1. If you haven't read Jane Smiley's comic novel MOO, do so. It's got great descriptions of the economist, Dr. Guest, who thinks of students as "customers" and trains them (with evangelistic glee) to be individualistic free-riders. He loves the fact that the results fit with his a priori vision of human nature. (This fits perfectly with the studies that indicate that economics courses have this effect.) It's about a university that's suffering from massive cut-backs. 2. I realized that there is class struggle in Albert and Hahnel's books on participatory planning: it's a struggle _against_ the would-be coordinator class who they think of as the ruling class of the old USSR. BTW, they also have a bunch of other books, which talk about such issues of how to get from here to there (i.e., to socialism) and criticize official Marxisms. 3. While surveying the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS, I noticed that according to government calculations, the rate of profit is rising steeply (July 1996, p. 118). That fits with other calculations I've seen (the OECD, stories in BUSINESS WEEK). 4. Ernst Fischer's HOW TO READ KARL MARX (Monthly Review, 1996) is pretty good. It might make a good textbook. It presents a Marxist-humanist perspective. that's it for today. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
