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12331 [lbo-talk] PE paying lobbyists bigtime -- rank: 1000

Washington Post - August 21, 2007 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/ AR2007082001761.html> Wall Street Paying High Price to Keep Cash By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum The nascent fight over whether to raise taxes on Wall Street hot shots has become one of the year's biggest lobbying bonanzas. In order to defeat what amounts to two pieces of tax legislation, those new high rollers of finance -- private equity firms and hedge funds -- have been flooding Washington wit ...

Document Size:	8929
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Aug 21 05:54:23 PDT 2007

12332 [lbo-talk] "Yiddishkeit"??? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 9:32 PM, joanna wrote: > But wait. According to Israel Sahak, slavic anti-semitism had a lot to > do with the structural position of the jews -- between the > aristocrat/landowner and the peasants. The jewish rent/tax > collector was > beholden to the landowner for his privileges and earned those by > squeezing the peasants of everything they had. I believe that's the origin of Lou Proyect's name. - Doug <http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/200 ...

Document Size:	6892
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 19:54:37 PDT 2007

12333 [lbo-talk] reflections on the current crisis -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 10:39 PM, Robert Wrubel wrote: > Super article, Doug! One question: you attribute the > housing bubble to a "mania" for home ownership. That > would be the "demand" factor. Wasn't there also a > "supply" factor, in an excess of money that needed to > find new outlets for investment? Thanks. There is - or was - an excess of capital lusting for returns. But that's true a lot of the time - so why did housing take off in 1995 (or 2 ...

Document Size:	5258
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 19:51:08 PDT 2007

12334 [lbo-talk] Mearsheimer and Walt -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 10:13 PM, Robert Wrubel wrote: > You forget > the role of American neocons Nine hours earlier, Robert Wrubel wrote: > --- Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote: > "The assumption that "Neoconservatism" represents a > definable and distinct political theory cannot, for > one thing, explain why so much of the > "neoconservative" program has been enthusiastically > supported by liberals -- or as in the case of > deregul ...

Document Size:	5456
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 19:45:08 PDT 2007

12335 [lbo-talk] reflections on the current crisis -- rank: 1000

I've just posted a piece on the current troubles: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Turmoil.html>. And while you're there, check out the 2005 article on the housing mania - widely regarded by readers as stunningly prescient: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Housing.html>. Doug

Document Size:	5006
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 17:18:59 PDT 2007

12336 [lbo-talk] film theory -- rank: 1000

Reading this made me think of Brian Dauth: <http://fleshbot.com/sex/flesh-flicks/flesh-flicks-giving-alexis- amore-some-props-291415.php> Flesh Flicks: Giving Alexis Amore Some Props Now when the establishing shot of a scene is a close up on a giant purple dildo/vibrator, isn't it pretty much a given that the device in question will figure prominently in the action? (That's called "foreshadowing.") And when there are other phallic objects in the room that usually means the di ...

Document Size:	5511
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 12:24:31 PDT 2007

12337 [lbo-talk] Mearsheimer and Walt -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 2:59 PM, Dennis Perrin wrote: > My take: > > <http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2007/08/lobbing-smears.html> Where you say: "If anything, John is a foreign policy conservative -- not a neocon, a mindset that appalls him, but an old school American intellectual concerned for the fate of his country." Doesn't he know that there's no such thing as neoconservatism? Carrol Cox just told us. You also say: "We talked about many topics, with Juan and J ...

Document Size:	5446
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 12:13:06 PDT 2007

12338 [lbo-talk] Rudy: more time with the Yankees than at Ground Zero -- rank: 1000

<http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/18/rudy_yankees/? source=whitelist> After 9/11, Rudy wasn't a rescue worker -- he was a Yankee Giuliani said he spent as much time at ground zero as many rescue workers. Where was he really? Much of the time, at baseball games. By Alex Koppelman Aug. 18, 2007 | On Friday, a New York Times story examined Rudy Giuliani's schedule in the months after 9/11 to verify his controversial claim that, like rescue workers, he'd spent long hours at ground ...

Document Size:	11715
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 11:49:56 PDT 2007

12339 [lbo-talk] sketching an "anti-economist" -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 2:18 PM, Jeffrey Fisher wrote: > On the upside, if you only want it to be online, that's relatively > cheap. > Shoot, Doug and Liza could probably get it up and running any time > they want > with relatively small investment. I'll bet they'd get writers > coming out of > the woodwork. :) Sure, but I'm tired of reading stuff that reads like it was written and edited for free or very close to it. It would be really nice to do the thing right - which would ...

Document Size:	5319
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 11:31:11 PDT 2007

12340 [lbo-talk] Reading Arendt in Caracas -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 11:16 AM, Dennis Perrin wrote: > I notice that Nation reg Marc Cooper is pushing this piece, as it > apparently > bolsters his heroic anti-Chavez pose (while the rest of you are > clapping > seal puppets for Citgo-financed authoritarianism!). And guess who's > trolling > the Web on Coop's behalf, digging up obscure strawmen for him to > gleefully > set aflame? Why, it's our old friend, Michael Pugliese, looking for > another > outlet for whate ...

Document Size:	5314
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 08:28:25 PDT 2007

12341 [lbo-talk] "Yiddishkeit"??? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 11:03 AM, andie nachgeborenen wrote: > Although Jews are > still about the most liberal group in the American > electorate, isn't that so, Doug? At least most liberal > white group? Depends on what you mean by liberal. Black voters are about 90% Democrat; Jews, 75%. White evangelicals, about 75-80% Rep. But blacks are more socially conservative than Jews; if Reps weren't so racist, they could probably pick up a few votes by playing to that. Doug

Document Size:	5050
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 08:27:13 PDT 2007

12342 [lbo-talk] foreign policy establishment: surge a bust -- rank: 1000

Inside This e-Alert: The 2007 Terrorism Index From Foreign Policy s September/October 2007 Issue The Bush administration and Gen. David Petraeus will soon release a pivotal report on Iraq that is likely to raise more questions than it answers. Are more troops helping? Would pulling them out only invite al Qaeda attacks at home? To find out, FOREIGN POLICY and the Center for American Progress surveyed more than 100 of the country s most respected foreign policy hands. This diverse group incl ...

Document Size:	5941
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 05:52:09 PDT 2007

12343 [lbo-talk] Reading Arendt in Caracas -- rank: 1000

On Aug 19, 2007, at 11:43 PM, joanna wrote: > Would the above be a useful letter to send? Letters of all kind have an effect, esp in quantity. > (And boy, who is she blowing? She writes very badly.) She's a Big Name. Doug

Document Size:	4783
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 04:57:58 PDT 2007

12344 [lbo-talk] the U.S. economy: a view from Tehran -- rank: 1000

On Aug 20, 2007, at 12:08 AM, Kevin Robert Dean wrote: > What of these solutions though? Fiscal Discipline makes me think > of Ben > Bernanke dressed in leather with a ball gag in one hand and a riding > crop in the other. But if it were Bernanke, it'd be monetary discipline. Henry "Hank" Paulson might look good in leather though. > Reverse tax breaks for the "ultra rich"? What's that? Undo them. Repeal them. Not something complex like a reverse repo. Doug

Document Size:	5231
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 04:55:13 PDT 2007

12345 [lbo-talk] Risky money market funds? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 19, 2007, at 11:39 PM, Carl Remick wrote: > Am I mistaken in believing MMFs are pretty much shielded from > possible contagion by complex derivatives, or is there less > transparency about MMFs than I'd assumed? They could have some crap in them, yes. Doug

Document Size:	4857
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 20 04:53:42 PDT 2007