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35326 Is she meant to be saying this? -- rank: 1000

W. Kiernan wrote: >I wish they'd printed more of that speech. Does she suggest that >capitalism without democracy - what do you call that? - would be an >improvement? Try <http://secretary.state.gov/www/statements/index.html> in a day or two. The last transcript they have up is for 1/28; this speech was 1/30. Doug

Document Size:	4896
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 31 08:08:19 PST 2000

35327 Deep Thoughts -- rank: 1000

Boys, boys, can we stow the equipment for a while & suspend the pissing match? Doug

Document Size:	4348
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 31 07:14:43 PST 2000

35328 Soros to IMF: give up on Russia -- rank: 1000

[Gosh, wonder of George is short the ruble. From Johnson's Russia List.] AFP January 31 Soros says IMF should pull out of Russia US financier George Soros said on Sunday the International Monetary Fund should pull out of Russia in view of the current political climate there. Foreign institutions and investors "have lost the ability to influence the direction of events" in Russia, Soros, chairman of the influential Soros Fund Management, told a news conference at the World Economic Foru ...

Document Size:	6864
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jan 31 07:08:11 PST 2000

35329 Fwd: We Need to Revise the List of Chairs. -- rank: 1000

[A prominent young DSAer of my acquaintance who wishes to remain anonymous has been circulating this complaint.] I am very unhappy. It was bad enough that our Honorary Chair, Cornel West, opted to campaign for Bill Bradley. Bradley, of course, is not a left-liberal, funded wholly by unions and people's cash, but candidate of Wall St. Now, another DSA Honorary Chair, Gloria Steinem has openly endorsed Al Gore. Of course, Steinem has made bad decisions before -- she was once chummy with the CIA ...

Document Size:	8613
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 20:17:48 PST 2000

35330 Who's Afraid of Desires & Pleasures? (Re: Desire & Scarcity) -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >Who's afraid of desires and pleasures? Us or Doug & Eric? One more time: I'm arguing for desire & pleasure, not against it. I'm against the idea that D&P are products of capitalist society to be transcended in some vague future when basic needs are all met. The meeting of basic needs is the beginning of more D&P, not the end. Doug

Document Size:	5203
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 14:15:39 PST 2000

35331 Brecht Forum article -- rank: 1000

Michael Yates wrote: >The last issue of the Brecht Forum's "Schedule of Events" has an article >by Doug Henwood titled "Marx Lives (They Thought He Was a Goner)." It's >a pretty good piece. Perhaps Doug might post it on his list. They Thought He Was a Goner by Doug Henwood by Doug Henwood Suddenly, Marx is all over. Well maybe not so suddenly. Among high-end intellectuals he made a dramatic reappearance with the publication of Jacques Derrida's book Specters of Marx ...

Document Size:	12092
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 14:06:04 PST 2000

35332 Desire & Scarcity (was Re: Desire under the Elms) -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >I suppose some people think that the world without Scarcity as neoclassical >economists define it is _dull_ and _without enjoyment_. Never mind whether >it is possible, since both Doug & Eric think it's _undesirable_. Where ever did you get this idea? I think that a world "without Scarcity as neoclassical economists define it" would still be a world with desire, and would be a desirable world. My point has been that supplying people with their &qu ...

Document Size:	5651
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:54:47 PST 2000

35333 Taking a Second Look (was Re: Desire & Scarcity) -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >On the other hand, Doug says: > >I don't > >think that's possible, nor do I think it's particularly desirable. I don't think it's particularly desirable to imagine an economy that does nothing but satisfy basic needs. That's a start, but only a start. Ludism, not Luddism, for the masses, I say. Doug

Document Size:	5033
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 14:00:06 PST 2000

35334 Fwd: Laborers Ex Pres Indicted -- rank: 1000

[Didn't Tom L express some skepticism about corruption in the Laborers Union?] New York Times - January 28, 2000 New York Times Ex-Union Leader to Admit Ferrari Fraud By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Arthur Coia's love of Ferraris, including one that cost more than $1 million, proved his undoing. Until recently the president of the national laborers' union, representing workers at the bottom of the construction pecking order, Mr. Coia has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges for failing to pay about $100 ...

Document Size:	8597
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:43:55 PST 2000

35335 Fwd: George W. Bush's 1972 Flying Suspension -- rank: 1000

[Soft Skull picked up the George W bio that St Martin's withdrew. Apparently Hicks had a lawyer go over it and found it legally bulletproof.] For Immediate Release: Contact: Sander Hicks Soft Skull Press, Inc. 212 673 2502 George W. Bush's 1972 Flying Suspension in the TEXAS Air National Guard COINCIDES WITH FORTUNATE SON'S ALLEGATIONS. * Released military record shows "failure to take medical exam" during same time that Soft Skull Press's controversial Bush biography purports the Repu ...

Document Size:	11446
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:25:47 PST 2000

35336 Is John Sweeney a Socialist? -- rank: 1000

Rakesh Bhandari wrote: >Nathan wrote about John Sweeney > > > >How about unionizing 600,000 people last year, including the >largest number > > >of private-sector employees in two decades, giving them some democratic > > >control of their workplaces? > >To which an exasperated Doug responded: > > > Jesus H Christ, Nathan, I said unionization is a good thing. I'm not > > some Spart fundamentalist, you know. > >And now I note out ...

Document Size:	6561
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:33:54 PST 2000

35337 Nathan, Bill Bradley, CALPERS, and the Left -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >And in Europe, a very different set of circumstances may make them less >admirable -- a point I noted in a different context of why the Swedish >worker funds might have had a less progressive effect than expected. Weird. Sweden is a country with a long socialist/social democratic position - and its wage-earner funds were still hijacked by big capital. The U.S. is a country with little history of socialism/social democracy, but a long history of mutual funds and pri ...

Document Size:	5193
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:22:39 PST 2000

35338 Desire & Scarcity (was Re: Desire under the Elms) -- rank: 1000

Michael Yates wrote: >Perhaps I am not understanding this thread, but why would anyone think >that communism would deny us our desires? Dunno, but some of our resident communists want to deny the very concept of desire, apart from some historically contingent frustrations of capitalism. Doug

Document Size:	4991
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 13:00:58 PST 2000

35339 Green: Rudy Lite -- rank: 1000

[further proof that liberalism is utterly dead - Mark Green used to be the very picture of the urban liberal] Mark Green: Son of Giuliani By Robert Lederman In the 1930's and 40's sequels were made to the most successful Hollywood horror films. Like most sequels, Son of Frankenstein, Son of Dracula and Son of Kong were not as successful either artistically or financially as the originals they were based on. If NYC Public Advocate Mark Green's speech today at the NY Law School is any indication, ...

Document Size:	17654
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Jan 30 12:50:56 PST 2000

35340 Desire & Scarcity (was Re: Desire under the Elms) -- rank: 1000

Max Sawicky wrote: >Or put it this way. The socialization of the means of >production/elimination of classes seems to connote an >absence of scarcity that does not obtain in *any* real >economy, where rationing of one sort or another is >inescapable. Nice to imagine but hard to believe. Bingo. Which is why I think it's important to talk about the need/desire continuum. Our hardline Utopians seem to think that the abolition of capitalism, by means unspecified, and its replacement ...

Document Size:	5685
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Jan 29 11:12:48 PST 2000