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10411 [lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank! -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 11:57 AM, Carl Remick wrote: > Hmm, I would argue that these expenditures in household improvement > *are* consumption, not capital investment, since they have been made > prior to a collapse in housing values, thus do not now add to the > owners' equity. That's not the way national income accountants see it. This gets arcane, but here it is. Building a house, or adding onto or remodeling an existing one, is residential investment. It's an investment because it ...

Document Size:	5893
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 10:47:21 PST 2007

10412 [lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank! -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 1:08 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > Heh. I'm not going to do that (in fact, I just closed out an > options-based short), but I wouldn't doubt it if Citigroup itself > loads > up on their own shares in the 2-3 quarters-out time period, because > they > are probably going to get over-slapped for this, and they will see the > value eventually. They have to rebuild their capital. Share buybacks are the last thing they should be contemplating now. They've got to c ...

Document Size:	5104
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 10:24:12 PST 2007

10413 [lbo-talk] Regnery: a Marxist cartoon? -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 11:46 AM, J Cullen wrote: > What union represents book authors? The National Writers Union, of course! Ha ha ha.

Document Size:	4689
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 09:00:27 PST 2007

10414 [lbo-talk] GOP rebranding stalls -- rank: 1000

<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6744.html> Republicans can't agree on new image By: Patrick O'Connor Nov 7, 2007 06:02 AM EST An effort by House Republicans to "re-brand" their battered party with a new agenda and a new strategy to sell it has fallen behind schedule as GOP leaders try to referee ideological and tactical disputes among their members. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) began the project to refurbish House Republicans' scuffed public image a ...

Document Size:	6050
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:59:44 PST 2007

10415 [lbo-talk] low odds of Iran attack -- rank: 1000

The Washington office of ISI - not the Pakistani intelligence agency but the research boutique run by Wall Street's favorite economist, Ed Hyman - has a piece out today arguing the odds of an attack on Iran are very low. Their reasoning: 1) Bush's legacy is tied to Iraq, and an attack on Iran would complicate the Iraqi situation enormously, 2) such an attack would require huge resources, and the U.S. doesn't have a lot of those to spare, and 3) Iran is not close enough to nuclear capabili ...

Document Size:	5241
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:45:44 PST 2007

10416 [lbo-talk] Xtians split -- rank: 1000

[The Christian right is all over the place on this. Paul Weyrich endorsed Romney, prompting some fellow loon to declare that a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan. Now this...] The Politico.com Breaking News: --------------------------------------------------------- Surprise blessing from Pat Robertson gives Rudy Giuliani momentum, as Brownback backs McCain. Read full story: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6751.html

Document Size:	5009
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:19:29 PST 2007

10417 [lbo-talk] Buy Porn-Kill Muslim Women -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 7:54 AM, Alex Hogan wrote: > > http://www.imperialismkills.org/fliers/islamofasc2.pdf That's some crazy shit, even by MIM's standards. Is it for real?

Document Size:	4801
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:14:42 PST 2007

10418 [lbo-talk] Regnery: a Marxist cartoon? -- rank: 1000

New York Times - November 7, 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/books/07cons.html> Conservative Authors Sue Publisher By MOTOKO RICH Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company. In a suit filed in United States District Court in Washington yeste ...

Document Size:	11243
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:11:09 PST 2007

10419 [lbo-talk] monetizing Web 2.0 -- rank: 1000

[but will the kids play along?] <http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=121806> Facebook's Big Ad Plan: If Users Like You, They'll Be Your Campaign Zuckerberg's Big Unveiling Leaves Some Marketers Salivating at Access to Social Graph By Abbey Klaassen NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- About 150 clients (and a few reporters) were packed into a long, narrow room in a West Manhattan rental space today to hear Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declare that the days of waste in media targeting were o ...

Document Size:	9801
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 06:04:58 PST 2007

10420 [lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank! -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 1:35 AM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > Doug writes: > >> Fed economist James Kennedy has been updating estimates of >> mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) ... > > Do you know where they get these numbers from? Because I've noticed > that on my credit report my HELC provider shows the full possible > amount > as being owed (which technically, I guess that's true) despite > having a > $0 balance ... so I'm guessing that kind of number is an overestim ...

Document Size:	5622
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 04:45:12 PST 2007

10421 [lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank! -- rank: 1000

On Nov 7, 2007, at 1:30 AM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > Yes, an $11B loss sounds huge ... until you see that Citi's gross > profits over the last few years have all been north of $100B -- per > year! Net profits in the $25B (per year!) range, with net income > since > 9/11 of nearly $140B. > > This Time It Will Be Different because This Time It's Chump Change. They do have a capital problem, which probably means cutting the dividend and selling assets. Doug

Document Size:	5039
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Nov 7 04:40:44 PST 2007

10422 [lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank! -- rank: 1000

On Nov 6, 2007, at 9:28 PM, Robert Wrubel wrote: > I don't suppose there are any numbers to support that > oft-repeated claim -- say, total amount of new equity > lines last year as a percent of total sales of goods > and services? Well yeah. There are some numbers. Fed economist James Kennedy has been updating estimates of mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) that he first did in partnership with a guy named Alan Greenspan in a 2005 paper, latest version at: <http://www.federalres ...

Document Size:	5616
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Nov 6 19:34:23 PST 2007

10423 [lbo-talk] The "NAFTA Superhighway" Urban Myth -- rank: 1000

On Nov 6, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote: > Writing this made me wonder, and you're just the person to ask, has > there ever been a band called Texas Book Depository? Dunno the answer to that but it puts me in mind of that fine Richmond band from the late 1970s, Single Bullet Theory. I've got a 12" of theirs somehwere.... Doug

Document Size:	5073
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Nov 6 19:25:18 PST 2007

10424 [lbo-talk] October Employment: Plus 166K or Minus 250K Jobs? (what thinketh doug ?) -- rank: 1000

On Nov 6, 2007, at 6:52 PM, ira wrote: > You say that > >> They do not "create statistical jobs that do not exists." > > But then you go on to say > >> So the establishment survey undercounts employment in the early > stages of recovery and overcounts at the onset of slowdowns or > recessions. Since there's a good chance we're early in a slowdown, if > not an outright recession, that's a real issue now. About 80% of > the new > jobs in the est ...

Document Size:	7486
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Nov 6 19:22:22 PST 2007

10425 [lbo-talk] doug henwood's interview ...in italian -- rank: 1000

On Nov 6, 2007, at 4:06 PM, Alex Hogan wrote: >>> The US economy facing serious trouble does have a silver lining: >>> for> the first time after the end of World War 2, there is an >>> objective> potential to put an end to the dollar hegemony, the >>> economic pillar of> US imperialism. For everyone else besides >>> hapless Americans, now may> very well be a time between ashes and >>> roses.> > > > what a political pla ...

Document Size:	5877
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Nov 6 14:33:48 PST 2007