Re: [PEN-L] How is socialist cost-benefit analysis possible?

Jim, It seems to me that cost-benefit principles are fundamentally rooted in and bound to capitalism. If capitalism is characterized as the transformation of the labor of private individuals into uniform social labor, i.e., into labor that can be expressed in all use-values and can be exchanged

Re: [PEN-L] Really Fictitious Debt

that's free enterprise at work, releasing and efficiently implementing American ingenuity! Michael Perelman wrote: Business Week had an interesting article about companies that buy and sell debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy -- meaning that there is no debt. But the companies that

Re: [PEN-L] The flat tax and income inequality

On Nov 16, 2007 6:36 AM, ken hanly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This guy [Rogoff] is a Harvard economist. Does he belong to the flat earth society as well as the flat tax society?... How on earth is the flat tax supposed to help reduce income inequality? It does the opposite by doing away with

[PEN-L] from Juan Cole: on Academic Freedom

Juan Cole writes:: The Montreal Mirror carries an interview with me by Samer Elatrash, in honor of the holding of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference in Montreal. MESA has over 2700 members among teachers and researchers at colleges and universities, mainly in North

[PEN-L] another from Juan Cole: on the IAEA and Iran

-- Forwarded message -- From: Juan Cole [EMAIL PROTECTED] Some Saturday reading: At our Global Affairs group blog, Farideh Farhi takes a closer look at the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran. This issue may be the most important one in world politics today, on which war

Re: [PEN-L] How is socialist cost-benefit analysis possible?

Michael Nuwer wrote: It seems to me that cost-benefit [CBA] principles are fundamentally rooted in and bound to capitalism. If capitalism is characterized as the transformation of the labor of private individuals into uniform social labor, i.e., into labor that can be expressed in all

Re: [PEN-L] How is socialist cost-benefit analysis possible?

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am reaching back into memory now, but he had a whole section on this, IIRC this discount rate has to be consistent with the average rate of return on capital investment, which in turn is a concept that has to be tied down by market prices. one of the key

[PEN-L] recycling creeps

from SLATE, Thursday, Nov. 15: Remember Manuel Miranda? He was the senior aide for the Senate's GOP leadership who led an effort to obtain internal documents from the computer and networks of Democratic staff. His big defense back then was that the stealing was OK because the documents weren't

Re: [PEN-L] The flat tax and income inequality

There is the variation on the flat tax known as the X-tax. You have graduated rates on wage salary charged to individuals, and the top rate applied to business firms. The base is very simple. For persons, wages, and for business firms, gross receipts minus wages and capital expenditures. (The

[PEN-L] RE: Libertarians on the Central Banksà

Doug, You needn't be so surprised when a Marxist economist says he doesn't understand money as a social practice. Apart from Joan Robinson's question about what is money, didn't Einstein say he didn't even understand compound interest? Anyway, I'm talking about money as a social practice not

[PEN-L] Russia, India boost defence ties but no nuclear deal

Reuters India Russia, India boost defence ties but no nuclear deal http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-30454620071112?sp=true Mon Nov 12, 2007 | By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and India agreed on Monday to boost defence ties by jointly developing a new military

[PEN-L] new radio product

[It's been ages since since I posted one of these. That was a combination of fundraiser pre-emptions and operator error. The podcasts are posted much more quickly than these announcements, so if you want to be more current, subscribe to the podcast version.] BEHIND THE NEWS with Doug Henwood

[PEN-L] Hard landing?

http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/227330 With the Recession Becoming Inevitable the Consensus Shifts Towards the Hard Landing View. And the Rising Risk of a Systemic Financial Meltdown Nouriel Roubini | Nov 16, 2007 It is increasingly clear by now that a severe U.S. recession is

Re: [PEN-L] The flat tax and income inequality

You say: (One of the reason why old laws often seem more progressive was that the balance of political power was more leftish back when the legislation was implemented.) seem why seem and not are? Also, if a reform is to the right it is not a reform at all. The term reform is a misnomer since

Re: [PEN-L] WSJ Venezuela article

Yesterday, during my flight to Singapore I read the WSJ (that's the only time I do). But there was a very interesting article about Venezuela's oil refinery policy in the US. How this one student (senior) who wrote a thesis at Oxford arguing that Venezuela is losing out by not sending its

Re: [PEN-L] The flat tax and income inequality

on reform: it depends on what you mean by better. On 11/17/07, ken hanly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You say: (One of the reason why old laws often seem more progressive was that the balance of political power was more leftish back when the legislation was implemented.) seem why seem and