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6526 [lbo-talk] Battle in Seattle -- rank: 1000

On Sep 24, 2008, at 11:24 PM, Joseph Catron wrote: > http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com > > Did you see it? What did you think? > > (I just left the theater, loved it, but can't yet explain why.) Did anyone chant my favorite slogan from that enchanting week? "Capitalism? No thanks! We will burn your fucking banks!" Who could have imagined, almost 10 years ago, that bankers would light the fire themselves? Doug

Document Size:	5018
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Sep 25 07:27:28 PDT 2008

6527 [lbo-talk] Debtors' leverage: China's fear of a US default -- rank: 1000

On Sep 25, 2008, at 10:08 AM, shag wrote: > so, is this sort of thing a "so much for the decoupling thesis"? when > china worries about the fate of the u.s. economy b/c it might hurt > them, > it doesn't seem like china's economy is decoupled from the u.s. > > or was china not one of the countries on the radar? It sure was. Me & Julio, last January <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20080128/001956.html > > Doug wrote: > > & ...

Document Size:	5609
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Sep 25 07:20:07 PDT 2008

6528 [lbo-talk] Goldbugs -- rank: 1000

On Sep 25, 2008, at 5:30 AM, Chris Doss wrote: > Can somebody explain to me how this theory/ideology works? I know > the idea is that currency should be tied to something physical and > tangible -- but why? And why gold of all things? It's partly superstition, partly real. Gold is dense and easily refined. It lasts forever. It can be divided and/or combined. Those make it a flexible, relatively compact, and highly durable form of money. Its supply grows very slowly, unlike paper mone ...

Document Size:	5654
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Sep 25 06:59:40 PDT 2008

6529 [lbo-talk] McCain hasn't "had a chance" to read bailout proposal -- rank: 1000

[via Mike Allen] SENATOR MCCAIN SAID TUESDAY THAT HE HADN'T READ THE BAILOUT PROPOSAL, according to Cleveland NBC station WKYC: 'In an exclusive interview he told Tom Beres, 'I have not had a chance to see it in writing. I have to examine it.'

Document Size:	5030
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Sep 25 06:47:42 PDT 2008

6530 [lbo-talk] Dodd Bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 24, 2008, at 9:30 PM, martin schiller wrote: > But a house can eliminate the 'need' for production. Yeah, if I've got a house, why would I need food, clothing, transportation, the web, or sex toys? Doug

Document Size:	4595
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 20:06:27 PDT 2008

6531 [lbo-talk] Dodd Bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 24, 2008, at 8:39 PM, Jenny Brown wrote: > Apparently one can do worse to encourage ownership fetishism: > > "Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), spoke out against a > bailout, calling the current proposal "cash for trash," and > proposing a distribution of the assets back to the taxpayers. > "Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, > tomorrow I will offer legislation to create a United States Mutual > Trust Fund ...

Document Size:	5337
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 18:06:15 PDT 2008

6532 [lbo-talk] We've Crossed the Line from Capitalism to Socialism -- rank: 1000

On Sep 24, 2008, at 4:41 PM, boddi satva wrote: > I actually do think thatall this is a logical step towards > socialism, but to > say "we have crossed the line" is silly. What? Like the bailouts of Chrysler, the S&Ls, and "Mexico"? (The quotes are around Mexico because its creditors are the ones who got the bailout. And like the Chrysler intervention, the Treasury made money on the deal.) Doug

Document Size:	5247
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 13:49:12 PDT 2008

6533 [lbo-talk] Dodd bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 11:06 PM, Julio Huato wrote: > The principle is what matters to me. The idea of helping regular > people deal with their problems and having the good effects of that > trickle up, if at all, rather than the other way around. Since your plan has little chance of adoption under the present political circs, let's talk utopias for a moment. Your scheme would help out debtors, but not really change the institutional structure or the preposterous fetishization of homeo ...

Document Size:	5668
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 09:06:36 PDT 2008

6534 [lbo-talk] Dodd bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 24, 2008, at 10:42 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > Also, why wouldn't "banks" ( in the generic sense) just keep taking > wild risks in the future, if they know that the bigger the risk they > take, the more likely that it turns into its opposite, a zero risk Exactly. Which is why you can't bail out these fuckers without re- regulating them.

Document Size:	4763
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 08:22:36 PDT 2008

6535 [lbo-talk] Dodd bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 11:31 PM, Julio Huato wrote: > By the way, to see additional reasons why it wouldn't be too bad if > the financial firms struggled a little for a while, take a look at the > charts used by Hyun Shin in his introduction of the panel discussion > at Princeton today: > > http://econ.princeton.edu/news/Crisis%20on%20Wall%20Street.pdf Not sure I get the point of this. They have a lot of assets? But they've got a lot of liabilities too, and their assets are sever ...

Document Size:	5260
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 08:21:55 PDT 2008

6536 [lbo-talk] ABC polls: on the bailout, wording matters; Obama strongly in lead as Palin bounce fades -- rank: 1000

[Folks who said that McCain's propensity to lie won't matter - well, it seems to. For now.] <http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2008/09/views-on-the-ba.html> The Numbers A Run at the Latest Data from ABC's Poobah of Polling, Gary Langer September 24, 2008 8:47 AM Three new poll questions on the government s response to the financial crisis underscore the power of words not only in how we understand polls, but in how we choose to describe the events of our day. Some analysts might sa ...

Document Size:	19716
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Sep 24 08:17:06 PDT 2008

6537 [lbo-talk] Humor: REQUEST FOR URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESSRELATIONSHIP -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 10:47 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > The post I wrote on this the other day probably won't hold water, > but I > think it's a suggestion worth explorig: the DP runs as a governing > party, and can win only when that 'works.' The RP is allowed, then, to > be merely a set of eletoral gimmicks. Each practice wins about half > the > time. By your own admission, you never listen to speeches by mainstream politicians and haven't followed a campaign in decades. I don' ...

Document Size:	5488
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Sep 23 20:26:23 PDT 2008

6538 [lbo-talk] Dodd bill -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 7:14 PM, boddi satva wrote: > Some kind of payment insurance program - like the thing Julio > Huatao is > proposing - is far-superior and far-cheaper. So who gets support? People who are delinquent or in foreclosure? Why would anyone keep paying a mortgage then? Besides, given delinquency rates for the whole, not just subprime, mortgage market, Julio's plan would cost about as much as the proposed one. Doug

Document Size:	4855
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Sep 23 18:14:35 PDT 2008

6539 [lbo-talk] Pew: public supports bailout 2-1 -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 7:43 PM, Bill O'Connor wrote: > Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> writes: > >> <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/963/wall-street-bailout-approval> >> > I just this moment saw a Rasmussen poll saying the public was 44% > against and 25% for the bailout. > > http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/opposition_to_bailout_plan_grows_but_still_expected_to_pass Rasmussen question: "Do you favor or oppose t ...

Document Size:	5919
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Sep 23 18:11:55 PDT 2008

6540 [lbo-talk] Humor: REQUEST FOR URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP -- rank: 1000

On Sep 23, 2008, at 6:21 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > his makes me sad. It is a way of avoiding reality -- the Democrats > donn't cave in; they jubilannntly support legislation they believe > in as > much as the Republicans. True, yes, but why don't the Dems show more partisan desire to win? Why do they let the Reps pummel them with horseshit over & over? I don't mean that in a principled way - I mean that in a purely competitive electoral way. Doug

Document Size:	5384
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Sep 23 16:13:44 PDT 2008