[PEN-L:10819] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[rakesh bhandari]

 Hey Jay, don't get me wrong. There is no more persecuted minority than
left-communists--to whatever extent we have seen the end of racism (though
D'Souza's book is a good refutation of his own thesis, as I have tried to
indicate), we have not seen the end of ideology. The system would probably
always favor the appointment of a so-called gender or ethnicity diversity
candidate over one of those left commie types. Indeed I am not averse to a
ruthless examination of the ways in which phenotypic and sexual orientation
diversity has become a substitute for more profound ideological diversity.
Indeed this substitution has probably happened at the expense of a few good
white men.

All the best,
Rakesh Bhandari
Ph.D Candidate
Ethnic Studies


>I have three friends (in economics) whose publication/teaching/service
>records were objectively better than their white "peers" - all three were
>denied tenure (at private colleges).  I work for an insurance organization
>(in the actuarial division) and, they just hired their first African-American
>actuarial student!  The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has been
>publishing data on the "overachievement" problem.
>
>Jason H

[PEN-L:10818] IQ, Bell Curve, Human Ability

[Shawgi A. Tell]

Greetings,

This was posted on another list a while back.  It addresses IQ and human
ability.
---

   
   The conclusion that "human ability varies infinitely" and "the notion
   that human ability is normally distributed" have nothing in common.
   The first conclusion is made strictly on the basis of study of the
   human specie in particular, and the biological world in general. No
   two individuals of any specie, including those amongst the homo
   sapiens, can be the same in all properties. They, of course, will have
   similar qualities but similar is not equal to the same. This is the
   case because the dialectical relationship between structure and
   function, between metabolism and hereditary material does not produce
   absolute specimens. The result is only relative. Furthermore, a specie
   is only a transient, en route to something else.   
   
   The "notion that human ability is normally distributed" is a
   subjective, one-sided, sociological phrase in the service of
   justifying capitalist exploitation. The founding fathers of modern
   capitalist economics, politics and culture based themselves on the
   dogma that there exist amongst people a natural aristocracy, those who
   excel in the capitalist market. This dogma, far from being debunked,
   is used by the declining bourgeoisie for the intensification of
   capitalist exploitation. For this reason the very notion that " human
   ability is normally distributed" is worthless, as is the concept that
   "human nature" is immutable. Likewise the statement that capitalism is
   "natural" is useless as it tells us nothing about the system.
  
   A "normal distribution of abilities" presupposes inherent factors
   imposing such qualities on humans, creating such a state of affairs in
   which some people are more able than the others in the "social,"
   capitalist sense. Modern human beings are not merely objective members
   of the specie homo sapiens. In a manner of speaking they are no longer
   animals. They are human beings born to a society created by
   themselves. The society, at different stages of development, nurtures
   different qualities in human beings. As human beings are products of
   society, changed human beings are products of changed societies.
  
   The "bell curve," according to the educational system, is extremely
   self-serving to the capitalists. Bowing to spontaneity, the
   bourgeoisie does not give a damn what happens to the children of the
   workers and the poor. It only cares for its needs as a class and the
   fate of the children of individual capitalists. As a result it has
   given rise to this anti-people notion of the "bell curve," a concept
   that is actually designed to commit genocide. Education is one of the
   most pernicious weapons in the hands of the capitalists wielded
   against the vast majority of people. This power emanates from their
   economic power.
  
   Ability and education are two different things. Ability is an
   objective category independent of human beings and strictly dependent
   on nature. Ability is a product of nature and develops according to
   the laws of evolution. Labor played a crucial role in the development
   of homo sapiens but only after all the biological, physical
   preparations for the development of human beings were in place through
   evolution. A human being has the ability to abstract absence. A human
   being can think with the use of the highest development of matter, the
   human brain. The pseudo-scientists spend millions of dollars to train
   an animal to abstract absence with no success. The abilities of human
   beings belong to the domain of natural science. At the same time, what
   happens to these abilities in a given society is another matter. The
   capitalist system which develops on the basis of the destruction of
   the productive forces has created a gigantic standing army of
   unemployed worldwide, that totals tens of millions of human beings.
   The ultimate criterion of success within capitalism and its basic aim
   is the making of maximum capitalist profit. These most fundamental
   features of capitalism are destructive of human abilities. A society
   which marginalizes the vast majority of the people, a society which
   produces the greatest charlatans as "stars," and leaders, that society
   cannot be conducive to the appropriate use of human abilities and
   their further development.

   The brain as an instrument of thinking is the most objective thing
   there is. The brain, as an objective thing, exists in the real world.
   What it churns out is dependent on the place the holder of the brain
   occupies in society, that is, the person's social being. Unless the
   brain suffers an injury, or is defective at birth, it is quite capable
   of cognition like any other human brain. Differences arise from the
   place the

[PEN-L:10817] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[JayHecht]

In a message dated 97-06-13 05:00:47 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (rakesh
bhandari) writes:

<< The real puzzle remains the
 black culture of overachievement.
 
 Rakesh >>

Let me "second that emotion!"

I have three friends (in economics) whose publication/teaching/service
records were objectively better than their white "peers" - all three were
denied tenure (at private colleges).  I work for an insurance organization
(in the actuarial division) and, they just hired their first African-American
actuarial student!  The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has been
publishing data on the "overachievement" problem.

Jason H


 

[PEN-L:10816] Re: Real Life Question

[tom wood]

>The question for the Left: how do we translate our vision of a just society
>into popular mythologies and hierophanies with a potential for mass appeal.
>wojtek sokolowski
>institute for policy studies
>johns hopkins university
>baltimore, md 21218
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>voice: (410) 516-4056
>fax:   (410) 516-8233

I think this is what happened with the automobile.  Depression era bank
robbers who raced away to freedom, thanks to the automobile, planted in the
American mind an image of the car as provider of freedom and economic
justice.  Notice the direct action taken by those from whom the myth
springs.
tom wood

[PEN-L:10815] 331 European economists against EMU (fwd)

[Michael Eisenscher]

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 20:18:18 +0200
From: iire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: 331 European economists against EMU

>  Open letter from European economists to the heads of government
>>of the 15 member states of the European Union
>>
>>published 12th June 1997 in several European papers
>>
>>On 16 and 17 June you will be in Amsterdam in order to discuss European
>>integration. You will consult with one another about the progress made
>>towards the Economic and Monetary Union. Many questions are still
>>unanswered. Will the EMU begin as planned at the end of this century? Which
>>countries will take part in the euro from the beginning? Will all the
>>Maastricht Treaty criteria be met? These are important questions, but they
>>do not address Europe's essential problems.
>>
>>You know that Europe is contending at the moment with high unemployment,
>>poverty, social marginalisation and ecological deterioration. The current
>>design of Europe's economy does not provide adequate prospects of reining
>>in these problems. The member states' national policies are clearly
>>insufficient. The key question is whether the current plans for further
>>European integration, and in particular for the EMU, will bring us closer
>>to solutions.
>>
>>Your economic advisers have told you that the EMU, as laid out in the
>>Maastricht Treaty (December 1991) and further regulated in the Dublin
>>Stability Pact (December 1996), will bring Europe more jobs and prosperity.
>>We, economists in the EU's member states, are afraid that the opposite is
>>true. This project for economic and monetary integration not only falls
>>short from a social, ecological, and democratic perspective, but also from
>>an economic one.
>>
>>This is a missed opportunity. A single European currency could be very
>>advantageous and help to find the way to full-employment with good quality
>>jobs and social security. This and other relevant objectives could be
>>reached through a common budgetary and fiscal policy favouring sustainable
>>economic growth, and through the convergence towards high labour standards
>>on wages, working time and work conditions. But this EMU is not a starting
>>point for a modern European welfare state; instead it institutionalises the
>>dismantling of the public sector in the member states and reduces the
>>maneuvering room for active social and fiscal policy. The following six
>>points lay out briefly the basis for our concern.
>>
>>SIX CRITICAL POINTS
>>1.  According to the Maastricht Treaty, the member states must fulfill
>>five convergence criteria in order to take part in the euro. Along with
>>requirements in the areas of long-term interest rates, inflation and
>>national debt, another norm is that a state's budget deficit may not be
>>higher than 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Almost none of
>>the member states now meets this requirement. Without regard to economic
>>conditions, they have been put under great pressure to pass the EMU test:
>>many among you have experience by now with the draconian austerity
>>programmes that must be put in place in order to do so.
>>What is remarkable is that this norm, which is doing so much social
>>harm, has absolutely no economic basis. Not only economists like us see
>>this. One of your hosts in Amsterdam, Dutch Minister of Finance Zalm, said
>>in March 1992, when he was still director of the Dutch Central Planning
>>Bureau (CPB): "The norms for government finances in the EMU treaty have no
>>solid economic foundation."
>>The reasoning behind these convergence criteria is drawn from
>>monetarist doctrines that are not accepted by the majority of economists.
>>According to these doctrines, reduction of budget deficits leads to lower
>>inflation, and lower inflation automatically leads to more growth and
>>employment. Recent economic research by renowned economists such as
>>Akerlof, Dickens and Perry (1996), Barro (1995), Bruno (1995), Sarel (1996)
>>and Stanners (1995) shows that this assertion cannot be verified
>>empirically.
>>
>>2.  Even if you manage through enormous exertions to bring your budget
>>deficits under 3 percent in 1998, you will still not have qualified for the
>>euro. As long as your national debt is above 60 percent of GNP and is not
>>falling as quickly as is required, you will have to implement still more
>>austerity programmes. This will certainly be the case if economic growth
>>continues to be slow, which is not inconceivable given the ongoing spiral
>>of austerity.
>>The pressure on your budgets will remain high for still another
>>reason as well: the Stability Pact that you adopted in Dublin forces
>>participating EMU countries to reduce their budget deficits still further
>>in the direction of balanced budgets.
>>In short, in the years to come all member states will
>>simultaneously have to adjust their national budgets further. Current and
>>future rece

[PEN-L:10814] Price Index Question

[Eric Nilsson]

I have a technical questions about price indicies related to
work I'm doing.

The numerical example below is long. But it has important 
implications for calculating/miscalculating employment 
compensation and the standard of living of workers.

1) Suppose in three years the real value of wages and medical 
benefits for workers are:

yearwages medical benefits
1 200  20
2 200  20
3 200  20

That is, each year the real value of wages and benefits
is identical and benefits = 10% of wages.

2) Suppose the relevant price indicies are:

YearWage good PricesMed benefit Prices
1 100 100
2 102 104
3 104.04108.16

That is, inflation for wage goods is 2% per year while
inflation for medical benefits is 4%. Year 1 is selected
as the "base year" for the price index.

3) The nominal value of wages and medical benefits are,
therefore (just multiplying the number together):
yearwages med benefits
1 20,0002,000
2 20,4002,080
3 20,8082,163

4) Now, suppose you start with the above nominal values 
of wages and medical benefits and attempt to generate
a "real" value for each. (Say, you don't have access to the
true real values). And, suppose you want to use prices 
in year 3 as the base year for your calculations (year 3 dollars). 

The obvious procedure is to generate series of real values
for wages and of real values for benefits. That is, you simply
multiply the nominal value of wages by the ratio (base year 
wage good price / associated year wage good price) and multiply 
the nominal value of medical benefits by the ratio (base year med 
benefits price /associated year med benefit price). 

The results are:

YearReal WagesReal Med benef  Real compensation
1   20,808   2,163   = 22,971
2   20,808   2,163   = 22,971
3   20,808   2,163   = 22,971

No great supprise here: since the real value of wages
and of medical benefits is the same in each year,
the generated "real value" of wages and of
benefits for each of the three years is the value
of these things in year 3.

5) From these numbers one can easily conclude
that medical benefits = 10.4 % of wages. (2163
is 10.4 % of 20808). BUT THIS IS WRONG. 

The real values above in #1 indicate that in each 
year  medical benefits are 10% of wages.

The overstatement of the value of benefits in #4
is related to the more rapid growth in prices
for medical benefits relative to wage goods
prices.

6) It turns out there are a number of mathematical
equilivant ways of generating the correct real
value of medical benefits in year 3 prices. The
most simple is to multiply the nominal value
of medical benefits by ((base year WAGE
GOOD price /associated year MED BENEFIT price).
Strange, but true.

This gives the proper answer of 2081 medical
benefits in year 3 dollars for all years (that is, 
10% medical benefits):

Year Real WagesReal Med  benefits   Real compensation
1 20,808   2,081   22,889
2 20,808   2,081   22,889
3 20,808   2,081   22,889

Real benefits and total real compensation is less
that calculated above in #4.


I've seen procedures for generating real values
similar to that given in #4 above. But I've never
seen a statement that such a procedure is wrong
and that an alternative procedure like that
in #6 is the proper one.

The problem above and the solution must be standard 
knowledge to those who do work with price indicies (and 
other index numbers). Does anyone know what the incorrect 
procedure above is called and what the correct procedure 
is called?

1000 thanks for any insights.

Eric Nilsson


Eric Nilsson
Department of Economics
California State University
San Bernardino, CA 92407
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

[PEN-L:10813] A light shines out of DC

[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]

==> Gosh, this kind of thing could give hypocrisy a bad name,
especially if somebody somewhere recalls what Operation Paperclip was.
Any hands, class?
Don't worry, folks, if the Russians come alive again Uncle Markus
will be rehabilitated and brought over with a private cardiac unit.

 valis
 Occupied America
 _
   
   No U.S. Visa for German Spy Chief
   
   Monday, June 9, 1997 6:35 pm EDT
   
   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The man who served as East Germany's top spy need
   not apply for a U.S. visa because of his long history of sponsoring
   international terrorism, the State Department said Monday.
   
   Spokesman Nicholas Burns said Markus Wolf, who directed his
   government's espionage branch for 34 years, was deemed ineligible for
   a visa when he applied last year.
   
   Burns made no reference to a new visa request by Wolf but The New York
   Times said he has been seeking admission to the United States to
   promote a book he has written, ``Man Without a Face: The Autobiography
   of Communism's Greatest Spymaster.''
   
   Burns said Wolf had spent his entire career working against West
   Germany and the United States.
   
   ``Why would we give him a visa?'' he asked.
   
   In an interview with the Times, Wolf insisted he never orchestrated a
   terrorism act. He said the United States should treat him as it has
   others who had once been denied visas, including Palestinian leader
   Yasser Arafat.
 _

[PEN-L:10812] victims of nafta

[NAIMAN @ CITIZEN * Robert Naiman]

in preparation for forthcoming USTR report on how great NAFTA is, and 
expected vote on expansion of fast track authority in the fall, we are 
preparing a file of workers displaced or affected by NAFTA who would be 
willing to speak to the news media about their experiences.

all leads pursued.

-bob

Robert Naiman
Senior Researcher
Public Citizen -- Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003

[EMAIL PROTECTED]
202-546-4996 x 302

[PEN-L:10811] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[Max B. Sawicky]

> >The best answer to D'S and Murray stems from one of their
> >own findings, the implications of which have not been sufficiently
> >explored.  In their research it turns out that Askenazi Jews have
> >higher average intelligence than Caucasians.  .  .  .

> Of course, we're talking central tendencies here, Max. We don't know
> anything about your personal IQ or genetic code.

My notice was purely in the spirit of commonweal
and was sullied by no lecherous personal interest.

In any case you're wrong because for those fated
to lower IQ in the "target population," as it were,
your insight would not be generally appreciated.

Sigmas above,

MBS

===
Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  1660 L Street, NW
202-775-8810 (voice)  Ste. 1200
202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC  20036

Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views
of anyone associated with the Economic Policy
Institute.
===

[PEN-L:10810] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[rakesh bhandari]

Now Max thought that
>.  It would follow
>that to improve the gene pool, when the nubile daughters of
>gentiles come of age they should be impregnated by Jews of Eastern
>European descent with Ph.D's.  Actual marriage, of course, would not
>be necessary because nature overrules nurture.

Anything to justify that shicksa (sp?) fever?!

Actually black overperformance on IQ tests given the disadvantages of
wealth poverty and persistent racism suggests, if anything, black genetic
superiority; so the best way to improve the gene pool may be national
miscegenation with blacks. Or maybe Jewish and Black child-bearing should
be supported by a tax credit (those nubile gentile daughters may not be the
best eugenic move, though it is not clear to me why you assume so)?

More seriously, only 2% of black women marry out, about 20x less the rate
of any other so-called ethno-racial group. This may be a very important
reason for the wealth poverty of Afro-Americans (though it is not
considered even by Oliver and Shapiro); moreover, those non-blacks who do
marry out may be disinherited, while the children with more than that one
drop will be counted as black and thus bring no more wealth into the black
community. To the extent that marriage and discriminatory inheritance
practices are not a policy variable, they tend not be considered by the
policy-relevant social sciences as an explanation for unequal wealth
distribution.

Rakesh

[PEN-L:10809] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[Doug Henwood]

Max B. Sawicky wrote:

>The best answer to D'S and Murray stems from one of their
>own findings, the implications of which have not been sufficiently
>explored.  In their research it turns out that Askenazi Jews have
>higher average intelligence than Caucasians.  It would follow
>that to improve the gene pool, when the nubile daughters of
>gentiles come of age they should be impregnated by Jews of Eastern
>European descent with Ph.D's.  Actual marriage, of course, would not
>be necessary because nature overrules nurture.  [Call now,
>appointments still available.]
>
>In the spirit of idealism,
>
>MBS (Ph.D.)

Of course, we're talking central tendencies here, Max. We don't know
anything about your personal IQ or genetic code.


Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: 
web: 

[PEN-L:10808] Turkey - Military Coup Approaches (fwd)

[Shawgi A. Tell]

FYI

Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- Forwarded message --
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:14:57 -0700
From: MID-EAST REALITIES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Multiple recipients of list MER-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Turkey - Military Coup Approaches
Resent-Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 11:39:45 -0400 (EDT)
Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Resent-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

M I D - E A S T   R E A L I T I E S  -  COUP IN TURKEY APPROACHES
***
   "News, Analysis & Commentary They Don't Want You to Know"
***
For previous MER:  http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org


[COMMENT ABOUT MER EARLIER THIS WEEK: "I am (was!) a member of
NAAA, AAI, and ADC...  As far as AAI is concerned, you've only 
confirmed my growing suspicions!  Thank you, thank you, thank 
you for the truth, as usual."
 Cheryl Sadi - 6/13/97


 MILITARY COUP IN TURKEY AIDED AND ABBETTED

 BY BOTH U.S. AND ISRAEL

   [MER - Make no mistake about it.  The military coup in Turkey --
already de facto, likely to soon become de jure -- would not
be taking place but for the encouragement and support of both
Israel and the U.S.  The most senior military leaders in Turkey
have made both public and secret trips to the U.S. and Israel
in recent months.  Egypt is also implicated, hoping to further
stem the tide of its own Islamic/nationalist underground.
   In recent months the U.S. has provided the Turkish military 
with photo-intelligence secrets to assist their invasion of 
Northern Iraq and destruction of the Kurdish insurgency.
   The Israeli military has begun working increasingly closely
with their Turkish counterparts, eager to further threaten Syria 
and to prevent a coalition  of Islamic and nationalist forces 
which might present a military challenge to Israeli regional 
hegemony.
   And the Israeli/Jewish lobby in the U.S. -- including their 
allies at the influential Washington Post newspaper -- have been 
all but publicly endorsing a Turkish military take-over for many 
months now.  Lally Weymouth, daughter of Post owner Katherine
Graham and essentially a card-carrying member of the Israeli 
lobby, has all but endorsed a Turkish Army coup in her editorial
page columns.
   Turkey may be on the road to becoming another bloody Algeria,
which descended into civil war earlier in this decade when the
Algerian military took over and prevented an Islamic nationalist
electoral victory.  The dike will probably hold for awhile; but
when the flood comes it will be more violent than would otherwise
have been the case.
   This recent AP story gives some useful background but fails to 
go into the U.S. and Israeli roles in what is taking place today.]
  

  FEARS OF MILITARY COUP INTENSITY
 
By Zeynep Alemdar

  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) 6/12/97 - Fears of a military coup 
intensified in Turkey today, prompted by the harshest warning yet 
from the powerful armed forces to the Islamic-led government.
  In a rare briefing for journalists, the military declared
Wednesday that a violent Islamic uprising was near and that it was
prepared to use force to stop it.
  ``Last warning from the army,'' read the headlines today in the
nation's two leading newspapers, Milliyet and Yeni Yuzyil.
  ``The only thing missing was the date'' of the coup, wrote Derya
Sazak, another daily newspaper.
  The military has staged coups three times in this NATO-member
country since 1960. The army, which sees itself as the guarantor of
modern Turkey's secular traditions, has been uneasy since Islamic
Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan's coalition government took power
11 months ago.
  The military repeatedly has ordered Erbakan to curb his
pro-Islam policies. But the Islamic leader has remained defiant.
  ``Radical Islamic activities have gained momentum towards a
civil uprising,'' Gen. Fevzi Turkeri said Wednesday. ``The basic
principles of the Turkish republic cannot be changed, will not be
changed.''
  Turkeri added that Turkish law obliges the armed forces to
protect the nation. The Turkish military is ``in a position to
define a mission for itself under these circumstances,'' he said.
  The warning apparently shook the government.
  Deputies from the pro-Western, center-right True Path held an
emergency party meeting late Wednesday to try to pressure their
leader, Deputy Premier Tansu Ciller, to withdraw from the coalition
with Erbakan's Welfare Party.
  ``There is a reality of a (pending) coup in the country. We have
to pull out of the government urgently,'' the daily Hurriyet quoted
True Path deputy Osman Sonmez as saying.
  Sonmez refused to comment on his reported remarks today, but
other politicians also predicted a coup.
  ``The soldiers are openly saying ``W

[PEN-L:10807] Re: Blue chip?

[jtreacy]

Treacy: We can see Anders did not mispend any of his time as an 
undergraduate at a poker table. Oh for the nights of 747, holdem, 
seven card stud with everything wild.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] copyrighted

On Thu, 12 Jun 1997, Hank Leland wrote:

> I believe the term is derived from poker wherein the most highly valued
> chips are blue, followed by red and white.
> 
> 
> 
> Anders Schneiderman wrote:
> 
> > Dear Pen-lr,
> >
> > Does anyone know why certain companies are referred to as "blue chip"?
> >
> > Where did the term "blue chip" come from?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Anders Schneiderman
> > Progressive Communication
> 
> 
> 
> 

[PEN-L:10806] Re: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[Max B. Sawicky]

> From:  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (rakesh bhandari)
> Subject:   [PEN-L:10801] D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

> I am sure that this is common knowledge to progressive economists, but
> having looked at many of the reviews of the Bell Curve, I am surprised that
> the following simple point seems  not to have been  made.  .  .  .


The best answer to D'S and Murray stems from one of their
own findings, the implications of which have not been sufficiently 
explored.  In their research it turns out that Askenazi Jews have 
higher average intelligence than Caucasians.  It would follow
that to improve the gene pool, when the nubile daughters of
gentiles come of age they should be impregnated by Jews of Eastern 
European descent with Ph.D's.  Actual marriage, of course, would not 
be necessary because nature overrules nurture.  [Call now, 
appointments still available.]

In the spirit of idealism,

MBS (Ph.D.)

===
Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  1660 L Street, NW
202-775-8810 (voice)  Ste. 1200
202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC  20036

Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views
of anyone associated with the Economic Policy
Institute.
===

[PEN-L:10805] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  Half of all workers afflicted with carpal tunnel 
syndrome missed 30 days or more of work, according to BLS report on 
the characteristics of lost-worktime injuries.  Work-related hernias, 
amputations (usually involving the finger), and fractures also 
commonly kept workers off the job for several weeks, as did about a 
fourth of sprains and strains involving workdays lost.  A total of 
500,000 injuries and illnesses of all types lasted 21 days or more, 
accounting for a fourth of the 2 million cases in private industry in 
1995 that resulted in worktime lost beyond the day of the incident 


The Labor Department is seeking input on whether the BLS occupational 
employment statistics survey would be useful in calculating prevailing 
wage rates under the Davis-Bacon Act, according to a notice in the 
June 6 Federal Register.  The goal is to determine whether, in a mail 
survey where occupational employment and wage data is being collected 
on every employee in every establishment, the respondent also would be 
willing to provide information on the employee's union/nonunion status 
(Daily Labor Report, page A-2).

Some 9.4 million workers of the 184.5 million individuals over 20 
years old in 1996 in the civilian nonagricultural wage and salary 
sector of the economy lost or left their job for negative economic 
reasons between 1993 and 1995, according to a report by Employee 
Benefit Research Institute dated June 1997.  Of those displaced during 
1993-95, 34.6 percent attributed losing their job to a plant or 
company move or closure, 39.6 percent to insufficient work, and 25. 8 
percent to a job shift or abolished position The EBRI report is a 
collection of data from the February 1996 CPS The report found 
that younger workers were more likely to be displaced during that 
period than their older counterparts Copies of EBRI Issue Briefs 
are available for $25 each from EBRI Publications (Daily Labor Report, 
page A-9).

Japanese-owned auto plants remain the most productive in North 
America, but engineering improvements by the U.S. Big Three continue 
to narrow the productivity gap, according to a study by Harbour and 
Associates Inc.  For the fourth consecutive year, Nissan Motor Co.'s 
plant in Smyrna,Tenn.,was rated the most productive in this annual 
study of auto plants The study measures plant productivity based 
on the number of workers per vehicle produced.  The benchmark set by 
the Smyrna plant workers is 2.23 workers per vehicle, which means it 
took Nissan the equivalent of 2.23 workers to assemble one vehicle in 
eight hours The figures include only labor at the assembly plants, 
not the work that goes into parts made elsewhere (AP story, 
Washington Post, page E1).

Union membership, by industry, for 1996 is shown in a graph in the 
Washington Post (page E10), with the source given as BLS.

Although the United States boasts the world's third-highest income per 
person, approximately 50 million Americans -- 19 percent of the 
population -- live below the national poverty line, according to a new 
UN study.  The annual report of the UN Development Program (UNDP) 
estimates that the share of the 265 million Americans living in 
poverty increased 3 percent between 1974 and 1994.  The study, done by 
UNDP economists and statisticians, sets the U.S. poverty line at 
$8,122, or half the 1991 median U.S. income of $16,244.  In the world 
overall, the report said, governments have made greater progress 
toward reducing poverty in the past five decades than in the previous 
five centuries.  But, it noted, about 1.3 billion people globally 
continue to live on less than $1 a day.  In at least 30 countries, the 
report said, overall levels of human development have declined since 
1970.  The U.S. is not the only wealthy, industrialized country to 
experience growing poverty in its population.  The report said poverty 
also worsened during recent years in Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and 
Denmark (Washington Post, page A29).

The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee reports out the 
nomination of Kathryn O'Leary "Kitty" Higgins as deputy secretary of 
labor, clearing the way for confirmation by the full Senate 
Higgins was secretary to the President's Cabinet since February 
1995 after having served for two years as former Labor Secretary 
Reich's chief of staff (Daily Labor Report, page A-1).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Producer Price Indexes -- May 1997

[PEN-L:10804] Re: Blue chip?

[Anders Schneiderman]

At 11:09 AM 6/12/97 -0700, Eugene wrote:

>Anders, you don't play poker, do you?

I do (poorly), but I didn't figure that was the kind of chip they were
referring to.  After all, if you're betting blue chips, you're taking a
bigger risk by making a bigger bet, whereas blue chip companies are
supposed to be a safer bet, no?  Then again, I just moved from Berkeley to
Syracuse NY (on my way to DC), and my brain is suffering from intense sun
deprivation.

Anders Schneiderman
Progressive Communications

[PEN-L:10803] Re: historical question

[Anders Schneiderman]

At 08:33 PM 6/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I'd like to agree with Ellen's comments and just add that during the Reagan
>years much of the heart of protective legislation for labor was decimated.
> For instance, many OSHA regulations were quietly taken off the books.
> Example: businesses are still required to have sprinklers in case of fire,
>but there are no codes for the sprinkler systems, so if the systems don't
>work, there are no fines or punishments.  The wait time for NLRB cases
>extended tremendously because of severe cuts in funding.
>maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]

And then of course there are the wonderful ongoing campaigns by some of the
shipping companies and others to stop federally-funded research around RSIs
and ban voluntary guidelines; the companies then turn around and say, "you
can't blame us for the damage we've done to people; the government didn't
say it was hazardous."  Kind of like the kid who kills his parents and then
throws himself on the mercy of the court on the ground that he's an orphan.

Anders Schneiderman
Progressive Communications

P.S.  Has anyone on Pen-l read the Russian Absurdists?  I remember a
wonderful short a piece that's a serial murderer's defense of himself in
court where he uses similarly twisted logic, but I can't remember who wrote it.

[PEN-L:10802] movies, etiquette, pitfalls of social democracy, etc.

[John Lawrence Gulick]

Silkwood -- labor process in the nuclear power industry, corporate 
surveillance and intimidation, and betrayl by cynical and slick liberal 
D.C. advocacy lawyers (a Hollywood flick w/o grotesquely Hollywood 
production values or plot twists) ...

John Gulick
  
P.S. Karl, if you're going to get on my case about endorsing the 
consumption of an exchange value and hence reproducing capital lemme just 
say that I admire your anarcho-syndicalism but I don't confuse my own 
predilection for philosophico-practical purity w/real politics, and in 
fact, avoid real politics by in large b/c of this predilection ... 
nonetheless, and here I go again, radicals should have a long-term eye 
not on better compensating and reallocating alienated labor, but on 
abolishing alienated labor, and, indeed, much of "productive" labor 
altogether, since a great deal of it is socially unnecessary and 
ecologically irrational ... but there is one hell of a here to there 
question which I won't even pretend to answer ...

[PEN-L:10801] D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass

[rakesh bhandari]

I am sure that this is common knowledge to progressive economists, but
having looked at many of the reviews of the Bell Curve, I am surprised that
the following simple point seems  not to have been  made.

In The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza turns to Murray and Herrnstein:

"'For the racial differences [in IQ scores]to be entirely environmental,'
Herrnstein and Murray write, 'the average environment of blacks would have
to be at the 6th percentile of the distribution among whites." That such a
gap exists they consider unlikely...there is no scientific basis for
rejecting the possibility that race differences in IQ are partly
heriditary."

Well, it turns out that blacks are even more socio-economically
disadvantaged if we take wealth as the measure of socio-economic status.

Here is Edward Wolff in Top Heavy: The Increasing Inequality of Wealth in
America and What Can Be Done About It:

...the relative gap in income between nonwhite and white households was
almost identical in 1967 and 1989. The ration of mean household income
remained at .063, and the ratio of medial income held at slightly below
0.6. The story of household wealth is more discouraging. From 1983 to 1989
the ratio of mean wealth increased (from 0,24 to 0.29), but the ratio of
median wealth fell from the already shockingly low level of 0.09 to only
0.05..." (17)

>From Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro's Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New
Perspective on Racial Inequality, we also learn that  the black middle
class, as defined by income or occupation, possess about 15 cents of wealth
for every dollar of wealth held by the white middle class.

Now add the daily assault of racism, which includes the national puzzlement
over that fucking standard deviation, and the only surprise is that the gap
is as small as it is.

In my opinion, there is no reason to turn to the dubious and seemingly
idealist caste interpretation of black inferiority to explain this
so-called IQ gap as Claude Fisher, et al. do in Inequality By Design:
Cracking the Bell Curve Myth (Princeton, 1996). The real puzzle remains the
black culture of overachievement.

Rakesh

[PEN-L:10800] Re: unnecessary condescension?

[Karl Carlile]

KARL: Blair I found your message below so insightful. It provided me 
and, I am sure, others with such an understanding of the state of the 
class struggle that I wonder is there much more that can be said. It 
is more of this that is needed on pen-l.

Your presence is really missed. What will the working class do when 
you depart from this world to meet your maker luv?

But, Oh, I'm sorry, was that overly sarcastic ? 

  Karl

(
I've not been able to keep up with the volume on PEN-L lately due to my own
work load. I've been trying to check in now and then just to keep an eye on
things, and occasionally read some of the shorter messages. I'm archiving
the discussions on France and limiting the working day for later perusal.

I did happen to catch this one exchange between Maggie and Karl. I just
wanted to thank Karl for putting Maggie in her place. I really appreciated
the certainty in Karl's tone, the definitive way he dismisses her thoughts
with phrases such as, "nothing significant," and "the real point," which
is, as any fool can see, evident with only a "glance." I'm glad Karl is
here to point us to the real tasks and decisive issues. Thanks, old man!

..

Oh, I'm sorry, was that overly sarcastic? Seriously: did anyone else think
Karl's response to Maggie was incredibly condescending, or am I just overly
touchy-feely sensitive?

I have always thought that the revolutionary movements I've studied had
more difficulty dealing with their friends sometimes than with their
enemies. That's why I think this sort of thing matters. Just think about
how COINTELPRO was able to play on personal relationships in the social
movements of the sixties (emphasizing, exaggerating and sometimes even
creating difficulties through forgeries, rumors and other sorts of lies).

Personally, I think it's possible to disagree with folks without arrogance
or condescension. (Not that I always succeed.)

And I do apologize for the sarcasm above. I can be arrogant too. I find
myself in agreement with Karl sometimes; it was not the content but the
tone that bothered me in the message below.

Regards to all,

Blair


>>MAGGIE: Finally, what I was trying to point out is that huge
>>movements have been formed and succeeded in just the situations you
>>are saying which make organizing difficult.  Most unions were formed
>>when people were working six days a week, 10-12 hours a day.
>>
>KARL: There is nothing significant concerning this Maggie. A glance
>at the evidence will show that "huge movements have been formed"
>under these conditions. However you miss the real point: the
>political character of such movements. There have been movements of
>the oppressed of one sort or another and there will continue to be
>further such movements formed. However what is not so
>certain is whether these movements will have a revolutionary socialist
>character. The real task ist to assist in promoting the conditions
>under which this is made more likely. It is politics not
>organisation that is decisivie Maggie.






Blair Sandler
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



  




  Yours etc.,
 Karl