reimburse those costs to the states. isn't that the Bush way (Bullshido?) to dump the costs of his program on the states? also in the news: Echoing Swift Boat Veteran tactics, critics of John Murtha charged on a conservative Web site Friday that the former Marine may not have earned his Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War, the Post reports. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
it's standard: the GE (and game theory) juggernaut keeps on rolling over its critics, no matter how valid their criticisms. On 1/14/06, Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Didn't McClosky say as much. He made a stir for a while then the idea seems to have disappeared. On Sat, Jan 14, 2006 at 06:59:20AM -0800, Jim Devine wrote: Speaking of metaphors, it would be good for neoclassical economics if its users were to admit that their theory is nothing but a system of metaphors. JD -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
rather than starting with General Equilibrium (and similar), someone should look at Heyne's Economic Way of Thinking and present an alternative, one where Way is made plural. On 1/14/06, Eugene Coyle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Samuelson called neoclassical economics a parable, but a good parable. (In the QJE if my memory is accurate.) That was after he conceded defeat to Joan Robinson and the gang. Basically we need a story to replace the story neoclassical economists tell. Their story is accepted by policy makers and journalists, partly because it supports the right interests, partly because it has been accepted so long by so many. but it is a battle of stories, rather than somehow educating economists, that we should focus on. Gene Coyle Michael Perelman wrote: Didn't McClosky say as much. He made a stir for a while then the idea seems to have disappeared. On Sat, Jan 14, 2006 at 06:59:20AM -0800, Jim Devine wrote: Speaking of metaphors, it would be good for neoclassical economics if its users were to admit that their theory is nothing but a system of metaphors. JD -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
On 1/15/06, Michael Nuwer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jim, what is it that like about Heyne's book? I _don't_ like Heyne's book. Rather, it's the idea of having a small list of aspects to a way of thinking that I think may be useful. It seems to me that Heyne (and his coauthors) ascribe to the tautology discussed earlier in this thread. For example, Heyne writes: It is often said that rush-hour urban traffic is inefficient because it is made up predominantly of single passenger vehicles. That is an insupportable claim. Those who drive alone rather than forming a car pool or taking the bus are implicitly showing that they place a higher value on the benefits relative to the costs of driving alone than of any available alternative. The Austrian's bait and switch is a bit different from the neo-classical version, but it is still a bait and switch. ;-) the guy's (Heyne's) never heard of external costs? -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] query
in his VALUE, PRICE PROFIT, Karl Marx writes: If you consider that two-thirds of the national produce are consumed by one-fifth of the population [the capitalists] ... you will understand what an immense proportion of the national produce must be produced in the shape of luxuries, or be exchanged for luxuries, and what an immense amount of the necessaries themselves must be wasted upon flunkeys, horses, cats, and so forth, a waste we know from experience to become always much limited with the rising prices of necessaries. what did Karl have against cats? -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
On 1/15/06, Michael Nuwer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Institutionalist(the old ones) and some Post Keynesian have proposed some or all of the following: (i) the principle of procedural rationality, (ii) the principle of satiable needs, (iii) the principle of separability of needs, (iv) the principle of subordination of needs, (v) the principle of the growth of needs, (vi) the principle of non-independence. The ways of thinking that derive from these principles might include satisfying and threshold levels, hierarchic and lexicographic preferences, and invidious comparisons (like snob and bandwagon effects). The list is pretty abstract, so I could go either way with it (depending on what it means in practice). -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] query
wasn't it Marx who said that there were two types of people in the world, those that like cats and those that like dogs? ;-) On 1/15/06, Carrol Cox [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Engels defends cats against Duhring's attack on them. :-) Carrol -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] the homogenization of Paul Krugman
Business Week/JANUARY 23, 2006 THE BOOK BIZ Making Nice To Make Sales In his column in The New York Times (NYT ), Paul Krugman is one of President George W. Bush's most outspoken foes. Heck of a Job, Bushie, the Princeton University economist taunted on Dec. 30, accusing the President of breaking the law and misleading the public. But Krugman is far more generous to the President in his introductory textbook, Economics (Worth Publishers), which came out on Dec. 22. There he praises Bush's advisers for supporting aggressive measures to fight the 2001 recession. Photos contrast a confident Bush with a squinting Herbert Hoover, whose policies worsened the Depression. Far from picking fights with Republican academics, Krugman writes that media coverage tends to exaggerate the real differences in views among economists. The homogenization of Paul Krugman may illustrate a basic principle of economics: The customer is always right. Textbooks are chosen by professors of all political stripes. Krugman says in an interview that he and his wife and co-author, Robin Wells, were extremely careful to be evenhanded. So far, Krugman says, there's no evidence that buyers have been turned off by his column. Good thing. His competition includes two of Bush's former chief economic advisers: R. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia University, who has a new textbook, and best-selling N. Gregory Mankiw of Harvard University, whose fourth edition arrives in March. By Peter Coy -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] query
the snake, of course, is a symbol for the Devil. But of course we _knew_ that secularists were evil. On 1/15/06, Doyle Saylor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: :-) Liberal theorists like Weber found that secularist favored snakes over mammals due to cuddliness (corrupt luxury) factor. The liberal state theorists have for almost a century used the snake icon as the ultimate liberal image of secularism. This has also provoked the reaction amongst the public about the nature of government. In the U.S. influenced by liberal morality some diversity champions have favored two headed snakes as a post modern deconstruction of the liberal metaphor. Libertarians lukewarm to the idea of two headed snakes never the less jumped at the thought of don't tread on me where more than one anarchy of biters will by venom kill the tyranny of big government. :-) Doyle On Jan 15, 2006, at 1:18 PM, Jim Devine wrote: wasn't it Marx who said that there were two types of people in the world, those that like cats and those that like dogs? ;-) On 1/15/06, Carrol Cox [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Engels defends cats against Duhring's attack on them. :-) Carrol -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] let them eat dust
from today's SLATE news summary: The LA [TIMES] fronts a look into how reconstruction efforts are going in Iraq and says that there are no plans to renew funding after the $18.6 billion approved by Congress in 2003 runs out at the end of this year. Many of the projects are going unfinished since money is running low and foreign governments are not giving as much as they promised. Now it appears that the Iraqi people, along with private investment, will have to burden the costs of reconstruction. No pain, no gain, said a U.S. Embassy employee in Iraq. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] he just wanted to direct?
. If Abramoff ever harbored dreams of getting rich from Red Scorpion, they were dashed. Certainly the impression I got was that Jack didn't make a nickel, says Jeff Pandin, an associate of Abramoff's at IFF and later its director. Because the Red Scorpion office shared IFF's address, he says, many people with unpaid bills came knocking at IFF's door. Among the entities that wound up as involuntary financial backers of Red Scorpion, Pandin suggests, was the South African military, which had expected to be reimbursed for its manpower and materiel. Instead it was left holding the bag. Pandin told me that the project's bad odor fouled Abramoff's standing with IFF's principal client. The movie had a lot to do with his no longer being chairman of the foundation after 1987, he says. The impression in the office was that there were lots of people in South Africa who were unhappy with Jack because they hadn't been paid. In the end, Abramoff's Hollywood adventure was merely prologue to his big score. The next thing anyone knew of him, he was a lobbyist passing out millions in cash and perks to members of Congress. The rest is history. You can reach Michael Hiltzik at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and view his weblog at latimes.com/goldenstateblog. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
On 1/16/06, Autoplectic [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, why can't Dubya find more economist sycophants? Is the profession peeved about the hamburgers are manufacturing issue and no one wants to put their reputation at risk? it's a miracle. Bush's intellectual standards (i.e., toadyism) are even lower than the economics profession's. I'd also assert that the utter absence of some substantive philosophy of history to complement their infatuation with modeling ... hobbles the ability of mainstream economists to latch onto Dubya's Orwellian approach to history as the long march of freedom as well as the freedom/terrorism binary ... There's a freedom vs. tyranny theme among some economists of the Chicago and Virginia schools, who _do_ have a theory of history. But their freedom involves markets not cronyism. Most economists have enough of a empiricist orientation to know that Bush isn't into free markets as much as rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
me: There's a freedom vs. tyranny theme among some economists of the Chicago and Virginia schools, who _do_ have a theory of history. But their freedom involves markets not cronyism. Most economists have enough of a empiricist orientation to know that Bush isn't into free markets as much as rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. On 1/16/06, Autoplectic [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, doesn't the historical record amply demonstrate that non-crony capitalism is a contradiction in terms, summed in the phrase it's not what you know but who you know that's considered the key to success in labor markets? Iirc, the NYT did an article on this issue not too long ago. History may amply demonstrate that, but economists are typically not empirically-oriented enough that they'd recognize it. awhile back, at a Frosh economics orientation, I told students that part of labor economics was it's not what you know but who you know. A Chicago-style economist there (actually, a Harvard follower of Feldstein) thought that what I said was dangerous. It seems that such reality leads people away from believing in the right-wing version of human capital theory. What are the seminal texts for the VC schools theory of history? as far as I know, there aren't any. But such books as Hicks' THEORY OF ECONOMIC HISTORY and the early works of Douglass North play a role. I don't think it's an empirically-based theory of history as much as a religious belief (involving Manichean dualism) about the eternal conflict between Good (market freedom) and Evil (state command). -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] People who think that rational economic man is sociopathic might find this a bit humorous
On 1/16/06, Autoplectic [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... Well, doesn't the historical record amply demonstrate that non-crony capitalism is a contradiction in terms... can it be said that the historical record amply demonstrates anything? there's a heck of a lot of subjectivism in both the interpretation and construction of the historical record, so most of the time history demonstrates what people want it to demonstrate. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
does anyone know what the policy orientation of Liberia's new Prez, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is? She's a Harvard economist, but is she a neoliberal? if so, such bad choices! Johnson-Sirleaf vs. a soccer star. In Iran, a fundamentalist nut vs. a neoliberal. Etc. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
I would guess that she's also part of the Liberian upper class. On 1/16/06, Perelman, Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I believe she worked for the World Bank, which seems to be a requirement to hold office in poor countries, unless you have CIA connections, which trumps Brettton Woods. -- Jim Devine When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it. -- Clarence Darrow
Re: [PEN-L] overwork in Japan
this article presents a new theory of the falling birthrate in rich countries. Usually, it's rising living standards, urbanization, and social security that are emphasized, along with (for some theorists) the relative emancipation of women (who disproportionately bear the cost of children). Now overwork helps the process. A few years ago, thanks partly to the hit movie, The Last Samurai, bushido became a buzzword, the left-of-centre Asahi Shimbun newspaper said in a recent editorial. that was a hit in Japan? it flopped in the US, if I remember correctly. -- Jim Devine When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it. -- Clarence Darrow
Re: [PEN-L] James Lovelock on global warming
does any expert actually take the Gaia theory seriously? does it add anything of substance to Lovelock's argument that would convince a skeptic? -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] recent literature review of investment theory?
Cyclical Over-Investment in a Labor Scarce Economy Jim Devine Eastern Eco J. 1987 a great paper! but unreadable! -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] query: Marx quote
where did Marx say that Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form, assuming that is, that he did say it? -- Jim Devine
Re: [PEN-L] Apologies
thanks. apology accepted. On 1/17/06, Julio Huato [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to apologize to Jim Devine and to the list for my overreaction. The tone of my previous posting was overly aggressive. Sorry. Julio -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Witch hunt at UCLA
Part of it is just that the GOPsters have more money (rather than simply having worse ethics). When I was in high school (1966-70), there was a left-wing rag called the Fifth Estate and a right-wing one called The Capitali$t. The latter had much much more money, and published ads by local businesses. On 1/18/06, Dan Scanlan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is an old LA Republican strategy. In 1963, when I was an undergrad at Loyola University ... the middle aged adults who headed the Young Republicans for the Republican Party started appearing at social and political functions on campus and offered bribes to students to join the Loyola chapter of the YRs in order to oust the president of the chapter, who was a supporter of Joe Shell for Republican candidate for governor, running against Richard Nixon. -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
Re: [PEN-L] Witch hunt at UCLA
methinks that an important commonality between witch hunt and fascism is that they involve rhetoric overused by leftists. (i.e., I agree with Louis.) -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
[PEN-L] perhaps of interest
in an unlikely automobile accident, but quite another to abandon a known victim in distress. By offering a transparently unsound economic argument in defense of the Habtegiris decision, Mr. Landsburg unwittingly empowers those who wrongly insist that costs and benefits have no legitimate role in policy decisions about health and safety. Reducing the small risks we face every day is expensive. The same money could be spent instead on other pressing needs. We cannot think intelligently about these decisions without weighing the relevant costs and benefits. But using cost-benefit analysis does not make one a moral monster. In the wealthiest nation on earth, a genuine cost-benefit test would never dictate unplugging a fully conscious, responsive patient from life support against her objections. Mr. Landsburg's argument to the contrary is wrongheaded, not just morally, but also economically. Robert H. Frank, an economist at the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, is the co-author, with Ben S. Bernanke, of Principles of Economics. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Copyright 2006The New York Times Company -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Financialization (was Marxological Question) II
On 1/20/06, Sandwichman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Oh wait. Maybe Doug was under the impression that I was suggesting that the system of accounts was *designed* to be deceptive. Not at all. The accounts are deceptive because they are gamed by everyone from corporations to legislators. It's not a question of conniving statisticians at the BLS pulling unemployment numbers out of their asses (a perennial Henwood straw) but of the actual numbers not meaning the same thing in different circumstances so that, as Bluestone and Sharpe point out, the unemployment rate is no longer an adequate measure of labor market capacity, economic performance, or social well-being (2004, Construction of a New Architecture for Labour Market Statistics.). Alan Greenspan agrees that, as currently measured, the unemployment rate doesn't mean what it used to, so that 4% unemployment now might be the equivalent of 5% 25 years ago. Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
Re: [PEN-L] Financialization (was Marxological Question) II
it's partly a matter of job insecurity and the stuff that Tom Walker quotes about, along with the role of imports. Also, the standard math about the (non-Paul) Phillips curve assumed that nominal wages rise with labor productivity in the trend, so that there's no upward trend in unit labor costs (ULC). Assuming a constant mark-up on ULC, there's no upward trend in prices. If there's a upward trend in prices built into the structure of the economy, an extra amount of unemployment is required (in the standard model) to prevent accelerating inflation. But nominal wage rates have not been rising with labor productivity in the US lately, so that less unemployment is needed to prevent accelerating inflation (in the standard model). In fact, if nominal wages are falling far behind productivity, then unemployment must be below the hypothesized natural rate to prevent accelerating disinflation and even deflation. A lot of this is missed by the orthodox because they do their Phillips curve merging the link between unemployment and wages with that between wages and prices. (The common journalistic assumption these days is that labor productivity growth undermines inflation. That's true, but it wasn't in the good old days when nominal wages moved roughly with labor productivity in the trend.) JD On 1/20/06, paul phillips [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jim, Can you explain Greenspan's reasoning for suggesting this? Paul P Jim Devine wrote: Alan Greenspan agrees that, as currently measured, the unemployment rate doesn't mean what it used to, so that 4% unemployment now might be the equivalent of 5% 25 years ago. Jim Devine -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.21/236 - Release Date: 1/20/06 -- Jim Devine The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin
