Re: [Marxism] Note on the Panthers
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == You could also read David Hilliard's autobiography (by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole) This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party published by Little, Brown and Company in 1993. A must-read companion to Hilliard's autobiography is Panther leader Elaine Brown's A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story also published in 1993 (Anchor Books). David Hilliard edited a selection of articles from the fourteen years that the Black Panther Party newspaper was published, 1967 - 1980, in a book titled The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service published by Atria Books (Simon Schuster) in 2007. The book begins with a series of six brief introduction/appreciations of the newspaper beginning with Hilliard's Preface, followed by Elaine Brown's The Significance of the Newspaper of the Black Panther Party. On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 8:13 PM, Carrol Cox cb...@ilstu.edu wrote: David Hilliard spoke at Illinois Wesleyan University last night¸and I discovered that what had been my speculation back in the '60s has been confirmed by documents released from the Cointel program. The FBI repression of the Panthers was triggered by their Breakfast program. That was what made the FBI frightened of them as a serious danger. One of the documents speaks of the necessity to criminalize them. The nonsense various ignoranmuses spouted on the Panthers on this list a few months ago was made up almost entirely of lies first circulated by the FBI. The murder for which Bobby Seale and other Panthers were accused (and all acquitted) was committed by an FBI informant in the Connecticut Panthers. Ditto those babbling ignorantly on this list. If Hilliard speaks near any of you, I highly recommend attending. To be ignorant of the Panthers is to be a total ignoramus in respect to the '60s. Carrol Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Wiki Central
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://wlcentral.org/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Chris Hedges on Chandler Davis
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == (I got to know Chandler through the Science for the People mailing list, a place I eventually abandoned because of a very poor signal-to-noise ratio.) http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_origin_of_americas_intellectual_vacuum_20101115/ The Origin of America’s Intellectual Vacuum Posted on Nov 15, 2010 By Chris Hedges The blacklisted mathematics instructor Chandler Davis, after serving six months in the Danbury federal penitentiary for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), warned the universities that ousted him and thousands of other professors that the purges would decimate the country’s intellectual life. “You must welcome dissent; you must welcome serious, systematic, proselytizing dissent—not only the playful, the fitful, or the eclectic; you must value it enough, not merely to refrain from expelling it yourselves, but to refuse to have it torn from you by outsiders,” he wrote in his 1959 essay “...From an Exile.” “You must welcome dissent not in a whisper when alone, but publicly so potential dissenters can hear you. What potential dissenters see now is that you accept an academic world from which we are excluded for our thoughts. This is a manifest signpost over all your arches, telling them: Think at your peril. You must not let it stand. You must (defying outside power; gritting your teeth as we grit ours) take us back.” But they did not take Davis back. Davis, whom I met a few days ago in Toronto, could not find a job after his prison sentence and left for Canada. He has spent his career teaching mathematics at the University of Toronto. He was one of the lucky ones. Most of the professors ousted from universities never taught again. Radical and left-wing ideas were effectively stamped out. The purges, most carried out internally and away from public view, announced to everyone inside the universities that dissent was not protected. The confrontation of ideas was killed. “Political discourse has been impoverished since then,” Davis said. “In the 1930s it was understood by anyone who thought about it that sales taxes were regressive. They collected more proportionately from the poor than from the rich. Regressive taxation was bad for the economy. If only the rich had money, that decreased economic activity. The poor had to spend what they had and the rich could sit on it. Justice demands that we take more from the rich so as to reduce inequality. This philosophy was not refuted in the 1950s and it was not the target of the purge of the 1950s. But this idea, along with most ideas concerning economic justice and people’s control over the economy, was cleansed from the debate. Certain ideas have since become unthinkable, which is in the interest of corporations such as Goldman Sachs. The power to exclude certain ideas serves the power of corporations. It is unfortunate that there is no political party in the United States to run against Goldman Sachs. I am in favor of elections, but there is no way I can vote against Goldman Sachs.” The silencing of radicals such as Davis, who had been a member of the Communist Party, although he had left it by the time he was investigated by HUAC, has left academics and intellectuals without the language, vocabulary of class war and analysis to critique the ideology of globalism, the savagery of unfettered capitalism and the ascendancy of the corporate state. And while the turmoil of the 1960s saw discontent sweep through student bodies with some occasional support from faculty, the focus was largely limited to issues of identity politics—feminism, anti-racism—and the anti-war movements. The broader calls for socialism, the detailed Marxist critique of capitalism, the open rejection of the sanctity of markets, remained muted or unheard. Davis argues that not only did socialism and communism become outlaw terms, but once these were tagged as heresies, the right wing tried to make liberal, secular and pluralist outlaw terms as well. The result is an impoverishment of ideas and analysis at a moment when we desperately need radical voices to make sense of the corporate destruction of the global economy and the ecosystem. The “centrist” liberals manage to retain a voice in mainstream society because they pay homage to the marvels of corporate capitalism even as it disembowels the nation and the planet. “Repression does not target original thought,” Davis noted. “It targets already established heretical movements, which are not experimental but codified. If it succeeds very well in punishing heresies, it may in the next stage punish originality. And in the population, fear of uttering such a taboo word as communism may in the next stage become
Re: [Marxism] Israel and apartheid - it's just rubbish
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == From Ramzy Baroud (Al-Jazeera): These factors [regarding armed struggle v. non-violent resistance] must be contemplated seriously and with humility, and their complexity should be taken into account before any judgments are made. No oppressed nation should be faced with the demands that Palestinians constantly face. There may well be a thousand Palestinian Gandhis. There may be none. Frankly, it shouldn’t matter. Only the unique experience of the Palestinian people and their genuine struggle for freedom could yield what Palestinians as a collective deem appropriate for their own. This is what happened with the people of India, France, Algeria and South Africa, and many other nations that sought and eventually attained their freedom.http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/teaching-the-oppressed-how-to-fight-oppression/ (Just call him) Ismail says we should just give up. I won't abandon the Palestinian people, not even in defeat, not even in annihilation, never. The most committed always wins. We are committed to the Palestinian people, in birth, in living, in death, in memory. Their struggle is ours. We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. Malcolm X By Any Means Necessary (1970) Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] If only...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Well, all the artifacts created by human labour over the last 1 million years (Homo Erectus) are the shared heritage of the whole of mankind. From the Lasceaux Cavern paintings (18 000 BC) to Dogon masks, from Mayan pyramids to Shang dynasty bronze cauldrons, from Buddhist statues to the Parthenon, all this is the product of human labour and thus OUR shared heritage. None of these artifacts belong to any state. A modern state claiming such artifacts as the national heritage of our people is total nonsense. They were produced by human beings who never imagined that their work would be exhibited in museums. More importantly they were produced by societies who had NO IDEA of what commodity production meant. They are the product of religious and cultural contexts that are so far removed from modern Capitalism that the gap is impossible to bridge. All these intricately crafted artworks, representing thousands of hours of labour, were made by people in accordance with the traditions of the predominent mode of production prevailing at the time. So, as our common human heritage, all historical artifacts up to the 19th century should, in all justice, be under the custody of an international body responsible for preserving mankind's artistic heritage, and should be on itinerant display on every continent. Six months in one major city, six months in another, and so on... No more permanent collections. Using the past to bolster a particuliar nation state under the pretext that these remarkable civilizations were our ancestors is absurd. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Restrepo
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Review of a documentary about American soldiers in Afghanistan: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/restrepo-2/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] If only...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Dan: So, as our common human heritage, all historical artifacts up to the 19th century should, in all justice, be under the custody of an international body responsible for preserving mankind's artistic heritage, and should be on itinerant display on every continent. Six months in one major city, six months in another, and so on... No more permanent collections. ___ Well Dan, people in hell should have ice water, but they don't. Consequently, they are hot and thirsty. Our common heritage is a goal to be realized in the abolition of capitalism. The reality from which we begin that struggle, is that our common heritage has been converted into private property. If, as you say, it belongs to all of us, then there should be no objection to packing up the artifacts looted from Egypt by Napoleon, and by his British successors, and shipping them back for display there. The practical reality is that the Egyptian representative has asked for the return of looted artifacts to be displayed in a museum under construction. So until such time as the proletariat is in power and has made such artifacts indeed the common heritage of us all, I'm for returning them immediately to the countries and territories of their origin. And yes, it's just a gesture, and will not change the class relations either in Paris or Cairo, but it's a gesture that crystallizes our, Marxists', opposition to the entire history of capitalist destruction and plunder. - Original Message - From: Dan d.koech...@wanadoo.fr To: sartes...@earthlink.net Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Article on Animal Farm needed
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I have forwarded off-list to comrade Kalfat the article by John Molyneux on Animal Farm as I had it as a Word file on my PC; this note is to save anyone from having to scan it. Paul F Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Doug Henwood on Garry Null, an AIDS denialist on WBAI
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://lbo-news.com/2010/11/15/pacifica-death-watch-cont-gary-null-edition/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Religious ramblings
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == You might remember that a few months ago, I wrote that Judaism contained strong reminiscences of a concept of the necessity for first-born children to be sacrificed. Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal. And every first male thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I r Thus, children had to be redeemed through blood. And thus the Christian doctrine of atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus. I have just read a history of Carthage, a Canaanite society, which retained the old Canaanite (Phoenician/Byblos) practice of child sacrifice. And this retention was incomprehensible to LAtin and Greek authors, who heavily insisted on this aspect to describe Punic society as barbaric. According to classical authors, the Cartheginian aristocarcy (not the common people) would sacrifice the first-born child to Baal Hammon. But in Carthage itself, child sacrifice was a source of great tension with the North-African Berber strand that mingled with the Phoenician element. So the ancient Canaanite practice of sacrificing the first-born was a defining element of that culture, so much so that it was retained against strong opposition when new colonies from the Palestinain homeland were founded. It should be remembered that the Punic (Cartheginian) language is the closest known relative to modern Hebrew. They both exhibit the common Canaanite traits of semitic a becoming o and s/sh becoming sh. Arabic la (no) becomes Hebrew/Punic lo, Arabic ras (head, chief, cape) becoming Hebrew 'ros/Punic rous, Ar. salaam Heb. shalom and Pun. salom. What I'm trying to say is that Jewishness emerged in the 4th-3rd century BC from the matrix of Canaanite society, and that the Jewish people is merely the amalgamation of several waves of pastoral desert people arriving in the agricultural societies of coastal Palestine during the bronze age (from the 2nd millenium BC onwards). That these people, from Byblos (2nd millenium Bc) onwards, were part of a Canaanite/Palestinian culture. That one of the traits they shared, together with other Middle Eastern societies of the time, was child sacrifice. That this brought about the terrifying concept of Gods who were blood-thirsty and had to be placated through the practice of sacrificing a lamb in exchange for the offering of a child (God prevents the sacrifice of Isaac by sending a ram). This is turn informed the development of Christianity and its prinipal tenet : the doctrine of atonement of our sins though Jesus' sacrifice. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] If only ...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == No, Artesian, I have no objection whatsoever to returning IInd millenium artifacts in the Louvres to Egypt. I just find your returning them immediately to the countries and territories of their origin a bit vague. If you mean returning them to their original geographical location, then why not. If you imply a sort of relationship between such bronze age societies and modern-day nation states, then I don't follow you. Modern Egypt has nothing in common with Pharoah's Egypt. Neither language, nor religion, nor culture, nor self-described ethnicity (Egyptians describe themselves as Arabs). Gene flow is always working full-throttle, and 50 generations is enough to ensure that 97% of direct paternal lines have died out and have been replaced by immigrants (Berbers, Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Macedonians, Persians, Turks, ...) Which does not mean that certain genes are not prevalent within a population. Each gene has its own distinct distribution pattern. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Religious ramblings
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == keep this in mind, horror stories about the Carthaginians, like those about the Aztecs, are mostly a product of the victor's history and thus should be taken with a grain of salt. It is said, however, that it was through the Carthaginians, that the Romans adopted crucifixion as a form of capital punishment. Punic is the Latin word for Phoenecian, thus the Punic or Phonecian Wars against Rome's rival superpower which was no mere Middle Eastern tribe, Canaanite or not. Weren't they allies of Sparta in the Pelloponesian War in Sicily? A book I read about the history of Carthage (which remains as a place name on the rapid transit system of the city of Tunis) discounted this heavily, saying there is virtually no archeological evidence to support child sacrifice as a practice among the Carthaginians any more than there is among the Hebrews, except some from the last desperate days of the Third Punic War. It also bears pointing out a version of this narrative of blood drinking child sacrifice focuses on these peoples similarities not as Canaanites but as semitic people has been a stock in trade of anti-semitism of the more virulent kind for centuries and was featured in the likes of the anti-Dreyfusard and fascist Accion Francais and Nazis' Der Sturmer (Attack!) and elsewhere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_St%C3%BCrmer Moreover, we needn't waste time with the bloodthirsty rituals of the Romans, which had fewer religious pretentions and were oriented around sadistical entertainment value of it for the masses. Maybe some ancient MesoAmericans should have sailed a fleet over and liberated them from their depraved heathen ways. On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Dan d.koech...@wanadoo.fr wrote: == You might remember that a few months ago, I wrote that Judaism contained strong reminiscences of a concept of the necessity for first-born children to be sacrificed. . . Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] If only ...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Come on Dan-- this has nothing to do with genetics, and everything to do with commerce, plunder, imperialism, capitalism. Sure Egypt has something in common with the Egypt of the Pharoahs-- it's the place where the Pharoah's pyramids, temples, and treasure houses are. It's the place where these artifacts were before being stolen. We can overembellish, superrationalize this all we want, but all that does is prop up the status quo. - Original Message - From: Dan d.koech...@wanadoo.fr To: sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 4:51 PM Subject: Re: [Marxism] If only ... Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Marxism Digest, Vol 85, Issue 32
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Yes, Tom, you're right. I've read the Nurenberg and Frankfort trials. Especially the proceedings of the Frankfort trials. SS officers in charge of Auschwitz calmly explaining that they treated 300 to 400 consignments of 2200 Jews. Plus the special deliveries in 1944 when there were so many bodies they just couldn't cremate them all and had to resort to open fires. At first we used 16 canisters of Zyklon B to kill 2 000 people. It worked fine. Under five minutes everybody was dead. but then, they told us it was too costly, so we used only 10 canisters, and the gasing was much less... humane. We had to wait up to twenty minutes before everybody was dead. But they were always dead when we opened the doors. I saw thousands of people go in there, but I never saw one survive the gas chamber. I'm not an anti-semite. I'm not opposing Western'/Aryan Weltanschaung to Levantine/Semitic. I'm trying to get to the bottom of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and all other religions. I'm trying to elucidate the reasons for their spectacular spread through changes in the mode of production. I have no ulterior motive. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Irish crisis - any comments???
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == 1.Essentially, the Irish government turned the entire country into a bad bank to take over the non-performing assets of Anglo-Irish and other banks. The government created the National Asset Management Agency [NAMA] to buy the non-performing instruments from the banks. The banks themselves were less than candid about the quality of the loans, and their own exposure, and the government being a sucker never got the even break, paying about 75% of the face value for the equivalent of euro 77 billion in assets. The asssets have since been devalued, requiring further injections from the government to keep the banks afloat. In October 2008, the govt. state that it would need to inject euro 1.5 billion into Anglo-Irish bank to stabilize the institution. As of October 2010 the actual amount has been about euro 23 billion, with another 11-12 billion to come. The haircut now on the assets the banks still hold is now at 56% and the amount the Irish govt will need to supply the banks to me its collateral obligations and maintain day to day operations is expected to reach euro 46 billion, an amount equal to 33% of all goods and services produced in Ireland this year. 2. Enter Merkel, the arch-Angela of death. Angela was bit perturbed over being compelled to support the bailout of Greece, and the establishment of EFSB. I think that's European Financial Stability Board-- that big off-balance sheet funding vehicle designed to bail out any country stupid enough to turn to it and the IMF for help. The EFSB will issue instruments-- i.e. debt, to provide funds to said country and the debt will be secured by... by the budgets of the governments of the EU countries themselves, in essence turning all of the EU into a big bad bank. Anyway despite the fact that the EFSB has 3 years left to go on its contract, and has a no-trade clause, Angela tested the market, and roiled the waters, by demanding that the EU look at a successor to EFSB that would require the private debt holders, the bond buyers, the banks and their customers, to shoulder more of the burden, to take a bigger haircut. But nobody wants to sit in the chair when Sweeney Todd is the barber. The bond market freaked, or pretended to freak knowing that nothing separates a fool from his money quicker than fear, and started to drive down the face value of Irish debt, particularly sovereign debt, thereby driving up interest rates and the spread in yields between Irish bonds and German bonds of similar maturities. In addition the price of insuring Irish bonds against default, those world famous credit default swaps which proved so problematic for AIG, and made so much money for Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank etc. soared soared so much in fact that it effectively swallowed the interest anyone might earn from insuring a 5 year note against default. This is the highly leveraged structured investment asset backed paper version of your house being underwater. Literally and metaphorically. So so those holding the Irish debt can't sell in the secondary markets without risking a razor cut below the chin line; nor can they purchase CDSs against default without losing anything they might receive in interest. Thank you Angela. Ireland's finance minister, a certain Mr. Lenihan thinks this is all a tempest in a teapot, that the markets are overreacting, that there is no cause for alarm because Ireland has enough cash reserve to fund its operations through the end of the year and into 2011, thus avoiding the need, the embarrassment, not to mention the expense of going back to the bond markets to raise cash. Does that sound Greek to you? It sounds Greek to me. Now to make things even better, while the initial distress was precipitated by the collapse in commercial real estate, and commercial real estate loans, Ireland's residential mortgages are faltering with the number overdue 90 days or more increasing by 50% in 2009 to 4.6% of the number outstanding. What's the big worry? Our friend, Mr. Contagion. If Ireland goes, what about Portugal, what about Spain? What about Italy, whose debt mass dwarfs that of Spain, Portugal and Ireland, debt accrued in large part to keep Berlusconi supplied with underage pole-dancers. Anybody got a lead shoe we can throw at his recently reconstructed face? So, on Friday everybody was waiting for markets to open on Monday and how the market would value Irish debt since Angela Lansbury Merkel Lovett opened up her new meat pie take out shack featuring Irish meat. Apparently the opening was a success, and the patient is close to dying. And that's just Act 1. - Original Message - From: Gary MacLennan gary.maclenn...@gmail.com To: sartes...@earthlink.net
Re: [Marxism] Irish crisis
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Artesian wrote: Essentially, the Irish government turned the entire country into a bad bank ... It's a familiar pattern. One that one sees with each economic crisis In 1857, the main British and French banks (Caisse des consignes) warned that they were on the brink of bankrupcy and the British and French governemnts bought up their bad debt. Same thing in 1873. Same thing in 1890. Same thing in 1907. In 1924, the French government injected 14£ milion worth of cash into the same old French banks (Suez-Indochine). Same thing again in 1931. Which all shows that governments are controlled by bankers, who represent the real embodiment of industrial capitalism. All those banks are still around today, although they have merged with other banking concerns. And they still control the French and British governments, be they conservative or socialist. For Bankers, elections are unimportant. What is important is controlling the government that comes out of an election. In France, the Bourgeoisie (the 30 largest corporations) have consistently maintained a grip on any socialist' government elected by the people. I think the same may be said about Britain, Germany or the US. The Social Democratic myth of socialism through voting has been time and time again shattered by the predominance of large banking concerns when it comes to devising economic policies. Actually, only Bolshevik Russia was ever referred to with awe and terror by bankers, mainly because Russia was incredibly rich in minerals and petrol which meant that it didn't need them. Pre-1917 Russia was completely dependent on foreign investment for Gold, Iron and Oil. Post-1917 Russia was totally independent. So, whoever wins an election in France, Britain or the US, you may be sure that it is someone who is controlled by banks and corporations. Which is why the proletariat must organize independently of mainstream politics through revolutionary unions. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Paris Strikes and Garbage query
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == A friend of mine recently returned from Paris and noticed that during the strike garbage was strewn throughout the suburban area in which her friend lives, but that the streets of Paris were unencumbered by any pile ups. Friends in the suburbs told her that the strike was the cause of the uncollected garbage. If this is true then why was there no pile up in Paris? She seemed to think that some deal was struck between the unions and the city government. thanks e Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Quantitative Easing Explained by Cute Animals
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-kfeature=player_embedded#! Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] If only...
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 11/15/2010 3:26 PM, Dan wrote: So, as our common human heritage, all historical artifacts up to the 19th century should, in all justice, be under the custody of an international body responsible for preserving mankind's artistic heritage, and should be on itinerant display on every continent. Six months in one major city, six months in another, and so on... No more permanent collections. Using the past to bolster a particuliar nation state under the pretext that these remarkable civilizations were our ancestors is absurd. I originally wrote a vicious albeit sarcastic response to what I viewed as the ... (how should I put this gently???) ... well, certainly not by saying that the posts that have dominated this thread have been racist, imperialist and white supremacist, even though --to be brutally frank-- that is what I think. ABSTRACTING FROM the last 500 years of the history of the planet, and to be specific, the record of European piracy, pillage and plunder, as if they had never happened, might be ok for Fox News, CNN or even the New York Times but it OUGHT to have no place on this list. I believe there is a marked tendency towards social-imperialist degeneration of much of the left in the advanced countries. What is the POLITICAL import of denouncing attempts involving using the past to bolster a particular nation state under whatever pretext? When the bolstering that is being combated is that of the peoples that are the VICTIMS of imperialism? And those that are being defended are --oh happy coincidence!!!-- the imperialists? In TODAY'S world, under really existing conditions, what does it mean to posit an international body responsible for preserving mankind's artistic heritage? And what does it mean to say that these treasures should be on itinerant display on every continent. Six months in one major city, six months in another, and so on Is Cochabamba a major city? Is Cuzco a major city? Do we take into account that geopolitically, Westchester is next to Westminster but a world away from Window Rock? Do we take into account that the Tokyo residents that might frequent such an exhibition would have much more access if it were half a world away in Tampa than the Cubans of Santa Clara would if it were held in Santiago de Cuba, never mind Santiago de Chile? Is a major city defined by its population? By its literacy rate? Or by the mendacity of its cultural institutions that whitewash the ill-gotten gains of the local leading citizens by naming exhibitions, galleries, projects, buildings and even entire museums after them? Our common human heritage ... should, in all justice, be under the custody of ... The Field Museum? The Smithsonian? Who was James Smithson? Who was Marshall Field? I know little of Smithson. But I do know of Field, at least. El verdugo de los mártires de Chicago. The executioner of the Chicago Martyrs. Not literally, of course. No mere rope-wielder could be as culpable as Field. But long after the Field Museum gets burned to the ground, free people --human beings-- will remember and curse the name of Marshall Field, and the capitalist misery and exploitation and hucksterism he stood for. And --yes-- the Midwest murders that gave us May Day. Or even more to the point, isn't it likely that by the year 2492 we will see clearly and unmistakably how much more important it was for 10 Navajos to have seen some exhibit centuries before, rather than 10,000 more brits? How many Einsteins did humanity sacrifice by persecuting the Jews? And how many more by the subjugation, denigration, exploitation and humiliation of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America? THAT is what the controversies around who the ancient treasures belong to are about. Colonialism and imperialism. Below is what I originally wrote to post in this thread. Joaquín * * * Absurd? ABSURD???!!! Couldn't agree more. So, given that the Europeans have been sacking and destroying these treasures for 500 years or so, and monopolizing the few they have allowed to be preserved, to redress the balance, I believe that for the NEXT 500 years these treasures should be put under the exclusive and absolute control of peoples of color in the Third World, and their display in the imperialist countries outlawed, but with the costs for their preservation, display, scientific investigation and so on borne exclusively by the white countries. One possible mechanism for financing would be a steep and progressive tax on white babies. Countries, cities or --ultimately-- parents unwilling to pay would see their children disposed of at birth or shortly afterward, given the likelihood that slaves of white stock would be worth even two shillings by
[Marxism] The economy is not coming back
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The Economy Is Not Coming Back Part III: The Reasons it Shouldn't by Gilles d'Aymery This meeting is part of the world's efforts to address a very simple fact -- we are destroying life on Earth. —Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program, Nagoya, Japan, October 18, 2010 We are nearing a tipping point, or the point of no return for biodiversity loss. Unless proactive steps are taken for biodiversity, there is a risk that we will surpass that point in the next 10 years. —Ryu Matsumoto, Japanese Environment Minister, Nagoya, Japan, October 18, 2010 (1) (Swans - November 15, 2010) The first part of this long essay presented an abridged history of the road to the current deep socioeconomic crisis that some observers had predicted, even though no one could pinpoint the exact timing of the implosion. The second part submitted that there are objective factors that explain why the economy is not going to come back any time soon. But, more importantly, profound and intensifying environmental and ecological crises militate in favor of not having the economy revert to the shape and form it had. Some of these crises are the object of this third part. In short, to return to business as usual will lead to collective suicide, which Mother Nature will trigger in the not so distant future. According to the WWF (2) 2010 Living Planet Report, human demand outstrips nature's supply. In 2007, the report states, humanity's Footprint exceeded the Earth's biocapacity by 50%. The Global Footprint Network (GFN) has calculated that on August 21, 2010, the world reached Earth Overshoot Day -- that is, the day of the year in which human demand on the biosphere exceeds what it can regenerate. As GFN president Mathis Wackernagel stated: If you spent your entire annual income in nine months, you would probably be extremely concerned. The situation is no less dire when it comes to our ecological budget. Climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, water and food shortages are all clear signs: We can no longer finance our consumption on credit. Nature is foreclosing. Though these environmental organizations are promoting policies that are essentially based on demographic and increasingly economic Malthusianism -- independent researcher Michael Barker has written in-depth analyses, particularly in regard to the WWF, in these pages (3) -- they do acknowledge the gravity of the situation. As the WWF report states, An overshoot of 50% means it would take 1.5 years for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources that people used in 2007 and absorb CO2 waste. ... CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are far more than ecosystems can absorb. In other words, the world, or to be more precise, some parts of the world, over-produces and over-consumes natural resources that are being depleted at an exponential rate. That's the main reason for not having US (and other rich nations') households spend again at pre-crisis levels. (4) The socioeconomic paradigm built on capital accumulation, perpetual material growth, and financial profits for the infinitesimal few must be not just overhauled but buried, and replaced by an equitable new arrangement that takes into account all natural ecosystems. full: http://www.swans.com/library/art16/ga290.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Tick-tock, tick-tock
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == NY Times November 15, 2010 Europe Fears That Debt Crisis Is Ready to Spread By LANDON THOMAS Jr. and JAMES KANTER LONDON — European officials, increasingly concerned that the Continent’s debt crisis will spread, are warning that any new rescue plans may need to cover Portugal as well as Ireland to contain the problem they tried to resolve six months ago. Any such plan would have to be preceded by a formal request for assistance from each country before it would be put in place. And for months now, Ireland has insisted that it has enough funds to keep it going until spring. Portugal says it, too, needs no help and emphasizes that it is in a stronger position than Ireland. While some important details are different, the current situation feels eerily similar to what happened months ago in Greece, where the cost of borrowing rose precipitously. European authorities stepped in with a rescue package, expecting an economic recovery and the creation of new European rescue funds to fend off future panics by bond investors whose money is needed by countries to refinance their debt. But with economic conditions weakening, markets are once again in turmoil. Rescuing Ireland may no longer be enough. Stronger countries and weaker countries using the common currency of the euro are being pulled in different directions. Some economists wonder if unity will hold or if some new system that allows countries to move on one of two parallel financial tracks is needed. Despite the insistence of Irish officials that only its banks need additional help, investors continue to bet on an Irish rescue, driving down the bond yields on that country’s debt against a benchmark again on Monday. Portugal’s yields increased to 6.7 percent, underscoring the emerging concern in Brussels, the administrative center of the European Union, that it would be irresponsible to adopt a plan to prop up Ireland without addressing the possibility that turmoil could ultimately engulf Portugal, or even Spain. Like Ireland, Portugal has struggled to grow under the fixed currency regime of the euro. Though Portugal has raised enough funds of late from bond markets, its budget deficit is 9 percent of its gross domestic product, much higher than the 3 percent limit for countries in the euro zone. With its weak government and slow growth, investors have grown fearful that Portugal, too, will eventually run out of funds. While Ireland has largely impressed European officials with its commitment to austerity, Portugal has been lagging in this regard, according to European officials. One official in Europe, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that the budget recently presented by the government in Lisbon did not contain the type of far-reaching changes proposed by other countries, like Spain. “If Ireland were to ask for aid, then you’d have to look at what’s going on in Portugal as well,” the official said, putting forward a view rescuing Ireland alone would not keep speculators from other vulnerable countries. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said on Monday that Ireland had not requested aid. “We have all the instruments to address the problems that may come either in the euro area or outside the euro area,” he told reporters in Brussels. The Portuguese finance minister, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, said Monday evening in Brussels that the situation in Ireland was creating dangers for all countries using the euro. “If things are getting worse in Ireland, for instance, that will have a contagion impact on the other euro zone economies and particularly on those that are under closer scrutiny of markets, like Portugal,” he said. Asked if Ireland should accept a bailout to stem the contagion, Mr. Teixeira dos Santos said, “It’s not up to me to make that assessment.” Even so, Mr. Teixeira dos Santos emphasized that his country was not preparing to ask for a rescue package. Mr. Teixeira dos Santos also said his government was preparing a robust budget that would cut wages, freeze pensions and raise taxes. “We are really committed to meet our targets,” he said. “I think we deserve that the market gives us the chance to show that.” The bureaucratic machinations in Brussels highlight one of the main concerns that grew out of the establishment earlier this year of a rescue fund of 500 billion euros (about $680 billion at today’s exchange rate) by the European Union after the Greek budget crisis: What happens if, in the next crisis, multiple countries need aid at the same time? Months later, it remains unclear how, in practice, countries like Ireland and Portugal would tap the rescue money. Of paramount concern to policy
[Marxism] Hola Joaquin
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Joaquin, I'm going over the post limit here to tell you, you have misunderstood the meaning of my post on ancient artifacts. Of course I am against Capitalism's pilfering and genocide. The whole planet has been infected by Capitalism, so that this is now the only extant mode of production on earth. So I'm telling you, as far as I'm concerned you can take the Lasceaux Grotte, Roman statues, French paintings (Renoir, Matisse, Van Gogh, Gaugain,..) and send them all off to Mali. I don't care. Each continent has got its artistic treasures, just as each continent has got its mineral resources. We're now entering into VERY important matters that have to do with socialism. Is it fair for one part of humanity to oppress another ? No ! Is it fair that one group of people should claim sole ownership over a major means of production ? No ! Is it fair that some people should not have access to electricity ? No ! So therefore, major mineral resources should be mapped out and declared the common treasury of mankind. Which means that corporations should not be allowed anyway near said resources. But then you're going to say, this already happened as you white Europeans got your greedy fingers over ALL the natural resources of Africa and America. And you're right. But the global proletariat is fighting to get its share back. ALL of us. When I went on strike for 19 days it was for all of us. TODOS JUNTOS An injury to one is an injury to all ! Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Tick-tock, tick-tock
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I like my version better. But then, I would say that, wouldn't I? - Original Message - From: Louis Proyect l...@panix.com To: sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 9:23 PM Subject: [Marxism] Tick-tock, tick-tock Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Colombia: Doing business, killing workers — interview with Colombian unionist
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Colombia: Doing business, killing workers Federico Fuentes A November 4 World Bank and International Finance Corporation report, *Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs*, ranked Colombia as the 39th most “business friendly environment” in the world ... Missing from the report were the more than 500 unionists killed in Colombia over the past eight years, making up 60% of all unionists killed globally ... Unionist Parmenio Poveda from the National Unified Agricultural Trade Union Federation (Fensuagro) who visited several unions in Sydney recently. With 80,000 members, Fensuagro is the largest peasant and farm workers’ union federation in Colombia... “Despite all the media hype, this is continuing to happen under the Santos government”, Proveda said. “The only thing that has changed is the tactic: [President Juan Manuel] Santos is attempting to present himself as someone open to dialogue and negotiation. “Meanwhile, the assassinations continue.” full article: -- “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man Under Socialism “The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Sixty Minutes boosts fracking
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/11/sixty-lame-minutes.html Sixty Lame Minutes By James Howard Kunstler on November 15, 2010 9:13 AM So, last night CBS hauled Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, on board their flagship Sunday infotainment vehicle, 60 Minutes, to blow a mighty wind up America's ass (as they say in professional PR circles). America is lately addicted to lying to itself, and 60 Minutes has become the go-to patsy for funneling disinformation into an already hopelessly confused, wishful, delusional, US public. McClendon told the credulous Leslie Stahl and the huge viewing audience that America has two Saudi Arabia's of gas. Now, you know immediately that at least half the viewers misconstrued this statement to mean that we have two Saudi Arabia's of gasoline. Translation: don't worry none about driving anywhere you like, or having to get some tiny little pansy-ass hybrid whatchamacallit car to do it in, and especially don't pay no attention to them green sumbitches on the sidelines trying to sell you some kind of peak oil story It also prepared the public to support whatever Mr. McClendon's company wants to do, because he says his company will free America from its slavery to OPEC. By the way, CBS never clarified these parts of the story by the end of the show. First of all, they are talking about methane gas, not liquid gasoline or oil. There are large deposits of methane gas locked into shale deposits roughly following the Appalachian mountain chain from New York State through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, into Ohio, but also hot spots out west. It's hard to get at. You have to basically blow up the shale rock deep underground with high pressure water that is loaded up with chemicals and sand particles to keep the rock fragments separated once they are blown apart. Chesapeake Energy specializes in this rock fracturing (or fracking) method for drilling. You can get gas out of the ground this way. The question is how much, over what time period, at what cost. At the present time, with America anxious about any kind of future energy, shale gas sounds like a dream-come-true. Mostly what the public saw on 60 Minutes last night was a sell-job for Chesapeake Energy to boost its stock price. Here are some facts: • Over a 50 year period ahead, all the shale gas drilling of the Marcellus fields in New York State will produce the equivalent of three years US consumption at 2008 levels. • A price of $8 per unit is required to make shale gas fracking economically viable in theory even for a short time. Gas is currently around $4. Expect to pay at least twice as much for gas. • Even at higher costs, shale gas fracking is arguably uneconomical. It requires huge numbers of rigs, generally 8 wells per pad, meaning very high capital investments. The wells produce nicely for a year, average, and then deplete very steeply - meaning you get a lot of money up front and very soon all that capital investment is a wash. Translation: Chesapeake can make a lot quick money over the next few years of intense drilling and they don't care what happens after that. • Chesapeake itself estimates that 5.5 million gallons of fresh water are needed per well, often delivered in trucks, which require fuel. • It takes three years, average to prepare a drilling pad and the up to 12 wells on it, working 24/7 in rural areas with significant noise and electric lighting • The fracking fluid is a secret proprietary cocktail formula amounting to 5 percent of the liquid injected into the earth. It's composed of: sand; a jelling agent to suspend the sand because water is not thick enough; biocides to kill bacteria that thrive in jelling agent; breakers to thin out jell-thickened water after fracking to get the fluid out of the way of released gas and improve flowback; fluid-loss additives to decrease leak-off of fracking fluid into rock; anti-corrosives to protect metal in wells; and friction reducers to promote high pressures and high flow rates. Of the 5.5 million gallons of fluid injected into each well, 27,500 gallons is the chemical cocktail. • Mr. McClendon said on 60 Minutes that it couldn't possibly harm the public's water supply because they were drilling so far below the 1000-foot-deep maximum of most water wells. He left out the fact that they have to drill through those drinking water layers to get down to the shale gas, and pump the fracking fluid through it, and then get the gas up through it. He also left out the fact that the concrete casings of drill holes sometimes crack and leak at any depth. • The fracking fluid cannot be re-used. You have to mix new cocktail fluid for each injection. • Flowback fluid inevitably
[Marxism] News video of Brisbane anti-Coal Seam Gas meeting
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Interesting footage, and some defensive spin from the government. Greens condemn Qld coal seam gas approvals http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/11/14/3065941.htm Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Quantitative Easing Explained by Cute Animals
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I loved this, but two points occurred to me - falling prices inhibits production do they not and that means increased unemployment. So inflation when it occurs is a bad thing. Secondly the line that Bernanke has not got anything right is simply wrong. He and his predecessor, Greenspan, got much right for the ruling class - namely a vast expansion in their wealth. That was very much mission accomplished. To talk of the Fed getting nothing right disguises the class basis of their very existence. comradely Gary Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Sixty Minutes boosts fracking
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == A coal seam gas and fracking story from the Australian version of Sixty Minutes. Not too bad. Transcript and video. Undermined http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1052462 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Quantitative Easing Explained by Cute Animals
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-kfeature=player_embedded#! This is entertaining, but I suspect it's a right-wing critique of the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. It reminds me of the right-wing populism of The Obama Deception, put out by Alex Jones and Infowars. Can someone recommend a good Marxist critique of these right-wing critiques of Obama and Wall Street? Glenn Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Tea Party
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 12:40 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: I know I'm being too harsh on Obama. I want him to leave office after this term or the second term renouncing the military interventionist policies, slashing the military budgets, and telling it like it is to Americans about the death throes of the imperium and why their society and political economy fails them. That would not make him a SUCCESSFUL president in the eyes of most Americans, I suspect. As I have said before, a successful president is one, in the view of the 'general public', who transcends the interests of the narrow interest groups who financed his or her way into the Repugnicratic system, somehow transcends those interests, in domestic policy, in foreign policy, etc. It's been a while since a president has succeeded on such terms. There might have been a sense that Clinton did by the end of his second term, but he had also relented and signed the Democratic Party onto 'regime change' now (not later) in Iraq. And transcendance seems to have been making the Democrats the sponsors of 'welfare reform' and 'regime change'. In the case of Obama, he represents a coming together, however ephemeral and however shallow, a much broader coalition of interests and forces. There is no where to go on the accepted political spectrum for him to move in order to transcend that, if that sort of transcendance is even possible. That is why I think his best success as president would be to fail and tell like it really is--because he might yet get enough interest for it to mean something. So far he has shown himself to be a very cautious leader. I doubt if anyone gets even a fraction of as far as he did without being very cautious. Like Carter I want to know what the guy really thinks. CJ Yes, by and large an unsuccessful President for them ( like Carter) is about as good as it gets from our standpoint on the left, no ? In terms of the dialectic of reform, Obama's Presidency as a Black President is a medium level reform. Revolutionists support reforms that can sort of teach the masses. If Obama's presidency sort of blows apart either the Republican or Democratic Parties, this might be a teaching moment for the US masses. I don't know. I heard on Bill Press this morning that two Democrats were on the front page of some paper asking Obama to declare that he is not going to run for re-election. Could Obama's presidency divide the Democratic Party, a new route to a third party through an unexpected dialectic ? White supremacy is so central to the US system , Obama's just being Black, even though he is not left, as everybody here has essayed at length, makes his presidency a medium level or significant reform. The white supremcists jumping out of the woodwork is a sign of this. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Negation of Marx's cooperation, giant factory system: at its height, the fabled Packard plant housed more than 40, 000 workers.
The Packard plant now and then http://multimedia.detnews.com/pix/photogalleries/newsgallery/packard02012007/ Packard plant to lose last tenant Auto supplier departs as city pushes to raze historic site Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/article/20101115/METRO01/11150356/Packard-plant-to-lose-last-tenant Detroit— At its height, the fabled Packard plant housed more than 40,000 workers. Now its sole rent-paying tenant, Chemical Processing, is leaving the decrepit facility after 52 years. Advertisement The company's owner, Bruce Kafarski, was born the same year his family moved the business into the Albert Kahn-designed plant built by the luxury automaker. His father and grandfathers worked on the line. But by the end of the year, Kafarski is moving his eight-employee metal finishing company to Madison Heights. Kafarski has watched as the once-grand facility degenerated into a gutted eyesore, but he said the company's health and family obligations are prompting him to merge Chemical Processing with another firm. There's a lot of history here, said Kafarski, of Grosse Pointe Farms. I think about how many thousands of workers worked out of here at one time. It's just sort of a sign of what happened to southeastern Michigan and the auto industry. Built in 1903, the plant was a marvel, one of the most modern of its time, according to the MotorCities National Heritage Area. The factory churned out cars that outsold Cadillac, Lincoln, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow combined for much of the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II, production shifted to motors for planes and boats. But fortunes changed after the war when Packard switched to midprice cars. Sales fell, and it closed the plant in 1956 and merged with Studebaker. Two years later, Kafarski's father moved the business he started in 1950 into the plant. Passers-by wouldn't know anyone was inside today. A mulberry bush grows wild near the front door, and the company sign is faded. Kafarski's crew works in a cavernous 57,000-square-foot shop with large tanks used to put finishing coats on small parts, such as nuts and bolts, that are used in cars. Concrete block walls separate the operation from other parts of the ruined building. At its height in the 1960s, the company employed 90 and ran three shifts. Kafarski took over in 1989 after his dad died. Kafarski said he hasn't gotten too sentimental about the move yet. He and his staff are more excited than sad: They won't have a daily view of the plant's destruction. Kafarski tars the roof himself to plug leaks. Scrappers have cut off the company's phone and electric lines repeatedly in the past few years for copper. He stopped calling police to report intruders several years ago. Out his back door, graffiti covers the walls near massive piles of broken concrete, rebar, bricks and trash. The roof on one of the six-story buildings next door has collapsed. And the walkway of a bridge over the alley has fallen and the debris blocks the road. Kafarski remembers feeling a vibration in his office a few years ago at lunch time, opening the back door and seeing a cloud of dust. Two scrappers had brought down the bridge when they cut out the steel beams. That was surreal, but then again I wasn't surprised, Kafarski said. As recently as 10 years ago, more than 100 tenants rented space at the plant, including used auto parts dealers and musicians. Packard buff Elijah Burns said it's disappointing to see the last tenant throw in the towel and hear the city's intention to push forward on possible demolition. That company helped bring this country through World War I and World War II, said Burns, a retired Detroit auto repair shop owner. Just because a company has went out of business doesn't mean the history should be destroyed. Kafarski said he values the connection to Packard's history. He has a few framed photos from the plant's heyday, a box of Packard pencils and a recently found congratulatory letter that went with a gold pocket watch Packard gave his grandfather for 25 years of service. In faint print on the stationery is the company slogan: Ask a man who owns one. Maybe it will hit me when we leave, Kafarski said. But he said working in what could be mistaken for a scene from Berlin after World War II has been depressing. Kafarski's mother died in 2007 at age 89, never really grasping how bad things had gotten for the auto industry or the old Packard plant, he said. She had seen ups and downs in the auto industry before and would often tell him: Things will get better. I'd try to tell her things were a lot worse, Kafarski said. I am glad she didn't have to see how the world has changed. cmacdon...@detnews.com (313) 222-2396 From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101115/METRO01/11150356/Packard-plant-to-lose-last-tenant#ixzz15MiMHUU5 ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu
[Marxism-Thaxis] Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)
Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof) www.youtube.com CLICK to TWEET: http://clicktotweet.com/frodp FACEBOOK:http://on.fb.me/8YZuF4 What happens when the President is accused of not living up to the country's expectations? He breaks into song!! Directed by Ron Butler Director of Photography, Raphe Wolfgang Editor, Charles Little Music record ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Bank of America Is in Deep Trouble, and There May Be Financial Disaster on the Horizon
Bank of America Is in Deep Trouble, and There May Be Financial Disaster on the Horizon Its stock value has dropped 40 percent since April, and the bank is mum on what losses it's hiding on its $2.3 trillion balance sheet. Alternet | November 11, 2010 | Joshua Holland Will Bank of America be the first Wall Street giant to once again point a gun to its own head, telling us it'll crash and burn and take down the financial system if we don?t pony up for another massive bailout? When former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was handing out trillions to Wall Street, BofA collected $45 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to stabilize its balance sheet. It was spun as a success story -- a rebuke of those who urged the banks be put into receivership -- when the behemoth ?paid back? the cash last December. But the bank?s stock price has fallen by more than 40 percent since mid-April, and the value of its outstanding stock is currently at around half of what it should be based on its ?book value? -- what the company says its holdings are worth. ?The problem for anyone trying to analyze Bank of America?s $2.3 trillion balance sheet,? wrote Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil, ?is that it?s largely impenetrable.? Nobody really knows the true values of the assets these companies are holding, which has been the case ever since the collapse. But according to Weil, some of BofA?s financial statements ?are so delusional that they invite laughter.? Weil points to the firm?s accounting of its purchase of Countrywide Financial -- the criminal enterprise at the center of the sub-prime securitization market. Bank of America, Weil notes, hasn?t written off Countrywide?s entire value. ?In its latest quarterly report with the SEC,? he wrote, ?Bank of America said it had determined the asset wasn?t impaired. It might as well be telling the public not to believe any of the numbers on its financial statements.? With investors valuing BofA at half the worth that the bank claims, it?s one titan of Wall Street that may be on the brink of collapse. But it?s not alone. ?Everybody was doing this, this is not just something that Countrywide and Bank of America were doing, legendary investor Jim Rogers told CNBC. As a result, the banks? balance sheets are full of rotten stuff that ?is going to be a huge mess for a long time to come.? And that ?rotten stuff? will continue to be a drag on the brick-and-mortar economy until the mess gets cleaned up. Which, in turn, is a powerful argument for a second dip into the public trough. When the financial crisis hit, those of us who view the free market as more than a hollow slogan urged the government to take over the ailing giants of Wall Street, wipe out their investors, send their parasitic management teams to the unemployment line and gradually unwind the huge pile of ?toxic? assets that they?d amassed before selling them back, leaner and meaner, to the private sector. It worked in the past -- it was Ronald Reagan?s [sic!! -- it was Bush #1's] response to the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s. But that was then, and today Reaganite [sic] policies are deemed to be ?creeping socialism? -- thoroughly unacceptable. We were told the banks were too big to fail, and Bush saw eye-to-eye with Republicans and Blue Dogs in Congress and bailed the banks out without exacting a penalty in exchange for the taxpayers' largesse. They socialized the risk, but the financial industry went right back to its old tricks, paying its execs fat bonuses and playing fast and loose with its accounting. Much of that toxic paper remains on their books -- somewhere. The assets are still impossible to price and now several Wall Street titans appear to be approaching a tipping point, poised to once again to extort a mountain of cash from our Treasury by claiming to be too big -- and interconnected -- to crash and burn as the principles of the free market would otherwise dictate. But there?s a difference between then and now. At the time, most of us saw the crash as a result of hubris and greed run amok in an under-regulated financial sector. Now, we know the financial crisis was the result of unchecked criminality -- that fraud was perpetrated, in the words of University of Missouri scholar (and veteran regulator) William Black, ?at every step in the home finance food chain.? As Black and economist L. Randall Wray wrote recently: The appraisers were paid to overvalue real estate; mortgage brokers were paid to induce borrowers to accept loan terms they could not possibly afford; loan applications overstated the borrowers' incomes; speculators lied when they claimed that six different homes were their principal dwelling; mortgage securitizers made false [representations] and warranties about the quality of the packaged loans; credit ratings agencies were overpaid to overrate the securities sold on to investors; and investment banks stuffed collateralized debt obligations with toxic securities that
[Marxism-Thaxis] Economy in red and blues
http://blogs.metrotimes.com/index.php/2010/10/sit-down-when-you-read-this-take-2/ Sit down when you read this: Economy in red and blues October 28, 2010 By W. Kim Heron Last April we posted a link to what News Editor Curt Guyette described as: … a devastating interactive map that chronicles the progression of national job losses over the past two years, showing county by county where they have been cut and where they are growing. It is like watching a time-lapse version of an accident in the process of unfolding. … With shades of blue showing areas of growth and red indicating decline, the map is filled with blue. Overall, compared to the same time a year earlier, the country had gained more than 2.6 million jobs. The only significant splotch of red emanates from the lower joint of Michigan’s thumb, with Wayne County losing 6,000 jobs and Oakland more than 4,000. Click on an arrow and the map begins to morph, almost imperceptibly at first, then picking up speed like a train speeding downhill. The dab of red that is southeast Michigan begins to expand, like blood from a wound seeping into a gauze pad. By July of 2008, losses begin to outstrip gains, and the bleeding starts to accelerate. By February 2009 much of the Midwest is buried in red. So are the East Coast, from North Carolina to New Hampshire, along with Florida and Alabama and Georgia and much of California. Overall, the nation lost more than 4 million jobs during the preceding 12 months. During the same period, Oakland and Wayne Counties together lost more than 100,000 jobs. Sometimes its good to be on the leading edge. But no one ever wants to be at the forefront of the bleeding edge, which, as this map shows with chilling effect, is exactly where we’ve been. So have we made progress since last April? The map has now been updated, and we’re no longer drowning in red — which means that we’ve added jobs in the last 12 months, not that we’ve made up all the losses of of the down years. In other words, there’s not enough blue to float enough of our boats yet either. Of course, to listen to the umbrage heaped on the Obama administration you’d think that either a) things really weren’t so bad two years ago or b) things would have bettered on their own (and perhaps moreso) without such stimulus as was administered. To revisit our original headline, we’d still recommend sitting down when you watch this. And don’t worry about jumping for joy when it’s over. And for another look at the state we’re in, check MSNBC’s Adversity Index, a collaborative project with Moody’s Analytics that gathers data on jobs, industrial production, housing starts and home prices for metro areas and the 50 states. Update: And since originally posting this a couple hours ago, we’ve had out coattails pulled — by local economist Karl Gregory — to yet another graphic depiction of the situation. This one, displaying the unemployment rate, rather than job gains and losses, is particularly sobering. Tags: economy, employment, job gains, job losses, metro detroit, Slate, unemployment ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Article on Animal Farm needed
Hello, I'm not sure if this mailing list allows such requests or inquiries, but I took the liberty to ask you for help relying on the the relevancy of the subject. I'm writing an article in English and need to quote a 1989 review of Orwell's *Animal Farm*, by John Molyneux in International Socialism Journal, which I read translated into Arabic. The alternative would be quite silly; a back-translation to English. I failed to find the article online and the author didn't respond to an email request. And being in Cairo at the moment, I have no access to the ISJ's physical archive. So please, if anyone can provide me with a reproduction (a scan for example), I will be grateful beyond words. -- محمد فتحي كلفت Mahammad Fathy Kalfat ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
