Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread MM via Marxism 
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> On Feb 11, 2020, at 6:40 PM, John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> If MMT is the basis for Sanders' claim that his health care program (plus 
> paying for student debt and a host of other programs) can all be paid for, 
> then I don't find his claim credible. Since there evidently are no other more 
> concrete plans to pay for these programs, then I think a large dose of 
> skepticism is justified.

Holy shit — even American Prospect has figured out that the demand for balanced 
budgets and “how-do-you-pay-for-its” is a red herring:

“Buttigieg settles on deficit hawkery as a closing argument in New Hampshire. 
It’s hard to think of a school of political thought with less credibility and 
less popularity.

…

"PPI has lambasted Bernie Sanders for his Medicare for All proposal, claiming 
it leaves a $25 trillion shortfall, and praised Buttigieg for being the only 
candidate with more deficit-reducing offsets than new spending proposals. (For 
what it’s worth, Buttigieg’s health care vision would be more costly than 
Sanders’s in terms of overall national health expenditures, proving further 
that this is an ideological mission above all.) CRFB, meanwhile, has pivoted 
between praising Trump’s proposed cuts to Social Security and lamenting that 
they aren’t bigger.

"Both groups have advanced a deficit scaremongering approach that has 
consistently failed the burden of proof. We’re running a real-time experiment 
about the dangers of runaway deficits, but despite the best 
apocalypse-predicting efforts, interest rates haven’t soared and inflation 
hasn’t spiraled. CRFB and PPI are part of the crowd who have predicted dire 
outcomes from deficits for a decade, and they have spent a decade being 
incorrect. There was no natural rate of unemployment, no government “crowding 
out” private spending, and no inflationary spiral. They were completely, 
utterly mistaken. Somehow these are Buttigieg’s go-to fiscal policy shops.

“Perhaps the reason that deficit hawkery is unpopular is not because of a lack 
of political derring-do, as Buttigieg says, but because it’s flat-out wrong. 
And if it’s bad economics, it’s even worse political messaging, especially in 
the run-up to the general election against a Trump administration that has 
already spent twice as much public money on farm bailouts as Obama spent to 
save the auto industry. Obama’s too-soon pivot to deficit reduction stunted the 
recovery and may have contributed to Trump’s rise; that any Democrat would want 
to rerun that playbook beggars belief.”

https://prospect.org/politics/austerity-pete-buttigieg-deficit-economic-policy/
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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread MM via Marxism 
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> On Feb 11, 2020, at 6:40 PM, John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Michael Roberts, author of the website thenextrecession.wordpress.com 
>  is probably one of the most serious 
> Marxist economists around. Here is his critique of Modern Monetary Theory 
> (MMT). 
> https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/modern-monetary-theory-part-1-chartalism-and-marx/
>  
> 
> If MMT is the basis for Sanders' claim that his health care program (plus 
> paying for student debt and a host of other programs) can all be paid for, 
> then I don't find his claim credible. Since there evidently are no other more 
> concrete plans to pay for these programs, then I think a large dose of 
> skepticism is justified.

Michael has done lots of great work; that hardly means he’s always right, and 
his engagement with MMT has been appalling — shallow and in bad faith. I’ve 
personally seen him admit that his characterization of MMT was not based on 
anything anyone writing in its name has said or written, but is just “his 
opinion” of what they really mean. His critique makes clear that he hasn’t 
really read any of the materials seriously — merely with an eye towards 
distilling out a strawman that he can debunk. I've lost a fair amount of 
respect for him over the past year or so from watching his sophistical, evasive 
treatment of this emerging body of ideas.

But I know there can be great comfort in believing there’s no need to grapple 
with new ideas and new insights.

For those who might be interested in seeing how a young Latino radical sees 
these ideas being put to work, check out Raul Carrillo’s excellent contribution 
to this 2018 Left Forum panel, starting just after the 1-hour mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwNTrN-Lhss

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[Marxism] Sex Workers Are Organizing, and Voters Are With Them

2020-02-11 Thread Andrew Stewart via Marxism 
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https://youtu.be/qxzA6PoGwEU


Best regards,
Andrew Stewart 
- - -
Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via 
https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/
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[Marxism] Bernie Needs a Radical Science Policy | Brian Cleary and Pankaj Mehta | Jacobin

2020-02-11 Thread Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo via Marxism 
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https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/02/science-research-technology-bernie-sanders


Sent from my iPhone


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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread MM via Marxism 
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> On Feb 11, 2020, at 2:18 PM, John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I watched the first half of this and then didn't want to waste any more time. 
> What this is is a defense of Keynesianism. That's fine for those who didn't 
> experience or have forgotten the late 1970s, when runaway inflation 
> threatened. What I want is a clear, concise, concrete plan for how much 
> Sanders' call would cost and how it would be paid for... other than by simply 
> swelling the federal deficit.


No, it isn’t a defense of Keynesianism. Here’s a response on concerns over 
inflation (and there is an extensive body of writing on this):

https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2019/03/01/1551434402000/An-MMT-response-on-what-causes-inflation/
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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread John Reimann via Marxism 
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I watched the first half of this and then didn't want to waste any more
time. What this is is a defense of Keynesianism. That's fine for those who
didn't experience or have forgotten the late 1970s, when runaway inflation
threatened. What I want is a clear, concise, concrete plan for how much
Sanders' call would cost and how it would be paid for... other than by
simply swelling the federal deficit.

John Reimann

On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 11:11 AM MM  wrote:

> On Feb 11, 2020, at 12:59 PM, John Reimann via Marxism <
> marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:
>
> Also, has Sanders ever come up with a concrete plan for how to pay for
> Medicare for All, other than just to say that if other countries can afford
> something similar, so can the US?
>
>
> Here’s Sanders’ main economics advisor explaining it:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS9nP-BKa3M
>
>

-- 
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread MM via Marxism 
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> On Feb 11, 2020, at 12:59 PM, John Reimann via Marxism 
>  wrote:
> 
> Also, has Sanders ever come up with a concrete plan for how to pay for
> Medicare for All, other than just to say that if other countries can afford
> something similar, so can the US?

Here’s Sanders’ main economics advisor explaining it: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS9nP-BKa3M

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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread John Reimann via Marxism 
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These results are confusing... or are intentionally misread by some in the
Sanders camp. They can only be understood correctly by understanding that
the right wing of the party has four candidates and the "left" has two. On
the "left" are Sanders and Warren, although it's charitable to call Warren
on the left since she's beating a steady path to the center. On the right
are Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Bloomberg. When taken together, the
"left" wing has 39% and the right wing has 46%. If there were one single
candidate from each side (with Sanders representing the "left"), the right
wing would be in the clear lead.

It was also interesting to see the other results from this poll. They give
all candidates a clear lead over Trump, but they also give Trump a
favorability rating of 43% approval vs. 53% disapproval. A Gallup poll of
the last few days gave Trump a 49% approval rating vs. 50% disapproval. It
is not that unusual for the different polling companies to come up with
different results. Rasmussen, for example, consistently has results more
favorable to Trump than any of the other companies. We will have to see
what other polls say.

Finally, I am not at all certain whether in an actual election Sanders
would beat Trump that easily if at all. His Democratic rivals don't want to
really attack him because they will need his activist base if they are to
defeat Trump, and I get the feeling that the Trump campaign is largely
waiting in the tall grass to really go after him when (if) he wins the
nomination. Polls show there is about a 20% support for eliminating all
private health insurance companies and maybe about 30% in favor of giving
Medicare to undocumented immigrants. Does anybody think Trump won't ride
those horses to death in a general election should Trump become the
Democratic nominee?

Also, has Sanders ever come up with a concrete plan for how to pay for
Medicare for All, other than just to say that if other countries can afford
something similar, so can the US?

In addition, many analysts make a point that sounds pretty valid to me: As
this Quinnipiac poll shows (and as do all others), most voters say they are
economically better off today then they were a year ago. Yet it is exactly
the economic issue that is Sanders' main point. Sure, this plays well to
his youth base, whose economic future is still pretty bleak. But how about
the rest of the voters? How much will it appeal to them? Or put another
way: Can Sanders expand his active base much beyond its present one?

John Reimann

-- 
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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[Marxism] World Perspectives 2020: A Pre-Revolutionary Global Situation

2020-02-11 Thread RKOB via Marxism 

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https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-perspectives-2020/

//Contents

Introduction

The most important turning point in world politics since 2008

Global wave of class struggles

Another Great Recession has begun

The Decay of Capitalist Civilization

New Cold War between the U.S. and China

Imperialist Aggression against Semi-Colonial Countries

Deep domestic political crisis in the U.S.

Crisis of Leadership and the Task of Building a Revolutionary World Party

Appendix: Open Letter: The Time Has Come!*//*

--
Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG
(Österreichische Sektion der RCIT, www.thecommunists.net)
www.rkob.net
ak...@rkob.net
Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314

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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem | Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread DW via Marxism 
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My comments were not about the "meaning" of Sanders campaign. It was about
his placement in the national poll conducted by Quinnipiac. it is
meaningless. There are dozens of polls conducted since the Fall of last
year that show Sander's beating Trump in a straight up head to head
election. Why not comment on this. This hasn't changed an iota. Secondly,
this is a about the other party of Wall St. Personally, the fact that
Sanders says he is a socialist (again, by the result of a misunderstanding)
is...nice but it is not what I've been waiting for all my life, John. I
look forward to the working class actually moving in the direction of
independent working class *power* and not some sort of electoralist reform
inside the capitalist party. Back at you with your sectarian mud slinging,
John.

David W.
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[Marxism] Russian antifascists sentenced to 6- 18 years prison

2020-02-11 Thread Ken Hiebert via Marxism 
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https://freedomnews.org.uk/breaking-russian-antifascists-sentenced-to-6-18-years-prison/?
 


The trial of seven Russian antifascists accused of terrorist offences ended 
today in Penza, western Russia.

Dmitry Pchelintsev recieved 18 years,  Ilya Shakursky 16 years, Arman Sagynbaev 
6 years,  Andrei Chernov 14 years, Vasily Kuksov 9 years, Mikhail Kulkov 10 
years and Maxim Ivankin 13 years imprisonment.
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[Marxism] Thai Soldier in Mass Shooting Had Business Clash With His Commander

2020-02-11 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism 

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NY Times, Feb. 11, 2020
Thai Soldier in Mass Shooting Had Business Clash With His Commander
By Richard C. Paddock, Muktita Suhartono and Ryn Jirenuwat

KORAT, Thailand — Fellow soldiers described him as quiet and affable, a 
skilled marksman who liked to play soccer. But people who knew 
Jakrapanth Thomma also knew this: He had a deep-seated grudge against 
his superior officer, a colonel, and the colonel’s mother-in-law, 
believing that the pair had cheated him in a land deal.


On Saturday, he shot them dead, and embarked on a deadly, 18-hour 
rampage that became Thailand’s worst mass shooting in memory. In all, 
Sergeant Major Jakrapanth, 32, took the lives of 29 people before the 
police shot him dead as he hid in a seven-story shopping mall.


“Nobody can escape death,” he posted online during his killing spree. 
“Rich from cheating and taking advantage of people … Do they think they 
can take money to spend in hell?”


As a soldier, the gunman was a small part of one of Thailand’s most 
powerful institutions, which is heavily involved in both politics and 
business. For some, joining the military is a means to power and wealth, 
and many high-ranking officers have their own side businesses in 
addition to their official duties.


The colonel’s family flatly denied that he had cheated Sergeant Major 
Jakrapanth, but the Thai military hierarchy remains a system in which 
senior officers often take advantage of the lower ranks and conscripts 
are known to serve as their servants.


“It says a lot about the Thai military that the sergeant major would be 
entangled in land deals with his commanding officer’s relatives,” said 
Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based analyst who writes for the Jane’s Group 
of defense publications. “This is not how truly professional militaries 
operate.”


Senior officers operate with impunity, he said, which can breed 
resentment in the lower ranks.


“In Thai society it is not uncommon that those with rank and privilege 
treat their subordinates dismissively or unfairly,” he said. “When in 
the military, the subordinate in question has access to weaponry. Things 
can go badly wrong.”


The military has staged 18 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy 
in 1932; the most recent one, in 2014, installed the current prime 
minister, the former general Prayuth Chan-ocha. In 2017, the military 
won voters’ approval of a constitution that gives it the dominant role 
in today’s quasi-democratic government.


Sergeant Major Jakrapanth, called Jak by his friends, grew up in one of 
Thailand’s poorest regions, and on graduating from high school, he 
enrolled in a military academy for noncommissioned officers. He rose 
steadily in the army, achieving the rank of sergeant major first class, 
the highest possible for a noncommissioned officer.


The prime minister, Mr. Prayuth, who met Sunday with some of the 58 
injured victims, said that the gunman had been enraged over a “land 
problem.” He said it was a conflict that could have been resolved 
peacefully.


But soldiers say they have little recourse in disputes involving a 
superior officer.


Sergeant Major Jakrapanth began the rampage by killing his superior 
officer and his mother-in-law. It was unclear why he went on to kill 
people at a temple, and then holed up in one of the city’s largest and 
most popular malls, where he gunned down many more.


“Nobody knew what was in his mind,” said the minister of social 
development and human security, Juti Krairerk, who came to Korat to help 
counsel survivors. “Nobody knows even now because he is already dead. 
You can only speculate.”


On Monday, grieving families held funerals and dozens of local residents 
visited the mall, Terminal 21, to leave flowers. Workers and volunteers 
began cleaning up the mall in preparation for its planned reopening on 
Thursday.


Relatives of victims picked up coffins from the morgue, including that 
of police Senior Sergeant Major Chatchawal Thaengthong, who was among 
the first to respond to the shooting.


In a slow-moving motorcade, relatives, army officers and police 
officials delivered the coffins of two police special forces officers to 
the airport. There, hundreds of mourners and an honor guard sent them 
off to Bangkok, 160 miles southwest of Korat, where they were to receive 
a royally sponsored bathing ritual.


The dispute that preceded the massacre involved the gunman’s superior 
officer, Col. Anantharot Krasae, and a business operated by the 
colonel’s family that sold homes and helped soldiers borrow money from a 
military lending program.


Often soldiers would borrow amounts that gave them cash surpluses above 
the

[Marxism] Scientists' warning to humanity on insect extinctions - ScienceDirect

2020-02-11 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism 

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719317823
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[Marxism] World War III’s newest battlefield: How an incident in the Arctic could be the spark for Armageddon – Alternet.org

2020-02-11 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism 

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/world-war-iiis-newest-battlefield-how-an-incident-in-the-arctic-could-be-the-spark-for-armageddon/
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[Marxism] Sinn Féin and the land issue: notes on the 2020 Irish general election | Lefteast

2020-02-11 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism 

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https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/sinn-fein-and-the-land-issue-notes-on-the-2020-irish-general-election/
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Re: [Marxism] 2020 - Sanders Takes Top Spot In Dem | Quinnipiac University Connecticut

2020-02-11 Thread Louis Proyect via Marxism 

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On 2/10/20 9:35 PM, John Obrien via Marxism wrote:

When there is someone on the ballot who does represent (even if weakly) a
socialist (social democrat) platform - then what is there really to lose in
supporting?


I guess we're still communists at heart.
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