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5776 [lbo-talk] scumbag Botstein responds -- rank: 1000

Thank you for writing. Professor Kovel was not fired, and most certainly not for any political views he may or may not hold. After fifteen years of serving as the full-time occupant of a non-tenured endowed chair, he voluntarily assumed part-time status in 2004. At that time he received a five-year contract, with the understanding that after those five years the college reserved the right to renew his position on a year-to-year basis. He knew it was possible that his position might not be ...

Document Size:	7931
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:43:12 PST 2009

5777 [lbo-talk] Fitch and Brenner -- rank: 1000

On Feb 23, 2009, at 5:05 AM, SA wrote: > Shane Mage wrote: > >> But that's all in the non-productive sector, nop? > > No, I find janitors to be quite productive typicall By the way, there's more than one definition of productive. There's the classical/colloquial one, the manufacture of tangible materials, the sort you can drop on your foot. And there's the one that Marx offered - anything that makes a profit for a capitalist. A public school teacher is unproductive, while a ...

Document Size:	5052
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:42:14 PST 2009

5778 [lbo-talk] Fitch and Brenner -- rank: 1000

On Feb 22, 2009, at 10:31 PM, Shane Mage wrote: > But that's all in the non-productive sector, nop? I'm really not convinced that the productive/nonproductive distinction has any more than a theological basis; selling goods is as important as making them. But that aside, Wal-Mart transformed the productive sector - never has a retailer intervened so extensively to change the practices of suppliers. Competition for Wal-Mart shelf space drove manufacturers to extreme cost-cutting, and WMT' ...

Document Size:	5180
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:40:21 PST 2009

5779 [lbo-talk] guess 40% doesn't count as nationalization -- rank: 1000

On Feb 23, 2009, at 8:43 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > Yesterday, somebody told me that > the chair of Bank of America had > been indicted for misuse of TARP > funds ? No. He's been subpoenaed by Andrew Cuomo.

Document Size:	5037
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:35:59 PST 2009

5780 [lbo-talk] Free marketeer "govt regulations caused meltdown" book makes NYT bestseller list -- rank: 1000

On Feb 23, 2009, at 9:42 AM, Fernando Cassia wrote: > My point is that these writers probably just lend their name, and they > have a team of 15/20 people from one of those think tanks doing the > heavy lifting behind the scenes Bill Gates came out with a futurism book back in the 1990s - the road something something. It had something like 13 ghostwriters - one for each chapter, and then an uber-ghost to make sure the parts cohered. Doug

Document Size:	5608
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:29:15 PST 2009

5781 [lbo-talk] Soros, Volcker, Depression, Nationalization -- rank: 1000

On Feb 23, 2009, at 1:10 AM, Miles Jackson wrote: > On the contrary: we have all kinds of successful socialist economic > production, even if we limit ourselves to the U. S. Why people > think in terms to philosophical abstractions here rather than > actual, concrete examples such as public libraries and public roads > is a mystery to me. These are fine examples, but they're also services that are not well- provided for by private entities. You've got a steeper hill to climb whe ...

Document Size:	5287
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Feb 23 08:27:54 PST 2009

5782 [lbo-talk] guess 40% doesn't count as nationalization -- rank: 1000

Wall Street Journal - February 23, 2009 U.S. Eyes Large Stake in Citi Taxpayers Could Own Up to 40% of Bank's Common Stock, Diluting Value of Shares By DAVID ENRICH and MONICA LANGLEY Citigroup Inc. is in talks with federal officials that could result in the U.S. government substantially expanding its ownership of the struggling bank, according to people familiar with the situation. While the discussions could fall apart, the government could wind up holding as much as 40% of Citigroup's com ...

Document Size:	13257
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 22 18:44:12 PST 2009

5783 [lbo-talk] Fitch and Brenner -- rank: 1000

On Feb 22, 2009, at 11:35 AM, Michael Perelman wrote: > Productivity can be misleading. If low productivity producers drop > out, > that increases productivity without any improvement in existing > operations. > Also, productivity can increase by outsourcing some work -- say > janitors in > a factory. These outsourced workers can be pushed harder than > unionized > workers. So? Sucks for the workers, but that's capitalism, isn't it? Wal-Mart revolutionized retail by ...

Document Size:	5130
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 22 18:28:41 PST 2009

5784 [lbo-talk] English on SEIU: avoid the disgruntled, recruit the shiny, happy ones -- rank: 1000

[Since he's no longer with us, I suppose I can forward this now.] From: Andrew English <aenglish1958 at yahoo.com> Date: May 12, 2008 6:40:28 PM EDT To: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> Subject: Re: life in SEIU Reply-To: aenglish1958 at yahoo.com I read the LBO-talk list archives and I am amused by the contortions of the SEIU apologists. While I worked for SEIU, I never saw a more hypocritical, arrogant, cynical bunch. You should hear how they really talk behind closed doors. ...

Document Size:	18801
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 22 18:22:17 PST 2009

5785 [lbo-talk] Andy English -- rank: 1000

[A lot of the bad stuff about SEIU I've posted here in recent months was sent to me by Andy English, a former SEIU person who came to dislike the union intensely. Sadly, he's just died.] A message from Gregory King, Associate Director of Public Affairs We have received very sad news about our friend and brother, Andy English, who has been handling the public affairs responsibilities for AFSCME Iowa Council 61. Andy was in a serious car accident earlier this month while travelling through a ...

Document Size:	6370
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 22 18:16:50 PST 2009

5786 [lbo-talk] Fear of nationalization sets in -- rank: 1000

On Feb 21, 2009, at 11:28 AM, Eric Beck wrote: > I took Eubulides to be ironic, but given that the whole point of this > list over the last few weeks and months has been to give advice to > capital and to pray for it to reconstitute itself on some more humane, > socialistic level, I don't know what to think anymore. People on > lbo-talk may scoff at the conservative idea that nationalization = > socialism, but as far as I can tell that's exactly the politics that > dominate ...

Document Size:	5739
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Feb 22 17:56:23 PST 2009

5787 [lbo-talk] Fitch and Brenner -- rank: 1000

On Feb 20, 2009, at 3:07 PM, Yann Morvan wrote: > According to Matthew Nichter, Gerard Dumenil (mentioned earlier) > doesn't > agree with you: > > 'One of the authors most provocative findings regarding > "financialization" is that the expansion of financial activity has > retarded capital accumulation (the growth rate of the fixed > capital stock). In both the U.S. and Europe, non-financial > corporations > investment in plant and equipment conti ...

Document Size:	7852
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 20 13:12:12 PST 2009

5788 [lbo-talk] what's it mean when men serve women? -- rank: 1000

<http://www.nodo50.org/Laura_Agustin/host-bars-and-gender-equality-men-who-serve-women > Host bars and Gender Equality: Men who serve women 20 February 2009 by laura agustin | 1 comment | print Because the prostitution controversy is about women who sell sex to men, most of male sex work passes unnoticed. And people who do talk about it often slip into the assumption that it s a phenomenon happening between men, whether you call them gay or MSM. Consider host bars, which welcome fema ...

Document Size:	8194
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 20 12:47:31 PST 2009

5789 [lbo-talk] Russia tanking -- rank: 1000

On Feb 20, 2009, at 2:03 PM, Michael Pollak wrote: > Which leads us to the last thing, which I hadn't really realized > before the (remarkable) Dodd amendment: all these TARP bank > agreements are unilaterally and retroactively amendable by the > government. The Congress can change the rules any way they want and > it will apply That works both ways: Dodd said a few hours ago that Geithner has considerable leeway in enforcing the pay caps. > Dodd Says Geithner Has Leeway in A ...

Document Size:	5855
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 20 11:24:16 PST 2009

5790 [lbo-talk] GM's market cap now <$1b -- rank: 1000

BULLETIN: GM's market capitalization dips below $1 billion 2/20/2009 1:11:28 PM EDT Visit http://marketwatch.com/r.asp?g=24206B54944746E597CBB6046496C95A&d=bnbt for updates to this story and more [That makes it worth a little less than twice as much as Celestial Seasonings.]

Document Size:	4888
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Feb 20 10:27:45 PST 2009