[PEN-L] Steve Lendman: Comparing democracies in Venezuela and the U.S.

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2007/08/america-and-venezuela-constitutional.html

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

As I recall, so many others were emulating their model that they had few really profitable options. If they lost too much momentum -- because of the high expectations that they created -- they might risk loosing some of their clients & their big bucks would die. It may have been a case greed vs.

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

On 8/24/07, Jayson Funke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Julio asks" > > "The quibbling about quant models implies that they are flawed or wrong. > This begs the question -- flawed or wrong compared to what? Flawed > compared > to some superior, yet to be developed, quant model? Or flawed compared t

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

raghu wrote: > The first [attitude] is exemplified > by the principals of LTCM who appear > to have sincerely believed in the > infallibility of their models and > the 25 standard deviations theory. I don't think this matters much, but FWIW historically: According to Richard Lowenstein (When Gen

[PEN-L] Cost/Benefit - Children Vs Cars... Traffic pollution increases asthma risk for children

Parents, say it loud, say it proud... 'My commuter lifestyle and the increased income it (ostensibly) produces is more important than your (or my) child's health..." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6957139.stm

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

Michael: > The success of the initial players seems to be a major factor > in creating the hubris that Sabri mentioned. The same thing happend during the tulip mania, sorry, I meant, dot.com mania. No body in the dot.com business believed in what they were building toward the end of the period: t

[PEN-L] I read the news today, oh boy!

yesterday's SLATE: >USA [TODAY] contains this assertion about halfway down: "The mission of U.S. troops is to counter insurgents and stabilize the country." [the SLATE columnist] thinks he remembers something about democracy or weapons of mass destruction. Then again, that was a long time ago<

[PEN-L] Left-wing blogs: appendages of the DP

MoveOn and many of the leading left-wing blogs have become nothing but appendages of the Democratic party - defending every initiative, no matter how wrong-headed, cowardly and obviously ineffective. And since the Iraq supplemental fight, where the netroots did such a horrible job, the discussions

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

Exactly. Cartography might be a good example. Think of how incorrect early maps were. If people had sufficiently sophisticated navigational devices and they tried to sail only based on these maps, they would have run serious risks. Today, maps have vastly improved, but they are still imperfe

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

Raghu: > I'd still argue that there was naivete involved, it is > just a question of how much. I never debated that. Yes, there was naivete involved but it was not about believing that the models were infallible. The naivete involved was about their over-confidence, to such an extent that they fe

Re: [PEN-L] the glories of financial engineering

On 8/24/07, Sabri Oncu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > First of all, I happen to know one or two of high profile quants of LTCM, too, > like David Modest, for example. Not that he is someone I know closely, but I > socialized with him a few times way back when, and know that he knows enough > to >

Re: [PEN-L] Deep History [was: Q & A on credit crisis]

On 8/11/07, Julio Huato <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In his _Deep History_, David Laibman supplies an interesting synthesis > of the basic contradictions in the logic of capitalism in general. > The primary or primitive "critical tendencies" in the system are the > tendency towards higher productiv

[PEN-L] Macro/Micro: 1 billion bullets a year for war... shortage for U.S police departments

So much for 'Homeland Security'. IF you consider the police organizations in the U.S. DO contribute to real security of your home & 'the 'homeland', and are not merely an armed wing… legal 'gang' if you will, of the burgeoning police state. "In Oklahoma City, for example, officers cannot qualify

[PEN-L] George W. Bush's history lesson to the VFW

I was curious to examine the speech George W. Bush gave to the Veterans of Foreign War convention last week since it compared Iraq with Vietnam. Three years ago I gave an interview to BBC in Ireland on exactly the same question. While there are obvious differences between the NLF and the decent

[PEN-L] For some, a silver lining in the credit squeeze

While the volatile stock and bond markets are urging the Federal Reserve to cut the fed funds rate sharply and fast, other voices within the ruling class don't want it to unblock consumer and corporate bottlenecks to credit. They want tighter money to engineer a long hoped-for recession in the US

Re: [PEN-L] Books/ articles criticizing this eurocentric idea

By all means, don't read Orlando Patteron, FREEDOM. It might convince you that the idea is not so absurd. (Caveat: It's on my "to read" bookshelf) "For most of human history, and for nearly all of the non-Western owrld prior to Western contact, freedom was, and for many still remains, anything b