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38671 last words -- rank: 1000

I'm really struck by the way three or four certain persons - all, probably not coincidentally, male - just can't let the other have the last word. So the same argument - no not argument, epithet-pitching is more like it - goes on & on & on beyond the point of tedium. And it's always - "well if he has the last word then it'll look like I'm agreeing with him." I really thought I'd left kindergarten behind, but apparently not. This is not your sandbox. Doug

Document Size:	4748
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 18:38:38 PDT 1999

38672 Comparing Mao to Hitler -- rank: 1000

Jacob Segal wrote: >The Russian and Chinese revolutions were "good things?" Compared to what? >Were the Bolsheviks better then the Czarist reign or better than a >socialist democracy under Kerensky? I fail to see how any revolution that >leads to Stalin and the collectivization of the peasant or Mao and the GLF >and the Cultural Revolution can be deemed positive events, unless you make >some argument about the alternative. The crimes of neo-liberalism hardly >co ...

Document Size:	5906
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 15:14:17 PDT 1999

38673 Comparing Mao to Hitler -- rank: 1000

Max Sawicky wrote: >That's a little short of a ringing endorsement: >"Read Mao! He's no stupider than Bill Clinton!" > >I would urge higher standards for texts which >purport to liberate the world's people. > >Can you seriously deny that, under a Maoist >regime, you, me and Louis would be working >shoulder to shoulder in one of Liu's >"reeducation" camps? Look Max, I'm no Maoist. The Chinese CP has done a lot of brutal things in its reign. But t ...

Document Size:	5695
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 13:06:47 PDT 1999

38674 A word on the historical economic stats USSR vs Everyone else -- rank: 1000

Greg Nowell wrote: >1. It is not "evil" or misleading to compare to 1913. This is the standard >baseline comparison in most economic writing and was also the standard >baseline >used in the immediate aftermath of the war. Well if you're comparing to prewar, yes 1913 makes sense, but in the context of talking about the Soviet experience, it's a bit odd, since it predates the Soviet era, and the revolution itself was partly the result of the dislocations of the war. >2. ...

Document Size:	8289
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 12:36:20 PDT 1999

38675 Comparing Clinton regime to Hitler regime -- rank: 1000

Sam Pawlett wrote: >How much of Russia's -1.4 in the 1973-1992 period is due to shock >therapy of post 1991? Entirely. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Russian/Soviet GDP fell by about 1/3 between 1989 and 1992. Growth continued, though very slowly, through the 1970s and into the mid-1980s. >Also by 'Russia' Maddison presumably means the >USSR i.e. Russia plus the now independent constituent republics? Yes. He actually uses USSR, which seemed kind ...

Document Size:	5196
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 12:05:17 PDT 1999

38676 Comparing Mao to Hitler -- rank: 1000

Brad De Long wrote: >How can anyone deny that Maoist thought is characterized by >mindless brainwashed utterances? You could say the same about a typical Bill Clinton speech or Anthony Lewis column. They're just *our* mindless brainwashed utterances, so we don't think twice about them. Other people's MBUs stand out for being unfamiliar. Doug

Document Size:	4750
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 11:49:20 PDT 1999

38677 Comparing Clinton regime to Hitler regime -- rank: 1000

Brad De Long wrote: >>Charles: In the larger historical picture the Russian Revolution of 1917 >>and following most rapid economic development in the history of industrial >>civilization... > >Ummm... > >No. > >Let's take the 1913-1973 period that ends just as Soviet economic growth >effectively ceases, and for which Angus Maddison has constructed reasonable >estimates of economic growth (although note that I consider his estimates >of growth in the S ...

Document Size:	6631
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 11:03:36 PDT 1999

38678 Blair & Schröder's other war -- rank: 1000

Times (London) - June 8, 1999 EUROPE Centre Left leaders want Europe to endorse their radical economic reforms, Philip Webster reports Blair and Schröder unite on hardline spending cuts LOWER taxes and stringent controls on public spending will be proposed by Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder today in a radical joint call for economic reform across Europe. In a report drawn up over several months by ministers and officials in the British and German Governments, the Prime Minister and German Chance ...

Document Size:	7362
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Jun 8 08:48:41 PDT 1999

38679 Downturn (?!) in Pharmaceutical Stocks -- rank: 1000

JayHecht at aol.com wrote: >The consistency of the drug companies suggests that they've got quite a lock >on future cash flows. Yeah, I thought Ted Byfield's skepticism about drug profits was overdone, and still do, but then I started wondering - how can any industrial sector so consistently earn a rate of profit so far above average? While it's hard to imagine Merck ending up like Bethlehem Steel, how can the continue to pull down these megabucks? Drug prices are substantially lower in Eu ...

Document Size:	5423
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 08:54:24 PDT 1999

38680 imprisonment -- rank: 1000

[Ok, thanks to a BJS statistician, some info on sentencing trends, with some more on its way by postal mail. Excerpts from a BJS report on "truth in sentencing" - text version, <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/tssp.txt>; Acrobat version, <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/tssp.pdf>.] As a result of truth-in-sentencing practices, the State prison population is expected to increase through the incarceration of more offenders for longer periods of time. One purpose o ...

Document Size:	10244
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 08:45:53 PDT 1999

38681 Fwd: FT: U.S., Japan blocking debt relief at G-7 -- rank: 1000

Financial Times - June 7, 1999 JAPAN AND US RESIST UK MOVES ON DEBT RELIEF By Robert Chote, Economics Editor The Group of Seven leading industrial countries is struggling to agree a new debt-relief package for poor countries, with Japan fiercely resisting any proposals for much greater generosity. The UK is at the forefront of those urging deeper and faster debt relief. British government officials said they were "quietly confident" of a successful outcome but the US - among others - b ...

Document Size:	7979
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 08:29:26 PDT 1999

38682 Russian grumbles -- rank: 1000

[from Johnson's Russia List] Heat on Russia envoy as Ivanov condemns NATO By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov expressed deep concern on Monday about NATO's handling of the Kosovo crisis, and pressure mounted on Balkan envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin to resign for being too soft. Ivanov criticised NATO on his arrival in Bonn for talks with seven major powers after hopes of a quick end to alliance air strikes on Yugoslavia faded with the breakdown of talks ...

Document Size:	11366
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 08:01:53 PDT 1999

38683 Comparing Mao to Hitler -- rank: 1000

Rob Schaap wrote: >The traffic on this list is formidable enough without importing shit-fights >from other lists. Accusations of 'liar' and 'racist' never serve a purpose >down the pub (other than to spill a little blood), and I can't see how >they're supposed to substantiate or enhance anything here, either. Couldn'a said it better myself. No shit fights please. Doug

Document Size:	4806
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 07:48:41 PDT 1999

38684 Comparing Mao to Hitler -- rank: 1000

I'm all for discussing Mao, but Henry, Max, everyone, please cease with the personal insults. Your Listmom, Doug

Document Size:	4483
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 07:46:05 PDT 1999

38685 Marx on Timon of Athens -- rank: 1000

[this bounced because it was posted from an unsub'd address] Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 22:58:18 +1000 Subject: Re: Marx on Timon of Athens From: Rob Schaap <carob at dynamite.com.au> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com CC: marxism-thaxis at buo319b.econ.utah.edu Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit G'day Chris, In *C1* Marx refers to Timon's speech, in which money is described as the 'common whore of mankind': "Just as ever ...

Document Size:	7423
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Jun 7 07:33:59 PDT 1999