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35191 eXile on Clinton in Russia -- rank: 1000

[David Johnson missed this while he was away...] the eXile May 25-June 8, 2000 Bubba Does Moscow President William Jefferson Clinton will arrive in Moscow next Saturday, June 3, for his first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin. No angry mobs will be waiting to stomp him at the airport. No columns full of proletarian marchers bearing signs reading "Yankee Go Home!" will hold up his motorcade on his way in to the Marriott. There will be no need for a food-taster when he eats Putin ...

Document Size:	17894
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 20:35:40 PDT 2000

35192 better off than 4 years ago -- rank: 1000

Michael Pollak wrote: >You hear a lot about pollsters duping people with leading questions. >This seems a good example of lazy pollsters allowing people to outwit them >by leaving in flag words. This was a Zogby poll. Rightwingers and quirky populists like Sam Smith like Zogby, but the profession thinks his techniques are questionable - something with the way he adjusts raw data for likely voters. The rightwingers won't like him for this one though. Doug

Document Size:	4927
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 20:10:53 PDT 2000

35193 better off than 4 years ago -- rank: 1000

Brad De Long wrote: >Don't Republicans own stocks? Don't Republicans work for a living? The wording of the question, evoking Ronald Reagan, must stick in their craw. Notice there was a big gap between black & white perceptions: "Over two-thirds (69.1%) of African-Americans said they were better off, compared with 49.3% of Hispanics, 43.5% of whites and 36.2% of Asians." What is it?, 80-90% of African Americans are Dems, so they must boost the Dem average. There's been a sharp na ...

Document Size:	5228
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 17:08:37 PDT 2000

35194 better off than 4 years ago -- rank: 1000

Yahoo! Public Opinion News Wednesday July 12 4:49 PM ET Most Are Prospering UTICA, N.Y. (Reuters/Zogby) - Most Americans are better off now than they were four years ago, results from a Zogby/Reuters survey revealed. In the June telephone survey of 1,002 likely voters nationwide, 46.8% said their personal finances had improved in the last four years while just 9.7% of respondents said they were less well off. Another 42.6% believed their finances were about the same. A majority of Democrats (55. ...

Document Size:	5372
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 11:24:36 PDT 2000

35195 German tax reform -- rank: 1000

[The headline on the U.S. edition for the first story read: "Germany's tax reforms will benefit US investors." Yipee!] Financial Times - July 15, 2000 Shares soar on Schrġder tax victory By Haig Simonian in Berlin Published: July 14 2000 19:21GMT | Last Updated: July 14 2000 20:22GMT Chancellor Gerhard Schrġder on Friday pulled off a stunning victory on tax reform, paving the way for a radical restructuring of Germany's corporate landscape. Share prices in Germany's biggest commercial ...

Document Size:	12462
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 11:14:26 PDT 2000

35196 Savings vs Social Security Once More -- rank: 1000

Max Sawicky wrote: >It's not clear that SS is so huge that investing it in >private assets >would affect their price to a great extent. It wouldn't hurt. But for proof that a privatized SS system is no insulation against a bear market, see this chart of Chilean stock prices: <http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=^IPSA&d=5y>. The index fell by 60% between 1995 and 1998. Doug

Document Size:	5103
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 10:02:59 PDT 2000

35197 IMF to US: tighten harder! -- rank: 1000

michael at ecst.csuchico.edu wrote: >This is fascinating. Imagine that the U.S. were a country without power >and influence. It would have no choice but to follow these >recommendations, especially with the high current account deficit. Yup. So the U.S. being the U.S., what will happen with the c/a deficit? I think this sheds some light on John Taber's cui bono question about boosting national savings: at some level, in some fashion, the U.S. elite realizes that it can't keep running ...

Document Size:	5282
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 09:58:07 PDT 2000

35198 IMF to US: tighten harder! -- rank: 1000

[Existing debt reduction isn't enough; more! Cut Social Security benefits too!!] 2000 Article IV Consultation with the United States of America Statement of the Fund Mission July 12, 2000 1. Sound monetary and fiscal policies have contributed to making the current U.S. economic expansion the longest on record. The federal fiscal balance has improved steadily since 1992, and budget surpluses were recorded in 1998 and 1999, the first time in more than 40 years that there were consecutive surpluses ...

Document Size:	20683
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 08:54:18 PDT 2000

35199 secrets of the Crypt -- rank: 1000

New York Observer - July 17, 2000 I Stole the Head of Prescott Bush! More Scary Skull and Bones Tales by Ron Rosenbaum What if I told you I'd stolen the skull of Prescott Bush, George W.'s grandfather? Snuck up to the Bush family burial plot in the depths of the night, dug up the coffin, cracked it open, yanked the skull off the skeleton and slipped away with it. How would you react? How would George W. Bush react? I raise these questions to put in perspective the allegations against George W. ...

Document Size:	26788
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 07:05:29 PDT 2000

35200 secrets of the Crypt, the prequel -- rank: 1000

New York Observer - March 27, 2000 Barbara Bush's flashing and stabbing knitting needles were a warning. They spoke volumes about how welcome further inquiry would be. Inside George W.'s Secret Crypt by Ron Rosenbaum Where is the all-girl break-in team now that we need them? Where are the intrepid young women who had the nerve and daring to pull off one of the great investigative coups of our era: to sneak into the triple-locked "tomb" of Skull and Bones, the secret citadel, the sanctu ...

Document Size:	26969
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jul 15 07:05:56 PDT 2000

35201 Solidarity Summer School -- rank: 1000

[Alex LoCascio, distracted by work with TDU, writes...] Solidarity Summer School 2000 August 7-10 Ypsilanti, Michigan The Solidarity Summer School is an educational event drawing together activists and socialists from around the country for four days of political discussion and debate. Whether you are new to politics or a long time movement activist, the Solidarity Summer School has something for you! Registration: Registration for the Summer School is $40, or $10/day. Special Needs: Childcare ...

Document Size:	9019
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jul 14 21:39:17 PDT 2000

35202 bubble.com, RIP -- rank: 1000

Wall Street Journal - July 14, 2000 How the Internet Bubble Broke Records, Rules, Bank Accounts By Wall Street Journal Reporters Greg Ip, Susan Pulliam, Scott Thurm, and Ruth Simon "The world has gone mad." The thought flashed in the mind of Internet analyst Lise Buyer one morning in November 1998, as she and colleagues at Credit Suisse First Boston stared at a stock-quote machine. They were, Ms. Buyer recalls, agog at the trajectory of the initial public offering of theglobe.com, a co ...

Document Size:	31132
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Jul 14 09:24:42 PDT 2000

35203 The heart of a leftist/Last time -- rank: 1000

Brad De Long wrote: >Just one little Utopian speech laying out a future Communist society >with--I don't know--a bicameral legislature with chambers elected on >the basis of industry and of domicile? Why bicameral? An "upper chamber" is often some antidemocratic contrivance. > Immediate potential recall and replacement of representatives? >Freedom of the press This is one of several parts at <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1840/free-press/index.htm>. T ...

Document Size:	31426
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jul 13 17:12:53 PDT 2000

35204 Gore's inheritance -- rank: 1000

Nathan, I wonder what you think of this quote from a Wash Post story the other day that a friend just sent me: >But Gore strategists contend that the major fissures in the party have been >generally resolved during Clinton's tenure in the White House. >"If you think of the last eight years, the party in government worked >through all the biggies," a Gore operative said. "It worked through trade; >we are a free-trade party. We worked through welfare reform; we are th ...

Document Size:	5230
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jul 13 16:59:05 PDT 2000

35205 monopoly? -- rank: 1000

Apropos the monopoly talk from the other day, a little item from the front page of today's Wall Street Journal: >RELENTLESS EXPANSION may not be the best way to pursue global markets. > >Two professors originally set out to prove the theory that >megamergers are the path to success in international markets. >Instead, Pankaj Ghemawat of the Harvard Business School and Fariborz >Ghadar of Pennsylvania State University conclude the opposite -- >that market share actually decrea ...

Document Size:	5913
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jul 13 08:45:30 PDT 2000