[PEN-L:8602] Re: musings on AOL...
I've had Compuserve for years. I don't understand the comment below, even though I'm not promoting any private business. It's somewhat similar to Microsoft Windows. Microsoft tries to create a monopoly culture so that you "forget" about competitive, often technologically superior alternatives. Paul * Paul Zarembka, supporting the RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY Web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka, and using OS/2 Warp. * On Thu, 13 Feb 1997, Thad Williamson wrote: > I wonder if others, like myself, have been reading the various negative > reports about American Online with some amusement (see NY Times, business > page today, p.1 for example). I find myself actively rooting for AOL to > struggle and maybe even go under (their assets-liabilities picture has > drastically deteriorated over past year, according to the Times, even before > paying out any of the refunds.) That might scare the Wall Streeters off the > internet for a while and forestall corporate/commercial dominance of > cyberspace for a few years. > > On the other hand, there does need to be some internet access available for > folks not connected via academia or otherwise. The main alternatives to the > AOLs would be for states and localities to directly offer access, either as > a state-owned enterprise or simply as a public service (which Maryland does > already on a small scale)...
[PEN-L:8601] World Banquet
WORLD BANQUET A recent meeting of directors of the World Bank elevated lavish living to new heights. An estimated $10 million was spent on 700 social events during a single week in Washington. The piece de resistance was a formal banquet served to 10,000 guests. The seven course menu began with caviar, proceeded through lobster, duck, artichoke bottoms and hearts of palm, culminating in chocolate with raspberry coulis and flaming coffee. Following dinner, World Bank president Barber Constable urged the directors to continue "to look at the world through the eyes of the most underprivileged. We are here to serve their needs." -- David C. Kortne, "When Corporations Rule the World," cited in the December/January issue of the CCPA Monitor.
[PEN-L:8600] Re: Money, technology fetish
A curious detail about "The English Patient," which I loved btw, is that there really was a historical Count Almasy from Hungary who did mapping in the Libyan desert before WWII. But, contrary to the film, he was a full-blown Nazi agent before and during the war, including being an aide-de-camp of Rommel's. "Anti-fascist film"? Well, that is debatable given the "Egyptians might as well side with the Nazis against the Brits" line in the movie, that indeed many Egyptian nationalists such as Anwar Sadat actually followed historically. Not a simple business, this movie. Barkley Rosser On Thu, 13 Feb 1997 14:27:50 -0800 (PST) "Wendell W. Solomons" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >From and queries from : > > >(1) Can socialism be "built" on capitalist technology? > > Media technology, so highly developed under capitalism, was used by > Hitler to destroy Montesquieu and other's checks and balances under > his Swastika symbol borrowed via the Brahaminic caste totalitarian > state of 1000 BC. We are not too far away from Hitler chronologically > to misuse technology ourselves, to paraphrase Michael Ondaatje's > anti-fascist film, "The English Patient." According to CNN the film > is on its way to top award in the States. Madonna meanwhile is using > media technology to project herself as Evita whom the TIME last page > of Feb 17th calls a fascist's lady. Quite a role model for audiences > after the mercenary, crossover teen/adult Material Girl image. > > We might strain at a gnat and swallow a camel if we impute a strict > corelation into technology. If it is Marx, his numerous quotes on > technology do not hypebole into central fetish as in Walt Rostow's > "The Anti-Communist Manifesto" and in Post-Industrialist idealogues. > > >(2) What kind of subjectivity a socialist society would have > to reproduce itself--what would be the socialist ideology? > > The world is full of koans, mantras and psychodelics. How would > one explain for instance to a member of caste-based society that > lives the aforementioned what Thomas Jefferson's framework means > -- let alone socialism? Marx is so much in the distance. He was > able to take the position that his fellow Germans "performed > revolutions in their heads because they were denied the opportunity > to perform it in real life." The query might have sounded less vicious > circle-like if it was given to us as "What would socialist idealogy > be ?" or even "What kinds of subjectivists would reproduce socialism?" > > Rgds, > \\/ > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:8599] Money, technology fetish
>From and queries from : >(1) Can socialism be "built" on capitalist technology? Media technology, so highly developed under capitalism, was used by Hitler to destroy Montesquieu and other's checks and balances under his Swastika symbol borrowed via the Brahaminic caste totalitarian state of 1000 BC. We are not too far away from Hitler chronologically to misuse technology ourselves, to paraphrase Michael Ondaatje's anti-fascist film, "The English Patient." According to CNN the film is on its way to top award in the States. Madonna meanwhile is using media technology to project herself as Evita whom the TIME last page of Feb 17th calls a fascist's lady. Quite a role model for audiences after the mercenary, crossover teen/adult Material Girl image. We might strain at a gnat and swallow a camel if we impute a strict corelation into technology. If it is Marx, his numerous quotes on technology do not hypebole into central fetish as in Walt Rostow's "The Anti-Communist Manifesto" and in Post-Industrialist idealogues. >(2) What kind of subjectivity a socialist society would have to reproduce itself--what would be the socialist ideology? The world is full of koans, mantras and psychodelics. How would one explain for instance to a member of caste-based society that lives the aforementioned what Thomas Jefferson's framework means -- let alone socialism? Marx is so much in the distance. He was able to take the position that his fellow Germans "performed revolutions in their heads because they were denied the opportunity to perform it in real life." The query might have sounded less vicious circle-like if it was given to us as "What would socialist idealogy be ?" or even "What kinds of subjectivists would reproduce socialism?" Rgds, \\/
[PEN-L:8598] musings on AOL...
I wonder if others, like myself, have been reading the various negative
reports about American Online with some amusement (see NY Times, business
page today, p.1 for example). I find myself actively rooting for AOL to
struggle and maybe even go under (their assets-liabilities picture has
drastically deteriorated over past year, according to the Times, even before
paying out any of the refunds.) That might scare the Wall Streeters off the
internet for a while and forestall corporate/commercial dominance of
cyberspace for a few years.
On the other hand, there does need to be some internet access available for
folks not connected via academia or otherwise. The main alternatives to the
AOLs would be for states and localities to directly offer access, either as
a state-owned enterprise or simply as a public service (which Maryland does
already on a small scale); or, to take a page from Joshua Cohen et al's
"associative democracy" idea, to have more community groups like unions set
up service for members. Any thoughts or good examples along these lines?
In another hat, I write for a webzine that covers college athletics at a
major university; it's a shoestring, run-by-amateurs, irreverent operation
that has attracted a loyal reader base via word of mouth and the search
engines. There is no advertising budget to speak of. The media conglomerate
that owns the radio rights, prints programs, etc, etc, for the school is now
making a big push (via free ad spots during the games on the radio) to push
their own, party-line web site and more or less knock us off. It's a little
frustrating to be in the position of David vs. Goliath.
But there is some hope in the increasing doubt voiced by corporate execs
about the web as a money-making operation. If it can't be shown to make
money, if the internet proves resistant to out and out commodification, than
maybe corporate folks will back off and just use the web mainly for public
relations. Is this a vain hope?
Thad
P.S. For those in New York area, I will be speaking on a panel with David
Korten ("When Corporations Rule the World") at a conference sponsored by
Tikkun magazine, Monday the 17th, at the Riverside Church, from 10:30 a.m.-
2:30 p.m. The panel is titled "Creating an Economy that Supports Human
Meaning and Caring"; the lingo aside, this will be basically my version of
semi-planned/semi-market/decentralized socialism. The conference starts
Sunday at 1:30; unfortunately, the conference fee is substantial. Contact
Rick Ulfik (212-704-0888) for registration info.
Thad Williamson
National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives (Washington)/
Union Theological Seminary (New York)
212-531-1935
http://www.northcarolina.com/thad
[PEN-L:8597] Re: market socialism, planned socialism, ut
But, Robin, what if you have more or less full income redistribution. The individualness of the return can be reduced. The issue is to make sure that what gets produced are things that people want, and more or less functioning markets will do that to some degree at least. Barkley Rosser On Thu, 13 Feb 1997 12:29:31 -0800 (PST) Robin Hahnel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have been too busy to respond to recent postings on market "socialism" > but would like to say that one reason I reject market socialism as my > vision of a desirable economy is that it does NOT help us develop our > capacities for solidarity and cooperation, but rather whets our invidious > and acquisitive "instincts" in Veblen's old terms. In other words, it is > destructive, rather than constructive of a "socialist" ideology -- though > I no longer care whether we use the word "socialist" to stand for economic > democracy, equity, solidarity, and conscious cooperation. -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:8596] FW: BLS Daily Report
BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1997 RELEASED TODAY: The number of major work stoppages rose in 1996, after dropping to a record low in 1995. The number of workers idled by stoppages also increased. Both of these work stoppage measures still were low by historical standards. The days of idleness resulting from major work stoppages declined over the year __Productivity in the nonfarm business sector rebounded 2.2 percent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in the final three months of 1996 and for the year posted the strongest advance since 1992, BLS reports (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __A substantial part of the surge in economic growth in the final three months of last year was generated by gains in work efficiency that reduced inflation pressures The productivity gain meant that the cost of labor for each item produced went up at only a 1.4 percent rate during the quarter. Increases in unit labor costs are an important factor in determining the rate of inflation because labor costs account for around two-thirds of all production costs in the U.S. (John M. Berry, Washington Post, page C13). __Worker productivity grew at the fastest pace in three years at the end of 1996, reinforcing a picture of a healthy economy with little inflation But higher wages and the difficulty some businesses have had in finding skilled labor have raised concerns about rising labor costs fueling inflation (Reuters story, New York Times, page D2). __The U.S.'s surprising high-growth, low-inflation economy was made possible at the end of last year by a surge in business productivity (Jacob M. Schlesinger, Wall Street Journal, page A2). __The chairman and some members of the Senate Finance Committee express keen interest during a Feb. 11 hearing in the idea of naming an independent advisory commission to decide how to change various cost-of-living formulas that currently escalate federal benefits, including Social Security. Finance Chairman Roth (R-Del) says that testimony "seems to underscore the need of Congress to have expert advice" on how to use the CPI in legislation BLS Commissioner Abraham tells the committee that she "does not have an institutional view" about what Congress should do to change the cost-of-living formulas written into various pieces of legislation. She makes the distinction, as she has done in many public forums, that BLS compiles the data and releases them to Congress and others who must decide how to use them (Daily Labor Report, pages 1,A-10). Costs have eased for employer-provided benefits such as health care, and workers seem to be getting some of those savings in higher wages, according to a Washington Post graph (page C15) which shows annual percent increases in both benefits and wages, 1990 to the present, using the Employment Cost Index. DUE OUT TOMORROW: Mass Layoffs for October 1996
[PEN-L:8595] Re: market socialism, planned socialism, ut
I have been too busy to respond to recent postings on market "socialism" but would like to say that one reason I reject market socialism as my vision of a desirable economy is that it does NOT help us develop our capacities for solidarity and cooperation, but rather whets our invidious and acquisitive "instincts" in Veblen's old terms. In other words, it is destructive, rather than constructive of a "socialist" ideology -- though I no longer care whether we use the word "socialist" to stand for economic democracy, equity, solidarity, and conscious cooperation.
[PEN-L:8594] Re: market socialism, planned socialism, ut
Ajit, In response to your questions on "capitalist technology" and "socialist ideology". I agree completely that these are key issues for "market socialism". I have focused particulary on the latter, i.e. the contradiction between "market ideology" and difficulty this raises for the kind of after-the-fact adjustments that many market socialists acknowledge are necessary for equity, social division of labor, and long term planning, and even more problematic is a socialist espousal of "markets" as a label in today's "insane maretization" (to use Peter's words) climate. The former of course cuts both ways, we want "socialist technology" but we also want innovation and often painful technological change when this is socially beneficial. This relates to the problem of innovation that Roemer, Kotz, and others have highlighted as a key problem of Centrally Planned Economies and an issue that democratic planning must address. As I noted in my post I think Laibman's model does address this by introducing competition, and cross contracting, between socialized entreprizes, within a planning framework which would presumably also have input as to the kinds of technologies chosen and if techno change is truely socially beneficial. This is something we (who prioritize democratic planning) have to work on - I think a gradual approach from here (cap market economy) to there, with various levels of *broadly defined* stakeholding merging to a degree of centralized planning for the commanding heights , as I outlined in my previoius post, may offer a practical resolution to this issue. But of course this needs to be much further specified and elaborated.
[PEN-L:8593] Re: Women's work
Try "Out of the Margin" edited by Edith Kuiper and Jolande Sap. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:8592] Re: Macroeconomics of advertising
Actually, there is a rather large grouping of literature in main stream industrial organization which deals with different aspects of advertising. The following cites are from photo copies articles and don't always have dates and journal, but they give author and title (all are, however, at least 20 years old). Phillip Nelson from the State University of New York at Binghamton "Information and Consumer Behavior." JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY probably published 1970-71. Phillip Nelson, "Advertising as Information" in JPE probably mid 1970s. William S. Comanor and Thomas A. Wilson, "Advertising, Market Structure and Performance" THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, November, 1967, pp. 423 - 440 Harry Bloch from the University of Manitoba, "Advertising and Profitability: A Reappraisal" in the JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY probably in the mid-1970s. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 97-02-11 10:02:29 EST, you write: >Subj: [PEN-L:8556] Macroeconomics of advertising >Date: 97-02-11 10:02:29 EST >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Anders Schneiderman) >Sender:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Has anyone done any work in economics on the macroeconomics of >advertising--i.e., to what extent advertising shapes markets? I'm sure >nobody in mainstream economics has touched it, because it raises too many >issues they'd rather ignore, but have any of our lefty bretheren? > >Anders Schneiderman >Progressive Communications > > >--- Headers >Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Received: from anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu (anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu >Received: from anthrax (localhost [127.0.0.1]) > Tue, 11 Feb 1997 07:01:27 -0800 (PST) >Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 07:01:27 -0800 (PST) >Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >From: Anders Schneiderman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [PEN-L:8556] Macroeconomics of advertising >X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas >X-Comment: Progressive Economics >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Mime-Version: 1.0
[PEN-L:8591] FW: BLS Daily Report
See Item #1. It is my impression that productivity is strongly procyclical, and thus an unreliable measure, at least in many of the purposes for which it is used. Does anyone have specific information on this? Dave -- BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1997 RELEASED TODAY: BLS reported preliminary productivity data -- as measured by output per hour of all persons -- for the fourth quarter and for the full year 1996. In the fourth quarter, productivity advanced 2.4 percent in the business sector as output grew 5.8 percent and hours worked rose less -- 3.4 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates). In the nonfarm business sector, productivity rose 2.2 percent as output increased 5.9 percent and hours grew 3.7 percent The U.S. economy will remain on a moderate-growth path with low inflation, buoyed by consumer spending that is supported by high income growth and consumer confidence, the Economic Report of the President said (Daily Labor Report, page A-9)_The CEA in its annual report to Congress lauded the nation's current combination of low unemployment and low inflation and said that it could continue more or less indefinitely. If the council's analysis is correct, it would mean that the Fed might be able to leave short-term interest rates at their current level for a long time to come, barring some sort of outside shock to the economy The key point, the CEA said, is that the unemployment rate associated with a stable inflation rate ... has come down substantially since the 1980s (Washington Post, page D1)_The report contends that the gap between rich and poor in America appears to have stopped widening and may have reversed While other reports in the last year, from the Census Bureau and the University of Michigan, have shown a widening disparity between rich and poor Americans, the council found that the poorest 20 percent of households had the biggest income gains of any of the five percentiles between 1993 and 1995 Still, the council cautioned that the latest figures might prove to be only a pause rather than the start of a trend (New York Times, page D1)_In its report, the CEA says a plan to put Social Security funds in the stock market "raises concerns about risk" no matter whether the government or individuals are doing the investing (Wall Street Journal, page A2)_A little inflation can be a good thing, the annual report says in an argument that appears aimed at discouraging Fed policymakers from raising interest rates (Washington Times, page B10). Obsolete industrial categories are revamped in the U.S. government's recently completed overhaul of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code. An effort to put a $6 trillion economy into a series of orderly boxes, the SIC codes are put to a wide range of uses, from the compilation of key national economic statistics to determining regulatory burdens and tax rates The two-year revision was done for two primary reasons, said Jack Triplett, former chief economist for BEA and head of the three-nation committee that designed and approved the changes. The first and most obvious reason was the age and relative uselessness of the old code The second reason behind the revision was to match the U.S. code with those in Canada and Mexico in order to meet guidelines outlined in NAFTA. As a result, the new code is called the North American Industry Classification System ((NAICS) The caption for a chart in Business Week (Feb. 10, page 6) says there's a long-running dispute over whether productivity growth is anemic or the government's measures are flawed. So economist Edward Yardeni looked at a proxy for productivity, the inflation-adjusted growth of sales per employee at companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. By that measure, productivity is booming. Trouble ahead in the battle to contain labor costs -- companies can no longer rein in benefits to offset pay raises, says an article in Business Week (Feb. 10, page 29) If wages climb, so will benefits. That's because about 60 percent of all benefits -- including paid leave, overtime pay, defined contributions to pension plans, and social security payments -- are tied to wages. In fact, every dollar increase in hourly pay lifts the bill for these benefits alone by about a quarter. Moreover, the tab for health care is beginning to outpace overall benefits growth. According to a survey by benefit consultant Foster Higgins Inc., health-care costs may rise 4 percent in 1997, after a 2.5 percent increase in 1995. In the past, businesses cut health-care costs by switching to health-maintenance organizations But with the market now saturated, HMOs will have a harder time attracting new customers. So, premiums for existing members will start to rise, says the article The Advisory Council on Social Security's consensus that a deficit is ine
