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17521 [lbo-talk] Re: The Empire's Freedom -- rank: 1000

Dwayne Monroe wrote: >In addition to Doug's analysis, I strongly recommend David Harvey's >"A Brief History of Neoliberalism" -- > >http://makeashorterlink.com/?G5A5252FB > >in which this topic is addressed at some length, in a very >accessible fashion, in chapter 2: 'The Construction of Consent'. That's a really good book. As usual, I take issue with his predictions of disaster, but otherwise, you can't beat it as a broad economic history of the last 25 years. The ...

Document Size:	5151
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 12:10:03 PST 2005

17522 [lbo-talk] The Empire's Freedom -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >Doug: > >> The ruling class hated the 1970s because it thought it was in danger >> of losing the class war, or at least failing to win. That was the >> reason for Volcker and the recession of 1980-82. > >But that only proves my point that the ruling class has the effective means >of neutralizing public opposition, and thus do not need to buy public >support as they used to (c.f. "machine politics"). The Volcker crackdown ...

Document Size:	5713
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 10:02:21 PST 2005

17523 [lbo-talk] A hundred grand a year??? -- rank: 1000

Bitch wrote: >At 07:30 AM 11/4/2005, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > >>>what's the median? >>See "May 2004 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and >>Wage Estimates, NAICS 336000 - Transportation Equipment >>Manufacturing, Production Occupations": <http://www.bls.gov/oes/ >>current/naics3_336000.htm#b51-0000>. The estimate of the median >>hourly wage for production occupations in this industrial sector in >>2004 was $16. ...

Document Size:	7158
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 09:52:34 PST 2005

17524 [lbo-talk] Wilkerson talks -- rank: 1000

Larry Wilkerson, Powell's indiscreet ex-aide, says the torture commands came from Cheney: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4987598>.

Document Size:	4764
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 09:22:53 PST 2005

17525 [lbo-talk] The Empire's Freedom -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >I think you are exaggerating the importance of the 'class warfare' to the >ruling class. That threat was effectively neutralized in the 1920s - as >demonstrated by the saying " I can hire half of the working class to kill >the other half." The ruling class hated the 1970s because it thought it was in danger of losing the class war, or at least failing to win. That was the reason for Volcker and the recession of 1980-82. Doug

Document Size:	4986
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 09:14:49 PST 2005

17526 [lbo-talk] The Empire's Freedom -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >US Treasuries up on signs of muted wage inflation THat was yesterday. This morning the BLS reported that average hourly wages were up 0.5% in October, more than twice the recent trend (0.2% over the previous six months). This has the inflation hawks up in arms, worrying out wage inflation and excessively full employment. But on balance the jobs report kinda sucked. Employment was up just 56,000, and few sectors did better than the average. The labor force declined, wh ...

Document Size:	5043
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Nov 4 09:13:12 PST 2005

17527 [lbo-talk] Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks thereisone hell of a difference -- rank: 1000

John Mage wrote: > > I think no NYC mayor has ever gone on to higher office. > >Ned Livingstone became Senator (from Louisiana) and Secretary of State, >and DeWitt Clinton and John T. Hoffman became Governor of New York >State. oops thanks

Document Size:	5233
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 21:05:27 PST 2005

17528 [lbo-talk] US Ruling Class -- Where Do Their Wealth Come from? -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >Where do American members of the ruling class derive a majority of >their wealth? From the US economy or the rest of the world? Mostly the US I'd say. Most corp profits are still domestic. But the trend is towards more internationalization, and there'd be few domestic profits if the rest of the world weren't kept in order. Doug

Document Size:	5098
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 19:01:06 PST 2005

17529 [lbo-talk] Atwater on abstraction -- rank: 1000

I just came across this on my researcher's girlfriend/wife's blog <http://bananarchist.blogspot.com/>. Bush Sr's strategist Lee Atwater, quoted by Bob Herbert in the NYT: >You start out in 1954 by saying, 'N-word, n-word, n-word.' By 1968 >you can't say 'n-word' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff >like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're >getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, >and all these things you're talking ab ...

Document Size:	5827
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 18:59:21 PST 2005

17530 [lbo-talk] Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks thereis one hell of a difference -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >They expire in 2008. Actually, fwiw, there are 2 NYC ballot >proposals to be voted on next week, and the second one (Question 4, >since there are also 2 NYS proposals) is about making the main >provisions of the Financial Emergency Act permanently part of the >City Charter. But notably excepting the Financial Control Board, >which arguably changes everything: > >http://www.nyccfb.info/debates_vg/voter_guides/general_2005/ballot_nyc04.aspx Thanks f ...

Document Size:	6124
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 18:43:00 PST 2005

17531 [lbo-talk] the Langley archipelago -- rank: 1000

Michael Hoover wrote: >what ruling class, pluralists have definitively found that neither >corporate control of political-economic institutions nor corporate >control of socio-cultural institutions are obstacles to 'people' acting >in/for their own interests, pay no attention to schattschneider's >juicy phrase about 'interest group chorus singng with upper-class >accent'... I'll be sure to quote you! Doug

Document Size:	4972
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 18:33:59 PST 2005

17532 [lbo-talk] odd fashions -- rank: 1000

[Skull & Bones: self-described edgy prep fashion by Jared Paul Stern, Page Six contributor] <http://www.skullandbonesjps.com/>

Document Size:	4617
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 17:23:50 PST 2005

17533 [lbo-talk] the class geography of the NYC subway -- rank: 1000

<http://www.gawker.com/news/subway/mta-keeps-its-messiness-far-far-from-you-134942.php> MTA Keeps Its Messiness Far, Far From You READ MORE: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, SUBWAY, METRO, MTA The Daily News today nudges all New Yorkers' favorite - and deserved - bogeyman, the MTA, by determining the ten worst stations in the city's subway system. There's "peeling paint, crumbling concrete, leaks and grime" in the ten, the paper says. The particularly bad news is that their locations demonst ...

Document Size:	5636
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 17:21:16 PST 2005

17534 [lbo-talk] Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks thereis one hell of a difference -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick wrote: >>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> >> >>... And the city still operates under the "emergency" legislation >>from the fiscal crisis days, meaning the financial control board >>could step in and put the city into receivership. > >Amazing. I had no idea those measures were still in effect. There are conditions, which go something like: if the budget is in deficit, or debt gets out of hand, or if we deem it necessary. ...

Document Size:	5918
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 17:04:20 PST 2005

17535 [lbo-talk] Ferrer vs. Bloomberg: Juan Gonzalez thinks there is one hell of a difference -- rank: 1000

Gar Lipow wrote: >So Juan was not being completely reality based in his analysis? No. The Working Families Party (of whom I'm now a big fan) sorta kinda endorsed him but I haven't gotten a piece of propaganda from them promoting him. It seems kind of pro forma. There's probably a reason for that. And there's probably a reason he's 31 points behind in the polls. Doug

Document Size:	5322
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Nov 3 17:02:06 PST 2005