Reported in the Washington Post, May 5, 2000, Page C1.
Title: "What's On W's Mind? Hard To Say," by Dana
Milbank.
Nobody posted the article so I am compelled to extract
the actual remarks of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, quite
possibly the next president of the United States of
America:
My favourite of his was the 1988 gem 'I never apologize for the United
States of America. I don't care what the facts are.'
Ya just don't get candour like that any more, eh?
Cheers, Rob.
-
Actually this quote would make perfect sense to
quite a few people
if the (neo)liberals in government (a group that included Brad
awhile ago) would push to adequately compensate workers who lose
their jobs due to trade-related problems (not to mention capital
flight), then you would see many fewer unions and pro-union folks
siding with slimy folks like
So people walking past your office hear you
talking to yourself . . . ?
Or do you dictate your e-mail into one computer
while you're typing your next book on another?
mbs
guilty as charged. sorry.
Mathew Forstater wrote:
Michael- Do you use some kind of voice recognition software? I've
ALBANY, May 1 -- The New York State Legislature today completed passage of a
bill that seeks to reduce the amount of air pollution that drifts into New
York from coal-burning power plants in Midwestern and Southern states. . . .
No problem. All the state has to do is issue a parallel set
of
Poor in US more likely to face tax audits
. . . A copy leaked out anyway and
it turns out there was little or no confidentiality issue --
any personal stuff was blacked out and there wasn't much
of it. mbs
I'd like a copy,if you know where I could find one...
I've got it. It's a 2.7
I tell people the numbers show the payroll tax
is progressive thru the 9th income decile and
they call me nuts. Well they will find some
other reason to call me nuts, lord knows there
are a couple, but CTJ has just put out a "Tax
Day 2000" paper with that very same result.
Their tables show the
Quick. Where's my heart medicine?!!
Looks like a blatant, predatory exercise of
market power in the intellectual marketplace.
Where's the DoJ when you need them?
You left out the best part, really the only
element offered in support of his argument
that academics are compelled to be objective,
More on this month's Malefactor of Wealth,
Bechtel Corp:
. . . Bechtel has long been a WB favorite contractor - naturally since they
are infamous for using their heavy handed Repub political clout for getting
the big infrastructure projects overseas and in the defense industry. . .
."Although
Max Sawicky [EMAIL PROTECTED] 04/17/00 04:51PM
I'm continually surprized by how little attention there
is here to 'dollarization.'
CB: What's important about dollarization ?
That's what I was hoping others could tell me.
Off the top of my head, it would seem to have
dire
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/17/dc.protests.03/metro.washington.gif
I'm continually surprized by how little attention there
is here to 'dollarization.' The link below has a
number of reports, mixed among other Repug shit
http://www.senate.gov/~jec/106list.html
mbs
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=^DJId=5y
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=^IXICd=5y
mbs
From those evil nationalist inside the Beltway
critics of free trade.
mbs
++
global economy network
Campaign for America's Future
http://www.ourfuture.org
++
April 14, 2000
Attached below is a media backgrounder on the struggle and
New from EPI:
"The Earned Income Tax Credit: Is It Time for Major Reform?"
by Robert Cherry and Max Sawicky
Anybody who wants an Acrobat file copy pls reply off-list.
mbs
fyi
mbs
Hey -
tomorrow is a big day in terms of protests - not only is it the big labor
rally against PNTR for China - we also just learned that Barshefsky is
speaking downtown on "Trade at the Crossroads." We have organized an
impromptu little rally for tomorrow at the St. Regis Hotel at
FOCUS ON TRADE
Number 48, April 2000
Focus-on-Trade is a regular electronic bulletin providing updates and
analysis of trends in regional and world trade and finance, with an
emphasis on analysis of these trends from an integrative,
interdisciplinary viewpoint that is sensitive not only to
What is this, a plague of Henwoodism? first Louis, and now the dominoes
start falling... once we start down that slippery slope...
;-)
BTW, I don't predict the future. Part of the nature of the current boom (as
with previous ones) is that there's tremendous amounts of uncertainty.
What's a
If you really want to publish this . . .
First thing is it's too long. Columns should
be 750 words.
Second, the paragraphs are too long. It's a
newspaper, not the AER.
Third, you used Randy Wray's title. When he
sues you I'm sure he won't ask for too much.
Fourth, you need to state in the
CB: Of course, GDP in a developing country might be raised by mainly
domestic means, but at that time I think you were talking about investment
from developed countries being the main way it has actually happened, and
thus impliedly giving a gold star on the forehead to the investment from
The
vast majority of people understand 'schizophrenia' as 'split personality',
Say, rather, that the colloquial English definition of the word
"schizophrenia"--as split personality or cognitive dissonance or a
failure to recognize that beliefs X and Y cannot both be true--has
nothing to do
"Max B. Sawicky" wrote:
I do know that criticism
of religion per se as a political practice is an
exercise in self-sabotage for progressives in the U.S.
I'm not clear on what you mean by "per se" here, or
how narrowing your "as a political practice" is.
[mbs] I mean raising to the level of
JD on Krugman re: the living wage . . .
it's interesting that he totally ignores the research that Bob Pollin and
others have done in answer to Krugman's previous criticism of living wages
along this line.
Doubly interesting because he wrote a very
friendly review of Pollin's book. Of
CB: Several months ago, I had the impression that you and Brad D.were
arguing that capitalist investment in developing countries was raising their
GDP's, and that was sort of evidence for the success of capitalism in
raising the living standards of the world. Aren't the U.S. trade deficits a
. . . the International Socialists --
which was taken over by the folks at the top, who decided to send the
rank-and-file members to "colonize" blue-collar factories, etc. powered by
excessive, triumphalist, rhetoric. (Louis Proyect's old organization, the
Socialist Workers' Party, went
Association for Union Democracy National Conference
April 7, 8, 9, 2000 New York City
Contact: 718-855-6650 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.uniondemocracy.org
Themes:
* The battle to preserve members'rights in a period of consolidation
* Using union democracy to organize new workers
*
. . . Anyone got any thoughts on this or on the the book or the authors?
Paul Phillips,
All documented at length in State of Working America, 1998-99.
Mishel, Bernstein Schmitt.
mbs
here's a bit more . . .
Your pal Paul Krugman had a good column on this
in re: the Repug's gas tax cut fulminations. He
points out that if the U.S. reflexively cuts taxes
when the cartel raises prices, that's a perfect
transfer of income to the cartel, since they sell
the same q of oil for a
. . .
The regime of the political business cycle would be an artificial
restoration of the position as it existed in nineteenth-century
capitalism. Full employment would be reached only at the top of the
boom, but slumps would be relatively mild and short-lived.
Doug Henwood
This doesn't
. . .
I don't get the judge's argument against vouchers, BTW. My son goes to a
non-profit "non-public school" because of his learning disability (mild
autism) and it's paid for by the public school system. It seems to me that
the judge is knocking down that kind of deal. . . .
You've got
We do. They're all English professors.
They bludgeon us with idealist notions.
mbs
Too bad the U.S. never had Red Guards.
Juchang He
Where are the Red Guards when you need them?
mbs
Subject: [PEN-L:17103] The Danger of GDP
Well I was close.
mbs
On Wed, 15 Mar 2000, Max Sawicky wrote:
We do. They're [Red Guards] all English professors.
They bludgeon us with idealist notions.
No, no, they're the English departments themselves, who are run by a scary
bunch, who subject their hired serfs -- er, grad students
Where are the Red Guards when you need them?
mbs
Subject: [PEN-L:17103] The Danger of GDP
This message is dedicated to people all over the world. . . .
by Juchang He
of color are strongly encouraged to apply.
Contact
Please direct all e-mail correspondence to Max Sawicky at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or fax inquiries and applications to (202) 775-0819.
I tried to find the number and failed. My vague
recollection is about $10-15 billion a year. A
nice piece of change.
mbs
--
How much was the spectrum given away in 1996 worth?
Michael Perelman
I recall Bob Dole using $70 billion figure when he called it
biggest giveaway of 20th century.
JD:
But the fiscal dividend is not likely to be spent given the current balance
of economic and political power. So instead of figuring out how to spend a
bunch of money (to cash in the dividend), we need to figure out how to
change the balance of power. . . .
Well that's what I'm waiting for
It should be pointed out that we get into these problems of high marginal
tax
rates and rapid phase-outs because unlike every other country, we try to
support families indirectly through the tax code rather than directly
through universal family/children allowances. If we are going to spend $85
This is the classic problem of universalism vs. targeting efficiency, but
I'm
not sure I come down on the same side you do. On the universalistic side,
money for the poor requires, as a kind of informal political blackmail,
money
for the rich (or at least the more affluent). Targeting focuses the
On Behalf Of Max Sawicky
If you spread $85 billion over all families w/children,
the poor would see less than they do now.
Here is where I politically disagree with you. If most families with
children were given the credit, a larger percentage of them would have no
tax liability at all
Full-employment or 'structural balance':
(billions)
1999 44.3
2000 91.2
2001 124.5
2002 149.2
2003 168.5
2004 192.5
2005 215.7
These are all surpluses. Source: p. 13,
Federal Budget, Analytical Perspectives.
These assume "full employment" of 5.2
percent.
The share of GDP is projected
For the edification of Free Trade Anti-Imperialists.
mbs
March 7, 2000
The New York Times' columnists and reporters' have kept the supporters of
fair trade and development working overtime to respond to inaccuracies,
misrepresentations and misguided op ed lectures.
What follows are two
This uninformed post can best be understood as
a futile effort to deny that non-revolutionaries
have a serious interest in reducing inequality
and supporting the working class. There must be
a lot of grounds for criticizing Rorty, but none
of them are found in this post.
LP:
. . . there has
A basic feature about Social Security that seems
to be under-appreciated is that it is already
'means-tested' to a degree. It's not an either/
or proposition. First of all, the benefit formula
is redistributive, which is the same thing for
practical purposes as 'means-tested.' It just
happens
NEWMAN!
" . . . during the phaseout of EITC,
for those making above $13,000 per year with a couple of kids, they face
something like a 35% tax rate from FICA plus EITC phaseout on all additional
income, . . .
It just so happens that I'm finishing a paper
now w/Bob Cherry on expanding the EITC
Max, this is a very informative post. Quite a few people complain about
paying school taxes because they do not have any children in school. Here
in Chico, we finally passed a school bond on the fourth try. But it was
close to failing again.
I worry that the same could happen to Social
Doesn't JMK's liquidity trap explain Japan better
than a kinked interest rate curve?
OTOH, I suppose keynes doesn't explain the japanese
reluctance to spend very well. Anybody know their
'full-employment budget deficit' these days?
mbs
Students in Principles often learn Paul Sweezy's
I know. But if Louie is going to channel him, I
thought we ought to get the full flavor of his
perspective.
mbs
Max, Henry is no longer here. What he writes on PKT seems to raise no
hackles there. No reason to critique him here.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State
Mention of Jones should be banned from PEN-L until he
sends me my lagavullin. And this is entirely altruistic
on my part, since I don't drink.
mbs
[You heard it first here. where for two years we've argued that the big boom
is all about klow commodity prices and the crushing of working class
. . .
Also, as progressives, shouldn't our focus also be on the negative effects
of the Chinese government on its workers rather than solely on the negative
effect of the US trade deficit with China on US workers? . . .
I'm told something on the Chinese worker front is
in the works. If you
of Americas leading economists on
state fiscal issues, examines the ability of state economies to
accommodate these challenges. The introductory essay by EPI
economist Max Sawicky and the table of contents can be read
online.
NAFTA
February 16, 2000 Issue Brief #137
The High Cost of the China-WTO Deal
Administrations own analysis suggests
spiraling deficits, job losses
by Robert E. Scott
No one can predict the future. But the Clinton Administration is
confidently forecasting that the huge U.S. trade
will not support H1-B visa applications.
Affirmative Action
People of color are strongly encouraged to apply.
Contact
Please direct all e-mail correspondence to Max Sawicky at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or fax inquiries and applications to (202) 775-0819.
Public choice is simply theories that try to
explain the behavior of the state and/or its
officials.
A good neutral review of the lit -- the standard
one, actually -- from a mainstream standpoint is
by Dennis Mueller.
The better sort of lit gives full play to how
the interests of capital
The Virginia school is not the beginning and end
of public choice theory. For instance, there is
a median voter theory that explains how, under
completely fantastical conditions, the median
voter is decisive in electoral matters. There
is lit on how bureaus and politicians manipulate
electoral
I used a median voter model for my dissertation.
The R-squares were beyond belief. I was more
worried about them being too good than the
contrary.
In models "median voter" is represented by
median income, which clearly could be influential
for reasons outside the voting process.
mbs
" . . . Clever? How about racist. . . .
Oh please.
I heard a paper at the AEA meetings by Cecilia Conrad
about reparations which took one of her relatives as a
point of departure. There was apparently a very clear
system of discriminatory pay in New Orleans, where
the aunt was a school teacher
I wrote this about it two yrs ago.
http://www.prospect.org/columns/sawicky/sa980723.html
JD:
what do pen-l's tax wonks think of the alleged "marriage penalty" of the US
tax system? (Forget the GOP plan. It won't go anywhere.)
The 'bonus' can be misconstrued. Those whose taxes
fall by
The penalty is not getting married per se,
but marrying and setting work arrangements
such that joint income exceeds the income
of the beneficiary family(s).
The phase-out for a family (married or no)
with children starts at $12,500 and ends
between $26K and $30K. So insofar as your
combined
Ummm. Where did this "report" come from?
max
William F. Buckley, "And yes, 50 percent of those who receive Social
Security are 'rich.' Nearly half (47 per cent) of those who benefit from
Medicare are rich, and one-fifth of those who get Medicaid." (From a 1994
article calling for the
http://www.newsday.com/coverage/current/editorial/wednesday/nd679.htm
Edwin (Tom) Dickens
Max Sawicky wrote:
http://www.newsday.com/coverage/current/editorial/wednesday/nd679.htm
Over on LBO they're arguing about who is
more psychotic. I think both sides are
winning. So this debate compares
well. I would be sorry to see either TW
or RO go. Neither of them has called me
an insect yet.
On the substance of the matter . . . TW said:
Max has an income of $100. Roger has
. . .So, these fellows concluded, the saving as a percentage of income
is
much larger for low income people. They call this the equivalent of a
progressive tax change, though more dollars flow to each high income
customer than to low income customers.
Gene Coyle
Progressivity is usually
that's well taken, but chances are the
wealth effect is small compared to the
consumer benefit, and even if it wasn't
at worst it would increase inequality by
increasing incomes unevenly, a relatively
abstract concept. the other side will say,
sure dereg is good for everybody, you ingrate.
EPI seeks a senior-level labor market expert
interested in spending their sabbatical year
at EPI in Washington, D.C.
Must be oriented towards empirical and/or
policy-related work. Will pay half of the
academic year salary. Start date is 9/1/00.
Send vitae to:
EPI
1660 L St., NW
Suite 1200
I nominate Rosser. He seems more aware than most
of what a variety of off-center people are doing,
particularly on the macro side. Just as long as
he doesn't go into trade theory, where he transmutes
into B DeLong. On the micro side, I'd say Robin
Hahnel.
A problem others note is the meaning
st lies,
I would really appreciate any leads on innovative, radical micro thinking
-- especially work that can be used in applied and policy analysis.
Peter
Max Sawicky wrote:
I nominate Rosser. He seems more aware than most
of what a variety of off-center people are doing,
particularly on the
I would say that most people -who consider themselves Marxists- are closet
Keynesians.
Tom Walker
Don't forget the closet free-traders.
mbs
Presidential Terms and Federal Spending, 1980-1999
(By Fiscal Year, Percent of GDP)
(source: Economic and Budget Outlook, CBO, January 2000)
19761980198819921999
Hola, dudes.
http://www.cincodias.es/scripts/cincodias/noticias/articulo.asp?ntc=113964a
p=2
Title: Yahoo - Business Leaders Back WTO Agenda
Home - Yahoo! - Help
Yahoo! Messenger - online friends, instant
messaging, voice chat
[ Business | US Market | By Industry | IPO | AP | SP |
Any of you dudes who have written in a scholarly
mode about the organization of the U.S. labor
movement interested in possible research support
(i.e., $), should drop me a line off-list.
mbs
BN:
. . . Almost all politically active Jews, zionist or not, in the United
States vigorously support the separation of religion and state *in the
United States.* But the overwhelming majority of politically active zionists
in the United States do *not* support the separation of religion and
Let's go back to the videotape for a second.
You said:
" . . . Shahak convincingly argues that racism and a pre-Enlightenment world
view are endemic to orthodox Judaism as it is practiced in Israel today.
Note
that there is no separation of religion and state in Israel, so that this
is a matter
uesting that the Fed charter be amended to
restrict the Fed's mission to price stability. Instead,
I speculate that Fed policy has been easy (relatively!)
out of fear of a bursting bubble and hordes of angry
mutual fund investors.
Max Sawicky
Economic Policy Institute
It's not a question of supporting the Klan's rights, but of denying the
mayor's right to decide who can march, where and when.
Hope to see you all (from the NYC area) there tomorrow.
WD
The mayor heads the Gov. Denial of the Gov's
power to decide who marches, as far as it goes,
affirms the
BN:
. . . Shahak convincingly argues that racism and a pre-Enlightenment world
view are endemic to orthodox Judaism as it is practiced in Israel today.
Note that there is no separation of religion and state in Israel, so that
this is a matter of no small social consequence. For example, the vast
Father D:
yeah, it's because il Duce would use any power he gets from banning the
KKK against other groups he doesn't like. . . .
The idea of fighting the Klan by bringing in the lawyers not only shows
extreme faith in the capitalist state, but it indicates a belief that
lawyers should rule.
Interesting case where circumstances reveal to
the left, both far and near, the *practical*
necessity of supporting First Amendment rights
for the KKK.
mbs
- - - - -
Rudy's Foes Rally Behind Evil Spirits
Douglas
HK:
Perhaps I misinterpret the statement, the EPI Brief #134 or both, but I
think the "Statement to German colleagues" is in contradiction to main
passages of the recent article on
SOCIAL INVESTMENT AND THE BUDGET DEBATE
by Jeff Faux and Max Sawicky
(EPI Issue Brief #134 - Econo
. . .
May I add two questions to list members inside the U.S - especially to
those who signed the statement:
1) Who increasingly recognizes the vital role of government to support
different forms of the social security system by expanding public
expenditure? The Clinton Administration? - And
See, if you had some golf courses to break up the
woodlands, the fires wouldn't spread as much.
helpfully,
S. the B.
Writing in the midst of terrible smoke from the forest fires, visibility
maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile, I am pleased to inform you that the Coal Smoke
Abatement Society began 100
PLEASE NOTE: Responses should be directed to the address at the
end of this announcement.
Researcher (Education)
I12 Education
EPI seeks to recruit a scholar with demonstrated ability to conduct research
and supervise contract research on K-12 education policy.
Possible areas of research
More poop on the tax cuts the Repugs have folded
into the minimum wage bill.
http://www.cbpp.org/10-19-99tax.htm
mbs
Perspective
What Congress won't do
10/17/1999
The Star-Ledger Newark, NJ
FINAL
006
(c) 1999. The Star-Ledger. All rights reserved.
The Republican Congress is finding it difficult to achieve their
stated targets for spending and budget balance.
In a search for savings, they are
I was consorting w/some big shots this week, including a few
Extremely Conservative economists to whom Laffer is a figure
of fun, particularly for his self-promoting ways and delusions
of grandeur.
Among the cat hissing re: Mundell was the observation
that apparently Mundell's work implies that
Final salvo. Here I was pleased to see in Perelman's stats on posting that
I ranked well below the leading blabbermouths, and I'm afraid I've shot that
all to hell in just one day.
Mat: Perhaps I'm thick but I'm not sure what it is you're lookig for. Is it
just alternative indicators? I
blaut: Minority people are not "quintiles."
mbs: I guess that responds to my "if you're serious" question.
Wow again.
To return to the real world, does anyone know what interesting
Christmas Ornaments are now being hung on the minimum wage bill?
Brad DeLong
Best thing right now is:
You're right that I slipped when I implicitly equated
aggregate income growth to a decrease in misery. That
implies a distributional judgement.
If the U.S. shoots somebody and an economic effect is
transmitted from the Honduras to the U.S., the effect
is what is in question. As I said, the
blaut:
Sawicky's valiant defense of the status quo doesn't need much in the way of
an answer, mainly because the argument is so self-contradictory that even a
cultural-historical geographewr like me can see the contradictions.
mbs:
"Valiant defense of the status quo"?
So this is going to be one
Charles: Seems to me you leave out that capitalism has generated the biggest
wars in recorded history and archeaology. . . .
I left out that and a whole lot more, including
whether or not capitalism is a great system.
I was asking about something more specific,
namely, are there summary,
. . . In general, Marxism in 1999 makes these kinds of observations:
1. Development is producing an ecological crisis. . . .
2. Capitalism produces alienation. . . .
3. Capitalism produces reserve armies of the unemployed. This is the
general explanation of revolutionary assaults in Latin
Max Sawicky wrote:
It boils down to this, if you're serious:
Is it really the case that there is a lack of summary
measures that indicate a widespread lack of development
in the periphery over the past 50 years?
Following your strictures not to question GDP as a measure of
development, I guess
Max- Aren't there some alternative indicators of basic human needs
formulated by or inspired by Amartya Sen?
I can try to dig them up. Mat
--
Don't know. I'm not a development guy.
I'd like to know. Remember I said I
would have thought there would be at
least *some*
The premise that capitalism is fundamentally incapable
of delivering the goods -- of managing to increase
output and income more-or-less consistently and
indefinitely -- seems to me the most compelling
part of Marxism. It may be granted that inequality
can be and should be the basis for radical
The question was whether much development was
taking place. Inequality is a different thing,
important but different.
mbs
There was "development" in the black community in the United States all
through the 1960s. Black factory workers were not mollified by it, however,
and demanded parity with
Translation: I have no data.
mbs
The question was whether much development was
taking place. Inequality is a different thing,
important but different.
mbs
LP:
. . .
What these figures conceal is the deep anger that is felt . . .
Translation: I have no data.
mbs
Yes. Depreciation exceeds gross investment. Not
just roads, but a whole range of stuff.
You'd think so. I was going to say it has been
supplanted by deficit/debt hysteria and general
anti-Gov/tax sentiment, but I forgot we just
put a paper up on our web site on polling and
government spending
(thought this might interest somebody on LBO,
so I've cross-posted it from PEN-L)
JD:
O'Connor argues that government investment programs typically have a
positive ROR (rate of return) but that the government doesn't appropriate
(capture) that return. Instead, the benefits redound to private
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