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41641 The Nation - Selected Editorial -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick wrote: >I persist in believing that the chances of SS privatization happening >here are very low. The rapidly approaching (already here?) Ursa Major >stock market will put a swift stop to this little scheme. Maybe. We'll see. I'd never underestimate the power of the U.S. political machine to do it anyway. Especially if, consciously or not, funneling SS money into the stock market will make busted mutual fund investors whole again. The other day I met with a Japanese journal ...

Document Size:	6192
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 10 10:03:08 PDT 1998

41642 Black unemployment in July 21 Left Business Observer -- rank: 1000

Andrew Kliman wrote: >Doug: "Sure, in a nonracist world, workers as a whole would be >better off, but that's difficult to imagine and a long way off." > >Right. So isn't the foremost task to make it easier to imagine >and therefore not such a long way off? Yes, absolutely. One of the reasons I asked Heather to write up her work for LBO was because it forces a confrontation with some unpleasant truths, notably the fact that there are real material reasons why cross-raci ...

Document Size:	6055
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 10 09:03:47 PDT 1998

41643 UK pensions disaster -- rank: 1000

[Copyright? It crawled into my hand, officer, honest!] WALL STREET JOURNAL - August 10, 1998 Britain's Social Security Debacle May Send Warning Signals to U.S. By STEVE STECKLOW and SARA CALIAN Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LONDON -- Anyone suggesting Americans should get a say in how their Social Security contributions are invested might look at the British system. A little scrutiny might help avert a big disaster. Britain's pension industry is reeling from the financial fallout of ...

Document Size:	16432
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Aug 10 08:20:39 PDT 1998

41644 Black unemployment in July 21 Left Business Observer -- rank: 1000

Mathew Forstater wrote: >By the way, my approach (not really "my" but the approach of Botwinick, >Darity, Mason, Williams, et al, who people on this list don't seem to have >the time or willingness to take a look at) Well, some of us do. Patrick Mason, who besides doing excellent work is a heck of a nice guy, has a bunch of his papers at <http://www.nd.edu/~pmason/> >does start with production. Very >much so. (By the way, Botwinick has been very active in labor or ...

Document Size:	5538
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 16:55:57 PDT 1998

41645 Black unemployment in July 21 Left Business Observer -- rank: 1000

michael perelman wrote: >Let me begin by saying that I have not read the piece. Mail service to >California might be very slow -- Hey, where is it? I switched printers - to the same hole-in-the-wall outfit in Skokie that prints Counterpunch. He promised a 3-day turnaround. It took more than a week - and 8 days for copies to reach New York. Other LBO subscribers on the list, please let me know when #84 shows up so I can kvetch. I'll give this guy one more try before I go to some bigtime co ...

Document Size:	5259
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 16:13:35 PDT 1998

41646 Black unemployment in July 21 Left Business Observer -- rank: 1000

I've forwarded the comments on Heather's article to her, but apparently she's away and may not be able to answer for a while. As for the political point....well, it does seem that white workers gain relative to blacks thanks to racism. It may well be, in fact it probably is the fact, that racism has hindered the strength of the working class as a whole. So from that point of view, the "black & white, unite & fight" slogan makes sense. But that doesn't address the relative gains ...

Document Size:	5749
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 12:03:25 PDT 1998

41647 LRB on AS -- rank: 1000

Mathew Forstater wrote: >by the way, economists are generally much worse on all this than >physicists and >mathematicians; economists' "physics envy" (mirowski) and their insecurity >about >the 'scientific' soundness of their discipline leads to greater >defensiveness on >these matters, and a great reluctance to acknowledge the value of stuff that >sounds too 'mushy.' Ain't dat da troot. Michael Perelman offered some cites on the Santa Fe Institute - sorry I don ...

Document Size:	5691
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 11:26:19 PDT 1998

41648 more loose ends -- rank: 1000

pms wrote: >doug-can i get your program on net? we only have right wing radio in >atlanta except on community station. is it possible that snooze-lands >Brill's Content was funded because those good folks at Extra! are making >headway? Nope, sorry. Call WBAI's program director, Samori Marksman (212-209-2800) and make your feelings known! Doug

Document Size:	4695
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 11:19:46 PDT 1998

41649 clarity -- rank: 1000

Speaking of clarity, Brad, how about this passage from J. Bradford De Long and Lawrence H. Summers, "Equipment Investment and Economic Growth: How Strong Is the Nexus," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2 (1992), pp. 157-211? Though I don't have "training" in economics beyond the undergrad level, after years of reading this sort of thing the passage seems quite clear to me - and no doubt to you, as its lead author. But how many folks unexposed to the literature would find ...

Document Size:	6901
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 10:44:33 PDT 1998

41650 LRB on AS -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >The point would seem to be, not whether ghosts and witches existed, but >whether (provisionally assuming their existence, i.e. the authenticity >of "witchology," Shakespeare in his uses of witches and ghosts showed an >understanding of that "ology." I would argue (a) that he did in fact >show such a deep understanding, and (b) that had he not had such an >understanding his use of witches and ghosts would have been a defect in >his poetr ...

Document Size:	6605
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Aug 9 09:52:13 PDT 1998

41651 Bill and Warren yakking -- rank: 1000

[from a conversation between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Fortune, July 20, 1998, p. 62] CHARITY BEGINS WHEN I'M READY Bill and Warren explain why they'll give away 99% of their wealth . . . someday. As two of the world's most successful business people, what role do you see for yourselves in giving back to your communities? And how do you use your influence to get others to give back as well? BUFFETT: We both have a similar philosophy on that. I know in my own case that 99%-plus will go back ...

Document Size:	6243
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 8 19:35:29 PDT 1998

41652 overdetermination -- rank: 1000

Brad, does this pass mathematical muster? Doug ---- [from Laplanche & Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis] Over-Determination, Multiple Determination D.: Uberdeterminierung or mehrfache Determinierung.-Es.: superdeterminacion. Fr.: surdetermination or determination multiple.-l.: sovradeterminazione. P.: superdeterminagao or determinagao multipla. The fact that formations of the unconscious (symptoms, dreams, etc.) can be attributed to a plurality of determining factors. This can be unde ...

Document Size:	15951
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 8 16:13:46 PDT 1998

41653 LRB on AS -- rank: 1000

Brad De Long wrote: >I remember--coming from mathematics--being unable to make head or tail of >Louis Althusser because he used the mathematical term "overdetermination" >in what struck me as a nonsensical, incoherent, and inconsistent way that >had nothing to do with its *real* mathematical definition in meaning. > >Hence I put down _Reading Capital_ after 100 pages and never picked it or >anything else up again (except when one of my professors assigned an >ab ...

Document Size:	5697
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 8 15:33:08 PDT 1998

41654 Shooting the hippo (was greed, etc) -- rank: 1000

lk wrote: >I think that Linda McQuaig's argument was that if Canada's central bank >had settled for a 3-4% inflation rate in the early 1990's, rather than >striving for zero inflation, the economy would have been in a stronger >position.That the benefits of this zero inflation policy went to holders of >wealth, and the costs (higher interest rates, slower growth, increased >interest costs on the national debt, appreciation of the dollar, higher >unemployment leading to incre ...

Document Size:	5726
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 8 11:44:11 PDT 1998

41655 OWO day -- rank: 1000

[from another list...] > Here's an event this Saturday, tomorrow, that you can participate in, no > matter where you are and no matter what your sexual proclivity. -Wes > > OWO > One World Orgasm > (International Orgasm Day) > > When: August 8, 1998 (and on that date every year from now on... > this should be as big a celebration as Christmas, with as much > anticipation... start planning today!... eventually, if it falls on a > weekday, i ...

Document Size:	7082
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 8 11:04:06 PDT 1998