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946 Marx & the Jewish Question -- rank: 1000

At 12:39 16/02/99 Greg Nowell wrote: >I've been reading Szporluk at the instigation of Rakesh >and came across a rather disconcerting paragraph on >Marx and the Jewish question. I wonder whether anyone >could fill me in a bit more on Marx's views. I regard "On the Jewish Question" as one of the most difficult and seminal of all Marx's work. On the surface the problem is whether some of his remarks, transposed across time and space to the present, are anti-semitic. I will ...

Document Size:	11902
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Feb 17 00:02:39 PST 1999

947 Why not pay down the national debt? -- rank: 1000

At 22:00 15/02/99 John Taber wrote: >Max, I saw your petition, and I need education, from you >or anybody who cares to help me out. Why not >pay down the national debt? As I read your petition the >objection is that the public money would not be available >for infrastructure and social needs. OK. But I remember >reading in Galbraith's _Money_ someplace that according >to Keynes the debt contracted in stimulating a depressed >economy was supposed to be paid down once the e ...

Document Size:	7149
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Feb 17 00:10:17 PST 1999

948 trust -- rank: 1000

>"Trust and Growth" > > BY: PAUL J. ZAK > Claremont Graduate University > STEPHEN KNACK > American University > >Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection: > http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=136961 > > Date: September 18, 1998 < > >ABSTRACT: > Why does trust vary so substantially across countries? How does > trust affect growth? This paper presents a ...

Document Size:	8490
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Feb 16 23:05:54 PST 1999

949 UK on the brink of Europe -- rank: 1000

At 18:58 11/02/99 -0500, pms wrote: >Chris, > >Do many folks question UK's divergence from European policies? Aren't they >doing better across the channel? > >I read something about US capital flowing to Europe and high wage >economies? Was that on the list? Thought I filed it bkut can't find. This >would be an example of the countervailing forces in capital movement I guess. An opinion poll in yesterday's Guardian showed a big jump in the proportion of people supporti ...

Document Size:	6848
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Feb 12 00:08:10 PST 1999

950 teaching and capital -- rank: 1000

>We should keep in mind that the US imports a great deal of its >scientific and technological development from overseas. The graduate >programs in math and the sciences at most major universities are >filled with foreign students, most of whom stay in the US after they >complete their degrees. Also, the IT industry has been pushing for >new legislation to permit more programmers and software developers >from overseas to come and work in the US. > > Jim Farmelant Inte ...

Document Size:	5919
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Feb 11 15:20:59 PST 1999

951 gay genes -- rank: 1000

While it is an interesting argument below, the title, which I have altered to the plural, is unfortunate if it perpertuates even slightly a proposition that there may be a single gene behind complex behaviour. It is similar to the argument that "the gene" for schizophrenia has just been found. (But then always lost again.) There was also a search for the gene for going to sea. There are roughly 100,000 genes in the human genome, and it has been suggested that 25,000 affect psychologic ...

Document Size:	6627
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Feb 11 14:45:49 PST 1999

952 Hitchens Turns GOP stool pigeon (Re: Rule of Law 101) -- rank: 1000

At 02:39 09/02/99 +1100, Rob wrote: >G'day Chris, > >>I have found Nathan Newman's major statements reasoned and reasonable. So >>long as there is the wretched two party system I do not see the problem in >>purely electoral terms in leftists supporting the better of the two >>parties, and expecting it to be reasonably efficient at winning elections. >>My understanding is that Nathan has stated the importance of not tailing >>behind that party. > >W ...

Document Size:	9440
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Feb 8 15:07:31 PST 1999

953 Rule of Law 101 (Re: Hitchens Turns GOP stool pigeon -- rank: 1000

At 14:04 07/02/99 -0500, Nathan Newman wrote: >If the Rule of Law means anything, it means not using the courtroom based on >spurious changes to attack people for political disagreements that are not >legal crimes. That's what the defense of free speech and a whole range of >basic civil liberties ultimately boil down to. I have found Nathan Newman's major statements reasoned and reasonable. So long as there is the wretched two party system I do not see the problem in purely elector ...

Document Size:	8211
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Feb 7 15:14:58 PST 1999

954 Soros man into Brazil's Central Bank -- rank: 1000

Soros's men are moving into government. One of his closest financial allies has just been appointed to take over the central bank of Brazil. Poachers turned gamekeepers. Is that good for social control, or bad? > "The speculators were so successful in > their attack on our currency that they > not only devalued the real but they've > taken over the Central Bank," said > Workers Party law ...

Document Size:	5680
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Feb 3 23:30:52 PST 1999

955 "Capitalism" in China's constitution -- rank: 1000

At 16:59 31/01/99 -0800, : > > China to Put Deng Xiaoping Theory into > Constitution > > According to a proposal submitted by the CPC > Central Committee to the just ended 7th meeting of > the Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC, a total of > six major revisions will be made to the Constitution. > > On ...

Document Size:	9983
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Feb 2 22:54:18 PST 1999

956 dollar finds a rival -- rank: 1000

We do not know how far this will go, but it is clearly very signfificant. Leftist contacts of mine predict a collapse of the dollar and the US economy, as a result of this rivalry. But I think capitalism is a naturally self-stabilising system, in part *through* its crises, and I do not see that. How to analyse these developments. 1. I suggest we need to see the dollar-euro conflict as a contradiction in which there is both unity and struggle. If we analyse them mechanically as separate, or mech ...

Document Size:	7124
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Feb 2 00:04:27 PST 1999

957 Dumb question on Marx quote -- rank: 1000

At 11:48 28/12/99 -0600, John Taber wrote: >Where did Marx say "From each according to his abilities. To each >according to his needs." ? > Not dumb at all. Perhaps the context of your enquiry makes it especially interesting. >From Critique of the Gotha Programme, written spring 1875 but not published till 1891. Part I commenting on the third sentence taken from the original programme. Firstly describing "the lower phase" of communism:- " The right of the pro ...

Document Size:	6439
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Dec 28 15:01:42 PST 1999

958 Tougher laws to control Chinese capitalism -- rank: 1000

Xinhua's announcement yesterday of new laws against leaking inside information about securities or futures is a significant step in regularising China's capital market. Punishments may be as much as 10 years with fines of two to five time the amount of any profit from such activities (the latter seems low to me). This suggests a qualitative step has been reached with requires tighter boundaries on the ownership of capital what is private to the owners and what is public to the market. Otherwise ...

Document Size:	5593
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Dec 28 01:21:54 PST 1999

959 Class base of Falun Gong -- rank: 1000

Religion, in marxist theory, can be an indirect expression of class interests. The Falun Gong movement in China is a strange phenomenon. It is not clear how much it is the result of the lack of bourgeois democratic norms there, how much it is an expression of mystical movements that are more common in developed societies, and how much it is a reappearance of religious ideas common to China's feudal society. The following extracts suggest that at least some of the leaders come from the new intell ...

Document Size:	7093
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Dec 27 11:28:33 PST 1999

960 Hillary, centrist creep like her husband -- rank: 1000

At 11:38 24/12/99 -0500, you wrote: >Chris Burford wrote: > >>What I think is missing in the understanding of Clinton and Blair is that >>the Third Way is so consciously, openly, and conscientiously opportunistic >>that it is rather succesful in riding the balance of forces and making them >>to a small degree accessible to more democratic pressure. > >Really? The NY Observer article on Hillary noted: > >>But once you accept the point that Mrs. Clinton ...

Document Size:	6827
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Dec 26 01:05:55 PST 1999