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5701 [lbo-talk] Chris Hedges comes out as socialist -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 10:34 PM, Dennis Perrin wrote: >> Samuel L. Konkin III. > > That's Samuel E. Konkin III, who was involved with Anarchovillage, a > libertarian/gold standard collective in California. Yup, I remember him. We corresponded for a while. He's gone on to that laissez-faire playground in the sky, no?

Document Size:	4968
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 20:04:15 PST 2009

5702 [lbo-talk] credit crunch -- rank: 1000

By the way, I'm guessing that most people who are arguing that there is no credit crunch are doing so to argue that there's no need for a bailout. But there has been a bailout. My guess is that as tight as things are, they would have been a lot worse if it weren't for the aggressiveness of the Fed and, belatedly, the Treasury (though the Treasury could be doing a lot better). Doug

Document Size:	4775
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 19:15:21 PST 2009

5703 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 9:35 PM, Patrick Bond wrote: > Dean's point of view: > > Dean Baker wrote: >> the relevant index from the MBA is the purchase index, and this has >> gone nowhere. demand for loans falls in recessions. >> It does. Of course. But it's nearly impossible to get a mortgage today if you don't have a credit score over 700. Here's what Dismal.com has to say about the MBA index: "Despite the increases in the purchase index in the previous weeks, there ...

Document Size:	10093
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 19:10:17 PST 2009

5704 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 9:27 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > The Financial crisis has also been associated with three > widely held claims about the nature of the crisis and the > associated spillovers to the rest of the economy. The financial > press and policymakers have made the following three claims > about the nature of the crisis. > > 1. Bank lending to non-financial corporations and individuals > has declined sharply. > 2. Interbank lending is essentially nonex ...

Document Size:	6894
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 18:46:35 PST 2009

5705 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 2:30 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > it is probably best to > always say NO until everything points in the opposite directio By the way, who's the enemy? The mainstream Dems and Reps, who support the bailout, or the Republican right that opposes it? Doug

Document Size:	4761
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 18:23:36 PST 2009

5706 [lbo-talk] Chris Hedges comes out as socialist -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 12:41 PM, Matthias Wasser wrote: > I wonder what the crossover rate is between socialists and > libertarians Not sure how high it would be. Socialists are more likely to become liberals or neocons that outright libertarians. Or that's my guess. There are very few people on the left who really understand how the right thinks at all, or even takes the right seriously as thinkers. Of course, all we have to do, as Cde Cox tells us, is just reverse all the signs on right ...

Document Size:	5142
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 18:22:17 PST 2009

5707 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 2:16 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > Nice to have that cleared up. Now -- what to do with all that pesky > evidence? > > [E.g.,] the media, [Dean Baker] argues, "are blaming the economic > collapse on a 'credit crunch' instead of the more obvious problem > that consumers just lost $6 trillion of housing wealth and another > $8 trillion of stock wealth" ... He points out that even though > mortgage rates have plummeted, the number of applicati ...

Document Size:	6564
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 18:15:08 PST 2009

5708 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 2:30 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > One of Mao's statements seemed awfully wrong to me when I first came > across it; something like "Support everything the enemy opposes; > oppose > everything the enemy favors. Man, that's stupid. But Maoism is stupid. And look where it ended up - in a spectacular instance of a new kind of capitalism. Maybe a little more critical thinking would have helped. Doug

Document Size:	4944
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 12:13:35 PST 2009

5709 [lbo-talk] Credit crunch a myth? -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 12:15 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > Was the 'Credit Crunch' a Myth Used to Sell a Trillion-Dollar Scam? No. Kneejerk skepticism is as bad a flaw as reflexive credulity.

Document Size:	4663
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 10:53:44 PST 2009

5710 [lbo-talk] Chris Hedges comes out as socialist -- rank: 1000

On Jan 1, 2009, at 11:24 AM, Matthias Wasser wrote: > I asked him to define his terms, and he said > that socialism is "the redistribution of wealth." "By that > definition," says I, "every society to ever exist has been socialist!" Takes me back to my libertarian days - we really believed that in the Party of the Right. Everyone was too much of a pussy for true liberty. I was telling Liza last night, as we were watching Gossip Girl on the DVR and waiting ...

Document Size:	5293
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Jan 1 08:46:21 PST 2009

5711 [lbo-talk] The SMB in a socialist economy? -- rank: 1000

On Feb 28, 2009, at 9:57 PM, Alan Rudy wrote: > Let's turn it again... aren't the following among the primary > driving forces > behind the need for ever-greater computer speed and capacity 1) the > staggeringly bloated size of the dominant operating system, 2) the > ridiculously fractured niches of proprietary software, 3) the > hegemony of > the freestanding (rather than cooperatively networked) home/laptop > computer > and 4) our society's capital-driven incapacity ...

Document Size:	5678
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 28 20:11:23 PST 2009

5712 [lbo-talk] The SMB in a socialist economy? -- rank: 1000

On Feb 28, 2009, at 3:49 AM, Lew wrote: > In Marxist thought the defining feature of capitalism is the > generalized exchange of the commodity *labour power* (working > ability) for a wage or salary. At no point in the Soviet Union's > history was that less than the dominant form of economic activity. How often did workers get fired, or face chronic unemployment and ruin? Doug

Document Size:	5021
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 28 11:30:36 PST 2009

5713 [lbo-talk] The Canadian banking model -- rank: 1000

On Feb 28, 2009, at 7:20 AM, Michael Pollak wrote: > [Can our Canadian friends elaborate on the idea that Canadian banks > are "all broadly owned by public shareholders." Is that in any way > different from the normal meaning of being a publicly owned company > -- i.e., being entirely owned privately?] > > [Rhetorically it's a nifty move to say that adopting the Canadian > model would mean going back to Hamilton's original vision.] > > http://www.nytimes.com ...

Document Size:	5457
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Feb 28 11:24:23 PST 2009

5714 [lbo-talk] revolting load of crap from our Pres -- rank: 1000

[via Lou Proyect's Marxmail] <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-President-Barack-Obama-Responsibly-Ending-the-War-in-Iraq/ > Now, before I go any further, I want to take a moment to speak directly to the people of Iraq. You are a great nation, rooted in the cradle of civilization. You are joined together by enduring accomplishments, and a history that connects you as surely as the two rivers carved into your land. In years past, you have persevered through tyranny a ...

Document Size:	5928
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 27 18:25:35 PST 2009

5715 [lbo-talk] happiness in place -- rank: 1000

On Feb 27, 2009, at 4:54 PM, martin wrote: > Got me there!.<g> But what conclusion are you drawing from the data? Several. One is that pressures of abstinence lead to early marriages, many of which are unfortunate. Two is that Trad Vals America doesn't really walk the talk. And three, Trad Vals are heavily about aspiration rather than reality.

Document Size:	4814
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 27 14:09:27 PST 2009