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2071 [lbo-talk] Food Prices Again -- rank: 1000

On Feb 17, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Michael Pollak wrote: > On Wed, 16 Feb 2011, the Pollin/Jayati transcript was quoted: > >> POLLIN: When they move the futures market, that pushes the spot market up--the futures market is driving the spot market prices. > > This is the crux, and I want to believe it -- it seems empirically true -- but I don't understand the causal chain. I don't understand your confusion. If the futures price rises, of course the spot price is going to rise. It mea ...

Document Size:	5292
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 17 09:14:41 PST 2011

2072 [lbo-talk] Food Prices Again -- rank: 1000

On Feb 16, 2011, at 10:19 PM, Shane Mage wrote: > Populist capitalist demagogues (Sarkozy out in front, even of the Coburns and Levins) love to blame "speculators" for the fact that they just can't help transferring speculative *losses* (but never speculative profits) onto workingclass taxpayers via TARP etc. You're making no sense. Is this some sort of mental block traceable to an orthodox Marxoid belief that finance is just epiphenomenonal froth? Doug

Document Size:	4920
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 17 07:37:59 PST 2011

2073 [lbo-talk] Businesses are refusing to hire the unemployed, -- rank: 1000

On Feb 17, 2011, at 7:35 AM, Wojtek S wrote: > But what not hiring the "reserve army?" From an economic point of view, the > "opportunity cost" of an employed person is much higher than that of an > unemployed one. So one would think that ceteri paribus the bosses would > prefer hiring a currently unemployed person because they could get away with > paying him/her less, no? What gives? The standard line is that the long-term unemployed lose skills. I.e., the ...

Document Size:	5307
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Feb 17 07:36:26 PST 2011

2074 [lbo-talk] report from Madison -- rank: 1000

Wisconsin erupts: http://lbo-news.com/2011/02/16/wisconsin-erupts/

Document Size:	4555
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 19:19:14 PST 2011

2075 [lbo-talk] Food Prices Again -- rank: 1000

On Feb 16, 2011, at 5:33 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > You don't get a margin call if you're going to deliver. Farmers who hedge can get creamed. See p. 49: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/REPORTExcessiveSpecullationintheWheatMarketwoexhibitschartsJune2409.pdf Grain elevators too. Also, the failure to converge hurts farmers and elevators, but that's another story. Doug

Document Size:	4961
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 16:01:36 PST 2011

2076 [lbo-talk] Food Prices Again -- rank: 1000

On Feb 16, 2011, at 5:13 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > owever: on Tuesday, a wheat farmer shows up to the Thunderdome with actual wheat to sell. And so does a buyer from Nabisco, who is looking for wheat with which to make crackers in his factory. The price in the pit is presently $12. The farmer says: hmm, $12 is pretty good and sells a contract for $12. He puts his wheat with you for Friday clearing and goes home. The Nabisco fellow believes that the price will have to revert and so he wai ...

Document Size:	5210
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 15:19:19 PST 2011

2077 [lbo-talk] social media -- rank: 1000

Some really good writing by Zeynep Tufekci - a name some veterans of old Marxist listservs might recognize - on Twitter and revolution: http://technosociology.org/?p=366 http://technosociology.org/?p=305 Doug

Document Size:	4739
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 13:55:42 PST 2011

2078 [lbo-talk] a trip to Madison -- rank: 1000

On Feb 16, 2011, at 10:44 AM, Jeffrey Fisher wrote: > How did it go? I felt rather lugubrious and uninspired, so it probably wasn't one for the record books. Amiable reception last night though. Had a good chat with Joel Rogers. About to grab an early lunch and head over to the demo at the state capitol. Will file pix and a report on lbo-news later today. Doug

Document Size:	4818
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 08:55:31 PST 2011

2079 [lbo-talk] Food Prices Again -- rank: 1000

On Feb 16, 2011, at 9:31 AM, brad wrote: > Really good discussion with Bob Pollin and Jayati Ghosh on the role of > speculation in the food price increases. > http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6277 Video takes too much time. What did they say?

Document Size:	4914
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Feb 16 08:10:39 PST 2011

2080 [lbo-talk] a trip to Madison -- rank: 1000

On Feb 15, 2011, at 9:43 AM, Jeffrey Fisher wrote: > D'oh! I totally missed this. And alas, I teach until 4. The trip to Madison > takes about an hour and a half . . . Tomorrow is possible. Hate for you to > be doing something like this so close to where I am and not be able to get > over there. We've got a lunch thing at 12:30 on THursday. And there's some sort of reception for us tonight.

Document Size:	4887
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Feb 15 07:05:17 PST 2011

2081 [lbo-talk] Wisconsin labor -- rank: 1000

On Feb 14, 2011, at 7:14 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote: > If the workers stand together, it will not work. Yeah, but this is the USA. Odds are they won't stand together. Hope I'm wrong. Doug

Document Size:	4690
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 14 17:48:42 PST 2011

2082 [lbo-talk] a trip to Madison -- rank: 1000

http://lbo-news.com/2011/02/14/a-visit-to-madison/ Liza, Ivan, and I will be traveling to Madison, for several talks at the University of Wisconsin. I m talking Tuesday at 4; Liza, Wednesday at 4; both of us, Thursday at 12:20. Details: The Crisis is Over: What Next? (Doug Henwood) Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 4pm, 206 Ingraham Hall Behind the Mirror: Focus Groups and What they Reveal (Liza Featherstone) Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 4pm, 8417 Social Science Open Seminar for Students, Faculty, ...

Document Size:	5324
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 14 06:57:47 PST 2011

2083 [lbo-talk] Lindsay speaks.... -- rank: 1000

On Feb 12, 2011, at 8:46 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote: > quoted by Angry Arab: > > For insightful analysis of the Middle East, I always turn to > > Lindsay Lohan: " "Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Your voices were heard and you proved that peaceful demonstrations are possible and effective .... x" ... "I pray Egypt maintains it's [sic] treaty with Israel and sets the trend for its neighbors to create peace with Israel and the entire region. "&q ...

Document Size:	5182
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 12 17:59:56 PST 2011

2084 [lbo-talk] Marx quote -- rank: 1000

There's a quote from Marx that starts something like "The steam engine gave us...." Anyone know what it is?

Document Size:	4536
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 12 13:45:06 PST 2011

2085 [lbo-talk] The role of social media in the Egyptian uprising -- rank: 1000

On Feb 11, 2011, at 11:57 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > So this thread has glided down to consideration of "meaningful > relationships" among the abstract -- isolated -- individuals of bourgeois > societies. Carrol, you often say that movements are generated through personal contact, not mediated stuff. You may object to the phrasing, but the idea is the same: solidarities generated through contact and common experience. Electronic relationships are usually more tenuous than that. ...

Document Size:	5298
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 12 08:20:41 PST 2011