Re: back to PPP comparisons\Chris' question
Thanks for the input! See below. State supplied utility benefits such as electricity are in Russia's national accounts in Ruble terms, so yes they are included in these comparisons. Even with the recent price hikes, my monthly electricity bill in Moscow (pretty large Stalin-era apartment, with two big rooms, kitchen, bathroom, water closet) is a whopping $8. Domestic consumers also get gas and oil at far below market rates (you probably already know this). BTW even if an apartment dweller simply refuses to pay the bill, there is no effective way to disconnect him or her, since Soviet apartment blocks are constructed in such a way that you either shut power off to the whole block or not at all. Ditto for water. Such deadbeats were frequent subjects of mockery in Soviet comedies. Self-grown food is normally not in *conventional* national accounts - one example of why people get perplexed when they see very low GNP p/c figures that don't match up to their intuitive feel for living standards. That's a very good point. I remember how stunned I was at how much richer Moscow was than I has expected, going by official figures (unaware that up to half of the economy does not exist on the books). (The home-grown food issue, BTW, also points to what a wild exaggeration Gaidar's warning of impending famine was in 1991. It is impossible to starve in Russia. I know people who got through the dark days of the early 90s by gathering mushrooms in the forest. Russia is mostly wilderness. Hunting is as much a way of life in Siberia, as, say tax evasion in Moscow. :) ) Moreover, Russia still has a strange, quasi-Soviet economy that is to some extent nonmonetarized. E.g. the factory where someone works might pay him or her practically nothing, but it provides daycare for your kids, gives you meals, free bus passes etc. etc. etc. (This is why people where able to survive during the days of year-long wage delays -- they didn't live off their wages. Their wages were supplemental.) Existing apartments are assets so they are not, per se, in Russia's Ruble national accounts. Incidentally the high apartment ownership rate and the way it was acquired (privatization of the apartment you happened to live in in 1991) has interesting sociological effects. For instance, Russia does not have ghettoes organized around ethnic or income (or for that matter sexual) lines. You can have a middle-class family and an impoverished beggar living next to one another (the exception is the rich). The concept of a slum is completely alien (I recollect an Indian acquaintance trying to get the idea across to a Russian coworker to no avail -- you mean like a Khrushchev building? You don't understand, you've never seen a slum.). For the same reason Russian cities are not divided into low- and high-crime areas -- there is a low level of danger everywhere, but nowhere that is completely secure and nowhere that it is suicide to go into. There's also the everpresent alcoholic who seems to live in every apartment block, who would be on the streets in the United States but still has his apartment to stagger home to in Russia (everything in the apartment, however, has probably been pawned to buy booze). __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
fun and games with comparisons over time
just to note that a lot of the hidden assumptions that Paul has been talking about in the context of PPP figures are actually there when you're comparing figures for the same country over time. I wrote a piece for my weblog this morning (http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/002321.html) about the fact that the change in the income of the lowest quintile between 1978 and 2001 was $726, measured in 2001 dollars. Since a Starbucks latte costs about 2.80 2001 dollars, this means that the lucky duckies in the lowest quintile in 2001 were able to buy the 1978 consumption bundle, plus 259 cups of coffee (roughly one every weekday). dd
Paying the price for war
Thanks to Doug Henwood for his help with my article. http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-08-12/guest.asp Seth Sandronsky _ Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the Back to School Guide! http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx
Re: JEP Schleiffer
Shleifer should get a chutzpah award, writing about ethics, given his history with USAID and Russia. He got fired from Harvard, no? At 09:43 PM 8/11/2004 -0700, you wrote: Paul deserves criticism for his summary of Shleifer -- he is far too gentle. Shliefer insists that market-induced competition does not create undesirable consequences. It is non-market corruption that is bad. And he is considered one of the bright lights of economics. Paul wrote: 2) Latest AEA/AER publication (San Diego Proceedings) has a choice article: Does Competition Destroy Ethical Behavior? by Andrei Shleiffer. Opening sentence: This paper shows that conduct described as unethical and blamed on 'greed' is sometimes a consequence of market competition. This builds on the author's article entitled Corruption in last year's QJE. I am sorry to kick someone when they are down, and also to criticize someone not on the list but... -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: JEP Schleiffer
Robert Naiman wrote: Shleifer should get a chutzpah award, writing about ethics, given his history with USAID and Russia. He got fired from Harvard, no? Hey, it takes one to know one. Why do you think FDR made Joe Kennedy the first head of the SEC? Doug
Re: JEP Schleiffer
Did he get fired? Just from the development institute? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: JEP Schleiffer
BTW this is the Russian newspaper Izvestia commenting on Schleiffer's fall from grace. Izvestia August 10, 2004 HARVARD PROFESSOR'S SPOUSE LINED HER POCKETS IN PRIVATIZATION An update on the scandal around the so called Harvard Project. Author: Konstantin Getmansky [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] HARVARD PROJECT, A PROGRAM GENEROUSLY FINANCED BY THE US ADMINISTRATION, WAS SUPPOSED TO HELP RUSSIA MAKE A TRANSITION TO FREE MARKET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 1990'S. IN FACT, AMERICAN CONSULTANTS ANDREI SCHLEIFER AND JONATHAN HAY USED INSIDER INFORMATION ON PRIVATIZATION OF MAJOR RUSSIAN ENTERPRISES FOR PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Harvard Project, a program generously financed by the US Administration, was supposed to help Russia make a transition to free market in the middle of the 1990's. In fact, American consultants Andrei Schleifer and Jonathan Hay used insider information on privatization of major Russian enterprises for personal enrichment. Their wives participated. Nancy Zimmerman recompensed the US Administration for the damage estimated by attorneys at $1.5 million last Thursday. Zimmerman decided to pay up to avoid criminal charges. It happened a month after the verdict of the federal court of Massachusetts that convicted her husband, Harvard Professor of Economics Schleifer, for machinations and falsification of his reports on his activities in the capacity of adviser to the government of Russia. Schleifer spent between 1994 and 1997 in Moscow, involved with the already non-existent Harvard Institute of International Development within the framework of the American program of assistance to Russia in transition to free market economy. Along with everything else, Schleifer was a consultant of the Federal Commission for Securities that received hefty grants from the United States then for establishment of the securities markets in Russia. The first accusations concerning integrity of the professor and his wife appeared right upon his return to the United States in 1997. The prosecutor's office initiated criminal proceedings and an investigation only in 2000. When it was over, it filed lawsuit against Schleifer and Zimmerman demanding recompense to the US Administration for its losses. Investigation is convinced that Schleifer with the help from his wife used his position for personal enrichment. Using the insider information he was privy to, he and his wife established several dummy corporations through which they bought shares in Russian enterprises slated for privatization. The accord between the US Administration and Harvard expressly banned this. Aware of that and using their personal capitals, Schleifer and Zimmerman bought $464,000 worth of shares in Russian oil companies. Schleifer also used his relatives' fortunes to buy into Gazprom. This is blatant neglect of all norms of ethics, said Sarah Bloom, Massachusetts Assistant DA. Two experts hired to promote observance of the law, integrity and openness of market in Russia taught the Russians something altogether different. On June 28, the federal court of Massachusetts convicted Schleifer. Judge Douglas Woodlock did not set the sum Schleifer and Jonathan Hay (his colleague and former head of the Harvard Institute of International Development) are supposed to return to the US Administration. DA office insists on $102 million. The final verdict will be passed on September 13. As for Zimmerman, the court did not even begin. Last Thursday, he returned to the state $1.5 million worth of damage as estimated by the prosecution. Zimmerman is one of the owners of Farallon Fixed Income Associates, said Samantha Martin of the Massachusetts DA office. We believe that FFIA used the resources, personnel, and influence of the Harvard Project in Russia for its own investments in the Russian economy. Between December 1995 and June 1997, FFIA made use of all these resources and insider information on the activities of New World Capital. The company bought and sold shares in Russian companies using the arrangement that permitted it not to pay taxes to the Russian budget. This solution of the problem shows that the United States will always be after whoever uses government programs for his or her own benefit, said Massachusetts DA Michael Sullivan. We will not permit the use of taxpayers' money for personal enrichment. Translated by A. Ignatkin --- Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Did he get fired? Just from the development institute? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu __ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Re: Paying the price for war
Seth may well be understating the cost of the war. The budget of Walter Read is probably left out of these estimates. The cost of caring for the next generation of homeless people who never found their way back from the horror. The extra costs associated with the anger generated abroad. Could we use the priceless tag-line? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: JEP Schleiffer
Michael wrote: (B (BPaul deserves criticism for his summary of Shleifer -- he is far too gentle. Shliefer (Binsists that market-induced competition does not create undesirable consequences. It (Bis non-market corruption that is bad. (B (BResponse Jim C: I have been invited to present a paper in Beijing at Tsinghua (BUniversity at the upcoming conference on Sept 1-2 on The International Symposium on (Bthe Reform of Property Rights Enterprise Development in Transitional Countries. (BMy paper is on the "The Evolving Concept of Social Capital, Markets, Market-Based (BProcesses and Socialist Construction." (BThe paper argues that capitalism requires certain fundamental institutions, values, (Bnorms, power relations/structures, etc (social capital) for its expanded reproduction (Band the requisite fundamental social capital of capitalism is fundamentally (Bcontradictory to those fundamental institutions, values, norms, power (Brelations/structures requisite for socialist construction--even allowing for diverse (Bdefinitions of what socialism and socialist construction is all about. The social (Bcapital of capitalism, as in the case of social capital in general, involves (Binstitutions designed to foster some degrees of trust, hope, cooperation, social (Bcohesion and buying into the system on the part of the masses even as market-based (Bforms and levels of competition, values and behaviors associated with methodological (Bindividualism--along with the core relations and survival imperatives in capitalist (Bcompetition--undermine that social capital and objectively--and (Bmeasureably--cause/reinforce mas! (B s cynicism, loss of hope, loss of social cohesion, social darwinism, loss of trust, (Bfraud, environmental decay and inevitable trajectories/vicissitudes/trends that cause (Bloss of mass belief in the system itself. The paper argues that the core imperatives (Band power-relations/structures of survival in capitalist competition are (Bself-contradictory and undermine the requisite social capital of capitalism (necessary (Bfor its expanded reproduction) itself as well as being fundamentally in contradiction (Bwith--and hostile to--the requisite "social capital" of socialist construction (B (BThe paper argues that socialism is about dictatorship of the proletariat, changing (B"human nature" itself and progressively pulling up the poisonous weeds of capitalism (Band pre-capitalism (productive relations, ideas, myths, traditions, institutions, (Bpower relations/structures, etc) and that although China faces myriad challenges and (Bhorrible historical legacies that must be addressed, along with increasing hostility (Band threatening machinations from U.S. imperialism thus making rapid development of (Bmaterial forces even more imperative for survival and socialist construction of China, (Ball capitalist/market-based institutions are fundamentally contradictory to socialist (Bconstruction and should be regrarded as tactical compromises (as Lenin honesty (Bcharacterized the NEP in Russia) for the purposes of strategic advance and not a new (Bmodel of socialist construction to be emulated elsewhere. (B (BI have been asked to moderate a workshop on the question of whether or not capitalism (Bis being restored in China--or has already been restored in China--with proponents of (Bthe thesis--that capitalism is being/has been restored in China--(of which I am not (Bone)invited to debate the question with scholars from Tsingua and other Chinese (Buniversities who anxiously await the debate. (B (BI also note, that the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, (Boriginally one of the sponsors of the Symposium, is no longer listed as one of the (Bsponsors and I wonder if the machinations of Schleiffer had something to do with that. (B (B (BPlace: Tsinghua University, Beijing (BTime: September 1-2, 2004 (B (BThe International Symposium on the Reform of Property Rights (B Enterprise Development in Transitional Countries (B (BINVITATION (B (BDear Professor: (B (BI am very pleased to invite you to take part in the International Symposium on the (BReform of Property Rights Enterprise Development in Sino-Russian Economic (BTransition, which will be held in Beijing on 1-2 September, 2004. The participants (Bwill include some distinguished scholars of this field from China, Russia, the United (BStates, Britain, Japan and other countries, about 20 from home and overseas (Bseparately; high officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, State (B-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, (BDevelopment Research Center of the State Council $B!$ (JFinance and Economics (BCommission of NPC, Law Commission of NPC, and distinguished entrepreneurs from both (Bstate-owned and private-owned enterprises and foreign corporations. (B (BMain topics of the
One Iraq veteran
A young friend, about 20 or so, spent time in Iraq during his on-going 4 year enlistment in the Air Force. He's now stationed in the states but will go back to Iraq in February. The conversation with him was depressing. He denounced Kerry because of his association with Jane Fonda -- and repeated the stories of Fonda -- totally bogus as I understand them -- of betraying prisoners in Hanoi. He'd never heard that Bush was AWOL. On another note, listening to the car radio up through the Chico area and into Oregon, I heard Vietnam vets calling in to radio shows, relaying the information that the post-war depression of many was because they had been spit on when they came back. No doubt they believed what they were saying. And of course they denounced Kerry because of his post-Vietnam posture which several interpreted as an attack on all who served in Vietnam. The spin is frightening. Gene Coyle
Code Red: John Kerry's Neighborhood Terrorist Watch
Code Red: John Kerry's Neighborhood Terrorist Watch (Copying Bush and Ashcroft, Kerry calls on Americans to do more to protect themselves against terrorism by setting up neighborhood watch groups. Plus, my brand-new color-coded advisory system that allows liberals and leftists to evaluate Threat Conditions and take corresponding Protective Measures against the Democratic Party's Republican copycat attacks): http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/08/code-red-john-kerrys-neighborhood.html. -- Yoshie * Critical Montages: http://montages.blogspot.com/ * Greens for Nader: http://greensfornader.net/ * 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/
NJ gov.
Why would an affair make him resign? Is the Lt. Gov. a dem? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: NJ gov.
from what I hear, the problem was not so much the affair, as the revelation that he's a friend of Dorothy. dd -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: 12 August 2004 21:49 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NJ gov. Why would an affair make him resign? Is the Lt. Gov. a dem? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: NJ gov.
from what I hear, the problem was not so much the affair, as the revelation that he's a friend of Dorothy. dd Who the hell is Dorothy? -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: 12 August 2004 21:49 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NJ gov. Why would an affair make him resign? Is the Lt. Gov. a dem? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Re: One Iraq veteran
Title: Re: One Iraq veteran A young friend, about 20 or so, spent time in Iraq during his on-going 4 year enlistment in the Air Force. He's now stationed in the states but will go back to Iraq in February. The conversation with him was depressing. . The spin is frightening. Gene Coyle The following Other Voices column appeared in this morning's Grass Valley CA The Union... The Union, Grass Valley CA http://www.theunion.com Mother sees tough side of Iraq war Susan and William Porter August 12, 2004 Last year I sent my son to war. During the seven months he was in Iraq, he experienced fierce combat, lost friends to death and injury, saw and did things that no human being should ever have to see or do - things he'll have to live with for the rest of his life. He was barely 18 years old. It was the worst seven months of my life. Every morning I woke up grateful that no one had come knocking on my door during the night. The crunch of tires on gravel or headlights shining through the window caused the entire family to hold its breath until the unknown vehicle passed by our drive. Each and every day was a struggle to maintain some sense of order and sanity while knowing my child was in harm's way. Sleep was something to do only when the body gave out and couldn't stay awake any longer. It wasn't until he was back on U.S. soil last September that I was able to get a full night's sleep and not flinch every time I heard a car drive down the lane. My peace was short-lived. He was home less than a month before the battalion was told they'd be going back. For the better part of a year, I've been living with the dread of going through this nightmare again. His deployment draws near. Sometime in the next month or so, I'll be sending my son to war for the second time. Recently I nailed a John Kerry poster and a yellow ribbon to a tree on my property. Nailed it securely. As an American, I have the right of free speech, and as the mother of a Marine, I've more than earned the right to my opinion that the current leadership of this country has got to change. Within a matter of days, the sign was missing, stolen by someone who has no respect for the rights and freedoms my son has sworn to protect. I have a few questions for this person, so quick to show his support of Mr. Bush. How many letters and care packages have you sent to Iraq to show your support for the troops? How many letters of condolence have you written to the over 900 families who've lost a son or daughter, father, brother, mother, sister in this idiotic war? How many mothers have you comforted with your words and actions of support? Your behavior leaves little doubt as to your character. Do you really think violating my rights, trespassing on my property and stealing from me exemplifies the values and moral clarity your party is so quick to claim?
KPFA Staff Open Letter to the Local Station Board
Open Letter to the LSB from Concerned KPFA Paid and Unpaid Staff KPFA is first and foremost a radio station whose listeners count on the Pacifica Radio airwaves to provide an invaluable, independent source of multicultural news, information, music, and arts programming. There has been unparalleled community and national support in keeping this radio station alive and functioning by delivering KPFA back to the people from the devastating forces of the previous Pacifica National management and board. But once again, as in those terrible years surrounding the KPFA lockout and shutdown of 1999, KPFA is in a perilous place. Once again, it is a Pacifica governing body which has the power to break this place apart, and threaten its function at such a critical time. Our newly elected KPFA Local Station Board is deeply divided, and has devolved into factions where extreme and constant mistrust, maligning, and infighting have spilled over into attacking KPFA staff to such a degree that the workplace is rife with fear, anger, compromised productivity, and the lowest morale since 1999. Many staff members are aware of the following: In the past few months, a number of Station Board members have targeted KPFA staff and management with demeaning and potentially libelous accusations about staff performance. They have fueled Internet hit pieces which have gone after several employees at KPFA. Some LSB members and their close allies have suggested that staff members are plants of former Pacifica Chair Mary Frances Berry. A board member has insinuated that our interim General Manager is a COINTELPRO agent. One LSB member attacked KPFA's youngest and newest staff members for their alleged ignorance and immaturity in understanding station affairs and supposed slave mentality. Particularly disturbing are the anti-worker attacks by a group of LSB members, some of whom are union members, characterizing the station's staff as being only interested in keeping their jobs and expressing hostility to the integrity of the paid staff's union. In addition, the work of unpaid staff members has been devalued. Staff representatives on the LSB are routinely insulted in the course of LSB meetings by fellow board members. Some members of the LSB have even called for crushing the will of the staff. A letter protesting such behavior by certain LSB members towards KPFA union and non-union staff, written by the Secretary Treasurer of Communications Workers of America Local 9415 to the LSB, has yet to be addressed. The LSB Chair asked that a now-resolved internal staff issue be broadcast far and wide to the public via email, even though it was a personnel and union matter beyond the purview of the LSB. In doing so, she has rendered the station vulnerable to potential litigation by the maligned staff member. Additionally, an internet editorial was written about the incident by someone close to the LSB Chair, which misrepresented the facts of the incident. Our morning newscaster was named in a public meeting, and scorned by an LSB member, for a newscast she wrote which the LSB member cited out of context and without checking his facts; indeed she was attacked for saying something that she did not say. Our interim General Manager has been subjected to repeated ridicule, harassment, and insult by the Local Station Board Chair about his alleged ineptness at fundraising. The LSB Chair went so far to refer to him as the kiss of death. In fact, this is just one in a series of attacks on the interim GM. Some staff on the payroll prior to 1999 have been accused of being saboteurs from former Pacifica Executive Director Pat Scott's regime who continue to block progress and continue in taking down the station, even though these same people risked arrest and were arrested, risked job loss with no other means of financial support while protesting, broadcasting, and while testifying before California state legislators in defiance of orders from Pacifica's Executive Director and the Chair of Pacifica's national board. The affirmative action-based Apprenticeship Program has been demeaned in public, and dismissed as not serving the community's training needs in radio production, even though graduates of this unique program are teaching, producing, operating broadcasts, and coordinating the radio-related needs of collectives coming into KPFA from many different communities of all ages and abilities. It is our understanding that there are some members of the LSB who would seek to cut music programming, when in fact music and arts programming are integral to Pacifica's mission. Since the LSB does not have a mandate to make programming decisions, we are disturbed by LSB members' comments (including those of the Chair) that they believe they were given a mandate by the listeners to cut music in favor of public affairs. The KPFA Program Council cannot operate without a quorum, yet both the Program Council and KPFA's Interim Program Coordinator are challenged
Re: Paying the price for war
Here is to educating Americans on who pays for and who profits from imperial war, and why. Seth Re: Paying the price for war by Michael Perelman 12 August 2004 Seth may well be understating the cost of the war. The budget of Walter Read is probably left out of these estimates. The cost of caring for the next generation of homeless people who never found their way back from the horror. The extra costs associated with the anger generated abroad. Could we use the priceless tag-line? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu _ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
new radio product
Just added to my radio archive http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html: August 12, 2004 Deborah James, director of the Venezuela Information Office, on Chavez and the August 15 referendum * Robert McChesney, author of The Problem of the Media and one of the founders of freepress.net, on the corporate media and alternatives to it it joins August 5, 2004 Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of Gallup and author of Polling Matters, on the public opinion trade and the 2004 election polls * Tariq Ali, author most recently of Bush in Babylon, on the importance to the whole world of defeating Bush, and the maddening wrongness of the no difference position July 22, 2004 Judith Levine, author of Do You Remember Me?, on her father's Alzheimer's, and the social meanings of the disease * Ian Williams, author of Deserter!, on George W's military career July 15, 2004 Nomi Prins, investment banker turned journalist, on Martha's sentencing, Ken Lay's indictment, and sex discrimination on Wall Street * Charlie Komanoff, car-hater, on why we use so much oil, and how we could use less of it July 8, 2004 Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycles Research Institute and co-author of Beating the Business Cycle, on cycles in general, this odd one specifically, and the likely slowdown by yearend * Norman Kelley, author of The Head Negro In Charge Syndrome, on the crisis in black politics along with -- * Chalmers Johnson on the U.S. empire * Jagdish Bhatwati on globalization * Bill Fletcher on war and peace * Slavoj Zizek on war, imperialism, and fantasy * Naomi Klein on Argentina and the arrested political development of the global justice movement * Ralph Nader, at the Council on Foreign Relations, on foreign policy * Susie Bright on sex and politics * Richard Burkholder of Gallup on that firm's Iraq polls * Anatol Lieven on Iraq * Jomo on the Asian economies * Cynthia Enloe on masculinity in the Bush administration (and oil) * Laura Flanders on Bushwomen * Carlos Mejia, deserter from Iraq * Joseph Stiglitz on the IMF and the Wall St-Treasury axis * Lisa Jervis on feminism pop culture * Nina Revoyr on the history of Los Angeles, real and fictional * Joel Schalit on anti-Semitism * Robert Fatton on Haiti * Gary Younge on a foreign journalist's view of the U.S. * Ursula Huws on work and why capitalism has avoided crisis * Michael Albert on participatory economics (parecon) * Marta Russell on the UN conference on disability * Corey Robin on the neocons * Sara Roy on the Palestinian economy * Christian Parenti on Iraq and surveillance * Michael Hardt on Empire (several times, the last June 2004) * Judith Levine on kids sex * Walden Bello on the World Social Forum and alternative development models * Christopher Hitchens on Orwell and his new political affiliations -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 38 Greene St - 4th fl. New York NY 10013-2505 USA voice +1-212-219-0010 fax+1-212-219-0098 cell +1-917-865-2813 email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] webhttp://www.leftbusinessobserver.com
Re: Economics and law
Charles Brown writes: Why is your personal opinion relevant? I mean, I am sure I can find somebody (Melvin P.?) who apparently highly values going 100. Therefore, your opinion is cancelled out. Now what do we do? ^ CB: Well, it's like why vote ? Your vote is only one in millions. How can it be relevant ? David Shemano's vote is going to cancel yours , so why vote ? In general, all we have here on email is opinions ,no ? For example, you recognized that opinions are readily expressed in this mediuam when you said to Michael Perelman: I don't have a strong opinion on whether regulation should be done by legislation or litigation -- it seems like a peripheral issue. Would your opinion have been relevant if you had one ? I knew my statement would cause a problem, but I think the point is valid. You, Charles Brown, subjectively value safety in such a manner that you think the speed limit should be 40 and not 70. I am not sure why your entirely subjective opinion translates into a rule for everybody else. It seems to me that cost/benefit analysis rule-making should ultimately be determined by something other than one person's subjective opinion. Why do you assume such facts for a socialist society? We have 75 years of experience with socialist inspired economies. Did they place a higher value on safety compared to comparable capitalist societies? ^ CB: Well, yea for automobile safety. The Soviet cars were like tanks, which , Justin mentioned, would be the direction that you would go to have safer cars. They had more mass transportation in the form of omnibuses, trains, trolleys than individualized units, as Melvin alluded to as a safer form, generally. Obviously, there can be train accidents too. Has anybody ever done a comparison of transportation deaths among countries? It might be interesting. Were they able to implement safety concerns more economically than comparable capitalist societies? ^ CB: Good question. I'm not sure how you would get a comparable capitalist society , but if you think my opinion on it is relevant, I'd say a comparable capitalist economy for the SU would be someplace like Brazil in some senses at some periods. It's hard because the Soviet Union (and all socialist inspired economies) had to put so much economic emphasis on military defense because capitalism was constantly invading them or threatening to nuke 'em. This throws off all ability to measure from Soviet and socialist inspired history what might be the benefits of a peaceful socialist development of a regime of safety from our own machines. Cop out. In my experience, there was one example of a socialist inspired car in the capitalist market: the Yugo. Case closed. It seems to me that safety increases in value as a society becomes wealthier, and the value is not correlated to the economic system itself. ^ CB What do you mean by safety increases in value ? I'm not sure human life is valued more highly as society gets wealthier. Death and injury by automobile accidents is the main cause of premature death in the U.S., isn't it ? Unless we live in Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average, something has to be the main cause of premature deaths, right? What would you propose to be the main cause of premature deaths in lieu of auto accidents? David Shemano
Michael Hirsch twits fellow reformists
(In line with Mark Lause's delicious Monty Python post, this was something that just showed up on Leo Casey's mailing list that is made up exclusively of trade union functionaries, social democratic hacks and other diehard reformists. The author is a New Politics editor who must have found the pro-Kerry sentiment there even too much for him to bear, by the appearance of the rather well-aimed satire.) HEADLINE: Kerry's New Stances No Shock to Fervent Supporters By Michael Hirsch, Special to Democratic Left (Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 15, 2004) Seeking to winnow away more of the Bush electoral base, Democratic presidential contender John Kerry told reporters lobbing staccato questions to the candidate at the Ohio State Fair's pig-judging contest that he would have been the sole holdout were he a Supreme Court justice during the Roe v. Wade deliberations. I never did like that decision, said Kerry. While the demurrer was met with shock by erstwhile feminist supporters of the Kerry effort, raised angry retorts from the Democratic Socialists of America and caused Leo Casey to be sedated, it was judged a shrewed political move by other critics of the Bush administration. When will the left learn that the circular firing squad does not work? said Andrew English, a Minneapolis flaneur and 1930s French postcard collector. Reached at a St. Paul day spa cum tanning salon, the voluble political observer insisted how The job right now is to re-defeat Bush. That means Kerry and us are on the same side for now, and we need to help Kerry and not pull him down. There will be time to blast Kerry later. English did not specify how much later. Anyway, 'anti-choice,' as the Soviets said about 'fascism,' is just a matter of taste. At presstime, rumors were emerging from the Kerry camp that the candidate was having a serious re-think of other long held views. Among these are Kerry's newfound belief that he would have nuked Moscow during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis had he been president and refused to comply with federal school desegregation orders were he the 1960s governor of Arkansas. Sources also say the former Vietnam hero now would even favor signing a separate peace treaty with the Third Reich and corralling in Sam Adams from dumping tea into Boston Harbor, ostensibly in violation of environmental standards. But these were brushed aside by English. Until I hear the man say it, it's idle to speculate said English, who offered that he always considered Churchill a bit of a loony and a hard on when it came to opening a second fighting front in Europe. English also said that as a Midwesterner he doesn't drink Sam Adams. But won't Kerry's new stances scare away core Democratic voters? English was nonplussed. Let 'em leave, the hoary sectarians. It takes a cast-iron stomach and a rubber spine to stand with Kerry. Besides, four more years of Bush is unthinkable. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan for Better America
The Onion VOLUME 40 ISSUE 3211 AUGUST 2004 WICHITA, KSDelivering the central speech of his 10-day Solution For America bus campaign tour Monday, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry outlined his one-point plan for a better America: the removal of George W. Bush from the White House. If I am elected in November, no inner-city child will have to live in an America where George Bush is president, Kerry said, addressing a packed Maize High School auditorium. No senior citizen will lie awake at night, worrying about whether George Bush is still the chief executive of this country. And no Americanregardless of gender, regardless of class, regardless of racewill be represented by George Bush in the world community. The Solution For America tour, which began in Boston, will end in Eugene, OR on Aug. 20. During the next week and a half, Kerry and vice-presidential hopeful John Edwards are expected to bring their message of a Bush-free country to several hundred thousand Americans. In the speech, Kerry offered a solution for the nation's ailing education system. Schools do not have the resources they need to succeed, Kerry said. One million students are dropping out of high school every year. John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to ensure that all Americans can make the most of their God-given talents: Get George Bush out of the White House. Kerry also spoke on the subject of national security. This country has embraced a new and dangerously ineffective disregard for the world, Kerry said. In order to win the global war against terror, we must promote democracy, freedom, and opportunity around the world. My national-defense policy will be guided by one imperative: Don't be George Bush. As will my plans to create a strong economy, protect civil rights, develop a better healthcare system, and improve homeland security. Joining Kerry at the podium, Edwards raised one issue not discussed by his running mate: the environment. Let's not forget one important point, Edwards said. We need to set a new standard of environmental excellence for America by renewing our nation's promise of clean air, clean water, and a bountiful landscape for all. In the 21st century, we can have progress without pollutionas long as we have a Dick Cheney-free White House. The new message is resonating with registered Democrats. John Kerry really spoke to my dream, my hope, and my aspiration for this nation, University of Kansas sophomore Jason Brandt said. He sees the world as I do. With all the mess that's going on in the countrythe deficits, the government's power-grab, the warsit's time for a president who admits that there's a problem and has a plan to fix it, Brandt added. A president who is not George W. Bush is exactly what we needand Kerry fits the bill 100 percent. Kerry's message resonated less strongly with one Lawrence, KS swing voter. Politicians make a lot of campaign promises, Lance Radda said. Sure, this not-being-Bush policy sounds good now. But how can we be sure that Kerry will deliver on that promise once in office? Kerry addressed Radda's question. I promise you, here and now, that I will enact my one-point plan on the day I enter the Oval Office, Kerry said. For the last three and a half years, we've had George W. Bush, and today I have this to say: We can do better! In his final words, Kerry changed the subject to attack Bush's record. During his term in office, George Bush has relentlessly continued to be presidentdespite the clear benefits to America his absence would bring to the lives of citizens everywhere, Kerry said. My one-point plan for America highlights the sort of change that this country desperately needs. And my plan is something that George Bush will never, ever be able to accomplish. Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman described Kerry's plan as a vicious, partisan attack. It's absolutely ridiculous that John Kerry is offering one solution to all of America's problems, Mehlman said. Who's going to listen to logic like that? Anyone can see that Kerry is a Massachusetts liberal who will raise your taxes and open our borders to terrorist attacks. Vote Bush. -- Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Facing South - 8/12/04
F A C I N G S O U T H A progressive Southern news report August 12, 2004 * Issue 86 _ INSTITUTE INDEX * Who Is Watching? Number of government surveillance programs currently in operation: 14 Year that Congress voted to de-fund the Total Information Awareness surveillance program due to civil liberties concerns: 2003 Year that the Pentagon admitted it planned to continue TIA-like activities ... outside public view: 2004 Number of Florida residents a test-run of the MATRIX database program flagged as having a statistical likelihood of being terrorists: 120,000 Estimated value of contracts that will be given to companies for anti-terror projects each year until 2010, in billions: $150 Number of lobbyists hired by corporations to secure homeland security contracts: 569 Number of communities that have passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act and other unconstitutional surveillance programs: 344 Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies. _ DATELINE: THE SOUTH * Top Stories Around the Region ACLU DECRIES SURVEILLANCE-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX The government is rapidly increasing its ability to monitor average Americans by tapping into the growing amount of consumer data being collected by the private sector, according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union. The government has always recruited informers to help convict criminals, but today that recruitment is being computerized, automated, and used against innocent individuals on a massive scale that is unprecedented in the history of our nation, the ACLU's director said. (Common Dreams, 8/9) http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0809-07.htm ARMY GIVES IRAQ CONTRACT TO VIRGINIA COMPANY INVOLVED IN JAIL SCANDAL The U.S. Army announced the award of a no-bid contract worth up to $23 million to Virginia-based CACI International Inc. for private interrogators to gather intelligence in Iraq. The contract came just as the Interior Department was preparing to cancel the existing contract with CACI, which came under scrutiny earlier this year after one of its interrogators was cited for involvement in the sexual humiliation of Iraqi captives at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. (Los Angeles Times, 8/5) www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-contract5aug05,1,3952058.story BEACH CLOSURES FROM POLLUTION INCREASE The number of days that beaches closed or posted warnings because of pollution rose sharply in 2003 due to more rainfall, increased monitoring and tougher standards. There were 18,284 days of beach closures and advisories nationwide in 2003, an increase of 51 percent or 6,206 days from 2002, according to the 14th annual beach report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Associated Press, 8/6) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=storycid=624ncid=624e=4u=/ap/20040806/ap_on_sc/beach_quality_3 PRISON/AIDS LINK HITS AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES As health specialists continue to grapple with AIDS, the black community faces a complex social issue: the link between high rates of imprisonment among African-Americans and high rates of H.I.V. and AIDS. (New York Times, 8/6) http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040806/ZNYT04/408060357/1002/BUSINESS PENTAGON: HALLIBURTON FAILED TO ACCOUNT FOR $1.8 BILLION Pentagon auditors have concluded that Halliburton Co. failed to adequately account for more than $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait. The amount represents 43 percent of the $4.18 billion that Houston-based Halliburton's Kellogg Brown Root unit has billed the Pentagon to feed and house troops in the region, the newspaper said. (Reuters, 8/11) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNewsstoryID=5933577 BORDER PATROL GETS MORE POWER TO DEPORT The Department of Homeland Security said today it will speed up deportations of certain illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico to improve U.S. border security. In the past, these would have been sent to an immigration court where cases take an average of one year to be processed. Now, these immigrants will be immediately returned to their home nation. (Reuters, 8/10) http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2728818 DEMOCRATIC WOMEN GAIN GROUND IN THE SOUTH While the Democratic Party fights to regain ground in the South, a growing cadre of Democratic women are winning races here. Hailing from the right wing of the party, Democrats like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana meld charm with conservative politics and a killer political instinct. (The Atlantic, 9/04) http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200409/starr LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AIMS TO CREATE LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS ARCHIVE With a goal of creating the world's largest archive of firsthand accounts of the civil rights movement, the Library of Congress is conducting a 35-city, 70-day bus tour to mark the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The Voices of Civil Rights bus tour traces the route of the 1960s Freedom Riders,
Re: [lbo-talk] KPFA Staff Open Letter to the Local Station Board
This is very sad. I have no idea what is at stake. The other letter that I saw also had endorsements from people that I respect. All that I know is that I hope that Sasha the other people at KPFA continue their good work. I am very dependent on the information that I get off the station. I first heard Pacifica while spending a summer in LA in 1960. I was a senior in college, but I had never been exposed to anything like that -- both culturally politically. When I went to grad school in Berkeley during the 60s, I learnt more from the station than from my classes. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Re: Economics and law
Charles wrote: It's hard because the Soviet Union (and all socialist inspired economies) had to put so much economic emphasis on military defense because capitalism was constantly invading them or threatening to nuke 'em. This throws off all ability to measure from Soviet and socialist inspired history what might be the benefits of a peaceful socialist development of a regime of safety from our own machines. David: Cop out. In my experience, there was one example of a socialist inspired car in the capitalist market: the Yugo. Case closed. Respectfully, David, your response is itself a cop out. Yugo... you be nice now. Just this eve, I was spending some time talking about history with a friend. She brought out a book with a variety of graphs. The most salient one, in this regard (thread), was the shift of population from agricultural workers to industrial workers. The graph only measure 100 years, starting from 1860. The curves that the UK and US generated with meagre slopes in that time frame. Those units had made that relocation much earlier. Japan's curve started around the 1880s. The USSR was around 1930. (There were others, like Turkey, with similar steep relocation curves.) I mentioned to her, in talking about that, that the one thing that I found the most knee-jerk and unreflective about the right is that they make unsophisticated comparisons, usually assuming from some mythical ground zero that the US and Russia started on a level playing field and only socialism crippled Russia. I think you may have done something similar by offering the Yugo as a piece of evidence (case closed!) when it is really just a propaganda symbol of something about the historical reality of two very different cultures and economic developments. Ken. -- Hear how he clears the points o' Faith, Wi' rattlin' an' thumpin' Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath He's stampan an he's jumpan! -- Robert Burns The Holy Fair
Re: Economics and law
David interprets the car as a capitalist commodity. I partially agree with him, but for different reasons since I don't like cars. But the question would be how the automobile industry depended heavily on the state -- to build roads, to dislodge street cars Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
Cars
I like cars. I do not think there is some particularly capitalist element about them... except their development. But the subject of state subsidization is fair. It is amazing, in a city the size of Toronto, how taking the subway turned from a 1960s futuristic method of transport (say, 1967, Expo and Centennial year) to the ship of the damned that it now seems to convey. Ken. -- A well-laid business plan is no guarantee against the disappearance of the industry on which it is based. -- Tim Cavanaugh
Re: Economics and law
Kenneth Campbell wrote: Respectfully, David, your response is itself a cop out. Yugo... you be nice now. Just this eve, I was spending some time talking about history with a friend. She brought out a book with a variety of graphs. The most salient one, in this regard (thread), was the shift of population from agricultural workers to industrial workers. The graph only measure 100 years, starting from 1860. The curves that the UK and US generated with meagre slopes in that time frame. Those units had made that relocation much earlier. Japan's curve started around the 1880s. The USSR was around 1930. (There were others, like Turkey, with similar steep relocation curves.) I mentioned to her, in talking about that, that the one thing that I found the most knee-jerk and unreflective about the right is that they make unsophisticated comparisons, usually assuming from some mythical ground zero that the US and Russia started on a level playing field and only socialism crippled Russia. I think you may have done something similar by offering the Yugo as a piece of evidence (case closed!) when it is really just a propaganda symbol of something about the historical reality of two very different cultures and economic developments. Was the Yugo made in Russia? Was Yugoslavia part of Russia? I was never good at geography. The argument was made that a socialist economy would put more emphasis on transportation safety than a capitalist economy. Seems plausible. Silly me, I though one way to test that thesis was to examine and compare the actual products produced by the respective systems. You don't like the Yugo as an example? Fine. How about West and East Germany? Can't complain about different historical development. What was safer on average, a Mercedes/BMW/VW, or a Trabant? I stand by the position that if you refuse to consider historical evidence and insist on speculating about what could happen in utopia: cop out. David Shemano
