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29581 Euro and Greece -- rank: 1000

Cian O'Connor wrote: >Isn't the Euro going to have a negative effect on the >weaker economies? They'll be stuck with a strong >currency (relative to their economies), so surely that >will have a negative effect on their domestic >economies. What's to stop what happened in Argentina >happening in Greece or Portugal? Excellent question. One countervailing possiblity is that the combo of a common currency, no trade barriers, development subsidies, and lower wages will bring invest ...

Document Size:	5016
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 16:05:45 PST 2002

29582 Respects to Joey Ramone, but -- rank: 1000

ravi wrote: >doug, with all respect, You been watching Bill O'Reilly? > arent you getting into the "what is" and >"what ought" confusion here? No. The bourgeoisie thinks it's rich because it works hard, thinks hard, and takes risk. I don't buy that explanation. Lots of white Americans think they're real, and everyone else is a poseur or aspirant. I don't buy that either. Doug

Document Size:	4874
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 14:14:58 PST 2002

29583 Unemployment, BLS and "institutionalization" -- rank: 1000

Jim Westrich wrote: >After being in prison you most likely be not in the labor force >(unless it was a short stay and even then I am guessing you can't >unemployment). So you would not be counted as in the labor force >until you get your first job. Or if you started looking actively for one. Doug

Document Size:	4993
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 14:03:59 PST 2002

29584 Unemployment, BLS and "institutionalization" -- rank: 1000

Lance Murdoch wrote: >The BLS unemployment statistics do not include people who are >"institutionalized". I have been trying to look for a BLS >definition of this, but have been unable to find one thus far. I >am especially curious if the word institutionalized expands from not >just the domestic prison population, but those on parole and/or >probation as well. <http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/grpqtr/grpqtr01.txt> Group Quarters Population -- The gro ...

Document Size:	5809
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 13:54:35 PST 2002

29585 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >What do you think of the theory discussed in the Sunday Times by David >Leonhardt that slow recoveries, like the one we had at the beginning of >the 90s, will now become the norm rather than the exception because of the >differences that come from being a service economy? I wouldn't say bec of a service economy so much as an overhang of debt and the bad feelings and depleted resources after a bubble bursts. Slow recovery has a lot of followers on WS and in the ...

Document Size:	5110
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 13:23:40 PST 2002

29586 Respects to Joey Ramone, but -- rank: 1000

ravi wrote: >doug, your thoughts seem to make an excellent case against the >exclusion of blacks from american mainstream culture (and >politics and identity, etc), but the question is whether >america can appropriate black culture and contributions as its >own, isnt it? it is true that black culture influenced america >in the long run, but only so through its presence as the >"other", isnt it? if that be the case, then how valid is it >for america today to appr ...

Document Size:	5378
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 13:14:47 PST 2002

29587 Wired report on Herold -- rank: 1000

[Herold's report is at <http://www.cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm>. There's a 12/19 MS Word version of his report and a 12/26 Excel spreadsheet at <http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/> - and nothing else. Interesting that Wired ran this with no attempt at serious refutation - must be irrefutable.] Wired News - 2:00 a.m. Jan. 4, 2002 PST Trolling the Web for Afghan Dead By Julia Scheeres In an online report, a University of New Hampshire professor charges that the U.S. military ...

Document Size:	8243
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 13:04:36 PST 2002

29588 Daschle's plan -- rank: 1000

[Taking a break from opening his mail, Daschle gave a speech a little while ago outlining the Dems' economic plan. Here's an advance summary from his office.] America's Economy: Rising to our New Challenges Senator Daschle Outlines A New Growth Agenda for the American Economy On Friday, January 4, in a speech at the Center for National Policy, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will outline a comprehensive growth agenda for America's economy. The plan is aimed at fostering economic growth and jo ...

Document Size:	11564
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 09:57:45 PST 2002

29589 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Doug Henwood wrote: > >> [The bourgie consensus is now that the U.S. economy is bottoming, or >> has already bottomed, and is about to turn up, perhaps strongly. The >> leftie consensus is that it's only begun worsening. Hmmm.] > >Isn't that always kinda of true, though? I mean that Wall Street >forecasters always err on the side of optimism and lefty forecasters >usually err on the side of pessimism? Because the ...

Document Size:	5348
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jan 4 08:43:02 PST 2002

29590 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick wrote: >Isn't the increase in subprime-lending abuses -- involving the home >equity of poor credit risks -- a big step back in society? I guess if you want a credit card or mortgage and you don't qualify under the old rules, you'd say no, but it seems a pretty greedy and brutal line of business to me. Doug

Document Size:	4679
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 12:20:35 PST 2002

29591 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

/ dave / wrote: >What are the month-to-month or quarterly stats for a) numbers of >U.S. personal bankruptcy filings and >b) $ levels of same, versus last year or two years ago or...? Third quarter numbers - most recent available - were down some from the second quarter, but above the number from a year earlier. The bk numbers often lag the bizcycle a bit, so it could rise into the new year (esp if the law is changed). If you've got lots of credit card debt, seriously consider filing. Of ...

Document Size:	4992
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 11:47:10 PST 2002

29592 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Jordan Hayes wrote: >I wonder whether this is really that people are piling on debt or >whether the sheer number of people who have access to credit isn't >skewing these numbers. I think it's probably both, but I haven't seen a breakdown lately. I think debts are higher at all income levels - though the subprimes are not big enough to drive the averages up much. The WSJ had an article last week on how even geezers are piling on the debt. >If Citicorp sees too many defaults on their c ...

Document Size:	5866
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 11:07:29 PST 2002

29593 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Barry DeCicco wrote: >I'm amazed at the fact that these blindly optimistic >fools just keep pumping it out. There's some evidence in the numbers, not just hopes - higher confidence, lower jobless claims, higher manufacturing numbers, still-strong house and car sales, a not-as-bad-as-feared Xmas season, etc. It's far from conclusive, but there's not much point in denying what's there. Doug

Document Size:	4752
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 09:24:37 PST 2002

29594 US economy turning? -- rank: 1000

Seth Ackerman wrote: >Doug Henwood wrote: > >> [The bourgie consensus is now that the U.S. economy is bottoming, or >> has already bottomed, and is about to turn up, perhaps strongly. The >> leftie consensus is that it's only begun worsening. Hmmm.] > >So far no one has successfully refuted Wynne Godley's argument that the >financial imbalance in the US private sector will prevent any real recovery. > >The private sector is running a deficit of almost 6% ...

Document Size:	5283
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 09:22:56 PST 2002

29595 Question for Econo-types -- rank: 1000

pms wrote: >But anyway, my question, if someone would be so kind: With soft pricing in >manufactured goods and all, why is EU worried about inflation? Is it >because they provide services like healthcare which are heading into >hyper-inflation? And because their people have unions? Or is it some other >kinda thing? Euroland is closer to deflation than inflation, so I can only guess that the ECB wants to keep unemployment high to keep political pressure on for "reforms&quo ...

Document Size:	5006
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 3 09:16:02 PST 2002