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23551 [lbo-talk] Question about Social Security -- rank: 1000

Joel Wendland wrote: >Isn't reserve exhaustion different from "solvent"? Aren't the assets >of the TF good into infinity (or until capitalism collapses)? The asseets of the SS reserve are special-issue Treasury bonds, meaning they can't be sold to anyone else. At some point, should the system ever fall into deficit, the Treasury will have to come up with the cash to redeem the bonds. They'll do that with either tax revenue or borrowing. The whole notion of a reserve like this is ...

Document Size:	5700
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Dec 4 09:33:47 PST 2004

23552 [lbo-talk] the mother of all election fraud articles -- rank: 1000

[nothing out of "Globalresearch.org" is ever measured...] Voter Fraud in Florida and Ohio: Kerry Won the Election by at least 1.7 Million Votes by Brad Menfil http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303775.shtml 27 Nov 2004 http://www.globalresearch.ca 3 December 2004 The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MEN412A.html __________________________________________________________________ Brad Menfil is not my real name. I work for the RNC. I fear reprisals if I ...

Document Size:	8374
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Dec 4 09:17:20 PST 2004

23553 [lbo-talk] Loren Goldner on the US$ -- rank: 1000

[Loren Goldner writes] Dear Doug, I just posted a new article "The 'Dollar Crisis, and Us" on the Break Their Haughty Power web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner Can you announce it on your list? Thanks Loren

Document Size:	4867
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Dec 4 09:13:46 PST 2004

23554 [lbo-talk] xmas jobs -- rank: 1000

joanna bujes wrote: >Jobs are only up 100K or so. Xmas is almost here. There is always >additional hiring near xmas. Does this seasonal hiring not count as >part of the statistics? That's what seasonal adjustment is for. If retail hiring is normal, it would appear more or less unchanged. If it were stronger than normal, it'd appear as a gain (after adjustment). If weaker, it'd appear as a decline. And the reverse is true in January - normal layoffs = unchanged. Less than normal layoffs ...

Document Size:	5263
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 21:21:50 PST 2004

23555 [lbo-talk] Fwd: NBC corrects exit polls on Latinos -- rank: 1000

NBC makes sharp correction in Latino support for Bush, puts Kerry up in Texas http://rawstory.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=114 In a stunning turnaround, an elections manager for NBC News said news organizations overestimated President George W. Bush's support among Latino voters, downwardly revising its polled support for Bush to 40 percent from 44 percent among Hispanics, and increasing challenger John Kerry's support among Hispanics to 58 percent from 53 percent, a press release from a Hispanic t ...

Document Size:	5373
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 13:07:11 PST 2004

23556 [lbo-talk] Cabinet changes -- rank: 1000

Chuck Grimes wrote: >So, cabinet positions replacements for State, Justice, Commerce, Energy, >Agriculture, Health, Homeland, Education(?)---oh, yeah, National >Security and the Econ Adviser.... Treasury(?) > >Any theories as to what is going on? Yeah, they're all being replaced with hand puppets. Doug

Document Size:	4781
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 12:04:59 PST 2004

23557 [lbo-talk] cheating: it's genetic! -- rank: 1000

<http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/page2658.htm> PRESS RELEASE Issue date: 24 November 2004 Twin study reveals genetic role in female infidelity A confidential survey of more than 1,600 pairs of female twins has revealed that genetic factors have a substantial impact on how likely women are to cheat on their partner and how many sexual partners they will have. This is the first ever study to look at the genes underlying these influences in humans. The results of the new research - led by P ...

Document Size:	8540
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 12:00:37 PST 2004

23558 [lbo-talk] US employment -- rank: 1000

This morning's U.S. employment report was pretty sucky. Not disastrous, but 112k is a disappointing. Only a handful of sectors added significant numbers. Manufacturing shrank for the third month in a row, and retail fell. The average hourly wage was up just a penny, and it looks like year-to-year real wages are down by more than 1% - the worst performance since 1991. The survey of households looked better, but the survey of employers is more reliable. We're now 9.7 million jobs below where we'd ...

Document Size:	4930
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 11:49:45 PST 2004

23559 [lbo-talk] lbo-talk] Wal-Mart -- rank: 1000

Eugene Vilensky wrote: >On Fri, 3 Dec 2004 11:40:48 -0500, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote: >> >> That, plus the intense centralization of Wal-Mart (store managers >> have to get Bentonville's approval for changing the thermostat!), >> should lift the hearts of those unreconstructed advocates of economic >> planning. > > >Is it not valid comparing just one actor in a capitalist economy to >state planning? While Wal mart may be ce ...

Document Size:	5546
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 11:34:34 PST 2004

23560 [lbo-talk] Question about soviet planning -- rank: 1000

Eugene Vilensky wrote: >What is the name of those production tables that, for example, told >central planners in the early soviet days how many kilos of x and z >material it would take to produce y product? Do I have the concept >right about how those worked? You mean input-output tables? They exist for the U.S. See <http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn2/home/benchmark.htm>. Doug

Document Size:	5049
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 11:32:14 PST 2004

23561 [lbo-talk] Question about Social Security -- rank: 1000

B. wrote: >I remember seeing a statistic, on the list I believe, >that said that Soc. Security was projected to be >solvent until the late 2040s - early 2050s. What is >this stat, what is the source, URL, etc.? Is it from >the Congressional Budget Office itself? All the SS stats come from the annual reports of the system's trustees, available at <http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/>. The latest projected date of reserve exhaustion is 2042. See the summary of the 2004 report at <h ...

Document Size:	5263
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 10:59:12 PST 2004

23562 [lbo-talk] lbo-talk] Wal-Mart -- rank: 1000

Dwayne Monroe wrote: >Indeed, I must grudgingly admit that Wal-Mart is one of the few >examples of what capital can accomplish if it truly takes IT >seriously as a critical strategic resource. I've studied their >supply chain techniques and the role of computer power in making it >happen and it is a dark wonder. That, plus the intense centralization of Wal-Mart (store managers have to get Bentonville's approval for changing the thermostat!), should lift the hearts of those unreco ...

Document Size:	5049
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 08:40:48 PST 2004

23563 [lbo-talk] America's image problem -- rank: 1000

<http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/12/02/pentagon/print.html> The new Pentagon Paper A scathing top-level report, intended for internal consumption, says that Bush's "war on terrorism" is an unmitigated disaster. Of course, the administration is ignoring it. By Sidney Blumenthal Dec. 2, 2004 | Who wrote this -- a pop sociologist, obscure blogger or antiwar playwright? "Finally, Muslims see Americans as strangely narcissistic -- namely, that the war is all about us ...

Document Size:	11648
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 08:27:06 PST 2004

23564 [lbo-talk] Wal-Mart -- rank: 1000

John Thornton wrote: >How is Wal-Mart the new Ford? As symbols of their respective times. Ford symbolized mass production, higher wages tied to rising productivity, and mass consumption based on those higher wages. Wal-Mart symbolizes mass retailing, discounting, vicious management of the supply chain, and capital capturing all the rise in productivity because the wages suck. Ford also represented the male breadwinner; Wal-Mart, the economy where everyone has to work, including the women, bec ...

Document Size:	4886
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 3 06:19:35 PST 2004

23565 [lbo-talk] Bush rubs shoulders with FDR & Churchill -- rank: 1000

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/article/largerphoto?thisnode=politics/administration&showSky=false&imgId=I26846-2004Dec01>

Document Size:	4908
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Dec 2 14:35:23 PST 2004