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9331 [lbo-talk] EU opens Northern Rock investigation -- rank: 1000

On Apr 2, 2008, at 6:06 PM, Seth Ackerman wrote: > But if you concede > from the outset that we're going to bail out the banks - without even > making a fuss about whether the shareholders get completely wiped > out - > you lose whatever leverage you might have had. What's the alternative? Do a Japan, dither for years, and have a shitty economy for 15 years? Doug

Document Size:	5052
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 15:20:45 PDT 2008

9332 [lbo-talk] US image really improving? -- rank: 1000

<http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2008/04/going-global.html> The Numbers A Run at the Latest Data from ABC's Poobah of Polling, Gary Langer Going Global? April 02, 2008 12:26 PM A poll put out by the BBC World Service that's getting some attention today headlines a 4-point improvement in positive views of the United States in the 34 countries in which it was conducted. But before jumping on the result, consider the methodology. The poll's disclosure notes that nearly half the samples ...

Document Size:	8607
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 11:55:29 PDT 2008

9333 [lbo-talk] ok, any diff on green issues? -- rank: 1000

<http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/4/23617/54464> The green Democrat's choice Obama or Clinton: who's greener? Posted by David Roberts at 4:16 AM on 05 Feb 2008 If you're a political junkie like me, all you can think about is the primary and the general election beyond. Can you remember a primary season so dynamic and volatile, so dramatic, so filled with hope and trepidation and the stirrings of something historic? I can't decide if I love it or I'm going to have an ulcer by Nov ...

Document Size:	5449
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 10:57:52 PDT 2008

9334 [lbo-talk] Obama on poverty: straight DLC -- rank: 1000

On Apr 2, 2008, at 11:34 AM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > I'm having trouble following this. Is Doug: > > a) Not in support the EITC, in which case Max is right > > b) Just correcting Max's implication that EITC is not an employer > subsidy, in which case Max is wrong It's better than nothing, but it'd be nice if wages were higher, and it didn't come with the moral wedge it drives between the deserving and undeserving poor.

Document Size:	5068
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 08:54:17 PDT 2008

9335 [lbo-talk] EU opens Northern Rock investigation -- rank: 1000

On Apr 2, 2008, at 10:36 AM, Seth Ackerman wrote: > Your position doesn't make any sense: We should just accept the > bailouts > and demand something "in return." I don't think we have any alternative. There's no costless magic wand that the authorities can wave to make financial institutions healthy again, and homilies about the rich being made to take some of their own medicine won't help either. In order to prevent an implosion there has to be an expenditure of public m ...

Document Size:	5610
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 08:50:38 PDT 2008

9336 [lbo-talk] housing "bailout" -- rank: 1000

[from Politico's new Congress daily, The Huddle] DRIVING THE DAY - It turns out the key to bipartisanship is FEAR. Lori Montgomery on the WashPost's Business front: "Under pressure from voters to address the nation's housing crisis, Senate Republicans agreed yesterday to work with Democrats on a compromise plan to stimulate sagging home sales and help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Republican leaders were prepared to block it again. But senators returned from a two-week bre ...

Document Size:	8089
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 05:44:12 PDT 2008

9337 [lbo-talk] EU opens Northern Rock investigation -- rank: 1000

[interesting on two counts: the estimate of $107 billion in subsidies to Northern Rock, which is way at odds with Dean Baker's view, and for the hard-assedness of the EU, which American lefties often think is squishier than the USA] EU opens Northern Rock investigation By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 4 minutes ago BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission opened an investigation Wednesday into Britain's nationalization of Northern Rock PLC, the mortgage bank that colla ...

Document Size:	8179
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 05:41:30 PDT 2008

9338 [lbo-talk] uh-oh, this crisis must be serious -- rank: 1000

On Apr 1, 2008, at 4:44 PM, Lenin's Tomb wrote: > On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 9:23 PM, Doug Henwood <DHENWOOD at panix.com> > wrote: > >> The three-month running median sales price of single-family homes in >> the two towns fell 19.2 per cent to $638,600 ( 400,000, £320,000) > > > Are you kidding me? £320,000 for an **expensive** house in a > deluxe area? > In London, that's lower than the **average** house price: Oh, forgot to point out that that average is ...

Document Size:	5662
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 05:09:24 PDT 2008

9339 [lbo-talk] Lee Hamilton endorsing Obama -- rank: 1000

[This guy is a walking embodiment of consensus politics. What does he know that all these dreamy pwoggies don't? From Mike Allen's Politico Playbook] AP Indianapolis had the silver-platter scoop at 12:01 a.m. Eastern: 'Former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton is backing Sen. Barack Obama in an endorsement that could boost the presidential hopeful's national security standing, The Associated Press has learned. Hamilton ... was vice chairman of the Sept. 11 commission. He planned to announce his en ...

Document Size:	5258
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Apr 2 05:04:16 PDT 2008

9340 [lbo-talk] more on Northern Rock -- rank: 1000

[if you ignore the boilerplate conclusion, this is a good analysis of why NR is not a model for anything] <http://www.socialismtoday.org/116/nationalise.html> Nationalising Northern Rock AFTER MONTHS of twisting and turning, desperately trying to avoid dreaded nationalisation, Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown's finance minister, was finally forced to announce (17 February) the 'temporary nationalisation' of Northern Rock. They really had no alternative. In reality, as Vincent Cable, the ...

Document Size:	18108
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 19:08:58 PDT 2008

9341 [lbo-talk] Fwd: The Housing Bubble and the Financial Crisis -- What Congress Can Do -- rank: 1000

On Apr 1, 2008, at 9:10 PM, Joseph Catron quoted Deqn Baker: > The model for such intervention should be the takeover of the Northern > Rock bank by the British government. No it shouldn't. The British authorities dithered for weeks about a rescue plan, and rejected a takeover offer from another bank (Lloyd's, if I'm remembering right). Northern Rock hived off its best assets into an offshore company, and the British government ended up with the remaining crap. They're on the hook for ...

Document Size:	7340
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 19:01:24 PDT 2008

9342 [lbo-talk] Obama on poverty: straight DLC -- rank: 1000

On Apr 1, 2008, at 9:18 PM, Max B. Sawicky wrote: > The only people who don't support the EITC are a few misguided > lefts who > insist without > a scintilla of evidence that it's an employer subsidy How is it not an employer subsidy? It allows employers to pay wages below the cost of reproduction of the working class. I suppose only a "misguided left" would say something like that. Except that an old college friend of mine who ran a public housing authority in Californ ...

Document Size:	5237
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 18:54:12 PDT 2008

9343 [lbo-talk] Alice Walker on Obama and Clinton -- rank: 1000

On Apr 1, 2008, at 5:09 PM, Charles Brown quoted Alice Walker : > And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey in the Rock never > tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been waiting for. Oh yeah, how is this an appropriate conclusion to a long love letter to a fantasized rescue figure? Is Rezko one of us? Doug

Document Size:	4959
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 17:16:37 PDT 2008

9344 [lbo-talk] Obama on poverty: straight DLC -- rank: 1000

<http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php? articleId=1651&type=&searchterms=mink> Clinton vs. Obama on Poverty Issues February 19, 2008 GWENDOLYN MINK Co-editor of the two-volume Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy and author of Welfare's End, Mink said today: "Although Obama insists he is the candidate 'for change,' his record on poverty issues does not offer bold new visions for economic justice. Quite the opposite, in fact: Obama's ...

Document Size:	6338
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 16:54:18 PDT 2008

9345 [lbo-talk] Alice Walker on Obama and Clinton -- rank: 1000

On Apr 1, 2008, at 5:09 PM, Charles Brown quoted Alice Walker: > [T]his does not mean I agree with everything Obama stands for.... Yeah, because it's all about feelings, isn't it?

Document Size:	4783
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Apr 1 14:58:18 PDT 2008