I have been thinking a lot about economic strategies lately and would like
to know how other Penners feel about issues concerning the state and
transborder organizing.
More specifically (and drawing on a discussion started by a few people a
while back on the World Bank's study of East Asian
I appreciate the responses to my posting on economic strategies and the
state. I also hope that, whatever discussion we have, we can build upon
rather than recreate our past discussion/debate of national versus
international perspectives on strategy.
More specifically, I think there is a need
The discussion of South Africa's economic policy is an important one.
As others have said, it is troubling to hear, if the report is true, that
Nelson Mandela told South African workers that the country should
follow the Asian NIC approach to development. While South Korea,
Taiwan,
Ajit says that we should be cautious in criticizing Mandela for his
policy. He says that "the trade union position only looks at wages of
its workers but completely ignores the plight of unemployed and other
categories of poor." I am not quite sure who is advocating such a trade
union
Dear Penners,
I just wanted to share the following job announcement in the hopes that
you might know good people who would like to apply.
If you or others have questions, please contact me directly
Marty Hart-Landsberg
LEWIS AND CLARK COLLEGE, Portland, OR
D0 Microeconomics
I0 Health,
I have been thinking a lot about economic strategies lately and would like
to know how other Penners feel about issues concerning the state and
transborder organizing.
More specifically (and drawing on a discussion started by a few people a
while back on the World Bank's study of East Asian
I appreciate the responses to my posting on economic strategies and the
state. I also hope that, whatever discussion we have, we can build upon
rather than recreate our past discussion/debate of national versus
international perspectives on strategy.
More specifically, I think there is a need
Gee, I stop reading PEN messages for two days and I get caught. It was,
however, sure nice to be written about so positively for my past work on
Korea. Korean reunification is a big and important issue. And what is
going on in south Korea now, from the crack down on the student movement
to
A quick reply to John Barkley's recent post. I think that US troops are
still in the south of Korea for a number of reasons.
The US army has long had a close relationship with the south Korean
military. That relationship has given the US military a strong foothold
on the Asian mainland
Doug raises an interesting issue, about what appears to be a growing
relationship between Wolfensohn and people like Doug Hellinger. Here is
my take on what is happening:
I think that the marketization policies of the WB and the IMF (along with
capitalist governments) has succeeded in forcing
Nathan said:
So given that the China deal is coming to a vote, does MHL say that in
protest of the fact that the GOP Congress won't let pro-labor legislation
come to a vote, US labor should abstain from lobbying on the China deal in
order to maintain a balanced ideological profile?
If
Max says:
Capital will go wherever the State permits it to go.
Hence the laws of and among States are the logical
target. Trade agreements the workings of the WTO
are part and parcel of these laws.
Somehow that is translated into a politics that says we need to focus on
the actions of the
On Sun, 14 May 2000, Max B. Sawicky wrote:
In re: the last sentence, some people have already figured
out what political understanding we want to promote. We
want to defend living standards of the working class by
strengthening trade unions and by extending the capacity
of the State to
On Tue, 16 May 2000, Max Sawicky wrote:
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tuesday, May 16, 2000
China, Mexico: Same Depressing Tale on Labor Rights
World affairs: Economic openness doesn't cure all ills, as we have learned
with NAFTA.
By HARLEY SHAIKEN
I have a feeling that this question of
The answer is that this fight should not be made our fight. The problem
is that many progressive groups are making this a top priority. We should
be putting our energy into and mobilizing people around other issues and
struggles.
Marty
On Tue, 16 May 2000, Doug Henwood wrote:
The
Wow, I went from superficial, to head of a new world trade organization,
to wearing safety goggles. Or at least agitating for them. It is a bumpy
ride in the globalized world.
On Tue, 16 May 2000, Max Sawicky wrote:
No. "This," meaning PNTR, is just a battle in an extended war.
The
This could be interesting. And exactly what slogans would you be shouting
as part of this group? Marty
But I do pledge that as head of the MTO, the headquarters will be moved
from Geneva to Portland, and you can all come to the first session as my
honored guests. Even Max. Marty
But
Max,
Your post was truncated to be kind to you. Keeping China out of the WTO
has little to do with creating a new or improved trade regime, much less
promoting progressive politics in the U.S. or international solidarity.
And this is my reward -- more insults! I have posted your rhymes on
The author of the book is Jon Halliday, not Fred Haliday. It is called "A
Political History of Japanese Capitalism" and it is indeed well worth
reading.
Marty Hart-Landsberg
On Sun, 28 Sep 1997, Louis N Proyect wrote:
Fred Haliday wrote an interesting book on Japan's emerge as a major
And what political implications should we draw from the fact that US
capital is highly mobile, using China, among other places, as either off
shore production locations or as a threat. Max notes that this mobility
or threat of mobility has real consequences. I agree. So, should our
movement
Just a few comments related to Doug's question about Asia's future. Both
Thailand and Malaysia had long been on an export treadmill. While both
were widely celebrated for their export-led growth, both countries ran
sizeable overall trade deficits because of their dependence on Japanese
The following gives no sense of what the US government found objectionable
in the MAI treaty as it now stands. Anyone have any more information or
thoughts? I am sure the problem was not the objections of labor and
environmental groups -- interesting the way the last sentence is tacked
on.
Dear Penners,
I have recently learned that many progressives in South Korea are
seriously misinformed about the Mexican currency crisis in 94/95 both in
terms of how the Mexican government responded to it and the impact of the
IMF structural adjustment program on the Mexican economy and living
Louis posted an interesting article from the NY Times on how "Crisis
pushing Asian Capitalism Closer to U.S.-Style Free Market."
The article basically highlights the "conclusion" that the Asian model of
state managed or directed capitalism no longer works and that Asia must
become more like the
On Sat, 17 Jan 1998, Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote:
3) If China does not devalue, one can expect
eventually even the pathetic Indonesian rupiah to bounce
and go up. After all, these countries were almost all
running current account surpluses (well, not ROK), prior to
the crashes.
OK, OK. Let's get the ground rules down. First comes complete immunity
then comes the good stuff.
I figure you could build a football team, or you can have a riot, or then
well there are lots of way to boost the name recognition of a college.
I wonder if I can leverage this into a
Michael Perelman recently noted that Germany used to be the model for the
progressive wing of the Clinton administration but that Germany is now
moving rightward in its social and economic policies. He wanted to know
what mistakes Germany made and whether an alternative strategy could have
I would like to follow up on my earlier post about Germany and progressive
programs. I think that the German experience shows that there is no
perfect reform program. That however does not mean that there is nothing
for us to do -- rather it means that instead of trying to find a way of
helping
I would like help in learning more about the Free Trade Area of the
Americas. My general impression is that negotiating is ongoing much like
what happened with the WTO. By that I mean that congress has yet to
authorize the negotiations, has no sense of what is going on with them (or
does not
I want to raise a question about the logical consistency of Rob Scott's
February 16, 2000, Issue Brief #137.
Scott is, of course, arguing against China's admission into the WTO.
Scott notes that Clinton is "confidently forecasting that the huge U.S.
trade deficit with China will improve if
On Sun, 27 Feb 2000, Doug Henwood wrote:
My question is where does this financial crisis come from? If I
understand Scott's logic correctly, he is predicting a financial crisis
for China, much like what Mexico experienced in 1994-95.
Sounds more like he's predicting a U.S. financial
With all the demos being organized against the IMF/WB, and many student
teach-ins ahead, I wondered if anyone had put together (or could quickly
do so) a good basic reading list of critical, contemporary books and
articles on the two institutions.
Thanks,
Marty
One place to look for historical examples of social control over
distribution that are non-market and grassroots in nature is the United
States during World War II.
The United States instituted price and
rationing controls during the war years. For most of the war prices were
monitored by
Alice Amsden made an important contribution to the literature on
development/South Korea. At the risk of oversimplifying that contribution
it was to forcefully demonstrate that the state played a decisive role in
the rapid growth and industrial transformation of South Korea. Her work
challenged
No, I did not meant a greater North Korea. North Korea is certainly not
my model of socialism. But I do think a process of reunificaiton that is
shaped by progressive forces looking for a way out of the crisis in both
North and South could well open up possibilities for the creation of a
I want to add to the growing and interesting discussion of East Asian
development, in particular the recent posting by Mark Selden.
Explanations for the growth and industrialization of Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan usually focus on a number of key factors: the
existence of strong states
Dear Penners,
A faculty member who was to lead a semester long Lewis and Clark College
student trip to Scotland in fall 1996-97 has been forced to pull out. I
am being encouraged to step in and am trying to decide what to do. The
University of Glasgow will be the host institution. I know very
This is a little late but ...
Several people mentioned the rightwing use of political correctness as a
tactic to discredit the left and were interested in the history of this
phenomenon. The best discussion of this I have seen is in a book called
Generation at the Crossroads by Paul Rogat Loeb,
r Jr, John Barkley wrote:
Marty,
I was under the impression that in both Korea and
Taiwan land reform was made easier because much of it
involved dispossessing Japanese landlords.
Barkley Rosser
On Thu, 27 Aug 1998 16:04:45 -0700 (PDT) Martin
Hart-Landsberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote
and Martin Hart-Landsberg
St. Martin's Press, 2000
FROM THE COVER:
East Asia has long been the focus of development debates, first as a
success story and now as a region in crisis. Nonetheless, there has been
little if any serious discussion of what the region's experience tells us
about capitalism
Just a quick response to Michael's comments below: I do not think that
Japan left much of an education system. At least not one that Koreans got
much out of. A more direct legacy however was their centralized state and
development model. It was this model that Park Chung Hee (who although
What I find interesting is that as countries throughout the world fall
into crisis, highlighting the fact that capitalism (in many different
forms) is increasingly unable to deliever any kind of stability much less
growth much less human satisfaction, mainstream analysts continue to try
and
I would add to Gary D's response by saying that Kim D.J. really would not
hesitate to use force to crush the strike if he thought it would work.
Kim, the current president, has never been a fan of organized labor. He
is in fact a strong supporter of free-market economics. He takes a rather
Review Press. (Back cover blurb and contents listed below.)
It can be ordered by calling Monthly Review Press at 1-800-670-9499
Readers and reviewers very welcome.
Martin Hart-Landsberg
FROM THE BACK COVER:
A perfect introduction to the causes and consequences of the Korean War
I may be trying to create a problem where none exists, but I worry about
how we understand and respond to recent cracks in the mainstream
free-market consensus. It is of course very satisfying to see criticisms
of the IMF/WB or free market policies from unexpected sources. And groups
like the
It is my understanding that the main reason the Chinese leadership wants
to join the WTO is to end their yearly struggle with the US over MFN
status. All members of the WTO automatically get MFN status. Plus there
is a dispute resolution mechanism that they hope will reduce direct US
Sorry if this is a second posting. I am having some trouble with my
connection and do not think this made it to the list.
Marty
-- Forwarded message --
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 14:50:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Martin Hart-Landsberg [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re
To add to the discussion of the Asian crisis, I would say that the
so-called recovery in East Asia is very weak. It is largely the result of
two things. First, the IMF and US government, worried about the political
implications of the austerity policies imposed on the East Asian
countries,
One thing to note about the HDI: as far as I know HDI values are not
comparable from year to year. Each year's index is standardized within
the range of countries. In other words it is not based solely on a
country's performance but rather relativized.
Moreover, many of the international
I would like to ask a few Brenner related questions, questions dealing
with his recent NLR piece (economics of global turbulence) on the world
economy rather than his work on the historical origins of capitalism.
First, while I have seen many references to the book, TURBULENCE IN THE
GLOBAL
I was asked by Eban Goodstein to share the following with members of this
list. For more information please write him directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Marty Hart-Landsberg
-- Forwarded message --
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 07:15:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eban Goodstein [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I wanted to share the following job opening with penners. This is for a
senior position (at the full professorship level) in the economics
department. Questions -- contact Eban Goodstein at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
me, Marty Hart-Landsberg, at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanks
ECONOMICS: The LEWIS AND
I hope that Pen-l can help generate some good candidates for this position
at the college where I teach.
Marty Hart-Landsberg
PLEASE FORWARD TO INTERESTED PARTIES--
Macroeconomics
The Department of Economics at Lewis Clark College invites
applications for a one-year position for the
Jim, you are correct in your description of events. To reinforce your
point it is important to add the following: as part of the 1994 agreement,
the US promised to normalize relations with the North. US governments,
under Clinton and Bush, reneged and have refused to even make steps in
that
We had the biggest demonstration in Portland, Oregon history today.
Despite another in a long string of rainy days, some 50,000 people
(perhaps even more) turned out. One of the most interesting and positive
aspects of the demo was the growth of feeder marches.
In Portland, many of the more left
This issue has been dealt with in an excellent book by Jerry Lembcke
entitled the Spitting Image. In this book he examines the origins of the
myth of vietnam vets being spat upon. He followed up every charge and
could find no substantiation. He writes about the development of the myth
and the
which is being celebrated is coming at the expense of
export production in Malaysia and Singapore and leading to industrial
capital moving from South Korea.
So, embracing this strategy is not very helpful.
Marty
Quoting Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
Martin Hart-Landsberg wrote:
Should we
Jim, the notion of competing enterprises was precisely at the heart of
the Chinese position in the early days of reform. But how do you
promote competition, well you need some sort of profit inducement. So,
early on the Chinese encouraged firms to operate independently and
pursue profits. But,
Quoting Anthony D'Costa [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
I share some of Marty's concerns and Doug is right that small
countries in an era of integration can't do much. But when speaking of
China how much growth and development is export-led?
My reply: As for Chinas export dependence, according to the
I wanted to change the subject/thread from markets to China. As far as
I can tell China is increasingly gaining attention as the one major
economic development success story, and from the right and from the
left. And I wanted to get Pen thoughts about how best to understand
what is happening
Hi Grant,
Well there is a lot surrounding the issue but I would say first of all
that the left should be careful to endorse a strategy of growth that
promotes exports in one country at the expense of worker well-being in
others. So, rather than just see China as practicing some wonderful
that critical perspective in
the context of an engagement with on-going struggles of workers in
those countries is precisely what we should be doing.
Marty
Quoting Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
Martin Hart-Landsberg wrote:
So, my point is that this kind of strategy is not one that we should
serves those who donate money, but in
Charlie's scheme, that sector is different.
Jim
-Original Message-
From: Martin Hart-Landsberg [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sat 8/9/2003 1:45 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] The Road
Quoting Anders Schneiderman [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
Maybe I'm not reading carefully enough, but did you answered Doug's
question about what your alternative would be? You say what you
would not advise them to do, but that's really not an answer. I'm
sure they could come up all by themselves
I have a question about the U.S. economy and a comment to make about
FDI to the third world.
We all know the U.S. is running a huge and growing trade deficit.
Moreover, the manufacturing sector has lost jobs for some thirty-five
consecutive months. That is pretty amazing. My question: are
I do remember that period and in addition to Japanese automakers
lowering the price of their cars, U.S. car makers raised the price of
theirs, desiring to make more profit per car than retake market share.
My question focuses a bit more on the U.S. side and whether the trade
deficits and job loss
Quoting Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
There may be devilish details in the industry mix, but overall cap'y
utilization in U.S. manufacturing has had its longest run below 75%
in history - almost two full years.
Good point, dont know how I forgot that. So, one possible implication
of this
I know this is a big question but I am still not clear about what
people on the left mean by the terms empire and imperialism. By that I
mean what is the political significane of people writing about say the
American empire rather than talking about American imperialism? Is this
terminology
Michael,
I would love to learn more about the notion that basketball was a
jewish sport. Any reading recommendations?
Marty
--On Monday, October 06, 2003 8:39 AM -0700 Michael Perelman
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
As for basketball, the NBA evolved out of traveling Jewish teams. In
the 20's,
The discussion of Cancun is interesting but I would like to propose a
change in emphasis. Generally speaking the Cancun meeting came to a
halt because the developed capitalist countries were not willing to
engage agriculture as they had previously promised. Rather, they
demanded that third
I think the problem with the Krugman phenomenon is not so much Krugman
but the broader progressive movement. Because Krugman has written
columns critical of the Bush administration he gets raised to the
status of intellectual leader of the progressive movement--by
progresives. Krugman came
I wanted to ask for help on two questions, one on inflation and the
other on productivity.
As to the inflation question, a while back business week had a special
article on fees. The article argued that many businesses unable to
raise prices are adding fees, like banks for example. My question:
Dear Penners,
I am trying to help out some of my students who are interested in going
on to study development economics, probably in a masters program, and
then doing some development work.
So, I would welcome people's suggestions about good development
programs, either within econ departments or
It seems to me, following on Jim Ds comments below, that our job in
this election period should be to develop criteria for people to use
when thinking about voting. In other words, we need to get working
people to see that a strong and accountable public sector is desirable
and feasible.
How much did Japanese colonialism influence Korea.
It depends on what you mean. The Japanese occupation basically
undermined any real Korean capitalist development, thus creating a
framework for a strong state to arise. Likewise it forced landowners
into a compromising position so that they had
There really is not much more than a shadow of socialism left in
China. Many intellectuals in China that are considered marxists or
call themselves marxists are now basically advocating social democracy.
One of the biggest problems now in China is that the party has linked
socialism with what
I am not sure about the tides, but in response to Chris's post below, I have
been struck by the apparent popularity and political positioning of a new radio
network in the United States, Air America. This network has a series of radio
programs that define themselves as being on the left. In fact
Gene, that is a great victory. Can you shed any light on why privatization of
electricity is now off the agenda while privatization of other key services
remains on that agenda.
In other words, the decision to cancel privatization of the electric power
system obviously does not represent a
I thought it might be worth sharing the recent South Korean experience with
elections in light of the current discussion about U.S. electoral politics and
strategy.
As some of you might know, the National Assembly election in April produced a
major shakeup, with the Democratic Labor Party
As to the radio interview noted below with Jomo on Korea:
I heard that interview and think that Jomo seriously mischaracterized
the Korean situation. First he spoke of recovery and continued strong
growth. The Korean economy was basically in recession the first half
of last year. This year
Dear Penners,
Lewis and Clark College, where I teach, is looking to hire for a tenure track
position. Information follows. I would appreciate any help you can give in
generating great candidates.
Marty Hart-Landsberg
Macroeconomics: The LEWIS CLARK COLLEGE Department of Economics invites
I think the discussion of whether the U.S. withdraws its troops has to be
broadened to acknowledge that the U.S. has already made great progress in
forcing the neoliberalization of the Iraqi economy. Brenner signed several
orders which continue to be in place that among other things: put all
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