Re: Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq
Actually it's the kind of pompous Western bloviating the eXile likes to mock. Dagestanis are just like Kurds! I don't know Dagestan from a hole on the ground, but they must be just like Kurds, cause, well, I don't know, they just are! They speak Dagestani there in Dagestan, they shore do! Where is Matt Taibbi when you need him. -Original Message- From: joanna bujes [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 10:34:47 -0800 Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq Chris, I think you won. Joanna Louis Proyect wrote: Chris Doss wrote: I say: It is unreliable because the country is lawless. Now, why would the country be lawless. I wonder if it might have something to do with bands of Islamoid gunmen running around invading adjoining areas of Russia and kidnapping people. Nah, couldn't be. Reply: Well, we have differences obviously. I don't think that Putin has any problem with lawlessness. He is all too happy to please the most lawless regime in the world, namely the USA. I believe that Russia has material interests in the Caucusus that are crucial to capital accumulation. It uses all sorts of excuses about bandits and Islamic radicalism to maintain control over profit-generating assets. In any case, I believe that I have made this point in all the detail it deserves so this will be my last post on the topic. -- The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq
Actually it's the kind of pompous Western bloviating the eXile likes to mock. Dagestanis are just like Kurds! I don't know Dagestan from a hole on the ground, but they must be just like Kurds, cause, well, I don't know, they just are! They speak Dagestani there in Dagestan, they shore do! Where is Matt Taibbi when you need him. I spoke too soon. They DID mock it: Moreover, Chechens are the underdog, and we Americans always root for the underdog. For example, we were the underdog against Iraq in both Gulf Wars, we were the underdog against Serbia in Kosovo, against Grenada, and so on. Chechnya is the little guy fighting for freedom. So we naturally identify with them. The argument that Chechnya's three-year experiment with sovereignty from 1996-1999 was a disaster is a Russian-manufactured myth. The fact is Chechnya was developing along the lines dictated by the IMF and such esteemed scholars as my friend Professor Michael McFaul. Indeed, Chechnya was a model of free trade. For example, when it came to trade in the thousands of kidnapped Russians, Chechens turned to the free hand of the market to settle on pricing, supply and demand. Market rationale dictated hostages be beheaded and the videotape sent back to Russian relatives, which encouraged prompt payment of ransom for other Russian hostages and slaves. It was rough capitalism, but it was capitalism. Chechnya was developing in another key area: rule of law. Chechnya set up a law, called Sharia, that would have made Jefferson and Adams proud. Sharia is all about devolving power to the people at the local level, including, yes, the right to stone adulterers, which, while I don't condone it, is certainly no worse than the Russian proclivity for demeaning wet T-shirt contests. http://www.exile.ru/173/editorial.html You Say Terrorist, Washington says Shuttup By Mark Ames ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) With Russophobes like Hiatt egging on the rightwingers in Bush's administration, the US imposed an utterly ruinous policy of flirtatious accommodation with the Chechen separatists. Ruinous because this policy was one of the key reasons why the 9/11 plot was not uncovered, and ruinous because of future unforeseen consequences not just in terms of our relations with Russia, but because, like it or not, the Chechens really are linked to international Islamic terrorism. In other words: if anything clearly wasn't in America's interests, it's America's coy and cynical game vis-+-vis the Chechen separatists. This isn't easy to print publicly, even though I know several Western correspondents who, at the beginning of the second Chechen war, said much worse things off-the-record about the Chechens and what they deserved. http://www.exile.ru/153/feature_story.html Responding In Kind-2 The Matt Bivens Terrorism Primer Matt Bivens Many people in Moscow were shocked last month when Moscow Times columnist Matt Bivens followed the tragic metro bombing with a left-of-center commentary, Responding in Kind? blaming Russians for their own deaths at the hands of Chechen terrorists: So on top of the landmines and diseases and such, there have been 22 or 44 or 66 or maybe 88 disappearances every month [in Chechnya], for more than a year now, with no end in sight. In terms of tragedy and death, that's in the ballpark of one Moscow metro bombing every month, he wrote. And no doubt this all fed the determination of crazed extremists who, upon seeing the callous murder of their own by outsiders, said things like, 'We don't negotiate with Russians -- we destroy them.' Bivens, whose consistency over the years in churning out earnest 700-word left-of-center commentaries has earned him the nickname Two Yards Bivens, was accused by many of being callous and patronizing towards Russians, much like how The Washington Post's Fred Hiatt blamed Russia for the theater siege at Dubrovka even while the hostages were still being held. http://www.exile.ru/186/responding_in_kind-2.html
NYT: On the Hunt for Hearts and Minds
[The headline and introduction to this are completely misleading -- they make it sound like this is an approach that has promise: It is not clear whether they had won, or lost, more hearts and minds. But the day by day account that follows seems to me to leave no doubt. This seems like a trenchantly observed account of classic haplessness: alienating the people, stressing the troops, accomplishing nothing and fooling no one.] http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/international/asia/30ARMY.html The New York Times March 30, 2004 G.I.'s in Afghanistan on Hunt, but Now for Hearts and Minds By DAVID ROHDE D WAMANDA, Afghanistan Standing in a bleak, dust-covered village 15 miles from Pakistan, Lt. Reid Finn, a 24-year-old Louisiana native known as Huck, supervised as his men unloaded a half dozen wooden boxes with American flags on them. Wearing helmet and flak jacket and toting an M-4 assault rifle, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound lieutenant and former West Point football star represented his family's third generation at war. But on this afternoon, his mission was not combat. It was the distribution of blankets, shirts and sewing kits to destitute Afghan villagers. For the previous hour, American Army medics had doled out free antibiotics, asthma medication and antacids. Lieutenant Finn sipped tea with Muhammad Sani, a wizened village elder, and offered to pay for a new school or well. The more they help us find the bad guys, Lieutenant Finn explained, the more good stuff they get. As the effort to find Osama bin Laden and uproot the Taliban intensifies, the United States military is shifting tactics. A mission once limited to sweeps, raids and searches has in recent months yielded to an exercise in nation building. The hope is that a better relationship with local residents and a stronger Afghan state will produce better intelligence and a speedier American departure. But the tension between building schools one day and rounding up suspects at gunpoint the next makes the prospects for success far from clear. In a new American tactic, Lieutenant Finn's platoon and two other 50-soldier platoons are expected to patrol and get to know every detail of a 15-to-25-mile chunk of Afghan territory that runs along the border. The area holds more than 300 villages, three major ethnic Pashtun tribes, countless subtribes and a smuggling route used by the Taliban and Al Qaeda to slip from Pakistan into Afghanistan. The troops' mission is to win the trust of Afghans who have seen the Soviets, then the mujahedeen and the Taliban sweep through this area promising a better life. Now it is the turn of the Pentagon and a budget of $40 million earmarked for projects like village schools and wells. American soldiers are offering major reconstruction and relief aid in an area parched for it. Both desperation and promise appeared abundant in the isolated border areas during a three-day patrol by the company that Lieutenant Finn's platoon is part of. In one village, a brawl broke out over the free American blankets and sewing kits, with one man hitting another with a shovel. In another, a teacher announced that after offering only religious lessons under the Taliban, his school now taught 400 students subjects like chemistry, physics and English. Another man said he had re-enrolled in school to become the village's first doctor. At the age of 33, he is an eighth grader. The Americans hope their new approach will pry information about militants from reluctant Afghans. The battle, said Capt. Jason Condrey, Lieutenant Finn's company commander, centers on winning the allegiance of the population, which he called Al Qaeda's center of gravity. But the same American troops still use the standard tactics of military power to achieve their aims: intimidation, overwhelming force, hands tied behind backs and faces in the dirt. Over the course of the three-day patrol, it was not clear whether they had won, or lost, more hearts and minds. Day 1: Arrests Lieutenant Finn's platoon and three others the Comanche Company of the First Battalion of the Anchorage-based 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment had gathered at 2:40 a.m. to set out on their three-day field mission. Under a blanket of silence and bright stars, the Americans prepared to venture from a familiar enclave into a confusing Afghan mosaic. On base, the Americans watch N.B.A. games live via satellite in a morale hall, and the latest episodes of The Shield, C.S.I. and The Sopranos on pirated DVD's in their tents. On Fridays, they have surf and turf steaks, crab legs and corn on the cob in the new chow hall operated by the Halliburton Corporation. Out in the field, they wear 40 pounds of armor and equipment in sweltering heat. Their skin, clothes and equipment are
Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq
From: Louis Proyect -clip- Marx and Engels supported the cause of Irish independence long before Marxists like Connolly were involved. They did not extract promises from bourgeois nationalists that they would expropriate the expropriators. CB: We are in the U.S., the imperialist power that is waging war on Iraq. We best not make strict demands on the Iraqi resistance movement, whereas an Iraqi socialist might. Connolly as an Irish Marxist would have higher demands than especially British Marxists , in analogy. Or Lenin was Great White Russian and Rosa Luxemburg was Polish. Comrade Rosa L. had stricter demands on Polish national liberationists than Comrade V.I. The relation between colonializer and colonialized impacts the analysis and the analyzer.
Re: Job flight
Inputs and outputs, though. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a precapitalist economy or in most forms of Actually Existing Socialism, but one argument that I always think ought to get more traction is that capitalism has singularly failed to shorten the working day. A lot of people intuitively realise that there is something wrong here; we were promised robot slaves and unlimited leisure time in the comic books, and now the space age is here and we're still working like dogs. I occasionally find it a sobering thought that my grandfather lived in a two-up-two-down he could barely afford and rose at 0530 every morning to get down to the market, and now, after the social mobility afforded to the third generation thanks to a very expensive university and business school education, I find myself living in a two-up-two-down I can barely afford, getting up at 0530 in order to be ready for the market. dd On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 14:01:49 -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: Compared to what? It's hard to argue with its capacity to grow, innovate, and produce cheaper commodities over the centuries - at a high social and ecological cost, for sure, but I don't think you can win the efficiency argument from the left. It has to be on other grounds. Doug
Re: Job flight
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Inputs and outputs, though. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a precapitalist economy or in most forms of Actually Existing Socialism, but one argument that I always think ought to get more traction is that capitalism has singularly failed to shorten the working day. I'm with you on that. But if there's more money to be made out of a longer workday, the stinking capitalists will lengthen the workday. And bend many of our minds around to thinking of it as normal. Even a petit bourgeois radical such as myself didn't leave the office until 9:30 last night. Doug
Re: Job flight
The trick is not getting in until 10:30 a.m. -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 10:22 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Job flight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Inputs and outputs, though. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a precapitalist economy or in most forms of Actually Existing Socialism, but one argument that I always think ought to get more traction is that capitalism has singularly failed to shorten the working day. I'm with you on that. But if there's more money to be made out of a longer workday, the stinking capitalists will lengthen the workday. And bend many of our minds around to thinking of it as normal. Even a petit bourgeois radical such as myself didn't leave the office until 9:30 last night. Doug
Good thing they're not splitting hairs
In today's Times one of Rice's minions, Franklin Miller, disputes Clarke's account of 9/11: quote In Mr. Clarke's account, in a chapter called Evacuate the White House, he heads into the Situation Room at the first word of attack and begins issuing orders to close embassies and put military bases on a higher level of alert -- not the kind of operational details usually handled by the National Security Council staff. He describes how Mr. Miller came into the room, squeezed Mr. Clarke's bicep, and said, Guess I'm working for you today. What can I do? I wouldn't say that, Mr. Miller said Monday. I might say, 'How can I help.' quote Ah, well -- that changes everything. The whole article is like that: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/politics/30CLAR.html They really got nothin'. Michael
The power of the purse?
[From the Slate newsletter, Today's Papers] excerpt USA Today leads with a poll that has President Bush ahead of Senator Kerry 49 percent to 45 percent with Ralph Nader at 4 percent. The poll claims that in 17 battleground states where Bush has launched an ad barrage, Kerry went from a 28 point lead to 6 points behind. end excerpt
Diversion of resources, Part II
First the military diverted specialized forces from Afghanistan to Iraq: URL: http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040329/6056156s.htm And now the same process is being carried out by the free market: URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/politics/30MILI.html Michael
U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
From: Bill Lear Let me get this right: since only 1,000 out of 24 million came out for a very vocal demonstration, that shows how cowed they are; therefore,10,000 in the U.S., keeping proportions constant, shows the same thing? ^^ CB: Aren't a lot of Americans cowed ? ( As in standing around chewing on a cud. See recent reports on obesity in the U.S.)
U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
It probably would have taken a civil war (i.e. chaos) for Iraqis to overthrow Saddam. Would those who now oppose U.S. withdrawal from Iraq because it will lead to civil war have opposed a revolt against the Baathists ? Charles
Re: Good thing they're not splitting hairs
Why then does this qualify as news. A judge ruled today that some lawyer doesn't have the right to the photographs of Vincent Foster's dead body, which we certainly prove that Hillary murdered him in cold blood. I'm surprised that the press has left the Travelgate scandal fall by the wayside. All the while, Bush and his gang get a free ride. On Tue, Mar 30, 2004 at 11:00:21AM -0500, Michael Pollak wrote: In today's Times one of Rice's minions, Franklin Miller, disputes Clarke's account of 9/11: quote In Mr. Clarke's account, in a chapter called Evacuate the White House, he heads into the Situation Room at the first word of attack and begins issuing orders to close embassies and put military bases on a higher level of alert -- not the kind of operational details usually handled by the National Security Council staff. He describes how Mr. Miller came into the room, squeezed Mr. Clarke's bicep, and said, Guess I'm working for you today. What can I do? I wouldn't say that, Mr. Miller said Monday. I might say, 'How can I help.' quote Ah, well -- that changes everything. The whole article is like that: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/politics/30CLAR.html They really got nothin'. Michael -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: Good thing they're not splitting hairs
Michael Perelman writes: A judge ruled today that some lawyer doesn't have the right to the photographs of Vincent Foster's dead body, which we certainly prove [?] that Hillary murdered him in cold blood. strange bedfellows: the Bush admin. sided with the defender of Foster's privacy in order to protect similar sensitive materials. BTW, I don't know why any proof is needed that Senator Clinton killed Foster with that ice-pick. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
Charles Brown wrote: It probably would have taken a civil war (i.e. chaos) for Iraqis to overthrow Saddam. Would those who now oppose U.S. withdrawal from Iraq because it will lead to civil war have opposed a revolt against the Baathists ? Who opposes U.S. withdrawal from Iraq? The position of the Communist Workers Party - and apparently that of many Iraqis - is for a UN force without the U.S. to replace the U.S. And if Iraqis had overthrown Saddam, that would have their undertaking, not that of a foreign power, which destroyed the state and most other institutions of Iraqi society. Doug
Re: Diversion of resources, Part II
but isn't the free market simply the embodiment of the military? or is it vice-versa? ;-) Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine First the military diverted specialized forces from Afghanistan to Iraq: URL: http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040329/6056156s.htm And now the same process is being carried out by the free market: URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/politics/30MILI.html Michael
Re: Job flight
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Inputs and outputs, though. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a precapitalist economy or in most forms of Actually Existing Socialism, After Marx returned from a vacation in Germany in which he had been well entertained by some friends in the aristocracy there, someone asked him how, given many of his enjoyments, he would be able to live in a socialist society. His reply: I'll be dead by then. The same same principle applies to thought about living in a pre-capitalist society. There is no way we can judge how people born into another mode of life would evaluate that mode of life. That's one reason socialists should for the most part emphasize the negative in their agitation and propaganda. Guesses about what will be good in the future are mostly sort of silly. But we can know with intensity what is not to be tolerated in the present. Carrol
utopianism
[was: RE: [PEN-L] Job flight] Carroll wrote:That's one reason socialists should for the most part emphasize the negative in their agitation and propaganda. Guesses about what will be good in the future are mostly sort of silly. But we can know with intensity what is not to be tolerated in the present. alas, utopianism -- the creation of ideal alternatives to the system -- has never been absent from socialist movements. In the US, E.V. Debs's Socialist Party included lots of utopian ideas, including ideas from the Bellamyists. The Communist Party had the USSR, which it often portrayed in utopian terms. The Maoists did the same with China. (One time, a Maoist told me that since the revolution, there was no more mental illness in China!) The New Leftists had their utopian visions, sometimes attached to Cuba.[*] I see nothing wrong with utopian dreaming, as long as it's not seen as a matter of thinking up blueprints that _must_ be imposed. Rather, utopianism helps clarify what people are in favor of (not just getting rid of capitalism) and suggests ways that socialism might work in practice. Utopias should be matters for debate and discussion, not to be simply dismissed. [*] BTW, even though it's a mistake to idealize such socialist experiments, it's good to defend them against imperialism. jim d.
Style over substance
NY Times, March 30, 2004 Give Me a Rebel, but Hold the Politics By GINIA BELLAFANTE Sam Seb is a children's clothing store in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn that specializes in the sort of garments, tiny Levi's, baby Dries van Noten tops that have been created with the assumption that 3-year-olds don't want to look 3. But a while back the store's owner, Simone Manwarring, began getting requests for an item that was unusual even by those standards. Lots of parents were coming in and saying, `Hey, wouldn't it be great to have a Che T-shirt?' Ms. Manwarring said. By Che, the parents meant, of course, the Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary executed by Bolivians in 1967, whose beret-wearing image once adorned college dormitories from Berkeley to the Sorbonne. Ms. Manwarring started making the shirts, with sizes even for a 3-month-old. She now sells about 10 a week. The Che industry has been fairly robust over the years, with keepsakes including posters, cigarette lighters, watches and nail clippers sold in many parts of the world. But lately it is clothing with the image of the rebel, from the iconic photo taken in 1960 by Alberto Korda, that seems ever more coveted as street wear. It has turned up on Moscow artists and on 11-year-old boys in the New York suburbs. In the last six months, sales of fitted T-shirts, loose T-shirts, tank tops, hooded sweatshirts, caps and camp shirts have increased by about 40 percent at Thechestore.com, said John Trigiani, the company's owner. Mr. Trigiani began selling Che paraphernalia about five years ago after he returned home to Toronto from Cuba with a statuette he had bought for $2, and resold on eBay for $128. Why the renewed interest in Che, when so many communist governments have failed? Mr. Trigiani said, I think there are many reasons for this and one of them is Mike Tyson. A few years ago, the prizefighter got a picture of Che etched onto his rib cage. Other catalysts include two coming movies, one The Motorcycle Diaries, based on the journals Che kept during his travels through South America as a medical student in 1952. That film appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is due in theaters later this year. The second film, an epic called Che to be directed by Terrence Malick, is beginning production next year. Revolutionary ideology seems to have almost nothing to do with the emerging Che style, which is manifest also in men's sweaters, high-end bikinis and underwear. I met a college student who wanted the T-shirts, and she had absolutely no idea who Che was, Mr. Trigiani said. The image seems mostly a visually compelling logo to those who are buying Che-wear today. Mao Zedong's is another head we're thinking of, Ms. Manwarring said. Both of these have become strong pop cultural images; I don't think people want these things on their clothes as a political statement but I think they are drawn to the graphic intensity. Patrick Symmes, the author of Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend, said, I think the more that time goes by, the chicer and chicer Che gets because the less he stands for anything. About two years ago, Mr. Symmes said, he discovered a bar in London called Che. It's ultradeluxe and a young guy was the owner, Mr. Symmes said, referring to Hani Farsi, a wealthy Saudi Arabian. I asked him, `Why Che?' and he answered, `Oh you know, rebellion and all that.' -- The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Spreading the wealth around
Name/Occupation/Employer: Donald J. Trump/President/The Trump Organization Address: 725 5th Ave New York, NY 10022 Contribution: John Kerry, $2,000 Name/Occupation/Employer: Donald J. Trump/President/The Trump Organization Address: 725 5th Ave New York, NY 10022 Contribution: George W. Bush, $2,000 from: http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php?type=namelname=trumpfname=donaldsearch=Search+by+Name -- The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
URPE at Brecht Forum, Spring 2004
URPE AT BRECHT FORUM, SPRING 2004 presented by New York Union for Radical Political Economics and the Brecht Forum at the Brecht Forum, 122 West 27th St., 10th floor (between 6th and 7th) 212-242-4201 NOTE: The Brecht Forum will probably be moving at the end of May; we will send reminders of any changes in location. Sliding Scale: $6/$8/$10 7:30 pm * LIGHTS OUT! PRIVATIZATION AND DEREGULATION OF ELECTRICITY Wednesday April 14 When your lights went out on August 14, did you wonder whether there was more to it than a bad judgment call in a Midwestern utility and too many air conditioners on a hot day? When Bush's Energy Bill appeared, did you understand how corporate handouts were going to solve our energy problems? Our speakers will critique the Energy Bill and explain how deregulation and privatization of electric utilities have played a major role in creating a chaotic and expensive system of delivering electricity. Long Island energy activist Gordian Raacke will give us insights into how these national trends have affected New York State and how New Yorkers are fighting for better delivery, cheaper rates, and environmentally friendly forms of energy production. Nomi Prins will talk about corruption in the energy industry, the ongoing role of Wall Street, and the lack of meaningful reform from the Hill. Renee Toback will take us beyond electricity, with comments on the widespread popularity of privatization and deregulation among capitalists today. SPEAKERS: Nomi Prins' book: "Other Peoples Money: The Corporate Mugging of America," will be out fall 2004. During her banking career, Nomi was managing director at Goldman Sachs and held posts at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and the Chase Manhattan Bank. Her articles have appeared in Newsday, Fortune Magazine, The Guardian, LaVanguardia, The Left Business Observer and others places. She is a senior fellow at public policy group, Demos. Gordian Raacke is Executive Director of the Citizens Advisory Panel,"Long Island's Energy Watchdog." CAP promotes sustainable energy policies for Long Island and advises Long Island's publicabout ways to improve electrical service, mitigate rate increases, controlenergy costs and conserve energy. Renee Toback is an economist and a federal employee activein the NationalTreasury Employees Union. She teaches at Empire State College and works with Economy Connection (URPE) and the NLC, an anti-sweatshop research and action group. * THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF CAPITALISM: JOB LOSSES AND CLASS STRUGGLES Wednesday April 21 Since the end of the Postwar period of prosperity in the early 1970s,capitalists have intensified their efforts to increase profits. A major focus has involved restructuring jobs: destroying unions and lowering wages, moving industrial jobs to low-wage regions of the US and the world, promoting prison and workfare labor, and exploiting immigrants. And IBM's recent announcement of plans to send thousands of high-paying programming jobs abroad has drawn attention to the vulnerability of professionals and other highly-paid workers, who are now seeing themselves as part of the "race to the bottom." Our panelists will provide information on some areas of the changing job scene: outsourcing,job migration, immigrant labor, prison labor and workfare. They will explorewhy these changes are happening now, whether they are permanent, how theyare affecting people in other countries, what future trends might be, andwhat they mean to capitalism and to those organizing against its devastatingeffects. They will talk about whether these concrete changes in jobs implychanges in class position, class perception, and strategies for resistance. SPEAKERS: Bhairavi Desai is a founding member, organizer, and executive director of the NY Taxi Workers Alliance. Joan Hoffman is a professor of economics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and author of articles on women and crime. Ali Mir teaches information systems at William Paterson university. His recent work has focused on immigration issues, international divisions
Re: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
d-squared wrote: but one argument that I always think ought to get more traction is that capitalism has singularly failed to shorten the working day. A lot of people intuitively realise that there is something wrong here; we were promised robot slaves and unlimited leisure time in the comic books, and now the space age is here and we're still working like dogs. Broken record, here. Yes, it's uncanny how the argument doesn't get more traction. I mentioned yesterday in a post on this thread that a reduction of U.S. annual hours to approximately European standards could be expected to generate (or preserve) around 10 million jobs, the same number John Kerry claims (with less supporting argument) his economic policies would produce in four years. Kerry's 10 million estimate comes from a memo from Lawrence Katz who projects that number from the lowering of the unemployment rate to 4.1%. Sounds to me like a tautology: if the unemployment rate drops while the labour force grows, jobs will be created. That's right up there with Calvin Coolidge's When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment results. That same Katz commented some years ago on a Brookings Institute paper about hours reduction as work sharing. He made a number of sensible background points but his main point and emphasis was utterly unsubstantiated. He even produced a pseudo-algebraic 'model' (the best case scenario for advocates of work-sharing) that only pertains if one assumes that the given hours of work are optimal for maximizing output, a condition that has been clearly demonstrated to be contrary to theory. And, of course, he just had to frame his discussion with a recital of the lump-of-output fallacy, Richard Layard's lame attempt to lend greater terminological precision to the utterly fraudulent claim of a lump-of-labour fallacy. The bottom line for Katz was the conclusion that there are a number of good reasons to believe that mandated work-sharing is unlikely to produce much of a reduction in unemployment. One of those good reasons being his theoretically bankrupt model and the other being the allegedly fallacious assumption implicit in arguments for work-sharing. That, I'm afraid is what passes for the conventional wisdom in economics on the hours of labour. Tom Walker
Re: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
At 12:08 PM -0500 3/30/04, Doug Henwood wrote: a UN force without the U.S. to replace the U.S. Who do they think will contribute the troops to make up a UN force without the US? -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * 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: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
I agree on the big points, but all the LK memo seeks to do is show that getting to 10 million and 4.1 in four years is plausible in historical context. His memo does not attempt to demonstrate that Kerry's plan gets us there. If he showed 40 million jobs and one percent unemployment, it would be equally tautological but less plausible. (Though I'm reminded that Bill Vickrey used to talk about chock-full employment. Old Bill thought we could have two percent and was moved to fury when alluding to four percent or more.) My gripe about this teensy memo is that 4.1 is couched in terms of being a structural goal requiring supply-side improvements in the tax code, rather than something accessible with fiscal policy. Not coincidentally, Kerry has no fiscal policy and is mouthing anti-deficit rhetoric. I really don't look forward to spending the rest of what passes for my professional life doing shovel-duty behind the Clinton/Rubin circus elephants in the DP parade. Mbs Kerry's 10 million estimate comes from a memo from Lawrence Katz who projects that number from the lowering of the unemployment rate to 4.1%. Sounds to me like a tautology: if the unemployment rate drops while the labour force grows, jobs will be created. That's right up there with Calvin Coolidge's When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment results. That same Katz commented some years ago on a Brookings Institute paper about hours reduction as work sharing. He made a number of sensible background points but his main point and emphasis was utterly unsubstantiated. He even produced a pseudo-algebraic 'model' (the best case scenario for advocates of work-sharing) that only pertains if one assumes that the given hours of work are optimal for maximizing output, a condition that has been clearly demonstrated to be contrary to theory. And, of course, he just had to frame his discussion with a recital of the lump-of-output fallacy, Richard Layard's lame attempt to lend greater terminological precision to the utterly fraudulent claim of a lump-of-labour fallacy. The bottom line for Katz was the conclusion that there are a number of good reasons to believe that mandated work-sharing is unlikely to produce much of a reduction in unemployment. One of those good reasons being his theoretically bankrupt model and the other being the allegedly fallacious assumption implicit in arguments for work-sharing. That, I'm afraid is what passes for the conventional wisdom in economics on the hours of labour. Tom Walker
Re: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
Doug Henwood wrote: a UN force without the U.S. to replace the U.S. Yoshie asks: Who do they think will contribute the troops to make up a UN force without the US? the Arab League has been mentioned... JD
Re: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
Max B. Sawicky wrote: My gripe about this teensy memo is that 4.1 is couched in terms of being a structural goal requiring supply-side improvements in the tax code, rather than something accessible with fiscal policy. Not coincidentally, Kerry has no fiscal policy and is mouthing anti-deficit rhetoric. I really don't look forward to spending the rest of what passes for my professional life doing shovel-duty behind the Clinton/Rubin circus elephants in the DP parade. Max, Clinton brought the federal budget into surplus, and unemployment hit a generation low. Doesn't that make it harder to argue that the two goals are incompatible? Doug
Yahoo! News - Iraq War Was about Israel, Bush Insider Suggests
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=storycid=655e=1u=/oneworld/20040330/wl_oneworld/4536827661080666584 Iraq War Was about Israel, Bush Insider Suggests Tue Mar 30, 1:05 PM ET Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service WASHINGTON, Mar 29 (IPS) - Iraq (news - web sites) under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) did not pose a threat to the United States but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group. IPS uncovered the remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive director of the body set up to investigate the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001--the 9/11 commission--in which he suggests a prime motive for the invasion just over one year ago was to eliminate a threat to Israel, a staunch U.S. ally in the Middle East. Zelikow's casting of the attack on Iraq as one launched to protect Israel appears at odds with the public position of President Bush (news - web sites) and his administration, which has never overtly drawn the link between its war on the regime of former president Hussein and its concern for Israel's security. The administration has instead insisted it launched the war to liberate the Iraqi people, destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to protect the United States. Zelikow made his statements about the unstated threat during his tenure on a highly knowledgeable and well-connected body known as the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), which reports directly to the president. He served on the board between 2001 and 2003. Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I'll tell you what I think the real threat (is) and actually has been since 1990--it's the threat against Israel, Zelikow told a crowd at the University of Virginia on Sep. 10, 2002, speaking on a panel of foreign policy experts assessing the impact of 9/11 and the future of the war on the al-Qaeda terrorist organisation. And this is the threat that dare not speak its name, because the Europeans don't care deeply about that threat, I will tell you frankly. And the American government doesn't want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell, said Zelikow. The statements are the first to surface from a source closely linked to the Bush administration acknowledging that the war, which has so far cost the lives of nearly 600 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis, was motivated by Washington's desire to defend the Jewish state. The administration, which is surrounded by staunch pro-Israel, neo-conservative hawks, is currently fighting an extensive campaign to ward off accusations that it derailed the war on terrorism it launched after 9/11 by taking a detour to Iraq, which appears to have posed no direct threat to the United States. Israel is Washington's biggest ally in the Middle East, receiving annual direct aid of $3-to-4 billion. Even though members of the 16-person PFIAB come from outside government, they enjoy the confidence of the president and have access to all information related to foreign intelligence that they need to play their vital advisory role. Known in intelligence circles as Piffy-ab, the board is supposed to evaluate the nation's intelligence agencies and probe any mistakes they make. The unpaid appointees on the board require a security clearance known as code word that is higher than top secret. The national security adviser to former President George H.W. Bush (1989-93) Brent Scowcroft, currently chairs the board in its work overseeing a number of intelligence bodies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) (CIA (news - web sites)), the various military intelligence groups and the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s National Reconnaissance Office. Neither Scowcroft nor Zelikow returned phone calls or email messages from IPS for this story. Zelikow has long-established ties to the Bush administration. Before his appointment to PFIAB in October 2001, he was part of the current president's transition team in January 2001. In that capacity, Zelikow drafted a memo for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) on reorganising and restructuring the National Security Council (NSC) and prioritising its work. Richard A. Clarke, who was counter-terrorism coordinator for Bush's predecessor President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) (1993-2001) also worked for Bush senior, and has recently accused the current administration of not heeding his terrorism warnings, said Zelikow was among those he briefed about the urgent threat from al-Qaeda in December 2000. Rice herself had served in the NSC during the first Bush administration, and subsequently teamed up with Zelikow on a 1995 book about the unification of Germany. Zelikow had ties with another senior Bush administration official--Robert Zoellick, the current trade representative. The two wrote three books
breaking news.
[from the ONION] Bush Addresses 8.2 Million Unemployed: 'Get A Job!' WASHINGTON, DC-Responding to the nation's worst unemployment rate since the Hoover Administration, President Bush addressed the nation's 8.2 million unemployed workers in a televised speech Monday. The economy has been on the rebound for months, but 5.6 percent of you are still out of work, Bush said. Come on, people: Get a job! Don't just sit there hoping that you'll win the lottery. Turn off that boob tube, get off that couch, and start pounding the pavement. When the number of people taking part-time jobs because they can't get full-time work is factored in, the unemployment figure approaches 15.1 million, a number Bush called unacceptable. My fellow Americans, don't come crying to me, Bush said. I've got a job. I go to work every day, whether I feel like it or not. I don't take handouts, and I don't give them. That's a belief my daddy taught me. Now, let's get this show on the road! The unemployment rate remains high, in spite of the many tax-cut initiatives the Bush Administration has introduced over the past several years. The government can only do so much, Bush said. How hard can it possibly be to find a job? A friend of mine lost his job when his company went belly-up. Did he bitch and moan about it? Absolutely not. He picked up the phone and started making cold calls, he landed back on his feet, and now he's the chief financial officer of a major petrochemical concern. According to the president, the nation's unemployed need to make looking for work a full-time job. How many applications have you filled out today? Bush said. You should spend eight hours a day looking through the want ads, mailing resumes, and pounding the pavement. You won't find a job moping around the house and feeling sorry for yourself. If you're down-and-out, you have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Life's hard, my friends. Get used to it. Bush addressed a complaint often made by unemployed workers: They are unable to find jobs commensurate to their skill set due to lulls in the technical and manufacturing sectors and the outsourcing of jobs to other countries. If you wanted work as bad as you say you do, you'd take what you could find, Bush said. You gotta work your way up, instead of waiting around for your dream job to fall into your lap. Walk before you run. Climb your way up the ladder. Continued Bush: I heard McDonald's is hiring. What's wrong with that? Does your fancy degree say you can't work at a Mickey D's? You may not be doing exactly what you want, but at least you'll have the pride of knowing that you're earning your living. A reporter asked for comment on a statistic which shows that only 21,000 new jobs were created in February, in spite of the Bush administration's promise to create 320,000. I've got a statistic for you, Bush said. You've got to look out for No. 1. Take charge. I've got a job plan for the nation. It's called 'Get off your duff.' Bush said the country is experiencing its longest average-unemployment duration in 20 years, and he wants to see it end immediately. If you get an interview, walk in there like you're the only person for the job, Bush said. Show them you're willing to work. Show up early and bring a broom. Sweep up the place while you're waiting for the interview to start. That'll let them know you're a go-getter. The president concluded his speech by encouraging the jobless to start their search immediately. What are you doing listening to this speech when you should be out there looking for work? Bush asked. Get a move on! Even my brother has a job. He's no one special, and he's the governor of Florida! If he can do that, you should be able to line up something at your local Wal-Mart. With that statement, Bush left Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to present some of the finer points of his administration's new position. Get a haircut, Chao said. Clean yourself up a little and put on a nice shirt, or even a suit. Maybe employers would take you more seriously if you didn't look like you just rolled out of bed. The way you look now, I wouldn't hire you to throw me a rope if I was falling off a cliff. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
Re: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
Yes, though less hard when there's no employment growth. As for what Clinton 'did,' as opposed to who he did, the biggest factors seems to have been the dot com bubble and household debt stimulating demand. Obviously there were other ways AD could have been boosted, but Clinton wasn't interested in them. Blinder's book sez the 1993 budget deal was not huge in effect. Pollin has this one by the short hairs, methinks. My bias these days is that a commitment to maximum employment, through fiscal policy and/or work hour reduction, is the sine qua non of U.S. social-democracy, progressive politics, or anything more radical than that. mbs Max, Clinton brought the federal budget into surplus, and unemployment hit a generation low. Doesn't that make it harder to argue that the two goals are incompatible? Doug
Re: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
Max B. Sawicky wrote: As for what Clinton 'did,' as opposed to who he did, the biggest factors seems to have been the dot com bubble and household debt stimulating demand. Obviously there were other ways AD could have been boosted, but Clinton wasn't interested in them. Blinder's book sez the 1993 budget deal was not huge in effect. Pollin has this one by the short hairs, methinks. Balancing the budget by taxing the top 1-2% isn't a bad long-term strategy. It reduces the social power of the rich, while running debts can increase it: You want me to roll over your debt? Well, I've got a list of policies I think you should follow It has almost no depressive effect on AD either My bias these days is that a commitment to maximum employment, through fiscal policy and/or work hour reduction, is the sine qua non of U.S. social-democracy, progressive politics, or anything more radical than that. I agree with you, but how to get there? If deficit spending were the key, wouldn't Japan be at full employment? If you have a constant deficit (as % of GDP), you're not getting any fresh fiscal kick, so wouldn't you need ever-increasing deficits? Why not focus on the good things public spending can do (infrastructure, health insurance, child care) and the people it can put to work doing them, and for those who remain unemployed, an active labor market policy? Doug
Re: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
Is this the same Arab League whose summit just collapsed or is this a different Arab League? Is this the same UN that imposed sanctions on Iraq for 12+ years, that backed down with a whimper when Israel refused to allow its inspection of Jenin, that has never even debated sanctions against the US for its invasion, or is this a different UN? The issue is, and is only, the immediate withdrawal of all the invading military forces from Iraq. The crocodile tears about the resulting anarchy from a precipitous withdrawal, are just that, crocodile tears shed after the reptile has eaten its fill and lays immobilized by its own gluttony. Let's recall, the banditry that took place, took place in Baghdad after its occupation not during sustained combat operations, not before. The banditry was accepted with a boys will be boys shrug of the shoulders by this same Secretary of Defense. dms ___ QA certified-- quality guaranteed by TA Inc. - Original Message - From: Devine, James [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 5:52 PM Subject: Re: [PEN-L] U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper Doug Henwood wrote: a UN force without the U.S. to replace the U.S. Yoshie asks: Who do they think will contribute the troops to make up a UN force without the US? the Arab League has been mentioned... JD
Re: Working like dogs (was Job flight)
It's true I've tended to think of public employment as a last resort, rather than on an equal footing with counter-cyclical and work time. There's no reason to do so. Politics at one time or another may favor and disfavor any of them. I hereby elevate it to my Sacred Threesome. Active labor market policy covers a lot: http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049context=iir What's your favorite part? mbs I agree with you, but how to get there? If deficit spending were the key, wouldn't Japan be at full employment? If you have a constant deficit (as % of GDP), you're not getting any fresh fiscal kick, so wouldn't you need ever-increasing deficits? Why not focus on the good things public spending can do (infrastructure, health insurance, child care) and the people it can put to work doing them, and for those who remain unemployed, an active labor market policy? Doug
Fwd: A MILLION WORKERS MARCH ON WASHINGTON
RESOLUTION PROPOSING A MILLION WORKERS MARCH ON WASHINGTON ADOPTED BY ILWU LOCAL Whereas: our ancestors fought tirelessly in this country for the right to organize unions and ensure that our government recognized this right because it is a cornerstone of democracy, and Whereas: that because of unions and solidarity among working people we have been able to win basic human rights, including employer paid health care, social security and retirement benefits, safe working conditions, decent hours and wages, education for our children, social services for the disadvantaged, civil liberties, and most important, the right to political influence over our nation's foreign and domestic policies, and Whereas: Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address in 1944 acknowledged our rights, saying, We have come to the realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. and Whereas: the current administration, with the complicity of congress, has cooperated with big business in attacking our rights, using legislation such as the Patriot Acts I and II, denying the right of hundreds of thousands of Federal employees to belong to unions and bargain, forcing longshore workers to work under a Taft-Hartley Act injunction and threats of Federal intervention, and Whereas: the administration, with the complicity of congress, has negotiated trade agreements costing the jobs of hundreds of thousands of US workers, calling this a move towards a healthy economy, while promoting other economic policies, such as privatization and deregulation which has resulted in the loss of over 3 million jobs since taking office, and Whereas: the administration, with the complicity of congress has given corporations and the wealthy huge tax breaks, while cutting billions of dollars in spending for social services, education, and other government programs won by working people through decades of effort, and Whereas: the Bush administration, with the complicity of congress, has excused all these policies by using the terrible events of September 11 to label any opposition unpatriotic and a threat to national security, has taken our country into an unjust war under the false assertion that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, costing the lives of hundreds of US service members and innocent Iraqi civilians, and is whipping up fear and even further to try to stampede the public into giving it another term in office, Be it therefore resolved: that Local 10 of the ILWU calls on unions and working people generally to go to Washington DC for a Million Worker March, to demand that politicians and the administration listen to the people who pay their salaries, rather than the voices of big business and the rich, and more Be it further resolved: that this resolution be forwarded to unions, labor councils and labor organizations, as well as other organizations to which workers belong, whether organized or not, so that they can take similar action to organize this March as soon as possible. Be it finally resolved: that this event coincide with all labor organized voter registration drives planned for the next election. ENDORSED BY__ LOCAL LABOR COUNCIL__ INDIVIDUAL__ PLEASE FORWARD BY EMAIL TO: TRENT WILLIS, BUSINESS AGENT, ILWU LOCAL 10 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.millionworkermarch.org fax: attention: Trent Willis (510) 441 0610
Re: utopianism
Jim Devine wrote, I see nothing wrong with utopian dreaming, as long as it's not seen as a matter of thinking up blueprints that _must_ be imposed. Just about everything I lay my hands on these days has the word Utopia in it. Chapman (1909): It occurred to me after a cursory examination of some recent examples of that remarkable modern crop of Utopias and anticipations which apparently are appealing to an extensive public. Dilke (1821): Even in these Utopian speculations the great land-holder should possibly be excepted; a rent, equal to the expense on importation, being alsways secured to him. Dahlberg (1927): Utopia through Capitalism. The irony, it seems to me, is that ALL theoretical abstractions about society and economy are essentially Utopian, no matter how realistic or materialistic they may aspire to be. Even dystopias are Utopian, although not eutopian. I'm drawn to this reflection first by the frankness of Dilke's description of his treatise as Utopian speculations and its contrast with Chapman's chaste disclaimer, If only these 'new worlds' represented what existed somewhere among human beings with passions and infirmities like our own, how much more instructive they would be! Could it not be, though, that the more 'realistic' a Utopia purports to be, the more beguiling it is as a dogmatic blueprint that must be imposed? The most beguiling Utopia would be precisely the one that elevates and enshrines those passions and infirmities like our own. Like selfishness and greed, for instance. Clearly the world in which the innocent, well-meaning, enlightened, prosperty-bringing USA is threatened by evil enemies is a Utopia even though it is presented nightly on the newscasts as an actual place. But then so too is the world in which US imperialism dominates the globe with its military might -- even if one happens to think it is a descriptively more accurate one. What I am having some difficulty formulating a response to is the seemingly spontaneous, instantaneous 'ability' of people to 'see through' and dismiss positive visions of change as frivolously utopian and simultaneously to recite a stale litany of non-factual, not even theoretically plausible articles of faith about the way it really is, always has been and always will be. You know, the way that higher wages destroy jobs, longer hours mean greater productivity and 'flexibility' or competition lowers prices and improves quality.
Re: utopianism
Thatcher's TINA is the opposite side of the utopian coin. Commies have to know what they want as well as what they want to leave behind in history's dustbin. Regards, Mike B) = 1844 Paris Manuscripts, Marx makes a major point of the relationship between the sexes: The infinite degradation in which man exists for himself is expressed in this relation to the woman, http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Re: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
Doug Henwood wrote: a UN force without the U.S. to replace the U.S. Yoshie asks: Who do they think will contribute the troops to make up a UN force without the US? the Arab League has been mentioned... JD How many troops does the Arab League have and how many of them can they afford to send to Iraq? And who is going to pay for them? -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * 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: U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
Is this the same Arab League whose summit just collapsed or is this a different Arab League? * No lost sleep over the postponed summit By Danny Rubinstein The Palestinian leadership was not especially disappointed yesterday when it learned of the postponement of the Arab summit conference that was to begin today in Tunis. . . . Since the 1960s, Arafat has made it his business to participate in every summit conference, but he has not made it to any of the more recent conferences due to the siege Israel has imposed on him. The Arabs used to stridently demand that Israel allow Arafat to attend the summit sessions. Now they seem to have grown accustomed to his absence. The announcements about the postponement of the summit made no mention of the fact that Arafat was not going to attend. Palestinian demands from the Arab states have not changed in years. The Palestinians ask that Arab states work harder on behalf of the Palestinian struggle, and that they enlist all their strength and diplomatic influence to pressure America and the European countries to adopt a more sympathetic stand on the Palestinian issue - none of which has happened. . . . As always, the Palestinian street has unkind things to say about Arab leaders, who are portrayed as a collection of corrupt tyrants at the beck and call of the U.S., ready to betray the Arab nation in general, and the Palestinians in particular. Not a week passes without the Palestinian press publishing contemptuous, mocking caricatures of Arab leaders (usually they are not specifically named; rather, they are drawn in a standard likeness of a fat, mustachioed man wearing robes, in the style of the Persian Gulf rulers). In previous summit meetings, Arab states adopted a financial assistance plan for the Palestinian Authority, which needs some $50 million a month to pay salaries. Palestinian cabinet ministers say the Arab states have failed to deliver on their financial commitments. One factor that has somewhat disrupted preparations for this summit was the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Most Palestinians derived great pleasure from scenes of the demonstrations against Israel and the U.S., some of them violent, which took place throughout the Arab world after Yassin's death. Such demonstrations always become protests against rulers of the country in which they take place, who are asked to break off any contact, direct or indirect, with Israel. . . . http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/409662.html * -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * 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/
China, Japan, the Dollar
What's China's share of all government purchases of U.S. assets? * A trade deficit must be financed by net borrowing from the rest of the world. The United States was effectively spending about 5% more than it was producing last year, but cannot continue to borrow at such a high rate indefinitely. Worse yet, the trade deficit is growing each year as a share of GDP. The recent decline in the value of the dollar -- which has fallen by 11.5% since February 2002, primarily against the Euro -- indicates that foreign lenders are less willing to supply new credit. If the dollar were being supported by demand from investors who find the U.S. market attractive, then steady growth in capital inflows from private investors to finance rising deficits would likely occur. However, private inflows have fallen in the last two years. Instead, foreign governments have been intervening in foreign exchange markets by purchasing a rapidly growing volume of U.S. government assets (shown as foreign government assets in the United States in the figure below). These inflows reached $208 billion in 2003, or 38.4% of total capital inflows. Official government inflows were 50% of the total in the fourth quarter of 2003. Asian governments made 93% of all government purchases of U.S. assets in 2003. Other governments were not intervening significantly in foreign exchange markets because they expected the dollar to fall and did not want to make money-losing investments. Asian governments, especially Japan and China, are willing to absorb these risks in order to support their exports to the United States1. (Foreign Government Intervention Keeps the Value of the Dollar Artificially High, March 22, 2004, http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_archive_03222004) * -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ * Calendars of Events in Columbus: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html, http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php, http://www.cpanews.org/ * Student International Forum: http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/ * 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/