voodoo economics 2004
[sent this yesterday but it never made it.] http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/index.html Economic Report of the President: The Economic Report of the President is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. It overviews the nation's economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. The Economic Report of the President is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government. Supplementary reports can be issued to the Congress which contain additional and/or revised recommendations. Documents are available as ASCII text and PDF files. 2004 Economic Report of the President http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/09feb20040900/www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy05/pdf/2004_erp.pdf
Re: Tuxedo Park (was Skull Bones)
Parasitic finance!! mbs -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 6:02 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Tuxedo Park (was Skull Bones) In a way, the Skull and Bones/Loomis gap is similar to the dichotomy between real and financial capital. Economic strength is increased by those who develop the technology and drained by those who live by nepotism and connections. Both factors are important. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Fun movies--George the Chickenhawk
Title: Message http://www.ericblumrich.com/topgun.html http://www.takebackthemedia.com/triwimp.html http://www.symbolman.com/chickenhawks.html http://www.hornsandhalos.com/ James M. Craven Blackfoot Name: Omahkohkiaayo-i'poyi Professor/Consultant,Economics;Business Division Chair Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. USA 98663 Tel: (360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863 http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5 Employer has no association with private/protected opinion "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." (George Orwell) "...every anticipation of results which are first to be proved seems disturbing to me...(Karl Marx, "Grundrisse") FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Doug wrote: joanna bujes wrote: I don't think you need psychoanalysis to observe that human beings (uniquely among animals) go through a long, long period of dependence. No, but people not familiar with psychoanalysis would dismiss early experience as irrelevant to adult thinking behavior - just like Americans routinely dismiss things as history, as if that consigns them to irrelevance. Early experience is surely important, but empirical examinations give us an understanding of different upbringings producing different outcomes whereas psychoanalysis paints a monolithic picture based on the psychological model of the bourgeois family circa the late 19th-early 20th century. -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/ * Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio * Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
I think that one of the reasons why capitalism righted itself in the rich (imperialist) countries was the widening role of individualism in the culture. Though I think that pschology should play a big role in our understanding of the human condition under capitalism (and should have played a bigger role in Marx), most psychology -- including Freudian psychoanalysis -- is extremely individualistic, especially in practice. Or it focuses on the behavior and/or consciousness of the average person in society... Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine And if you want to take it even further -- that capitalism has been able to deliver, despite episodic crises, a modest but steady improvement in living standards and working conditions for the mass of Western wage- and salary-earners, despite Marx's belief that it had exhausted its historic potential a century and a half ago and would produce only increasing immiseration. It's reasonable to expect that a reversal of this historic trend, especially if abrupt, would be accompanied by a radically changed psychology, with few exceptions, among friends, neighbours, relatives, and co-workers desperate to recover their lost jobs, homes, and income. We caught a glimpse of the relationship between economic (in)security and personal and political psychology during the Great Depression through World War II until the system righted itself. Doug Henwood wrote: Or, if you want to take it further, there's Judith Butler's argument - rooted in that silly doctrine called psychoanalysis - that subjects are formed in subjection (through deference to authority figures, like parents, and their successors, like language and law), and that attitude of deference to authority persists through life, for fear of the disintegration of the subject. Mike Ballard wrote: Why *don't* the proles revolt? After all, capitalism is way past its use-by date by now. That's demonstrated on this list daily by the countless, excellent news articles posted. Could this condition originate in a conservative psychological character structure rooted in the upbringing of individuals within societies where the monogamous-paternalistic family, private property and the State permeate social relations?
voodoo economics 2004
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/index.html Economic Report of the President: The Economic Report of the President is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. It overviews the nation's economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. The Economic Report of the President is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government. Supplementary reports can be issued to the Congress which contain additional and/or revised recommendations. Documents are available as ASCII text and PDF files. 2004 Economic Report of the President http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/09feb20040900/www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy05/pdf/2004_erp.pdf
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Thanks Doug. I will look at what Judith Butler has written on the subject mentioned in my questions. The way you have summarized her views, they seem to mesh pretty closely with my own readings and interpretations of Freud, Reich, Fromm and Marcuse. Cheers, Mike B) --- Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mike Ballard wrote: Why *don't* the proles revolt? After all, capitalism is way past its use-by date by now. That's demonstrated on this list daily by the countless, excellent news articles posted. Could this condition originate in a conservative psychological character structure rooted in the upbringing of individuals within societies where the monogamous-paternalistic family, private property and the State permeate social relations? Or, if you want to take it further, there's Judith Butler's argument - rooted in that silly doctrine called psychoanalysis - that subjects are formed in subjection (through deference to authority figures, like parents, and their successors, like language and law), and that attitude of deference to authority persists through life, for fear of the disintegration of the subject. Doug = Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen. Norman Mailer http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
BP profits soar 42 percent; Q4 figure disappoints
BP profits soar 42 percent; Q4 figure disappoints 10 February 2004 Agence France Presse LONDON : British energy giant BP reported record 2003 profits which rose 42 percent helped by high oil prices and a multi-billion dollar joint venture with Russian firm TNK.But a one-percent rise in fourth-quarter profits missed analyst expectations, fanning investors caution towards the oil sector in the wake of disappointing results from Anglo-Dutch rival Royal Dutch/Shell last week.BP's profits, excluding one-off items, acquisition costs and changes in the value of the company's oil inventories, rose to 12.38 billion dollars (9.69 billion euros) last year from 8.72 billion in 2002.In the fourth quarter, the figure increased by a more modest one percent to 2.67 billion dollars, below consensus forecasts of 3.01 billion.BP shares lost 3.4 percent to 412.25 pence in early deals.The increased earnings reflected the impact of higher oil and gas prices and a full quarter of profits from TNK-BP, the 7.7-billion-dollar joint venture sealed last year to create Russia's third-largest oil producer."Crude oil prices continued to strengthen in the fourth quarter, adding around one dollar per barrel compared with the third quarter to average 29.43 dollars," said BP chief executive John Browne."Underlying oil demand appears to be strong on the back of global economic recovery and the ongoing economic boom in China, and has been growing faster than oil supply outside OPEC," he said in a statement accompanying the results.The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries appeared to have increased its production modestly in the fourth quarter, despite the 900,000 barrels per day quota cut that it introduced from November 1, Browne added."We expect that future oil prices will largely depend on OPECs ability to realign production in line with seasonal requirements."Browne gave investors some reason to cheer as he announced BP will resume its share buyback programme."Our focus is now on delivering the growth in free cash flow of which we believe our portfolio is capable. We intend to restart our share buyback programme this quarter, subject to market conditions," he said. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online
more on Bush's military record
see http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003220.html Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: The economy - a new era?
Wasn't it Jimmy Carter who did a number on airlines and trucking? Anybody remember Alfred Kahn? mbs -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Eugene Coyle Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 6:27 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: The economy - a new era? Yes, it is at least back as far as Reagan that anti-trust was shelved. There has been an on-going interest in cases where foreign firms -- those bad folks verging on evil -- were colluding. Gene Devine, James wrote: my 2 kopeks: it was under Clinton (or perhaps under Bush I or even Reagan) that anti-trust was shelved. The idea was that with globalization of competition in product markets, anti-trust wasn't needed. Of course, not all products have globalized markets... Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine -Original Message- From: Eugene Coyle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 2:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L] The economy - a new era? Has the US economy entered a new era? It seems to me that the US Department of Justice, along with other relevant agencies, has lost interest in enforcing antitrust laws. I think we are back to the 1880s and 1890s, where Trusts and pools will rationalize capacity for the good of all? Banks and insurance companies agglomerate. Electric power generation is falling into fewer and fewer hands, and those hands are more and more financial institutions. Big oil gets bigger. Big steel consolidates while the steel market sags. ADM and Cargill thrive while the number of farmers shrinks. Am I generalizing from the worst possible input, anecdotal evidence? I've always loved anecdotal evidence -- I continue to believe what is before my eyes. I believed that smoking cigarettes caused lung cancer. I still do, actually. But clue me in: Are we moving to tight oligopoly everywhere in our economy? PEN-l doesn't much discuss economics, as Michael complains. But when it does, it discusses macro. Anybody looking at market structure? Gene Coyle
Response:Bush and the F 102
Fascinating stuff, Jim Craven. Never knew the details. Is it all documented in one place? http://www.awolbush.com/
quote du jour
I know in my heart and brain that America ain't what's wrong with the world -- Donald Rumsfeld, US Sec.Def. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
voodoo economics, 2004
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/index.html Economic Report of the President: The Economic Report of the President is an annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. It overviews the nation's economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. The Economic Report of the President is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government. Supplementary reports can be issued to the Congress which contain additional and/or revised recommendations. Documents are available as ASCII text and PDF files. More. 2004 Economic Report of the President http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/09feb20040900/www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy05/pdf/2004_erp.pdf
Re: Response:Bush and the F 102
You bet it is. Try Fortunate Son by J.H. Hatfield, 3rd ed. (found dead in a motel rooom in Alabama supposed suicide). Hatfield actually started out to write a pro-Bush book and wound up with the most devastating and most detailed book yet. He is an ex-convict who was noted as a journalist before going to jail. The Bushies tried to use his ex-con status to impeach him but the scholarship is first--rate and irrefutable. Jim C -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marvin Gandall Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 3:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Response:Bush and the F 102 Fascinating stuff, Jim Craven. Never knew the details. Is it all documented in one place? - Original Message - From: Craven, Jim [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 5:32 PM Subject: [PEN-L] Response:Bush and the F 102 Bush and the Texas Guard flew the F 102. An aviation buddy points out that the F 102 had no conceivable mission in Vietnam. So even if he showed up, his unit wasn't going to go. Gene Coyle Response (Jim C) Absolutely true. At the time Bush got into the Texas Air Guard (with a national waiting list of over 150,000, got in the same day he applied--with 12 days left until his deferment was up, and with a waiting list of 160 in Texas for 2 pilot slots max, and with a score of 25% on the airman exam--lowest possible passing) The F-102 was being phased out. Then he gets a direct commission to 2nd Lt. bypassing a requirement for 23 weeks OCS, then he goes to flight school and finishes 100 hours or so short of the hours requirement, then he is transferred to the Alabama Air Guard with no aircraft (to work on the Senate campaign of his daddy's buddy Winston Blount) then he is missing for 13 months (records since lifted from the Guard records in 1994 by two shadowy characters who paid a visit), then in April 1972 the medical exams are changed to include random drug testing, and he is due for an exam in May of 1972 but in September 1972, he and his buddy James R. Bath (then a principal representative of the Bin Laden family in Houston) refuse to take a medical exam and are taken off flight status--with a pilot shortage existing at the time. Then he gets out 8 months early to go to Harvard Business school after first being denied entrance to Univ of Texas Law School for bad grades. Bush served a total of 51 months out of a 72 month Guard obligation. Jim C.
US blocks UN proposal to combat obesity]]
This seems to have been censored out by the major media. Paul Phillips Just another bit of evidence that what's good for big business is good for the rest of us, eh? WSWS : News Analysis : Medicine Health US blocks UN proposal to combat obesity By Barry Mason 9 February 2004 Back to screen version | Send this link by email | Email the author Obesity is one of the major causes of non-communicable disease. Worldwide there are around 300 million obese people with another 750 million considered overweightapproximately one sixth of the worlds population. In May 2002 the World Health Organisation was mandated to prepare a report on the virtual epidemic of obesity that is concerning health workers around the world. The report is to be presented to the Word Health Assembly meeting in May 2004, and a draft version, WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, was published last November. Independent international experts on diet and physical activity contributed to the report, which concluded that a profound shift in the balance of the major causes of death and disease is underway in most countries. Globally, the burden of non-communicable diseases has rapidly increased. It points out that for the year 2001 non-communicable disease accounted for 60 percent of the 56 million deaths worldwide and 47 percent of the global burden of disease. It insisted that, apart from tobacco consumption, high levels of cholesterol in the blood, low intake of fruit and vegetables, being overweight (and) physical inactivity are among the leading factors in the increase in non-communicable diseases. For all countries, current evidence suggests that the underlying determinants of non-communicable diseases are largely the same. These include increased consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt; reduced levels of physical activity ... Of particular concern are the increasingly unhealthy diets and reduced physical activity of children and adolescents. The report advocates a global strategy to improve diet, calling for initiatives to be undertaken by the food industry to modify the fat, sugar and salt content of processed foods and to review many current marketing practices ... [so as to] accelerate health gains worldwide. It calls for a cut in the intake of fats in general and to shift towards unsaturated fat, a cut in the consumption of salt and of refined sugars as additives and the encouragement of consumption of healthy alternatives such as fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts. It calls on food manufacturers to limit the levels of saturated fats and trans-fatty acids, sugar and salt in existing products and to follow responsible marketing practices that support the strategy, particularly with regard to the promotion and marketing of foods high in saturated fats, sugar or salt, especially to young children. The report, when finally agreed will be advisory only, making recommendations to the giant food manufacturers and calling for them to carry out initiatives. It will have no power to impose any of its conclusions on these mighty corporations. But the food industry is not prepared to allow even a whiff of criticism to be aired against its activities. As soon as the draft report was published, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), which represents corporations such as Birds Eye, Coca-Cola, Del Monte and Heinz, lobbied the Bush administration to act on their behalf and attack its findings. A letter was dispatched to the United Nations from William Steiger, a special assistant in the US Department of Health and Human Services, raising the US governments objections. The letter called into question the whole scientific basis of the WHO report. It denied the role of manufacturers in creating the demand for unhealthy foods, especially by targeting food advertising at children, and took exception to the singling out of particular foods such as those containing high levels of fat, salt and sugar. Steiger wrote that the US government, promotes the view that all foods can be part of a healthy and balanced diet, and supports personal responsibility to choose a diet conducive to individual energy balance, weight control and health. He criticised the WHO report for not stressing the responsibility of the every individual to balance his or her diet for themselves. A GMA spokesman commented, One of the things we didnt see in the document was a recognition that it ultimately comes down to what individuals choose to do. You cant solve the problem by government fiat. Consumer groups all over the world have denounced the efforts of the US government to undermine the WHO document. The cynical attempt of the food manufacturers to mislead consumers had already been highlighted in a report submitted last year to the WHO consultation on diet and health. A report from the International
Int'l Labor Delegation to ILO to Press for Iraqi Labor Rights
Title: Int'l Labor Delegation to ILO to Press for Iraqi Labor Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 13:39:17 -0800 From: OWC [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Int'l Labor Delegation to ILO to Press for Iraqi Labor Rights OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence Democratic Rights, c/o S.F. Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94109. To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact the OWC at [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297. Visit our website at www.owcinfo.org - Notify if any change in email address. (Please excuse duplicate postings, and please feel free to re-post.) --- IN THIS MESSAGE: 1) Presentation and Request for Support/Endorsement of International Labor Delegation to ILO Bureau in Geneva in mid-March 2) Letter from Luc Deley (on behalf of the Swiss Organizing Committee of the International Campaign Against the Occupation for the Labor Rights in Iraq) to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia Requesting That He Receive a Delegation from the International Campaign on March 15, 2004, in Geneva 3) Declaration of the International Campaign Against the Occupation and For Labor Rights in Iraq 4) Endorsement/Support Coupon for International Labor Delegation to the ILO in mid-March 2004 5) AFL-CIO President John Sweeney Calls for Respect for Labor Rights in Iraq: Statement by John Sweeney on Jan. 22, 2004, with an introduction by the coordinators of US Labor Against the War (USLAW) *** 1) Presentation and Request for Endorsement Support Dear Sisters and Brothers: This letter is to inform you that on March 15 an international labor delegation organized by the International Campaign Against the Occupation and For Labor Rights in Iraq will travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. Announcement of the delegation was made public this week by Gene Bruskin, national coordinator of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW); Hacene Djemane, general secretary of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU); and Daniel Gluckstein, coordinator of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC). The purpose of the delegation, according to the spokespersons of the three organizations that launched this International Campaign, is to inform ILO Director-General Juan Somavia of the results of the International Campaign's fact-finding trip to Iraq in early October and, most important, to press for the immediate ratification, implementation and enforcement in a sovereign Iraq of ILO Convention 87 (on the right to freedom of association and the right to organize and choose the trade union of one's choice) and ILO Convention 98 (on the right to collective-bargaining). This campaign was launched last June in Geneva by USLAW, the ICATU, and the ILC. On the basis of an International Appeal Against the Occupation and for Labor Rights in Iraq, an international labor delegation traveled to Iraq in early October to gather all the facts on the state of the union movement in Iraq and the condition of labor rights. The various reports by the two U.S. members of the delegation, David Bacon and Clarence Thomas, have been published widely in the U.S. and international labor press. [For copies of these reports, visit the OWC website at www.owcinfo.org as well as the website of USLAW -- www.uslaboragainstwar.org .] Following USLAW's National Labor Conference for Peace on October 24-25, the three initiating organizations of this campaign issued a new statement, urging widespread support for an International Labor Delegation to the headquarters of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva. Please find in this message the Letter from Luc Deley, coordinator of the Swiss Organizing Committee of the International Campaign, to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia requesting that he receive our delegation in Geneva on March 15th. Also below is the Declaration of the International Campaign Against the Occupation and for Labor Rights in Iraq, with its appeal for support for the delegation to the ILO. The final text of this message is the January 22nd statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney calling for full labor rights and the implementation of ILO conventions in Iraq, together with an introduction by the USLAW coordinators. We in the OWC Continuations Committee fully support this initiative, and we call on all our supporters across the United States and internationally to endorse the labor delegation to the ILO and, if possible, to make a financial contribution to ensure the success of the delegation. You will find the endorsement/support coupon toward the end of this message. Thanks, as always, for your support, In Solidarity, Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin, For the OWC Continuations Committee San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) 2) Letter From Luc Deley to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE
Re: an old list member (offlist)
A couple of years ago, I was in touch with a PEN-L list member whose first name was Cristobal. I have lost his email address due to Sun server problems, and I wonder if you could find him and tell me who he is. We had agreed that if I make it up to Manhattan, we'd get together for lunch. I am planning a trip for Easter, and I would like to get a hold of him. Thank you, Joanna
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Bill Lear wrote: So, our chains become part of us, and attempts to break the chains therefore hurt? They not only become part of us, they made us. Doug So, before the chains, there was nothing? -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/ * Committee for Justice in Palestine: http://www.osudivest.org/ * Al-Awda-Ohio: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio * Solidarity: http://www.solidarity-us.org/
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
--- Bill Lear [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Monday, February 9, 2004 at 10:28:36 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes: ... Or, if you want to take it further, there's Judith Butler's argument - rooted in that silly doctrine called psychoanalysis - that subjects are formed in subjection (through deference to authority figures, like parents, and their successors, like language and law), and that attitude of deference to authority persists through life, for fear of the disintegration of the subject. So, our chains become part of us, and attempts to break the chains therefore hurt? Bill ...the drive for freedom inherent in human nature, while it can be corrupted and suppressed, tends to assert itself again and again. Eric Fromm I see humans (and most humans are workers at this stage in history) as having an instinct for freedom. According to my reading of Freud, this instinct is repressed in order to maintain civilization i.e. whatever class society exists at the moment. Fromm says the majority, need the myths and idols to endure... They learn, through their upbringing, to give over their own power to authorities outside themselves. Of course, when it is a mutually beneficial relation as say between a student wanting to learn Spanish and a teacher who want to teach Spanish, the authority increases the person's freedom. This is *not* what I mean by authoritarianism. The relation all too often goes the other way though--authority is imposed in order to cultivate a subservient psychology in the individual. Further, as Marx pointed out in the fetishism of commodities section of CAPITAL V.I, producers are imbued with a kind of upside-down thinking pattern in societies dominated by commodity production or reified thinking as Lukacs would have it. Freud would say that they are *born* to do this, it's biological and therefore, the revolt against civilization is narcissistic/futile and those who are infected with dicontent have neuroses : they need to undergo psychoanalysis in order to get them back on track, to conform with the mainstream i.e. the dominant ideology. Poor Siggy, living in the soon to be annexed Austria. But as Fromm pointed out, The criticism of democratic society should not be that people are too selfish; this is true but it is only a consequence of something else. What democracy has not succeeded in is to make the individual love himself; that is, to have a deep sense of affirmation for his individual self, with all his intellectual, emotional, and sensual potentialities. A puritan-protestant inheritance of self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the individual to the demands of production and profit, have made for conditions from which Fascism could spring. The readiness for submission, the perversion of courage which is attracted by the image of war and self-annihilation, is only possible on the basis of a - largely unconscious - desperation, stifled by martial songs and shouts for the Führer. The individual who has ceased to love himself is ready to die as well as to kill. The problem of our culture, if it is not to become a fascist one, is not that there is too much selfishness but that there is no self-love. The aim must be to create those conditions which make it possible for the individual to realise his freedom, not only in a formal sense, but by asserting his total personality in his intellectual, emotional, sensual qualities. This freedom is not the rule of one part of the personality over another part - conscience over nature, Super-Ego over Id - but the integration of the whole personality and the factual expression of all the potentialities of this integrated personality. Regards, Mike B) = Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen. Norman Mailer http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Stan Goff Haiti journal
Haiti: (Counter)Revolutionary Bicentennial from Stan Goff February 9, 2004 As I write this there is a civil war beginning in Haiti, engineered in the United States of America and supported by its lapdogs in Caricom and the Organization of American States. Former Haitian military men who have received some form of training and logistical support while hiding out in the neighboring US colony, the Dominican Republic, are systematically attacking the Haitian National Police at primary strategic points along the entire route from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Border near Ouanaminthe. Only Cap Haitien has not fallen so far as St Marc, Gonaives, and Trou du Nord at a key bridge between the border and Cap Haitien has been ransacked by right-wing paramilitaries who are the armed wing of a US-funded opposition that cloaks itself in the name Convergence Democratique. If the legitimately elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide fails to take aggressive action to recapture these cities, there may be a successful coup within days. While the tactical target of this paramilitary action is the Aristide government, the political target is as it always has been the popular sovereignty of the Haitian masses. It is a tragic irony that this situation has developed this far on the bicentennial of the heroic Haitian Revolution, and that it is being led by an imperial power that wants to annihilate popular sovereignty wherever it raises its head. To help the reader understand what is going on there, I am inserting my journal from the last Aristide inauguration, and I will make some comments afterward: FEAR AND LOATHING IN HAITI A journal of Aristides inauguration January 16-February 9, 2001 Stan Goff In Port-au-Prince I spend three days, January 16-18, at Hotel Ife. If I believed in zombiesthat favored American obsession about HaitiI will have found them here in the doddering, light-skinned matriarch and her stunned-looking, slow-motion staff. Like every place in the Caribbean, but especially here, there seems to be a perpetual stalemate in the battle with decay. Water damage stains the ceilings. The wiring is precariously exposed. A little spider has found a haven in the corner of the windowsill, where no dust-rag, no broom ever quite reaches. Electricity is rationed, available only from 5:30 PM to 4:00 AM. Street noises invade throughout the night. Motorcycles, evangelists with loudspeakers, little brass bands, roosters even here in the comparative affluence of Petionville. My walls are painted a nauseating green. The street is my refuge. The inept pretensions of Haitis third-string bourgeoisie, here in the streets at least, are diffused, swallowed up by the frenetic culture of survival that animates these byways, the chaos of the pure market, of truly primitive accumulation. Here is a cornucopia of commodities, fruits, breads, soaps, cigarettes, plastic shoes, cheap watches, steaming food, sold right on the sidewalk out of bowls and baskets. Here are trash, skiddish animals foraging in filth, and a wild-west intermixing of foot and vehicle traffic. Pure utility without the sophisticated façade we associate with the chimera of development. full: http://www.marxmail.org/Haiti.htm Louis Proyect Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
The Truth About the Reagan Deficits
The Truth About the Reagan Deficits Washington Post By Linda BilmesTuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A23 The Bush budget announced last week shows revenue falling some $500 billion short of projected spending. Is this a cause for alarm, or is it true that, as Vice President Cheney reportedly asserted, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter"? Fans of Reaganomics note that former President Ronald Reagan's spending spree followed a formula similar to President Bush's: tax cuts combined with a major boost in defense spending. The current Bush deficit is equal to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product. The Reagan deficits grew beyond 5 percent. The aftermath in the 1990s was not a fiscal train wreck but rather a sustained economic boom that enabled President Bill Clinton to balance the budget and even to generate a surplus by 2000. Bush is hoping the nation will outgrow its recent deficits as we did last time around. Unfortunately, history is not about to repeat itself. The ability to recover from the 1980s deficits was the result of three historical "flukes" that happened at the same time: a huge demographic bulge, an extremely strong dollar and a sudden peace dividend. The first fluke was the baby boom. When Reagan took office, the boomer generation had already entered the workforce and was approaching peak earning years. Those peak earning years turned into peak spending years. Savings dropped, consumer credit rose and boomers snapped up new cars, cool appliances and second homes as if the good times would never end. While the affluent workforce swelled, the percentage of the population aged 65 and above stayed steady. By 2000 it had inched up to 12.4 percent of the population from 11.3 percent 20 years earlier. Consequently, there were more high-earning workers to support a fairly stable number of retirees. This enabled Congress to increase the amount of "entitlement" payments (Social Security and Medicare) and to leave eligibility criteria intact. The contrast with the upcoming 20 years is stark. By 2020 the over-65 percentage of the population will have grown to more than 16 percent while the working-age population will have declined. The fastest growth is among the very elderly (those over 85). Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs (such as veterans' benefits) already account for more than half of federal spending. On top of this, the Bush administration has added a hugely expensive prescription drug benefit for the elderly. If no changes are made to eligibility for the programs, they will, by 2020, gobble up virtually all federal tax revenue. The extremely strong dollar during the post-Reagan era also is unlikely to be repeated. Reagan's tax cuts in 1981 came at a time of double-digit interest rates and tight monetary policies. In the 1990s overseas investors had a voracious appetite for U.S. stocks and bonds that fueled demand for the dollar and made it easy to finance the deficit. The stock market soared, making boomers feel they could have it both ways -- swelling 401(k) plans and a new Mercedes in the driveway. Today the mood is more sober. Foreign investors' love affair with the United States is over. With short-term interest rates lower than they have been in a half-century, the dollar is weak and getting weaker. At the same time the Treasury will have to find buyers for an ever-increasing supply of bonds to fund the deficit. Finally, the nature of the military buildup under Reagan was very different from the current war on terrorism. There is one similarity in that, then as now, U.S. intelligence failed to predict events. In 1980 almost no one outside the Soviet Union foresaw the coming collapse of the "evil empire." But it happened -- presenting President Clinton with the opportunity to cut back the size of the military and to plow that "peace dividend" into balancing the budget. Looking ahead at the continuing war on terrorism, the amorphous nature of al Qaeda, the cost of rebuilding Iraq and the continued homeland security challenges confronting the United States, it would be foolhardy to count on this kind of peace dividend again. So the likelihood is of red ink spreading as far as the eye can see. And the knife twists even further. Conventional calculations of the budget deficit include the money being paid into Social Security today. Because there are currently more working-age contributors than claimants, the Social Security account is in "surplus." Strip that out and the true underlying deficit is more like $720 billion than the $521 billion quoted in this week's speeches. The policy options all are politically difficult: canceling the Bush tax cuts; cutting defense costs; exiting Iraq and Afghanistan quickly; increasing the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare, and negotiating with the drug companies to require lower prices for Medicare drugs (as Europeans and Canadians have done for decades). But as in a 12-step program, the most important
Re: Tuxedo Park (was Skull Bones)
I think that it spills over into the real sector as well. On Mon, Feb 09, 2004 at 06:55:12PM -0500, Max B. Sawicky wrote: Parasitic finance!! mbs -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 6:02 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Tuxedo Park (was Skull Bones) In a way, the Skull and Bones/Loomis gap is similar to the dichotomy between real and financial capital. Economic strength is increased by those who develop the technology and drained by those who live by nepotism and connections. Both factors are important. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: The economy - a new era?
Teddy Kennedy? Ralph Nader? On Mon, Feb 09, 2004 at 06:57:49PM -0500, Max B. Sawicky wrote: Wasn't it Jimmy Carter who did a number on airlines and trucking? Anybody remember Alfred Kahn? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
--- Marvin Gandall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And if you want to take it even further -- that capitalism has been able to deliver, despite episodic crises, a modest but steady improvement in living standards and working conditions for the mass of Western wage- and salary-earners, despite Marx's belief that it had exhausted its historic potential a century and a half ago and would produce only increasing immiseration. I think that we see a lot of this immiseration around us and in the world at large (just look at the posts on PEN-L), if not on the sidewalks of urban centres of cities without safety nets, where capitalism's casualties push shopping carts full of cans and clothes. I personally think that neither Marx nor Engels thought that capitalism had reached the end of its trail or *would* reach it, until the workers became class conscious enough to see that the system had outlived any usefulness for them. Unfortunately, they hadn't been exposed to discoveries which would later be made, concerning the psychodynamics of dominance and submission. This is not to say that they were not hopeful as they sifted through the historical acts of revolt against the dominations of their day e.g. the Paris Commune. It's reasonable to expect that a reversal of this historic trend, especially if abrupt, would be accompanied by a radically changed psychology, with few exceptions, among friends, neighbours, relatives, and co-workers desperate to recover their lost jobs, homes, and income. We caught a glimpse of the relationship between economic (in)security and personal and political psychology during the Great Depression through World War II until the system righted itself. I agree with this emphasis, Marvin. From what I have been able to observe in my life, it has been the existential shocks which have disrupted the ossified, psychological response patterns of everyday life. I remember the December, 1972 bombing of Hanoi harbours and the almost instananeous reaction of people to take to the streets to protest it. Hanoi's harbours were full of Chinese and Soviet ships back then. During that bried moment in time, people were discussing possibilities that everything could change. What was passing for normalcy was being called into question, big time. Best, Mike B) Doug Henwood wrote: Or, if you want to take it further, there's Judith Butler's argument - rooted in that silly doctrine called psychoanalysis - that subjects are formed in subjection (through deference to authority figures, like parents, and their successors, like language and law), and that attitude of deference to authority persists through life, for fear of the disintegration of the subject. Mike Ballard wrote: Why *don't* the proles revolt? After all, capitalism is way past its use-by date by now. That's demonstrated on this list daily by the countless, excellent news articles posted. Could this condition originate in a conservative psychological character structure rooted in the upbringing of individuals within societies where the monogamous-paternalistic family, private property and the State permeate social relations? = Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen. Norman Mailer http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Social Security Reform to Drive Up Debt -White House
Social Security Reform to Drive Up Debt -White House By Adam Entous Reuters 2/9/2004 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's economic advisers said on Monday adding personal retirement accounts to Social Security would send the nation's debt soaring over the next three decades. Tapping the bond markets to pay for private accounts proposed by Bush's Social Security Commission would increase the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio by 23.6 percentage points by 2036, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said in its annual Economic Report of the President. Democratic critics said there could be dire economic consequences for letting the debt-to-GDP ratio rise from this year's 38.6 percent to as high as 62.2 percent -- a nearly two-thirds increase to the highest level recorded since the early 1950s in the aftermath of World War II. Under this scenario, the debt held by the public would increase by as much as $4.7 trillion. But the new government bonds would be repaid 20 years later, eliminating Social Security's unfunded liability while reducing the tax burden in the long term, advocates say. "The economic report illustrates that the long-term fiscal position of the government would improve if Social Security reform were enacted," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, who insisted Bush has yet to settle on a plan to reform the retirement system or on a means to finance it. The Council of Economic Advisers said increasing borrowing to finance the transition to private accounts was not a problem from an economic perspective. While the deficit would increase initially, it would fall as the reforms are phased in. At its peak in 2022, the incremental deficit increase would be less than 1.6 percent of gross domestic product, they said. By comparison, Bush is projecting this fiscal year's deficit at 4.5 percent of GDP and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 38.6 percent. "Since the budget surpluses forecasted a few years ago have not materialized, critics argue that adding personal retirement accounts to Social Security is impossible or impractical," the report said. "In reality, the need to add resources to the Social Security system is no less pressing now that the surpluses have disappeared; indeed, it may be even more so." UNDER FIRE OVER DEFICITS Bush is already under fire over record deficits, expected to reach $521 billion this year alone, and Democrats have warned that the nation's mounting debt load could become a drag on economic growth. A senior Democratic congressional aide warned the debt would push up interest rates. While it may be designed to save Social Security in the long run, the aide warned, "The patient may be dead by then." Gregory Mankiw, who chairs the White House council, acknowledged persistent budget deficits "do tend to raise interest rates. ... That is one of the reasons why getting the budget deficit down is an important priority." Though Republicans who control the U.S. Congress see little chance of passing Social Security reform in a presidential election year, the estimates could revive debate over Bush's plan to let workers redirect a portion of their payroll taxes into personal stock or bond accounts. Under the model analyzed by the Council of Economic Advisers, workers could voluntarily redirect 4 percent of their payroll taxes up to $1000 annually to a personal account. Bond proceeds would make up for diverted payroll tax funds and shore up the Social Security system. Bush opposes raising taxes or requiring additional contributions from workers. The bonds would be gradually paid off using future savings from Social Security as benefits growth slowed. But Buchan said: "We've made no decisions about how the transition to personal accounts would be financed." Bush advisers had once hoped to use budget surpluses, projected in 2000 at $5.6 trillion over 10 years, to fund the transition period. Today, the White House expects the budget shortfall to total $1.35 trillion through 2009 and government debt to rise from $8.1 trillion to $10.5 trillion, forcing Bush's economic advisers to look at alternatives. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Mike Ballard wrote: I see humans (and most humans are workers at this stage in history) as having an instinct for freedom. According to my reading of Freud, this instinct is repressed in order to maintain civilization i.e. whatever class society exists at the moment. This was stated with much more force in Rousseau. Plus, in Rousseau you didn't get all sorts of nonsense about interpreting dreams, etc. potentialities. A puritan-protestant inheritance of self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the individual to the demands of production and profit, have made for conditions from which Fascism could spring. I wasn't aware that Spain, Portugal and Italy were particularly puritan-protestant. -- The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Popular issues and mass work
I agree with tom (as usual). There is enormous **agitational** value
behind
the films Jim forwarded. I have already used them to good effect today.
Now of course in terms of advancing theory they may be of limited
value. But the fact that they are enjoyable should not be held against
them. Just for once in our lives can't we Marxists have fun while we
smite
the enemy.
Being boring isn't always the best way forward you know!
regards
Gary
You know the old definition of a Puritan: Someone who lives with the
haunting fear, in abject terror, that somehow, someone, somehow, might
be having a good time. I wonder if that might apply to some
self-described Marxists as well.
Serious is doing one's homework (Al Gore was a journalist in an
abbreviated tour in Vietnam kept under relatively safe conditions, but
nonetheless did volunteer to go and as an enlisted man although he would
have been qualified for OCS--for the same reason as Kerry as a
credential for future political office he was already plotting to go
after; Kerry was a swift boat commander in the brown water navy--a
river rat) and serious is taking causes that matter to people (but may
not matter much in the scheme of things) and turning them into issues
that do matter. For example, this issue with Bush and the Guard opens up
all sorts of other issues (class privilege, those who send men and women
to war never see their own kids go, the class system and how the right
to life is determined by class privilege, hypocrisy as Bush was active
at Yale promoting the Vietnam War, the real nature and interests of the
Vietnam War and parallels with Iraq, etc etc). I can't tell you how many
veterans I know who are now reading Marx, and at first there would have
been no way, but starting with an issue they knew and cared about, they
were taken to whole new issues (the contradictions and imperatives of
capitalism, imperialism, no glory in being a tool of imperialism etc,
throwaway{ vets who get used up, marched in some bullshit parrade and
then thrown away etc) and levels of consciousness about the system, who
runs it, what their real roles were in it etc.
I'll use whatever hook I can find. If I start out with the 18th
Brumaire or State and Revolution, of the value-price transformation
problem all I get is what the fuck are you talking about and what does
it matter to me?
Too often we see leftists talking to themselves, in language they
themselves can barely understand, about cloistered or esoteric issues,
leading to no one or nothing on the mass level. That is exactly what
the Man wants: talking around and above the masses about issues that
matter only to a few rather than starting with issues that do matter and
them taking those issues, step-by-step, to a whole new level linking the
popular issues with others typically discussed at other cloistered
levels. It is a step-by-step process and there are few shortcuts.
The Philosopher's have only interpreted the world in various ways; the
point, however, is to change it.
Karl Marx, 11th Thesis on Feuerbach, inscription on the tomb of Karl
Marx at Highgate cemetary, London,
Jim C.
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
James Devine wrote: most psychology -- including Freudian psychoanalysis -- is extremely individualistic, especially in practice. Or it focuses on the behavior and/or consciousness of the average person in society... Kleinian psychoanalysis isn't individualistic if you mean by this has little room for finding the source of psychopathology in social relations. Though it gives a significant role to constitutional factors (particularly in the case of schizophrenia, manic depression and autism), it emphasizes the role of social relations. This also provides the basis for the notion of an average individual type (e.g. a type dominated by greed) since common relations will generate a common type (this is the central implication of the relational concept of essence spelled out in the sixth thesis on Feuerbach). Keynes's economics (a) gives a significant role to irrational psychology in the determination of economic behaviour and (b) most derives its understands this irrational psychology from psychoanalysis. I think (a) is true of Marx's economics as well. In Marx, it derives from the sublation of German idealism, specifically of the role Hegel gives to the passions in his account of the the historical process through which mind develops to rationality. Ted
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Mike writes: I think that we see a lot of this immiseration around us and in the world at large (just look at the posts on PEN-L), if not on the sidewalks of urban centres of cities without safety nets, where capitalism's casualties push shopping carts full of cans and clothes. at least in CA, some of the homeless are more than just victims of capitalism. There's an additional twist. They are victims of Governor Reagan-era de-institutionalization, a result of an unholy alliance of right-wing and liberal anti-psychiatric feelings. People were dumped out of mental institutions, while the promised community support network was never financed. Now, of course, many are being re-institutionalized, receiving treatment in prison. Meanwhile, Reagan gets luxury treatment as the Fried Prince of Bel-Air. Jim Devine
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
I have nothing to contribute about the complexities of psychoanalysis, but I do think that the subject bears some relevance here. I think that different psychological types are drawn into specific political/economic modes of reasoning. We left economists had not been very successful in learning how to explain ourselves in ways that appeal to the consciousness of people who are conditioned to think otherwise. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
I wrote: most psychology -- including Freudian psychoanalysis -- is extremely individualistic, especially in practice. Or it focuses on the behavior and/or consciousness of the average person in society... Ted W. writes: Kleinian psychoanalysis isn't individualistic if you mean by this has little room for finding the source of psychopathology in social relations. Though it gives a significant role to constitutional factors (particularly in the case of schizophrenia, manic depression and autism), it emphasizes the role of social relations. This also provides the basis for the notion of an average individual type (e.g. a type dominated by greed) since common relations will generate a common type (this is the central implication of the relational concept of essence spelled out in the sixth thesis on Feuerbach). I said _most_ psychology. I really don't know anything about Melanie Klein's work. Keynes's economics (a) gives a significant role to irrational psychology in the determination of economic behaviour and (b) most derives its understands this irrational psychology from psychoanalysis. I didn't know the second part. I think (a) is true of Marx's economics as well. In Marx, it derives from the sublation of German idealism, specifically of the role Hegel gives to the passions in his account of the the historical process through which mind develops to rationality. my impression is that Marx's vision of psychology was mostly descriptive, though he did learn a lot from the Aristotelian tradition of the ideal happy and moral human life in society (the opposite of alienation). Jim D.
Reading the Beijing People's Daily: We know your weakness, you know our strength
According to a report by United Morning News, the Japanese government decided to reduce economic aid to China to 100 billion Yen in line with the new fiscal year budget of Japanese Ministry of Finance. The reason given was that the Chinese economy was growing strong. This was the most shabby gesture made by Japan over the last three years when Japan began cutting back economic aid to China. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/08/eng20040208_134223.shtml Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan reiterated China's stance on the Taiwan issue Tuesday in Beijing, saying Chinese people themselves are more eager than any other to realize the peaceful reunification of China. (...) Feith agreed with Cao's evaluation of Sino-US relations and the defense consultation mechanism. He said: After our serious discussion on key issues including the Korean nuclear issue, the Taiwan issue and Military Maritime Consultative Agreement, we believed that the two sides share common interests on many important international issues. On the Taiwan issue, he stressed that to safeguard the peace of the Taiwan Straits is in the interests of the two sides. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/10/eng20040210_134471.shtml While the United States is restricting the export of Hi-tech products to China and tightening the visa release to the United State, the European Union is rapidly strengthening its trade and diplomatic ties with China. The Wall Street Journal published an article last weekend warning the US not to surrender its market in China to EU. The article points out now the Europeans are more interested in China than ever before. The enterprises invested by European Union in China have come to 2,000 now while that of the US investment has numbered only around 4,000 in total. Nevertheless, the investment of European Union is increasing at a rate of 40 percent - two times that of the United States. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/10/eng20040210_134423.shtml A car bombing attack hit a police station south of Baghdad Tuesday, killing some 50 people and wounding dozens of others, witnesses and TV reports said. A hospital source said that the death toll of the bombing can be as high as around 50, but the figure cannot immediately be confirmed. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/10/eng20040210_134466.shtml Recently, the call for lifting the arms embargo on China by European countries is heard much louder. From June 2003 to recent days, France, Germany, Italy and Holland have issued statements one after another, appealing for taking off the arms embargo on China as soon as possible. Pushed by many member countries, the European Union (EU) started to take action. In October 2003, the EU signed with China the Galileo program, the Civil Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), making the first step toward lifting arms embargo on China. In the second half of January 2004, EU Foreign Ministers Meeting discussed nullifying the arms embargo on China regardless of American opposition. It was the first time that the EU re-examined the ban on arms sales to China over the past 15 years. The US government immediately released a string of strong protests. On January 28. 2004, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted that the United States does not agree to lift the arms embargo on China and expressed the hope that the EU and the United States maintain the military sanction against China. With regard to French President Jacques Chirac's remark that arms embargo on China has ceased to have any sense today, Boucher said: As for the United States, our laws and rules ban the sales of military supplies to China. We believe other parties should also maintain the current embargo. In addition, US officials also said that the EU transfer of military technology to China will constitute a threat to the national security of the United States and will also lead to an imbalance of military forces across the Taiwan Straits. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/09/eng20040209_134333.shtml Jurriaan
And more on Bush's military record
-Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Devine, James Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 5:03 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L] more on Bush's military record see http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003220.html A letter sent to Department of Defense by a buzzflash reader just after the last election: RE: Desertion Department of Defense The Pentagon Washington, D.C. 20301-1900 To whom it may concern: Recently, I was made aware of allegations concerning several violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) by George W. Bush during the Vietnam War. The alleged acts include being Absent Without Leave (UCMJ Article 86) for a period of more than a year from his National Guard assignments in Texas and Alabama. According to the UCMJ, a person who is AWOL for more than 30 days with evidence of no intent to return to duty is guilty of Desertion. (UCMJ Article 85) To understand the gravity of this offense, one need only read the section 4.9.5 e. of Article 85, which states that the maximum punishment for desertion in a time of war (3), is, Death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct. As far as I am aware, George W. Bush has never received any punishment for these alleged crimes, nor has he ever been charged. When I read about these allegations in national media outlets including, but not limited to; The Boston Globe(1), The Washington Post(2), The Birmingham News(3), and The Dallas Morning News(4), I decided to call the Department of Defense to find out what the Statute of Limitations was for these crimes. I was informed that because of the nature of the crimes; deserting one's country during a time of war, that there is NO statute of limitations, and these crimes, if proven, can still be prosecuted today. The purpose of this correspondence is to make a formal written complaint with circumstantial and documentary evidence of George W. Bush's violations of the UCMJ. Since he is the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, the details of his past service or lack thereof, are of particular interest to the American people. DETAILS: From May to November 1972, George W. Bush was living in Alabama working on the US senate campaign of Winton Blount and was required to attend drills with the Air National Guard unit in Montgomery, Alabama. There is no record that he attended any drills whatsoever. Additionally, General William Turnipseed (r) who was commander of the unit at that time has stated in interviews that he never saw Bush report for duty. On September 5, 1972, Bush had requested permission to perform duty for September, October, and November at the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery. Permission was granted, and Bush was ordered to report to General William Turnipseed. In interviews, Turnipseed, and his administrative officer at the time, Kenneth K. Lott, have stated that they had no memory of Bush ever reporting. Seven months later, at Ellington Air Force Base in Texas, Bush's two superior officers were unable to complete his annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973 because, Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report. Both superior officers, who are now dead, and also Ellington's top personnel officer at the time, mistakenly concluded that Bush served his final year of service in Alabama. Bush returned to live in Texas after the senatorial election in November, 1972, so this is obviously not true. According to the records available from the National Guard, the period between May 1972 and May 1973 remains unaccounted for. George W. Bush himself has refused to answer questions about this period in his life, other than to state that he fulfilled all of his National Guard commitments. If this were true, why is there no record of him fulfilling these commitments at either of his posts in Texas or Alabama? Why is there not one commanding officer that can come forward and state unequivocally that Bush reported for duty? If the allegations are true that Bush deserted his country during a time of war, this is one of the gravest offenses one can commit against their country, short of treason. This is why there is no Statute of Limitations concerning these crimes. My father served proudly as a field surgeon in Vietnam, and it distresses me greatly that a person could use his family's influence and power to not only avoid the draft for service, but then to not fulfill the duties that he was assigned in substitute for serving in Vietnam. These crimes are not to be taken lightly, and I believe that all men and women who serve America proudly would be shocked that a soldier was allowed to abuse the system in the way that George W. Bush allegedly has. These charges warrant investigation, and until a satisfactory record of Bush's service is produced, I can only assume that Bush did indeed desert his country in a time of war. I implore you to investigate these
Of Pole-vaulting politicians, decisions and responsibilities: the view from Haaretz and Al Jazeera
Israel's National Security Adviser Giora Eiland, who has been put in charge of the disengagement plan, is in good company. His American counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, also hasn't got a clue where Ariel Sharon is going. People who have lately met with Dov Weisglass, the prime minister's right-hand man, are reminded of what Sharon once said about Benjamin Netanyahu, when the finance minister was prime minister. His left hand doesn't know what his right hand is doing. (...) The completion of the Bantustein plan that would turn the two-state vision into a five-state vision (one state of Israel and four separate Palestinian Bantustans) will have to wait for better days, like after Bush wins reelection to the presidency. On the other hand, the public opinion polls in the U.S. point to the distinct possibility that Sharon will have to give up his special status as a sublet tenant in the White House. Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' favorite, has announced that if elected, he would name Bill Clinton as a special envoy to the Middle East. For his part, Clinton has said that his only indecision about the matter is whether the solution he prefers to our conflict is going to be achieved through the Ayalon-Nusseibeh plan or the Geneva Accord. The better Kerry's position, the greater Sharon's appetite for a deal with Bush. He knows that in the U.S. agreements made with outgoing administrations are kept by incoming administrations. Sharon's problem is that he hasn't decided what exactly he wants, and Bush's advisers are trying to keep him away from any meetings that smack of the Middle East. Complete article: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/392463.html The Palestinian leadership is examining the possibility of declaring an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The move is in response to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. The leadership is examining many ideas and options to respond to Sharon's plan, Yasir Abd Rabbu, a member of the PLO executive committee, told reporters on Monday. One of the options was for the Palestinian Authority to declare itself the authority representing the independent Palestinian state within the 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as its capital, said Abd Rabbu, who was also the chief Palestinian architect of the unofficial Geneva Initiative peace plan. It would then demand recognition from the United Nations and the international community, the former information minister said. We cannot wait for Sharon to put his plans into action, we must respond beforehand. Sharon has warned he will begin implementing a series of unilateral measures within the next few months if there is no progress in the peace process with the Palestinians. The disengagement plan envisages a pullout from most of the Gaza Strip but not the West Bank to which many Gaza settlers may be relocated. But the Palestinians say Israel must evacuate all of the occupied territories. Abd Rabbu said the Israeli plan was aimed at turning Palestinian areas into ghettos and usurping the rest of the territories. Sharon's declarations about the evacuation of the settlements are a deception and are designed to act as a cover for his racist separation plan. The Palestinians last threatened to unilaterally declare an independent state in September 2000 - the date fixed by one of a number of interim peace accords for a final settelment - but veteran leader Yasir Arafat renounced the move under international pressure. After a meeting chaired by Arafat in January, the leadership issued a statement saying that it believes it has the right under international law and signed accords to work towards the creation of a democratic state in all territories occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital. Complete article: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7860FF20-AE56-4ED0-A08D-7A302830B5FF. htm Darling you gotta let me know Should I stay or should I go? If you say that you are mine I'll be here 'til the end of time So you got to let know Should I stay or should I go? Always tease, tease, tease You're happy, when I'm on my knees One day is fine, next is black So if you want me off your back Well come on, and let me know Should I Stay, or should I go? Should I stay, or should I go now? Should I stay, or should I go now? If I go, there will be trouble An' if I stay, it will be double So come on, and let me know This indecision's bugging me Esta indecision me molesta If you don't want me, set me free Si no me quieres, librame Exactly who'm I'm supposed to be Digame quien tengo ser Don't you know, which clothes even fit me? Sabes que ropas me queda? Come on and let me know Me tienes que decir Should I cool it, or should I blow? Me debo ir o quedarme? Should I stay, or should I go now? Me entra frio por los ojos (y es verdad) If I go there will be trouble Si me voy va a haber peligro And if I stay, it will be double Si me quedo va a ser doble So you gotta let me know Me tienes que decir Should I stay, or
Feb 15: Women Demand Morning-After Pill Over-the-Counter
ACTION: Feminists Pledge to Break the Law! Women Demand Morning-After Pill Over-the-Counter NOW! In Gainesville, FL Sunday February 15, @11am Meet in front of the Civic Media Center (1021 W University Ave) In New York City, NY Sunday February 15, @1pm Rockefeller Plaza on 5th Ave, near 49th st. If not in FL or NY, hold a press conference and give out the Morning-After Pill with other women. Contact us, we can try to help you with press release and publicity samples. In the tradition of Margaret Sanger, who broke the law to give women birth control when it was illegal, feminists will gather on February 15th (the day after Valentine's Day) to defy the prescription requirement and give their friends the Morning-After Pill. Over 300 women have signed the pledge to give a friend the morning-after pill on this day, including Kim Gandy, President of NOW; Patricia Ireland, former President of NOW; Byllye Avery, founder of the National Black Women's Health Project and the Gainesville Women's Health Center; women's liberation movement veteran Carol Giardina; the Feminist Majority's Ellie Smeal; and writer and feminist Katha Pollitt. With less than two weeks until FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan-a right wing Bush appointee-decides whether this safe, effective, essential method of birth control will be sold over-the-counter, women across the country are uniting to pressure the FDA. Please join us for the passing of the pills and a speak out about why we need the morning-after pill over-the-counter NOW. Women who pass or recieve the Morning-After Pill dose will be conducting civil disobedience, but if you come to watch and support them - you are not breaking the law. We women will wait no longer. For more information contact Stephanie at 352-380-9934 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or in NYC contact Alex 212-989-2109. To add your name to the Give Your Friend the Morning-After Pill pledge email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
draft
Pending bill to reinstate the draft. The DRAFT $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. SSS must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the SSS Annual Performance Plan - Fiscal Year 2004. The Pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a long, hard slog in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on terrorism] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft. www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and H.R. 163 forward this year, entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. These active bills currently sit in the Committee on Armed Services. Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era remember. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the US signed a Smart Border Declaration, which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Manley, and US Homeland Security Director, Gov. Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a pre-clearance agreement of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year. ** *This article by Adam Stutz is from the What's Hot Off the Press column of the newsletter of Project Censored, a media research group at Sonoma State University that tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list (more than 20 years running) of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported, or self-censored by the country's major national news media. The mission of Project Censored is to educate people about the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and to tell The News That Didn't Make the News and why. What's Hot Off the Press includes student synopses of articles currently being investigated for inclusion in the next Project Censored report. For more info and/or to receive Project Censored's newsletter, go to www.projectcensored.org http://www.projectcensored.org http://www.projectcensored.org or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] FYI a Google search using S -89 indicates that Senator Hollings has introduced a bill to reinstate the draft. -- --- IMPEACHMENT: BRING IT ON! -- Purge the White House of mad cowboy disease. -- END OF THE TRAIL SALOON Alternate Sundays 6-8am GMT (10pm-midnight PDT) http://www.kvmr.org I uke, therefore I am. -- Cool Hand Uke I log on, therefore I seem to be. -- Rodd Gnawkin I claim, therefore you believe. -- Dan Ratherthan Visit Cool Hand Uke's Lava Tube: http://www.coolhanduke.com
Another brick in the wall: 7 points on how US imperialism promotes terrorism and lawlessness in the Middle East (slightly expanded version)
1. ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION BUILT WITH AMERICAN AND FRENCH AID Peter Preston said in The Guardian on December 22, 2003 that the Israeli nuclear arsenal makes it the world's fifth largest nuclear power, boasting more bangs from Washington's bucks than Blair's Britain, and over in the other WMD basket, nobody much dissents when a report by the office of technology assessment for the US Congress concludes that Israel has 'undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities' and is 'generally reported as having an undeclared offensive biological warfare programme'. Bombs, missiles, delivery systems, gases, germs? Tel Aviv has the lot. Nevertheless the US propaganda machine goes into hysteria about WMD in Iraq and Iran which don't even exist, and stupid Americans believe that. Of course, if you have military superiority, it's easy to comment on the weaknesses of the opponent. But military superiority isn't everything; if it was, the conflict in Israel-Palestine would be solved by now. In fact, more bucks for bangs and more bangs for bucks may make the problems worse. People do not resort to terrorism unless they don't think that they can win anything in any other way. This simply point is mystified by the Axis of evil theory. Israel can actually borrow more money on the basis of financial assurances from the US Government, and uses that money for its own weapons industry which exports weapons to countries all over the world. Thus, the US Government is actually assisting the destabilisation of world politics and assisting world militarisation by financing the Israeli weapons industry. It has no politics, it has only guns and money. 2. THE SUBSIDISATION OF ISRAELI LAWLESSNESS: THE INSANITY OF AMERICAN MURDER AID The foreign aid that Israel receives from the United States will be reduced by about $15 million this year, following Congress's decision to make an across-the-board 0.59 percent cut to every budgetary line item. The US Senate approved the foreign aid bill, which includes the annual $2.68 billion grant to Israel. But because of the across-the-board retrenchment cut, this is $15 million less than Israel had expected. The money will be transferred to Israel in the next few weeks, after President George W. Bush signs the bill into law. Why bother saying this ? Because lousy justice costs a hell of a lot of money, I can vouch for that personally. According to Israel's agreement with the USA, it receives its entire aid package at the start of the year, and can spend it immediately. Most other American aid recipients, in contrast, receive their money in several installments spread throughout the year. As always, Israel is the USA's largest official aid recipient this year, with $2.2 billion in military aid and $480 million in civilian aid. Under an agreement signed by Israel and the U.S. in the late 1990s, the CIVILIAN aid package is being gradually REDUCED each year, and will be phased out entirely in 2008, while the MILITARY aid package is INCREASED each year by half the reduction in the civilian aid. Then in addition to its regular aid package, Israel receives some $3 billion in loan guarantees from the US this year, which either do not have to be repayed, or at least not within the initially contracted term. That is a total of US$5.68 billion. It has nothing to do with promoting peace in the world, it promotes more military conflict. The weapons dealers are laughing all the way to the bank, they get government cash extorted from taxpayers who gave no mandate for all this. The best investment is an investment in economic growth which actually get people into jobs making things that improve human life. Socialists argue that capitalism just doesn't create those jobs, and that, apart from sensible politics, economic and human welfare is the best guarantee available for reduction of terrorism. Advocates of capitalism want to reduce the argument to moral issues about who loves the most. Sir Bob Geldof showed just exactly what that means. When Pink Floyd played we don't need no education by the fallen Berlin Wall, people in America cheered. But when the same monstrosity is built in Palestine, it's a sensible policy. This is two-faced. 3. PALESTINIAN SUPPORT FOR SUICIDE BOMBINGS IS IN FACT LOWER RECENTLY A new survey found that Palestinian support for violence and suicide bombings against Israel has dropped sharply. Only 35 percent of respondents support continuing the violence, down from 43 percent in November and 73 percent in November 2000. The poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion surveyed 500 Palestinian adults and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. That is basically a swing from three quarters in favour to two-thirds against. Israel would undoubtedly claim that this is due to its brutal reprisals and tighter security, but I don't think that explains very much, in particular because Israel also attacks and kills Palestinians, in incidents which cannot be
oreo cookie federal budget
[from a student...you may have to wait a bit for the high-bandwidth animation. Diane] www.TrueMajority.org/oreo
Review: Hiding and Seeking (2004)
Hiding and Seeking opens with director Menachem Daum playing a tape for his two sons, who are both Orthodox Jews like him. It is a recording of a Brooklyn rabbi instructing his followers that the only good goyim is a dead goyim. (A goyim is a non-Jew.) Daum asks them for their reaction and is disappointed but not surprised to discover that they sympathize with the rabbi, while viewing their own relationship to the outside non-believing world more in terms of a desire for isolation rather than one based on animosity. Daum not only tells them that this clashes with his own vision of Judaism, but proceeds to spend the rest of this powerful documentary demonstrating that there is goodness in all human beings and that Jews must engage with rest of humanity with compassion. He leads them on a spiritual trek to the Polish countryside where his wife's father and two uncles were hidden in a barn from the Nazis for over two years by Christian farmers. He wants to prove to them that ethical behavior can still be found in the face of general depravity. As long as that spark exists, there is hope for humanity. His sons, who are religious scholars living in Israel, treat the trip as a complete waste of time and speak directly to the camera about how foolish their father is. Eventually they make their way to the farmhouse where Stanislaw and Honorata Mucha, the elderly protectors of the three brothers, still reside. A husband and wife ravaged by old age and a hard life begin to reconstruct the story of how they kept the three brothers in a pit covered by straw suggesting Saddam Hussein's spider-hole in an odd way. Of course, as occupying forces continue to round up Iraqi men with no regard for due process, such comparisons will begin to become less odd--especially when the recent Iron Hammer offensive has the same name as the Nazi Eisenhammer in the USSR. Although stooped into the shape of the number seven, Honorata retains a keen memory of the time of the Nazi occupation, when protecting Jews could result in summary execution. Each night she would bring food out to the brothers, who would ascend from an opening covered by hay. During the long, cold winter months more and more hay would be fed to the horses and cows until only a thin layer remained over the pit. Although I have not seen all of the films that deal with the Judeocide, I can say without reservation that this is the most moving even though it was shot on a modest budget and with a minimum of frills. Unlike most films which document the unremitting horror of the time, Hiding and Seeking dramatizes the willingness of ordinary people to take pity on their fellow human beings and act justly. It is also a film that conveys in an extraordinary way what it means to be Jewish. Menachem Daum has a profound sense of the holiness of the world, even when it is submerged in hatred and exploitation. The central drama of the film consists in his persistent but gentle pressure on his sons to convince them of this. Daum's parents were survivors of Auschwitz who moved to Schenectady after WWII. Seeking to isolate himself from the outside gentile world, his orthodox father moved the family to Brooklyn in the 1950s where a number of Hasidic sects were developing self-sufficient communities. Despite his father's opposition, Daum attended Brooklyn College in the 1960s where he discovered that young people could be motivated by generosity and a love for humanity. He shows footage of a Vietnam antiwar protest to drive this point home. Around this time he came under the influence of the late Shlomo Carlebach, a Hasidic rabbi who launched a congregation on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that challenged conventional Jewish ideas about spirituality and ethics. He was a folk-singer who would energize his services with traditional Hasidic songs mixed with spontaneous recitations of religious fables. On a website devoted to the memory of Shlomo Carlebach, you can find the following quote: After the Six Days War, I was one of the first people to walk into the Old City of Jerusalem. I walked up to every Arab, our cousins, and kissed them. I went to the top politicians in Israel and said, We want to live in peace with the Arabs. As much as we need an army to make war, we need an army to make peace. Give me five thousand free plane tickets to bring holy hipp'lach [hippies] from San Francisco to here. We'll go to every Arab house in the country. We'll bring them flowers and tell them that we want to be brothers with them. Eventually these sorts of statements and Carlebach's unconventional services brought the wrath of the Jewish establishment down on his head. He died in 1994, but his spirit lives on in the work of Menachem Daum. Hiding and Seeking is now playing at the Quad Cinema in NYC. Schedule information can be found at: http://www.quadcinema.com. Hiding and Seeking website: http://www.hidingandseeking.com Shlomo Carlebach Foundation: http://www.rebshlomo.org/ -- The Marxism list:
Re: The economy - a new era?
Alfred Kahn has a new book out -- I'm told, haven't seen it. He's still boasting about the success of airline deregulation. Guess he hasn't been keeping up. He was a director of People Express, oops, that went bankrupt. But so did 400 plus other airlines -- some multiple times. And they keep going bankrupt. That's all to the good, it means competition works. ??? I should stick a little smiley in here. :-) There. But six or eight airlines still have the traffic. Yes, it was Teddy. One of the current Supremes, Stephen Breyer, was the staff leader pushing dereg. He later published a book which was a dumbed down version of Kahn/Freshman micro, with his personal bias added. And, yes, Nader was an early supporter of "competition" -- read "deregulation" but he got it straight later on and opposes electric dereg now. That's better than the economists who supported electric dereg and haven't learned a thing. At Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford. Just typing that list makes me aware of how rigid and powerful are the economists controlling the game. Michael Perelman wrote: Teddy Kennedy? Ralph Nader? On Mon, Feb 09, 2004 at 06:57:49PM -0500, Max B. Sawicky wrote: Wasn't it Jimmy Carter who did a number on airlines and trucking? Anybody remember Alfred Kahn? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: The economy - a new era?
Eugene Coyle wrote: Alfred Kahn has a new book out -- I'm told, haven't seen it. He's still boasting about the success of airline deregulation. Long ago - 10, 12 years - I did a piece on the general experience of dereg. That's when I discovered that the airfares subindex of the CPI had been increasing far faster than the overall CPI, mainly because of quality declines (e.g., tighter purchase restrictions, more stops). Kahn had been quoting the real fare per seat mile measure, which had been going down (though no more quickly than it did pre-dereg). But when I asked him to comment on the behavior of the CPI component, he refused to believe it. Doug
Thinking ahead in retrospective: Bitter Lemons International and the pole of criticism from ex-President Clinton
I've been in enough political fights in my life to know that sometimes you just have to do the right thing -- and it may work out and it may not. Most people thought I had lost my mind when we passed the economic plan to get rid of the deficit in 1993. And no one in the other party voted for it, and they just talked about how it would bring the world to an end and America's economy would be a disaster. I think the only Republican who thought it would work was Alan Greenspan. (Laughter.) He was relieved of the burden of having to say anything about it. Complete article: http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/docs/clinton.php The main concern about current budget positions is that they do not adequately take account of future contingent liabilities tied to age-related spending. These commitments, combined with existing tax and spending arrangements, may be saddling future generations with an unmanageable bill. (...) While the magnitude of the above spending pressures is unquestionably worrying, quantification of the size of the fiscal adjustment required to restore sustainability is fraught with difficulties: - There are different ways to define a long-term condition that has to be satisfied in order to ensure sustainability, and different approaches to estimating the needed fiscal adjustment for any given condition. - Once the methodological approach to assessing sustainability is selected, the long-run projections underpinning scenarios are bound to rest on the assumptions made about potential growth rates, real interest rates, labour market trends and demographics. They are also very sensitive to uncertainty surrounding the starting point. - In a proper sustainability assessment, net rather than gross public debt would be the relevant concept. In some countries (e.g. Finland, Japan, Norway and Sweden), the difference between gross and net debt is very large. But the value of publicly-held assets is uncertain and volatile (especially where, as in Finland, they include large stakes in information and telecommunication companies). A further complication is that simulations often ignore some important feedback effects, in particular the effects of taxation on incentives to work and to save and invest (which depend on the level and mix of taxes) and of the composition of spending (with longer-run value-for-money varying considerably across outlays). Moreover, fiscal sustainability might be achieved on paper but at the cost of politically implausible assumptions. For instance, it might imply pensions at poverty levels or an unsustainable shift of the burden from the current to future generations (such as could be the case when a country decides to go from a pay-as-you-go to a fully-funded pension system). For many OECD countries, the uncertainty associated with these caveats is an extra reason to worry about how sustainable the projected long-term increase in spending commitments is, although the severity of the problem varies considerably across countries: - In Japan, the debt dynamics are potentially explosive with the real interest rate rather high relative to growth. The ratio of gross (as well as net) public debt to GDP is indeed on a sharply rising trend, even under fairly favourable assumptions. Given low potential growth and the spending pressures implied by an old and rapidly ageing society, substantial adjustment measures are needed to restore fiscal sustainability (OECD, 2002a). - In the United States, long-run imbalances in public pensions and health care for the elderly are less severe than in most other OECD countries, thanks to later retirement, immigration and relatively high fertility. Nonetheless, a significant rise in tax rates would be required for future obligations to be financed (OECD, 2002b). Source: OECD Economic Outlook, Dec, 2002
Re: The economy - a new era?/CPI estimations
I thought the use-value-based adjustments in price index calculations are relatively new idea --if they are effectively incorporated ever. Is that what you meant Doug when you referred to the CPI increase due to, for example more stops? When did they start this? Doug Henwood wrote: Eugene Coyle wrote: Alfred Kahn has a new book out -- I'm told, haven't seen it. He's still boasting about the success of airline deregulation. Long ago - 10, 12 years - I did a piece on the general experience of dereg. That's when I discovered that the airfares subindex of the CPI had been increasing far faster than the overall CPI, mainly because of quality declines (e.g., tighter purchase restrictions, more stops). Kahn had been quoting the real fare per seat mile measure, which had been going down (though no more quickly than it did pre-dereg). But when I asked him to comment on the behavior of the CPI component, he refused to believe it. Doug -- E. Ahmet Tonak Simons Rock College of Bard Great Barrington, MA 01230 Phone: 413-528 7488 Homepage: www.simons-rock.edu/~eatonak
Re: The economy - a new era?/CPI estimations
ertugrul ahmet tonak wrote: I thought the use-value-based adjustments in price index calculations are relatively new idea --if they are effectively incorporated ever. Is that what you meant Doug when you referred to the CPI increase due to, for example more stops? When did they start this? No, they've been trying to hold quality constant for a long time - decades, at least since the 60s. The critics of the CPI said the quality adjustments weren't sufficient, however. Doug
Re: The economy - a new era?
Long ago - 10, 12 years - I did a piece on the general experience of dereg. That's when I discovered that the airfares subindex of the CPI had been increasing far faster than the overall CPI, mainly because of quality declines (e.g., tighter purchase restrictions, more stops). Kahn had been quoting the real fare per seat mile measure, which had been going down (though no more quickly than it did pre-dereg). But when I asked him to comment on the behavior of the CPI component, he refused to believe it. Doug for what it's worth, here's the ratio of the airfares CPI to the overall CPI in recent years: 1989106.3 1990113.6 1991113.9 1992110.6 1993123.7 1994125.2 1995124.5 1996122.7 1997124.1 1998125.9 1999131.3 2000139.0 2001135.2 2002128.8 2003125.7 this generally rises until 2000. Falling real airline prices have been a result of 911 and the recession, I'd guess. But the airfares price looks better relative to the price of fuel oil: 1993198.0 1994208.9 1995215.3 1996194.2 1997199.9 1998228.3 1999240.2 2000185.6 2001185.9 2002200.8 2003166.6 Maybe this is what Kahn was thinking of. (all stats from the BLS) Jim Devine
Re: The economy - a new era?
If airline deregulation was not a success, in your view, what do you propose to reregulate? Do you propose to go back to the pre-1978 era, where industry capture was an art form and the CAB actively prevented new entrants and price competition in the name of the public interest? Or do you propose nationalization and a single airline owned by the federal government? David Shemano --- Original Message--- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 2/10/2004 1:12PM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] The economy - a new era? Eugene Coyle wrote: Alfred Kahn has a new book out -- I'm told, haven't seen it. He's still boasting about the success of airline deregulation. Long ago - 10, 12 years - I did a piece on the general experience of dereg. That's when I discovered that the airfares subindex of the CPI had been increasing far faster than the overall CPI, mainly because of quality declines (e.g., tighter purchase restrictions, more stops). Kahn had been quoting the real fare per seat mile measure, which had been going down (though no more quickly than it did pre-dereg). But when I asked him to comment on the behavior of the CPI component, he refused to believe it. Doug
Re: The economy - a new era?
- Original Message - From: David B. Shemano [EMAIL PROTECTED] If airline deregulation was not a success, in your view, what do you propose to reregulate? Do you propose to go back to the pre-1978 era, where industry capture was an art form and the CAB actively prevented new entrants and price competition in the name of the public interest? Or do you propose nationalization and a single airline owned by the federal government? David Shemano Hell, why stop at nationalization; some of the corps. want the WTO to regulate the allocation of routes and landing slots and other stuff not already in GATS transport annex. Just imagine the computer programs for solving all those traveling salesman problems for divvying up market shares. Ian
Re: The economy - a new era?
David B. Shemano wrote: If airline deregulation was not a success, in your view, what do you propose to reregulate? Do you propose to go back to the pre-1978 era, where industry capture was an art form and the CAB actively prevented new entrants and price competition in the name of the public interest? Or do you propose nationalization and a single airline owned by the federal government? The last, of course. I'm thinking something kinda like Aeroflot. I think the burden of proof is on you to show that dereg was a success. The industry is on the verge of going into cumulative loss once again (i.e., all losses in its history exceeding all profits). Scores of airlines have disappeared. Fare increases outpaced inflation from 1979 through 2000. Formerly high-wage jobs have become low-wage jobs. I haven't looked at the stats in a few years, but last time I did, ridership was growing no more quickly under dereg than it was under regulation. I don't see why non-captured regulation is impossible, if it's done openly and democratically. Doug
Re: The economy - a new era?
Doug Henwood writes: I think the burden of proof is on you to show that dereg was a success. The industry is on the verge of going into cumulative loss once again (i.e., all losses in its history exceeding all profits). Scores of airlines have disappeared. Fare increases outpaced inflation from 1979 through 2000. Formerly high-wage jobs have become low-wage jobs. I haven't looked at the stats in a few years, but last time I did, ridership was growing no more quickly under dereg than it was under regulation. I don't see why non-captured regulation is impossible, if it's done openly and democratically. You don't need me to argue the merits of deregulation. Go search the Cato website and I am sure you will find something. I think the burden on you is not necessarily to show that reregulation is better than deregulation, but to at least explan what reregulation would look like. Would reregulation mean that JetBlue can't open new routes at lower prices than the exising carriers? Would it mean that JetBlue couldn't offer DirecTV without permission? Would it mean that an airline couldn't cease unprofitable routes? Would it mean that hub and spoke would be prohibited, or required? Would it mean that all similar seats would have to be identically priced? Would it mean that meals must be served? I am trying to understand the point of the reregulation. To guarantee profitability to large corporations and their shareholders? Why should a Leftie care that corporations disappear and shareholders lose money? Are you making a rationalization/efficiency argument, that the present system is wasteful, and the inefficiencies and waste would be solved by centralized planning? Leaving aside the merits of regulation vs. deregulation, you state that you don't see why non-captured regulation is impossible, if it's done openly and democratically. Perhaps, but what would be the odds that non-captured regulation would result? You don't sound too confident. David Shemano
Brit coal miner's strike, 20th anniversary
Arthur was right by instinct Two decades after the miners' strike, the full costs of the destruction of the coal industry are only now becoming clear Dave Feickert Wednesday February 11, 2004 The Guardian Never has any community of working people contributed so much to their country and yet been so badly treated. Never has there been such a wilful destruction of so many individual communities, of such a vast amount of productive public capital, or of a nation's strategic energy resource. Perhaps the real measure of the miners' sacrifice is this: since records were first kept in 1850, more than 100,000 of them have been killed at work. Countless others were injured or struck down by disease, with the present generation only now being compensated for some of those diseases - bronchitis and emphysema. Imagine what it must have been like to have had one of those men as a son, husband or father. Now, at the point when technology can prevent such destruction, that selfsame technology is being removed from the few remaining pits. On the 20th anniversary of the start of the miners' strike three key points need to be understood. First, on energy policy: instead of being the only European Union country that is self-sufficient in energy and a net oil exporter, in a few years we will join the others in their energy dependency. This time the UK will be at the end of the gas and oil pipelines from Russia, central Asia, Algeria and the Gulf. Windfarms, however welcome, will not save us. Last year's energy white paper acknowledged this: By 2020 we are likely to be importing around three-quarters of our energy needs. And by that time half the world's gas and oil will be coming from countries that are currently perceived as relatively unstable, either in political or economic terms. There are no major plans to build clean coal stations, but that is what Spencer Abraham, the US energy secretary, advised George Bush and Tony Blair in July 2003. Second, the economic and social costs of destroying the British coal industry have been huge - at least £28bn. This is nearly half of the North Sea tax revenues of £60bn collected since 1985. Unless further support is forthcoming, the horrendous damage to mining communities will take at least two generations to heal, notwithstanding the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Coalfield Communities Campaign. Third, the miners' strike could not have taken shape in the way it did in any other EU country. It would have been negotiated to a settlement firmly within the restructuring aid framework of the European Coal and Steel Community treaty, the founding treaty of the European economic and social model. Instead, in Britain we had the application of 19th-century industrial relations to an industry that was at a technological watershed. Arthur Scargill, the miners' leader, was right about two things in particular: the huge scale of the redundancy and closure programme, and the inability of the consultation procedures within the industry to handle the issue. Restructuring had to be collectively bargained as well, but neither the National Coal Board (NCB) nor the government wanted to negotiate the substantive issues. Scargill was right by instinct, but also because a group of us from Bradford University had done the research. In 1982 we showed the National Union of Mineworkers executive that automated, heavy-duty technology would produce a productivity explosion. If the market for coal remained the same, this would lead in the worst case to the loss of more than 165,000 jobs, or 74% of the 1981 pit workforce of 225,000. The first to go would be the coalfields of Scotland, the north-east, Kent and south Wales, which had received little investment. As Nelson Mandela observed with his customary frankness at an international mineworkers' conference in Johannesburg in 1992: Scargill and the NUM have been vilified for trying to defend their members. At the famous meeting of March 6 1984, James Cowan, NCB deputy chairman, admitted only reluctantly that around 20 pits and 21,000 jobs would be hit. Scargill's initial figure of 70,000 job losses was attacked as scaremongering. Only in her 1993 memoirs could Mrs Thatcher admit the truth. Ian MacGregor, NCB chairman, had told her in September 1983 that he wanted to cut 64,000 jobs in three years and extend the redundancy scheme to include miners under 50. The huge hi-tech Selby coalfield is due to close by June this year. Then there will be fewer than 5,000 miners working in Britain's pits. While the second phase of pit closures arose in the 1990s from market displacement - mainly by the new, privatised gas power stations - the majority of job losses had earlier flowed from the productivity revolution. To illustrate this point: just one hi-tech coalface, at Kellingley colliery in Yorkshire, was producing 42,000 tonnes a week in 2003, almost as much as the 46,000 tonnes a week the whole pit was producing in 1983 from six faces,
Re: Brit coal miner's strike, 20th anniversary
Damn, another caffeine driven apostrophe mangling! Apologies.
Re: The economy - a new era?
With the hub and spoke system, prices in some places -- Chico -- have soared. It cost more to fly 90 miles to san francisco than from SF to New York. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: Brit coal miner's strike, 20th anniversary
Your're welcome :-o Jurriaan - Original Message - From: Eubulides [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:38 AM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Brit coal miner's strike, 20th anniversary Damn, another caffeine driven apostrophe mangling! Apologies.
Re: Psychoanalysis Re: happiness is a transitory state
Mike Ballard wrote: I see humans (and most humans are workers at this stage in history) as having an instinct for freedom. According to my reading of Freud, this instinct is repressed in order to maintain civilization i.e. whatever class society exists at the moment. --- Louis Proyect [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This was stated with much more force in Rousseau. Plus, in Rousseau you didn't get all sorts of nonsense about interpreting dreams, etc. Rousseau's, 'Noble Savage' is an idealized stereotype of indigenous people as found throughout the world. Its features include the exaltation of the character in wilderness settings, an exaggeration of physical prowess, a simplistic interpretation of the indigenous world view, and an assignment of lofty virtues and innocence to the common man. http://www.mvc.dcccd.edu/ArtScien/Engl/INSTRUCT/grimes/2327/BC-Primitivism.html The concept of man that emerges from Freudian theory is the most irrefutable indictment of Western civilization and at the same time the most unshakable defense of this civilization. According to Freud, the history of man is the history of his repression. Culture constrains not only his societal but also his biological existence, not only parts of the human being but his instinctual structure itself. However, such constraint is the very precondition of progress. Left free to pursue their natural objectives, the basic instincts of man would be incompatible with all lasting association and preservation: they would destroy even where they unite. The uncontrolled Eros is just as fatal as his deadly counterpart, the death instinct. Their destructive force derives from the fact that they strive for a gratification which culture cannot grant: gratification as such and as an end in itself, at any moment. The instincts must therefore be deflected from their goal, inhibited in their aim. Civilization begins when the primary objective namely, integral satisfaction of needs is effectively renounced. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/eros-civilisation/ch01.htm Eric Fromm wrote: ... potentialities. A puritan-protestant inheritance of self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the individual to the demands of production and profit, have made for conditions from which Fascism could spring. I wasn't aware that Spain, Portugal and Italy were particularly puritan-protestant. I wasn't aware that the fascistic Catholics of Spain, Portugual and Italy in the 20th Century weren't proclaiming the need for self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the individual to the demands of production and profit--via Corporatist ideology and State supported violence. Best, Mike B) = Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen. Norman Mailer http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
