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8761 [lbo-talk] Summers on The Plan -- rank: 1000

[it must be admitted that this is not half bad] Washington Post - December 28, 2008 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601299.html > Obama's Down Payment A Stimulus Must Aim for Long-Term Results By Lawrence Summers When President-elect Barack Obama takes office, he will face what may well be the bleakest economic outlook since World War II. Economic forecasts have been revised significantly downward over the past several months; today, many expert ...

Document Size:	9861
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 29 10:23:01 PST 2008

8762 [lbo-talk] The Liberal Morality: Shutm on Atrocities -- rank: 1000

On Dec 29, 2008, at 1:07 PM, Dennis Perrin wrote: >> But don't be disappointed that you can't desalinate the ocean by >> merely spitting into it. > > I'm dense. Please explain. You're not keeping up with your Cox Thought: > Matthias Wasser wrote: >> >>> >>> The largest anti-war demonstrations in world history occurred in >>> 2003. >>> >> >> That's actually evidence that resistance is ineffective, isn't it? > > Actua ...

Document Size:	5851
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 29 10:12:32 PST 2008

8763 [lbo-talk] The Liberal Morality: Shutm on Atrocities -- rank: 1000

On Dec 29, 2008, at 12:50 PM, Dennis Perrin wrote: > My local peace group is spending the next few days playing "poker > for peace" at a nearby bowling alley. No word in their fundraising > appeal about Gaza. I've emailed them to ask why, but have yet to > receive an answer. > > When I was active with this group, to the degree one could be, I was > amazed at the utter lack of political sophistication and ignorance > of geopolitical realities. They were, like, in ...

Document Size:	5604
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 29 10:01:17 PST 2008

8764 [lbo-talk] The Liberal Morality: Shtum on Atrocities -- rank: 1000

On Dec 29, 2008, at 12:13 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda > system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are > helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions > and to consume. > > If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will > be no hope. If, however, you assume that there is an instinct for > freedom and opportunities to change things, there is a chanc ...

Document Size:	5445
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 29 09:20:21 PST 2008

8765 [lbo-talk] The Liberal Morality: Shutm on Atrocities -- rank: 1000

On Dec 28, 2008, at 11:28 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > So it's up to us to see that our government makes the call... Are you serious? Who are "us," and what leverage do "we" have over the deep structure of the imperial state? Doug

Document Size:	4882
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 29 08:43:42 PST 2008

8766 [lbo-talk] The Liberal Morality: Shutm on Atrocities -- rank: 1000

On Dec 28, 2008, at 10:22 PM, Peter Ward wrote: > In fact, here's the empirical evidence of the nature our morality: a > community pummeled inhabitants blown to bits in front of our faces > and we do nothing. What do you propose to do? Doug

Document Size:	4964
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Dec 28 19:48:06 PST 2008

8767 [lbo-talk] The loan that ate Pacifica -- rank: 1000

[This is some deep inside baseball stuff re: Pacifica. Skip if you don't care. The network is in very deep financial trouble, and WBAI is the unit most deeply in trouble. There have long been rumors that the network would like to sell WBAI's license, which could fetch scores of millions, and do god knows what with the proceeds. I don't really know who would have control over the money, but giving the existing governance structure that much money to play with is a frightening idea. Steve B ...

Document Size:	11999
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Dec 28 12:21:39 PST 2008

8768 [lbo-talk] they don't make mega-bears like they used to -- rank: 1000

On Dec 28, 2008, at 12:46 PM, Michael Pollak wrote: > FWIW, apropos the subject heading, in the profile below, Roubini > strenously disputes that he's a mega- or perma-bear. He says it's > all situational: he saw the crisis coming (as did you), and now he > sees the solution coming (solution in the sense of keeping the > system from falling into depression or collapsing, with which you > would also agree, no?). Yup. In the subject heading I was referring to his reputation, not ...

Document Size:	6003
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Dec 28 11:02:01 PST 2008

8769 [lbo-talk] CFP -- rank: 1000

*Call for Essays for the July Issue of Socialism and Democracy: * (deadline, January 15, 2009) The current crisis of capitalism underscores the need for a strong Left political force. The popular mobilization that contributed to Barack Obama's election has encouraged optimism as to the possibility of such a development. The challenge is not only for each constituency to intensify its efforts, but also for activists identified with all the popular constituencies to move toward a fuller unders ...

Document Size:	6266
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun Dec 28 06:18:55 PST 2008

8770 [lbo-talk] Correcting Wikipedia's rosy view on Dornbusch -- rank: 1000

On Dec 26, 2008, at 4:11 PM, Fernando Cassia wrote: > I have added two humble contributions to Rudi Dornbusch's entry on > the whackypedia. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudi_Dornbusch > > See two paragraphs under "Criticism". > > Let me know if you see anything blatantly wrong or worth correcting... An addition: "The U.S. economy likely will not see a recession for years to come. We don t want one, we don t need one, and, as we have the tools to keep t ...

Document Size:	5582
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Dec 26 12:35:39 PST 2008

8771 [lbo-talk] Moral Foundations -- rank: 1000

On Dec 25, 2008, at 11:02 PM, Eubulides wrote: > One person's morality is another's moralism and yet another' > immorality, duh............ Heavy, man.

Document Size:	4617
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Dec 25 20:18:51 PST 2008

8772 [lbo-talk] Moral Foundations -- rank: 1000

On Dec 25, 2008, at 10:48 PM, Eubulides wrote: > Ex cathedra grammatical entertainment of some of CC's claims aside; > why the > disparagement of utterly understandable and respectable metaethical > skepticism in matters of political economy? This > from someone who likes to make fun of moralism, as if there wasn't > enough paradox and paralogy in those moves [Wall Street p. 2-9 for > starters] to make for an interesting subthread Moralism isn't the same as having a morality ...

Document Size:	5078
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Dec 25 19:56:47 PST 2008

8773 [lbo-talk] Moral Foundations -- rank: 1000

On Dec 24, 2008, at 8:47 PM, Miles Jackson wrote: > Hypothesis: the "actual moral impulses" that people feel are a > product of social relations. Well yeah. But why do people like Carrol pretend to be above those? Doug

Document Size:	4700
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Dec 24 18:06:46 PST 2008

8774 [lbo-talk] Analyst: Game over for GM stockholders; shares fall 21% -- rank: 1000

On Dec 24, 2008, at 6:53 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > Doug writes: > >> Buying GM bonds is a bet, not an "investment." > > Wow, gramps; tell me more about the distinction you're drawing here? Well, the classic definition of an investment is one whose return comes from dividends or interest, as opposed to a speculation, where the gain comes from price. That's admittedly a gramps-y definition. But updating it some, an investment is a reasonably solid thing that appreci ...

Document Size:	5567
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Dec 24 17:46:58 PST 2008

8775 [lbo-talk] they don't make mega-bears like they used to -- rank: 1000

On Dec 24, 2008, at 6:18 PM, SA wrote: > In his US News interview he also said there was a 1 in 3 chance of a > Japan-like decade of stagnation. Japan is Japan, but I don't think > the American polity/psyche could handle that without some deep > adjustments. I wonder about the comparisons. Average unemployment in the U.S. over the last 15 years has exceeded Japan's worst in the 1990s. Their poverty rate is lower than ours. Have average Japanese workers experienced 35 years of flat ...

Document Size:	5296
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Dec 24 15:27:20 PST 2008