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17866 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >After all, high productivity and high wages used to go together in >this country. So it's not an incoherent model in itself. At a particular odd historical moment, when corporate America was willing to give a little to avoid losing a lot (the ultimate threat being the USSR), and when the likes of GM had no meaningful competition. All that changed when the world did, and givebacks became the order of the day. By the time Kerorian's finished with GM, line workers may ...

Document Size:	4992
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:54:58 PDT 2005

17867 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >Doug: >> I'm always skeptical of these higher wages = higher productivity >> arguments. > > >Would not that depend on the type of work? In a taylorized workplace >productivity is mainly a function of technology rather than the skill or >motivation of human operators - so motivating labor force with pay >incentives has little effect on productivity. > >But in a non-taylorized environment, especially one that requires cognitive &g ...

Document Size:	5525
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:51:00 PDT 2005

17868 [lbo-talk] Chip Berlet in the news -- rank: 1000

Chip Berlet wrote: >Chucky, > >Thanks for making my point! > >Gotta love ya... Chip, how do you engage with people who believe in the literal existence and daily influence of Satan? Aren't there issues of incommensurability? Doug

Document Size:	4787
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:44:36 PDT 2005

17869 [lbo-talk] Pat Robertson: federal judges worse than Al Qaeda or the Nazis -- rank: 1000

[MoveOn is kind of annoying, but this is amazing stuff.] Dear MoveOn member, On Sunday morning, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson told TV viewers nation-wide that the threat posed by liberal judges is "probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings." When an incredulous George Stephanopoulos asked if Robertson really believed that these judges posed "the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than al Q ...

Document Size:	12051
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:38:50 PDT 2005

17870 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Leigh Meyers wrote: >I'm sure there *were* guards that enjoyed working at Dachau, and in >context to the claim that "sex workers" enjoy their jobs ...in context >to the the point being made, that liking a job doesn't indicate that >it's ultimately beneficial to the worker, or for that matter the >"client", there's nothing ludicrous about the comparison. Except for the fact that the guards were supervising prisoners, most of them doomed, all of whom were there a ...

Document Size:	5329
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:30:35 PDT 2005

17871 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Chuck0 wrote: >jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote: > >>This is what my SO has on the shelf here at home that I've actually >>read. Much more here that I haven't and likely won't make the time >>to read. I have never been to the Family Research Council website. >>If these sources are tainted with right-wing propaganda I certainly >>missed it but I suppose it is possible. Why don't you read them and >>let me know. > >Yes, I know these things have been s ...

Document Size:	6057
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:25:19 PDT 2005

17872 [lbo-talk] Chip Berlet in the news -- rank: 1000

Shane Taylor wrote: >Doug, have you considered a Behind the News discussion on Rapture >Republicans & Co. with both Chip and Joel Schalit? No, but it's a good idea. Doug

Document Size:	4675
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:21:21 PDT 2005

17873 [lbo-talk] Chip Berlet in the news -- rank: 1000

Chuck0 wrote: >After moving back to Kansas City from Washington, DC, and seeing >more and more of the religious extremist right, I've concluded that >we need to insult them more. You ain't going to have a dialogue with >people who are convinced that their paradigm is normal. You gotta >challenge them and let them know that people exist who reject their >way of thinking and aren't going to apologize about their views. I think we need a dual approach - Chip engaging, Chuck insult ...

Document Size:	5346
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:19:38 PDT 2005

17874 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

Marvin Gandall wrote: >More information from Business Week below. I'm surprised that the higher >retention rate and productivity at Costco actually makes as much >difference as reported at this skill level, where retraining costs can't be >that high, and the largely passive sales force is mostly there to help >customers find products. But I guess it does - that, and the lower marketing >costs and its somewhat more affluent customer base. I'm always skeptical of these higher wag ...

Document Size:	5446
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu May 5 07:10:21 PDT 2005

17875 [lbo-talk] denial -- rank: 1000

joanna wrote: >Also interesting that they completely misunderstand what the >"therapy" is about. It's not about unearthing secrets. There are no >secrets. There are only feelings that haven't been felt and >experiences that haven't been processed. The safe therapeutic >environment and the paying atention allows that to happen. The focus >on "interpretation" is just something that intellectuals like to >chew over. It doesn't really make all that much diffe ...

Document Size:	5277
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 17:05:28 PDT 2005

17876 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

Leigh Meyers wrote: >No one here is using the "E" word in regard to the topic... Exploitation. > >Bad form for marxists... Whenever the topic of sex work comes up, a lot of people can only focus on the "sex" part, and not the "work" part. If it's work under capitalism, it's exploitative, and those of us on the side of the workers want to make life better for the workers. Whether they're file clerks or strippers. >But in my humble opinion, the kind of per ...

Document Size:	5443
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 17:03:38 PDT 2005

17877 [lbo-talk] Re: alt-porn & explicit content -- rank: 1000

joanna wrote: >Yes, they are. Now are sex workers victims? It's a rarefied argument >when we talk about the $700/eve escorts. But how about the twelve >year old girls? or the nineteen year olds and the $20 blow jobs? A word or two from the workers themselves, perhaps? <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#050324> March 24, 2005 Simon Head, author of an excellent roundup-on Wal-Mart in the New York Review of Books (which prompted a two-page rebuttal ad from Wal-Mart!) and ...

Document Size:	5353
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 17:01:28 PDT 2005

17878 [lbo-talk] denial -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >Carl Remick wrote: >> >> As for intellectual rigor, >> Freudian analysis itself ranks right up there with astrology, homeopathy, >> alchemy and phrenology. > >That is misleading. The parallel is more to creationism and >conspicacism. All three insist that they perceive a secret or secrets in >the universe which is unavailable to ordinary methods of historical, >scientific, or cultural analysis. I love it when two major depressives a ...

Document Size:	4967
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 16:34:19 PDT 2005

17879 [lbo-talk] Walmart and Costco -- rank: 1000

snitsnat wrote: >too bad the whole article wasn't archived: > >http://squawk.ca/lbo-talk/0403/2093.html Wall Street Journal - March 26, 2004 Costco's Dilemma: Be Kind To Its Workers, or Wall Street? By ANN ZIMMERMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL When it comes to workers, companies can be accused of not paying enough -- or paying too much. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s parsimonious approach to employee compensation has made the world's largest retailer a frequent target of labor uni ...

Document Size:	12870
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 16:31:39 PDT 2005

17880 [lbo-talk] denial -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick wrote: >>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> >> >>Katha Pollitt wrote: >> >>>Susan's question is exactly what is so frustrating about the >>>Freudian POV. If you accept it, fine. if you reject it, you're in >>>'denial." >> >>Or as Katie Roiphe once said to me, explaining why she hated Gloria >>Steinem,feminists are "humorless and anti-sex." A roughly >>equivalent level of caricature ...

Document Size:	6004
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed May 4 16:07:20 PDT 2005