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17851 [lbo-talk] employment -- rank: 1000

Mark S wrote: >However, Citigroup commented that the payroll report is not useful >for understanding economic developments outside labor statistics. Did they really? That's silly. I'm sure few retailers below the Tiffany bracket would agree. >Three separate analysts have commented that the Fed must remain >vigilant against "dwindling labor market capacity leading to higher >wage growth." Wage growth is lagging inflation. > They are also disturbed by rising non-wage ...

Document Size:	5725
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri May 6 08:46:43 PDT 2005

17852 [lbo-talk] employment -- rank: 1000

Strong US employment report this morning - 274,000 new jobs in April, back months revised up, employment/population ratio up strong. No significant weak spots visible on first glance...but there have been several bursts of employment that petered out (last spring, last fall). Is this another one of those, or a real acceleration? Doug

Document Size:	4770
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri May 6 06:15:38 PDT 2005

17853 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

joanna wrote: >You and Brian argue that sex workers enjoy their work, it would >follow that they would do this work even if they weren't being paid. >I volunteer to teach in my daughter's school because I enjoy >teaching, even if I don't get paid. I have not yet heard of a >volunteer prostitute. Huh? Have you heard of a volunteer railroad yard clerk, cleaner, or bond trader? Doug

Document Size:	5051
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 22:52:11 PDT 2005

17854 [lbo-talk] on the brink of theocracy -- rank: 1000

[This seems a bit overheated, but the belief in "inerrancy" suggest something other than a humble uncertainty the face of the big questions.] On the Brink of 'Theocracy' http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=667491 by Reverend Carlton W. Veazey May 5, 2005 Progressives who think warnings about "theocracy" are an exaggeration should take a closer look at "Justice Sunday: Filibustering People of Faith," the Christian Right telethon headlined by ...

Document Size:	12886
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 16:39:05 PDT 2005

17855 [lbo-talk] Is union-busting bad for business? -- rank: 1000

<http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050523&s=featherstone> Is Union-busting Bad for Business? by LIZA FEATHERSTONE [posted online on May 5, 2005] Last Friday Wal-Mart shuttered its first unionized North American store, in Jonquière, Quebec. Meanwhile, a federal grand jury is investigating a former top executive who claims that Wal-Mart made secret payments to union organizers for information about Wal-Mart workers' union sympathies (if true, a serious offense under the Taft-Hartley ...

Document Size:	6873
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 15:52:44 PDT 2005

17856 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Michael Dawson wrote: >none or almost none would buy a hooker Bet you're wrong. But we'll never know, will we? Doug

Document Size:	4617
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 13:06:51 PDT 2005

17857 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Marvin Gandall wrote: >I'm also skeptical of the higher wages equals higher productivity argument, >even at the administrative, technical and professional levels. For one >thing, unlike the goods-producing sector, it's almost impossible to measure >productivity among so-called "cognitive" or knowledge workers. When I was >negotiating collective agreements in the public service, we used to use 2% >as a proxy for "improved productivity" - one of the elements, ...

Document Size:	5703
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 12:11:24 PDT 2005

17858 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Michael Dawson wrote: >1. From what I know, I would wager heavily that the big majority of people >now doing "sex work" do it for reasons other than free choice. How do you know? > Take away >drug addictions and poverty, and create an economic system that guarantees >health insurance and regular, non-sex jobs at livable wages, and how many >folks will choose sex work? That would be an interesting experiment, and highly meritorious in itself, but 1) we're nowhere nea ...

Document Size:	5778
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 11:37:22 PDT 2005

17859 [lbo-talk] Fun with Wikipedia -- rank: 1000

Lance Murdoch wrote: >The pointlessness of fighting on Wikipedia So who's the ultimate editorial authority on Wikipedia? Some people can delete the remarks of others - but who says? Doug

Document Size:	4632
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 11:34:05 PDT 2005

17860 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Mark Rickling wrote: >On 5/5/05, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote: >> (For details, see the new afterword to After the New >> Economy, coming in paperback from The New Press in a few weeks.) > >Is there a way to upgrade my hardcopy edition? Sorry, no. Sleazy marketing ploy, I know. Doug

Document Size:	4880
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 11:31:57 PDT 2005

17861 [lbo-talk] Chip Berlet in the news -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >I think at least theoretically, this is the key bridge bridge >between science and religion. They both hold it to be one of their >highest principles that we can be never be certain. That's true of some religions, but for others they're dead certain - e.g., Pope Ratso, who now sits in a throne that claims infallibility, or those evangelicals who know they're going to heaven and we're going to hell. I've seen evangelicals claim biblical justification for supply-si ...

Document Size:	5181
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 10:14:23 PDT 2005

17862 [lbo-talk] an exchange with the editors of ABC's The Note -- rank: 1000

>From: "Todorovich, Lisa M" <xxx at abc.com> >To: <dhenwood at panix.com> > >Fabulous question. Thanks for writing, and have a great day!! > >-----Original Message----- >From: dhenwood at panix.com [mailto:dhenwood at panix.com] >Posted At: Thursday, May 05, 2005 10:33 AM >Posted To: Mail >Conversation: question >Subject: question > > >Aren't you ever embarrassed, or even mildly troubled, by The Note's >glibness, cynicism, smugn ...

Document Size:	6345
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 09:39:06 PDT 2005

17863 [lbo-talk] birthdays -- rank: 1000

Today is Karl Marx's 187th (and Tammy Wynette's 63rd). Tomorrow is Sigmund Freud's 148th (and George Clooney's 43rd). Doug

Document Size:	4573
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 09:15:16 PDT 2005

17864 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Leigh Meyers wrote: >OK, so what about the thousands of other people >that are being "screwed"(sic) by the sex industry? Do you feel the same way about the purveyors of 420? Some really nasty folks in that biz. Doug

Document Size:	4848
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 09:10:36 PDT 2005

17865 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >Okay, let's put this differently: you still have high wages and high >productivity in Sweden, no? > >So if we're just focussing on productivity it's still possible to >combine the two under conditions of contemporary global competition. >Sweden trades a larger percentage of its GDP than we do. Yes, 44% vs. 10%. But that's just the point - Sweden is a very small country that exports a lot of high value-added products, giving them lots of surplus to spread ...

Document Size:	5714
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 09:07:26 PDT 2005