Maybe Melinda - I would argue that what you wrote is true a lot of the time
- but for some reason there is a part of Pacifica that fights like mad against
seriously criticizing and to opposing corporate capitalist America.
My point is that in some form or in some fashion or in some manner of
expression (and I do not say that either the form or the fashion or the
expression have to follow any one particular way) Pacifica must be involved in
some way in either criticizing and/or opposing the methods and system of
corporate capitalist America. And, if instead, Pacifica gets into the habit of
going along with corporate capitalist America then Pacifica will have ceased to
have a reason to exist. Further I assert that a substantial part of the
problems with Pacifica today is that it has often ceased to be an effective
critic and/or opponent of corporate capitalist America.
And no it is not just an individual problem and it is not that there are
just some "jerks" involved. It is the corporate capitalist system itself that
is defective (although yes it may very well be that the corporate capitalist
system does both allow and find ways to move the "jerks" to the top of the
corporate ladder.)
Jim "And unless such contradictions are brought out then Pacifica really
cannot move forward." D.
----- Original Message -----
From: Melinda Iley-Dohn
To: pacifica_now@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 7:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Pacifica_now] Re: Don't count on the ailing-capitalist
corporate system bailing us out
I have always heard, in corporate America, the shit rises to the top.
jdemaegt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Yes but it is not the system that is the problem it is just that some
individuals are "jerks" - the corporate capitalist system is fine.
Jim "Or so it is said in some Pacifica circles." D.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Per Fagereng"
To: ; "Kevin White" ;
; ;
; ;
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: Don't count on the ailing-capitalist corporate system bailing
us out
> Silly me. Do you think it's possible that the jerks get promoted?
> That the jerks get the perks?
>
> Per Fagereng
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> To: "Per Fagereng" ; "Kevin White"
> ; ;
> ; ;
> ;
>
> Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:23 PM
> Subject: Don't count on the ailing-capitalist corporate system bailing us
> out
>
>
>> BUT you forgot to add that some of our "economic overlords" are good
>> people and some are "jerks". And it is only the "jerks" that are causing
>> any problems - the "Businesses" themselves are not the problem.
>> And, by the way - won't Obama be CHANGING all us this and Saving
>> America?
>>
>>
>> Jim "It is really just an individual problem and it is NOT the
>> capitalist corporate system that is the problem - instead it is just the
>> 'jerks' of any and all types that are causing all the problems." D
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Per Fagereng"
>> To: "Kevin White" ;
>> ; ;
>>
>> Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:00 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Fulcrumsofchange] Don't count on ailing-dollar bailout
>>
>>
>> One possibility is that our economic overlords want the dollar to
>> decline.
>> That way America's debts can be paid in cheaper dollars. Sooner or later,
>> however, the creditors will cut their losses and dump the dollar.
>>
>> Meanwhile our overlords will have moved their money to other currencies
>> or to commodities, or to (now cheap) real estate.
>>
>> Another related possibility is that the US will come out with a New
>> Dollar,
>> and exchange one New for 10 or 100 Old, thereby "cutting" inflation. The
>> kicker is that only US citizens could exchange Old for New. Our foreign
>> creditors would get screwed. Needless to say, no one in their right mind
>> would lend the US anything.
>>
>> Per Fagereng
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Kevin White"
>> To: ; ;
>>
>> Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 9:32 PM
>> Subject: [Fulcrumsofchange] Don't count on ailing-dollar bailout
>>
>>
>>> ALL BUSINESS: Don't count on ailing-dollar bailout
>>> By RACHEL BECK, AP Business WriterFri Jul 18, 12:28 PM ET
>>> Federal rescue plans are all the rage in Washington right now, for what
>>> seems to be everything but the dollar. The U.S. currency is not going
to
>>> get a bailout, even though its steep decline is feeding inflation and
>>> straining the economy.
>>> Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other officials have assured
>>> us that the government is on the case of the plunging dollar.
>>> Talk is cheap - they won't likely do anything about it.
>>> That's because the Bush administration since taking office nearly eight
>>> years ago has not supported any U.S.-led intervention in
>>> foreign-exchange markets despite the greenback's steep decline. That
>>> action would involve buying the ailing currency to boost its value.
>>> "It would take a rare set of circumstances to get the U.S. right now to
>>> intervene," said David Gilmore, a managing partner in Foreign Exchange
>>> Analytics in Essex, Conn.
>>> With that in mind, we have to look at what Bernanke told Congress on
>>> Wednesday with some skepticism. While noting that intervention is
rarely
>>> done, he said that temporary action on currencies isn't out of the
>>> question.
>>> "Market intervention is a policy that's been undertaken a few times ...
>>> but there may be conditions where markets are disorderly, where some
>>> temporary action might be justified," he said during a hearing before
>>> the House Financial Services Committee.
>>> That kind of rhetoric has been the only tool that Bernanke and Treasury
>>> Secretary Henry Paulson have used to bolster the dollar in recent
>>> months. In early June, they also floated the idea that intervention was
>>> a possibility, giving the dollar a brief run higher.
>>> Bernanke's words on Wednesday gave a little jolt to the battered
>>> greenback, which had slumped the day before to a new low against the
>>> euro. At one point on Tuesday, a euro bought $1.6038, the most since
the
>>> inception of the 15-nation currency.
>>> The dollar's decline that day was fed by intensified worries about the
>>> health of the U.S. economy and financial system after the government
>>> announced a rescue plan for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
>>> not long after one of the country's biggest mortgage banks IndyMac Bank
>>> collapsed and was taken over by federal regulators on July 11.
>>> While the dollar has been falling for some five years, continuing grim
>>> U.S. financial news has spurred a considerable slide in recent months.
>>> Not only has the U.S. economy taken a beating in the last year, but
>>> conditions seem to be getting worse as the housing market remains in a
>>> serious slump, credit conditions are tight and inflation is soaring.
>>> To combat declining economic growth, the Fed has cut its overnight
>>> borrowing rate seven times since September to the ultra-low level of 2
>>> percent. But that has done little to improve conditions, and has only
>>> exaggerated the dollar's weakness as investors have moved their funds -
>>> and thereby, sold their dollars - into countries offering higher
>>> interest rates.
>>> Intervention talk from Bernanke and others may just be a way to buy
some
>>> time, and hope the dollar reverses course on its own, a result of
market
>>> forces rather than central bank intervention.
>>> Currency experts say that could happen should the euro-zone's economies
>>> begin to break down as the U.S. outlook starts looking up.
>>> Some of what has propelled the euro to new heights against the dollar
>>> has been the idea that Europe is in better financial health than the
>>> United States. The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for
>>> the 15-nation euro zone, has adjusted its own rate once since last
>>> summer, making no cuts and then raising rates last month in an attempt
>>> to curb inflation.
>>> But new data show increasing economic weakness in parts of Europe.
Stock
>>> markets there have declined sharply since May in tandem with those in
>>> the United States. Investor sentiment in Switzerland and in Germany -
>>> Europe's biggest economy - has slumped, while there is evidence of
>>> weakening business conditions, with big job cuts and bankruptcies being
>>> announced.
>>> Should things worsen abroad, it could indicate that United States is
>>> ahead of Europe in this downward business cycle. "(T)he fundamentals
>>> could soon shift in favor of the dollar over the euro," said Marc
>>> Chandler, global head of currency strategy at the investment firm Brown
>>> Brothers Harriman.
>>> But the U.S. government has other tools that it could use besides
>>> currency intervention. One option, notes Gilmore of Foreign Exchange
>>> Analytics, is to turn back the clock to the late 1970s, and issue what
>>> became known then as "Carter Bonds." Those were U.S. Treasury bonds
>>> named after then-President Jimmy Carter, and they were denominated in
>>> German marks and Swiss francs. Their purpose was to make U.S.
Treasuries
>>> more appealing to offshore investors - an effort that worked.
>>> For now, the dollar is on its own, without any federal aid to prop it
>>> up. It's a lonely place to be.
>>> ___
>>> Rachel Beck is the national business columnist for The Associated
Press.
>>> Write to her at rbeck(at)ap.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Fulcrumsofchange mailing list
>>> Fulcrumsofchange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> http://lists.pacificana.org/listinfo.cgi/fulcrumsofchange-pacificana.org
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Fulcrumsofchange mailing list
>> Fulcrumsofchange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.pacificana.org/listinfo.cgi/fulcrumsofchange-pacificana.org
>>
>
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