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6256 [lbo-talk] Liberal Austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 27, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Politicus E. wrote: > It should have been: "Your earlier response to Cox, earlier in this > thread, > suggested that you hold the Post-Keynesian-cum-Marxian view of > inflation, > for which class conflict is the basis." More or less, yes. Monetary policy has to enable an inflation to allow it to take hold, though.

Document Size:	4862
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Apr 27 09:13:24 PDT 2009

6257 [lbo-talk] Liberal Austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 27, 2009, at 11:37 AM, Politicus E. wrote: > I disagree. It is a slippery slope "Slippery slope" is often a lazy bullshit argument. > from the assertion "you can't keep > running deficits of 6-7% of GDP indefinitely" to the claim "the > stimulus > should be withdraw." An important foundation of the present > communications > strategy of the Republican party is precisely, of course, moving > from the > view that the federal governm ...

Document Size:	6172
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Apr 27 08:52:11 PDT 2009

6258 [lbo-talk] Liberal Austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 27, 2009, at 10:13 AM, Politicus E. wrote: > A reader less charitable than I might interpret your new remarks > about the > sustainability of the deficit as a revision of your earlier view, > which was > sound. Now, on the other hand, you might be construed as sounding > like > Mankiw on Ricardian equivalence. Um, no. It's one thing to say that stimulus shouldn't be withdrawn too quickly, and another to say you can't keep running deficits of 6-7% of GDP indefnitely ...

Document Size:	5198
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Apr 27 08:07:05 PDT 2009

6259 [lbo-talk] Fed: ideal interest rate would be -5% -- rank: 1000

Financial Times - April 27, 2009 <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/37877644-32c9-11de-8116-00144feabdc0.html> Fed study puts ideal US interest rate at -5% By Krishna Guha in Washington The ideal interest rate for the US economy in current conditions would be minus 5 per cent, according to internal analysis prepared for the Federal Reserve s last policy meeting. The analysis was based on a so-called Taylor-rule approach that estimates an appropriate interest rate based on unemployment and infl ...

Document Size:	8611
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Apr 27 03:39:20 PDT 2009

6260 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 27, 2009, at 4:35 AM, James Heartfield wrote: > SA writes: "I think this speaks for itself." - begging the question, > why are you replying, stating the obvious, and giving me another > opportunity to speculate what SA stands for: > > School: Austrian; > > Subtly Absent; > > Socially Awkward; > > Studied Autism; > > Self Aggrandizing ... I know "SA." A fine person, except on this Trosky issue. Doesn't deserve these word associati ...

Document Size:	5363
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Apr 27 03:21:46 PDT 2009

6261 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 26, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Eric Beck wrote: > What matters isn't whether > Trotsky was a jerk but what Stalin's gulags and executions--which were > just the political version of Lenin's and Trotsky's economic gulags, > forced collectivization and Taylorism in the factories--say about the > vicissitudes of maintaining a statist revolution. I await enlightenment on how one maintains a non-statist revolution. Your view of this as a "stupid" question pretty much convince ...

Document Size:	5331
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Apr 26 17:39:48 PDT 2009

6262 [lbo-talk] liberal austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 26, 2009, at 9:16 AM, Max B. Sawicky wrote: > We should also worry about Obama's Faustian bargain w/the > electorate, to wit, "I will not raise your taxes if > your income is under $250K." That's the killer, as far > as social-democracy is concerned. Good luck getting elected here in the USA.

Document Size:	4815
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Apr 26 06:51:52 PDT 2009

6263 [lbo-talk] Liberal austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 26, 2009, at 9:26 AM, James Heartfield wrote: > Doug Henwood wrote: '...the creditor class, whose power is now being > shored up by the Obama administration', which struck me as a good > description, though aren't they also the debtor class? yes, in the sense that they borrow to speculate and lend, but in the final analysis, they always pass on responsibility for the debt to someone else (e.g. Tim Geithner)

Document Size:	4951
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Apr 26 06:51:19 PDT 2009

6264 [lbo-talk] liberal austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 26, 2009, at 8:25 AM, Carrol Cox wrote: > How great/long a hyperinflation would it take to wipe out the debt & > start with a clean (!) slate? > > And what would happen when the inflation ended? A great hyperinflation would presuppose at least a partial weakening of the power of the creditor class, whose power is now being shored up by the Obama administration. (E.g.: bank insurance isn't only about keeping depositors whole - it's about keeping the holders of bank bond ...

Document Size:	5636
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Apr 26 06:06:50 PDT 2009

6265 [lbo-talk] liberal austerity -- rank: 1000

On Apr 26, 2009, at 1:17 AM, Max B. Sawicky wrote: > That said, Montgomery is a deficit hysteric. In one > sense, you can hardly blame her. She is just echoing > what a lot of uninformed economists say. Max, have you ever met a deficit you don't like? Surely the sort we're seeing this year and next isn't sustainable. Should we worry about paying it down, or just forget about it? Doug

Document Size:	4868
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Apr 26 04:38:03 PDT 2009

6266 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 25, 2009, at 8:43 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: >> what is the anarchist/autonomist plan for keeping the >> electricity running? > > Microgeneration! > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microgeneration Uh-oh: "Necessitates mass production of generators..."

Document Size:	5110
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Apr 25 18:05:21 PDT 2009

6267 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 25, 2009, at 7:16 PM, Eric Beck wrote: >> I've >> never gotten anything resembling an answer. > > One'd think that eventually you'd get the hint that it's a stupid > question. Let's see what you consider stupid questions. One, what is the anarchist/autonomist plan for keeping the electricity running? How would you organize such a large-scale enterprise? Or would you junk it for home-made candles? And two, how would you defend a revolutionary regime against the hos ...

Document Size:	5404
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Apr 25 17:39:04 PDT 2009

6268 [lbo-talk] new radio product -- rank: 1000

BEHIND THE NEWS with Doug Henwood "Best Music on an Economics & Politics Radio Show" Village Voice Best of NYC 2005 podcast: <http://shout.lbo-talk.org/lbo/radio-feed.php> iTunes: <http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=73801817 > or <http://tinyurl.com/3bsaqb> opening commentaries now at: <http://doughenwood.wordpress.com/> Facebook group: <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53240558375>. ---------------------------------- ...

Document Size:	8757
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Apr 25 15:45:34 PDT 2009

6269 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 25, 2009, at 6:29 PM, Michael Smith wrote: > I don't but I can say confidently that it's horribly bad verse. > Somebody needed to read their Dryden. Never could read Dryden, myself. Pope, yes, but Dryden's like getting teeth drilled.

Document Size:	4967
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Apr 25 15:37:21 PDT 2009

6270 [lbo-talk] Robert Frost Defends Robespierre, Lenin, Mao -- rank: 1000

On Apr 25, 2009, at 5:23 PM, Marv Gandall wrote: >> So maybe this has something to do with taking power, rather than >> their >> innate "jerkiness"? > =============================== > Taking power, moreover, in extreme conditions of civil war and foreign > intervention. There is nothing particularly unique about the measures > adopted by the new Soviet republic to distinguish it from other > revolutionary states which inevitably became locked in despe ...

Document Size:	5868
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Apr 25 14:48:45 PDT 2009