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39991 Stupid Windows/Word Problem -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >Doug, there is a difference between upgrade and planned obsolescennce - >especially from a Marxist point of view. Upgrade is an increase in the >use-value, whereas planned obsolescence is an increase in the exchange >value (thus the profit marging) of a product. Oh come on now. Yeah, the computer industry is full of greedy bastards, and lots of innovation is just crap, but it's not as bad as you're saying. Mac OS 8.6 was an improvement over 8.5.1, which was ...

Document Size:	5537
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Aug 3 08:18:01 PDT 1999

39992 Fwd: Thorstein Veblen in SF Weekly -- rank: 1000

[Frances Bolton, temporarily unsub'd while she makes her way from Florida to the Garden State, writes...] From: "frances bolton" <fbolton at chuma.cas.usf.edu> Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 07:35:53 -0500 I was going to post this to LBO but then realized I'd unsubbed. Kind of simplistic, but articles about Veblen always seen to possess the virtue of fun-to-readness. http://www.sfweekly.com/1999/current/feature1-1.html Frances

Document Size:	4995
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Aug 3 07:37:30 PDT 1999

39993 Krugman: A dollar crisis? -- rank: 1000

Rakesh Bhandari wrote: >There seems to me good reason to think Japan will not reptariate that much >capital in the near future;plus, I don't think Big Boy Wonder Larry Sumners >is joking about the US commitment to maintaining a strong dollar (what's >the meaning of these pronouncements--Brad?). Most importantly, too much >should be made about the size of the current accounts deficit in >predictions of US dollar movements--Krugman just ignores the counter >evidence. Imbalanc ...

Document Size:	5646
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Aug 3 07:28:47 PDT 1999

39994 CPUSA on JFK2 -- rank: 1000

God, the CPUSA's adoration of Democrats knows no bounds. The July 31 issue of People's Weekly World has a memorial to John-John by Jarvis Tyner. Some choice excerpts: "The entire nation is truly in a state of mourning.... [W]hat is politically m ost important is that this tragedy has also brought forward the liberal legacy of the Kennedy family and the fact that John Jr in his own way [!] was a continuation of that legacy.... While he was born into great wealth, JFK Jr is perceived [!] by m ...

Document Size:	5322
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Aug 3 07:25:16 PDT 1999

39995 Stupid Windows/Word Problem -- rank: 1000

Max B. Sawicky wrote: >Second option is pay $20 and get Windows 98 >"Second Edition" (don't you love it). Translation: >Windows 98 with lots of stuff fixed. Win 98 has >always been intrinsically screwed up, IMO. Swallow >your pride and buy the bug fix, excuse me, "upgrade." Eh? Apple comes out with a Mac OS revision a couple of times a year - 8.5 and 8.6 over the last year, if I remember things right. Does MSFT just upgrade Windows every now & then? Doug

Document Size:	4968
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 20:12:26 PDT 1999

39996 investors more optimistic -- rank: 1000

[from Gallup's weekly update] BUSINESS & THE ECONOMY Index of Investor Optimism Moves Sharply Higher in July At highest level since February Investor optimism rebounded sharply in July, soaring to its highest level since February of this year, and is at its second-highest level ever. According to the latest survey of about 1,000 investors across the country, conducted by Gallup for PaineWebber, the overall Index now stands at 171, up from 131 last month. The Index was standardized at 100 whe ...

Document Size:	5340
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 15:57:23 PDT 1999

39997 Fwd: fodder for anti-guiliani site -- rank: 1000

Reclaim the Streets NYC - http://reclaimthestreetsnyc.tao.ca correction: I've corrected the email address below (admin at rtmark.com) +++ The folks at RTmark (who brought us the famous http://www.gwbush.com site which gets millions of hits to george jr's official site's thousands of hits) have launched http://www.rgiuliani.com/ a satirical site dedicated to exposing Rudy's evil side (is there another side?) They would like to expose Rudy's abismal behaviour around the garden issue and are asking ...

Document Size:	6397
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 15:27:43 PDT 1999

39998 social planning (was 'revolution and proletariat') -- rank: 1000

Max Sawicky wrote: >Fabian Society meeting Thurs. night Hayek is withering on the nationalism of socialists, including the Fabian sort. He's got a point here, if he's representing Webb & Shaw accurately. Doug ---- from Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, pp. 142-143 The definitely antagonistic attitude which most planners take toward internationalism is further explained by the fact that in the existing world all outside contacts of a group are obstacles to their effectively planning the sphere i ...

Document Size:	7211
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 13:31:53 PDT 1999

39999 Anti-imperialist Times -- rank: 1000

Jim heartfield wrote: >Dr David Chandler, author of Bosnia: Faking Democracy after Dayton, even >suggests that "autonomy for Kosovo under the UN and Nato is increasingly >looking no more democratic than life under the old Yugoslav regime". But "we" mean well! We're the best sort of imperialists, selfless uplifting ones. Doug

Document Size:	4751
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 13:19:49 PDT 1999

40000 transcending pessimism -- rank: 1000

Leo Panitch just sent me a piece that he and Sam Gindin wrote for the forthcoming Socialist Register on what is to be done issues - transcending pessimism about socialism, building the capacities of the working class, proper reforms to agitate for, etc. Lots drawn from Bloch and Gorz. Interesting stuff, and relevant to the questions we're torturing James Heartfield over. Anyone who wants, I'll email a copy (Word 97/98 or WordPerfect format, name your preference). Doug

Document Size:	4852
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 13:04:14 PDT 1999

40001 What Could Be Scarier? -- rank: 1000

CounterPunch wrote: >kirsten asks: > > >[and a major argument against "socialized" medicine is quality of care? > >what could be scarier than this example of free market medicine?] > >How about this... > >Today's Lesson From The Wave Principle of Human Social Behavior > >by Robert L. Prechter Ah yes, Robert Prechter, of Gainesville, Ga., the "broiler capital of the world." He got famous in the 1980s using the Elliott Wave technique, a disci ...

Document Size:	5937
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 11:39:13 PDT 1999

40002 Krugman: A dollar crisis? -- rank: 1000

Rakesh Bhandari wrote: >I really don't have any feel for the debate to which Krugman makes another >lucid contribution. You've got to hand it to Krugman, he's real good at this. > Yet some questions come to mind: > > > Still, massive current account imbalances mean > > that the surplus countries are holding an ever growing share of their > > wealth in the deficit countries, a process that cannot go on forever; > > But the Japanese are in no position to f ...

Document Size:	6143
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 09:58:19 PDT 1999

40003 Labour Party and the Unions -- rank: 1000

Jim heartfield wrote: >Max and Seth both ask what I'm for. > >Socialisation of the means of production - what G Lukacs called >'societal self-determination'. > >The problem with the Labour Party was that its programme was against >socialisation, for nationalisation. Since it's been tried in practice we >know that that is no academic distinction. Nationalised industries >exploited, abused and finally dismissed their employees just as readily >as private ones. In fact ...

Document Size:	5666
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 09:40:16 PDT 1999

40004 social planning (was 'revolution and proletariat') -- rank: 1000

Chris Burford wrote: >So I am arguing that greater conscious social control can be brought into >the system by a number of technical reforms. I agree that it's not very productive to talk about planning in the Hayekian style; that kind of comprehensive planning - which is the only kind Hayek wants to talk about in The Road to Serfdom, for him it's maximal planning or almost none at all - just isn't relevant for an OECD economy today. So I guess that makes me some kind of wimpy reformist. B ...

Document Size:	5585
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 09:34:57 PDT 1999

40005 Fwd: Brit general disobeyed supreme command order in Kosovo -- rank: 1000

[from mai-not, I think] Jackson Overruled Nato Commander 'To Avoid World War Three' >From the Press Association Monday August 2, 1999 4:57 am Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Jackson overruled Nato supreme commander General Wesley Clark as allied troops poured into Kosovo because he feared triggering a global conflict, it has emerged. Britain's most senior soldier refused to send an air assault team into Pristina airport to block Russian forces who unexpectedly seized it when the Nato bombardm ...

Document Size:	6140
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 2 09:36:27 PDT 1999