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11641 [lbo-talk] Why is America so violent -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 7:38 PM, tfast wrote: > That is kind of odd as it is the old blue collar occupations which > have the > highest hours which have been pretty stable since 64. It is services > including professional services along with financial services that > have been > declining. But manuf'g has been declining as a share of the labor force, from 30% in 1950 to 10% today. In retail and foodservice, whose share has gone from 18% to 24%, the problem is often getting enoug ...

Document Size:	5122
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon May 14 06:27:16 PDT 2007

11642 [lbo-talk] US average weekly hours worked (Why is America so violent) -- rank: 1000

On May 14, 2007, at 7:17 AM, Marvin Gandall wrote: > Does this correlate to an increase in the proportion of part-time > workers, > eg. 30 hours or less, or is the widespread perception of a huge > increase in > voluntary and involuntary part-time employment also wrong? That perception is way at odds with the facts. The part-time share of the U.S. workforce has been almost perfectly flat at 16-17% since 1970s. It was 14% in 1960. The share working part-time for economic reasons ...

Document Size:	5633
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon May 14 06:00:29 PDT 2007

11643 [lbo-talk] US average weekly hours worked (Why is America so violent) -- rank: 1000

On May 14, 2007, at 4:44 AM, James Heartfield wrote: > I think the comment of Doug's Miles remembers is this: > > "Total hours worked in the U.S. private sector have risen 70% since > 1973; > the pop is up only 43%. So the rise in > aggregate consumption has come with a huge increase in the work > effort" > > Which is an estimate of the total hours worked, in relation to the > total > population, whereas you would need to relate it to the working > p ...

Document Size:	6228
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon May 14 05:57:02 PDT 2007

11644 [lbo-talk] Why is America so violent -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 6:09 PM, andie nachgeborenen wrote: > Do these figures about the glorious explosion of > leisure control for the increase in two income > families? We don't have historical data from the BLS. The private surveys, like Michigan and Maryland, say contradictory things I think. Doug

Document Size:	4861
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun May 13 16:00:01 PDT 2007

11645 [lbo-talk] Why is America so violent -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 5:48 PM, James Heartfield wrote: > Maybe. My answer would be to look at what has changed - principally > the > declining role of organised labour, which leaves people in an > unmediated > relationship with their employers. That makes them more vulnerable. > And it > makes them feel even more vulnerable. Dunno, but my sense is that the people who complain most about the time crunch are members of the professional/managerial class. The BLS time use survey ...

Document Size:	5162
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun May 13 15:59:09 PDT 2007

11646 [lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent? -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 1:40 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > do the figures > take into account hours of sleep average: 8.63 hrs, women getting slightly more than men <ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/atus.txt>

Document Size:	4828
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun May 13 11:28:44 PDT 2007

11647 [lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent? -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 12:42 PM, Gar Lipow wrote: > I'm really suspicious of this. We spend more time per household on > paid work than before. We spend more time per household on commuting > to and from paid work than before. Those two facts are right there in > the same studies. So where is all this new leisure time coming from? Than before when? It all depends on what your baseline is. In any case, whatever the historical trajectory, the BLS's time use survey <ftp://ftp.bls.gov ...

Document Size:	5474
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun May 13 10:18:51 PDT 2007

11648 [lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent? -- rank: 1000

On May 13, 2007, at 12:52 PM, Miles Jackson wrote: > In the U. S., it's an irrefutable fact that the average worker is > working far, far more than the average worker in previous generations Is that really true? The 40-hour week was a major victory for the working class - in the 19th century, the workweek was a hell of a lot longer. Americans may be working more now than in the 1950s or 1960s, and certainly the population as a whole is working longer (for pay that is) than then. But th ...

Document Size:	5159
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sun May 13 09:25:44 PDT 2007

11649 [lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent? -- rank: 1000

On May 12, 2007, at 4:50 PM, James Heartfield wrote: > There is however, another explanation, which I derive from David > Wainwright's book Work Stress, which suggests that there is also a > social > trend that alters our subjective experience of work pressures. > Wainwright > says that we are subjectively more fragile, and experience > pressures on time > and performance much more acutely than our parents' generation. > (Wainwright > gives an extensive explanation ...

Document Size:	6204
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat May 12 14:27:45 PDT 2007

11650 [lbo-talk] Iran: the case for invasion -- rank: 1000

<http://gawker.com/news/curveball/is-iran-about-to-genocide-the- metrosexuals-259936.php> curveball Is Iran About To Genocide The Metrosexuals? 655 Views Hold on to your pomade, the Islamofascists are coming! The ever- strengthening case for war against Iran became nigh-airtight this morning with the Wall Street Journal's front- page story detailing the Islamic Republic's latest assault on freedom. Religious police, reports Andrew Higgins, are cracking down with unprecedented brutality ...

Document Size:	8045
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat May 12 13:34:57 PDT 2007

11651 [lbo-talk] Alex Cockburn discloses who the fearmongers are -- rank: 1000

<http://www.counterpunch.com/cockburn05122007.html> In fact, when it comes to corporate sponsorship of crackpot theories about why the world is getting warmer, the best documented conspiracy of interest is between the Greenhouser fearmongers and the nuclear industry, now largely owned by oil companies, whose prospects twenty years ago looked dark, amid headlines about the fall-out from Chernobyl, aging plants and nuclear waste dumps leaking from here to eternity. The apex Greenhouse ...

Document Size:	5451
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat May 12 11:17:08 PDT 2007

11652 [lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent? -- rank: 1000

On May 12, 2007, at 10:18 AM, Mr. WD wrote: > > To the extent that American families are being torn apart, etc. The > problem isn't a lack of God, or spirituality, or too much materialism > -- it's that average people need to work longer and harder and they > don't see their families as often. When everyone worked a 40 hour > week, there was plenty of time for civil society (bowling leagues, > rotary club, coaching your kid's baseball team...). Those kinds of > activit ...

Document Size:	5374
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat May 12 11:10:27 PDT 2007

11653 [lbo-talk] My Day in the Land of Oppression -- rank: 1000

On May 12, 2007, at 6:23 AM, Chris Doss wrote: >>> >> Never mind Perry Anderson, but life in Moscow is not >> the equivalent of >> life in Russia, right? >> >> Joanna >> > > I was taking the piss, not being serious! > > Not even life in Russia is equivalent to life in > Russia. The place is huge. It's like talking about > "life in America." You can't answer this now, because you've already hit your daily quota, but you're ...

Document Size:	5449
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat May 12 07:02:07 PDT 2007

11654 [lbo-talk] Putin Promises More Focus on Projects -- rank: 1000

Elsewhere, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > In the seven years of Putin's presidency, analysts estimate that > Russia has earned US$750 billion (euro550 billion) from sales of oil > and gas, amid record world prices. Russia's current dollar GDP in 2005 was $763 billion, according to the World Bank. Obviously, then, oil is a big part of Russia's recovery. According to WB stats, about half of Russia's exports from 2000-2005 were fuels, and exports were 35-40% of GDP. Just 9% of exports in 200 ...

Document Size:	5364
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri May 11 16:11:52 PDT 2007

11655 [lbo-talk] who is the most racist? -- rank: 1000

On May 11, 2007, at 6:24 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > Of course not. No more than any modern astronomer argues that Galileo > was right. There was a huge literature on this in the '60s and > '70s. Go > look it up. I'm certainly not going to rehearse it here. It's simply > established beyond the need for argument. The only arguments are over, > given this fact, how do we proceed strategically and tactically. Ok. I understand now. By the way, who's this "we" you talk about? ...

Document Size:	5044
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri May 11 15:56:29 PDT 2007