Recent comments

  • The stock market correlating to GDP, what a concept!

    NDD have you noticed the wild swings of the stock market are similar to the ones before the big Oct 28/29 crash which just kept going down for a month?

    Dow Jones last 3 months:

    Dow Jones Oct., Nov. 2008

    This is a nice Wikipedia article which has tables of data showing 2008 has set records for intraday swings, percentage gains and losses. The dates you see for percentages and wild swings are now and the Great Depression.

    Reply to: No, this graph is NOT reassuring!   16 years 4 days ago
    EPer:
  • True "protectionism" has tariffs, big tariffs and no one is even remotely suggesting that in terms of fair trade policy agenda.

    Merkley did- and the vote in his favor over Smith suggested that maybe protectionism isn't the bad word the right-wingers make it out to be.

    Same with the other 41 fair-traders who won.  

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 4 days ago
    EPer:
  • you may want to read about the potential effect of DHS candidate Napalitano:

    H1-B Visa Battle Could Erupt at Department of Homeland Security
    Obama's DHS candidate, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, has a strong record of support for the H-1B program.
    http://www.cio.com/article/465086

    and who he may nominate for CTO:

    Obama's CTO: Top 10 Contenders (and One Real Long Shot)
    Who might be best for the top tech job? Bill Gates? Eric Schmidt? Ed Felten? How about a former colleague? The list is a who's who of tech luminaries and one really surprising long shot.
    http://www.cio.com/article/464163

    Reply to: Richardson to Be Commerce Secretary, Larry Summers to NEC   16 years 4 days ago
  • Globalization or centeralization.

    It occurs to me that both threaten localization- the idea that one should produce one's goods as close to the customer as possible.

    Reply to: It's a Dangerous Business, Pat Choate Chronicles America's Globalization Follies   16 years 4 days ago
    EPer:
  • As well as many other places in the United States, Gleaning and Community Supported Agriculture are the deflationary leaders destroying the food supply business model.

     

    Reply to: 2009: Recession vs. Recovery (Update 4)   16 years 4 days ago
    EPer:
  • I simply read his book and wrote up a review of it because it's an excellent, very detailed text.

    I suggest finding one of his talks and asking him a question there. I know he does public speaking but I do not know his schedule.

    Reply to: It's a Dangerous Business, Pat Choate Chronicles America's Globalization Follies   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • will you put me in conact with mr. choate? i have important imfornation abour steps some foreing nations are taking to overcome the u.s.

    i will appreciate your help on thi.

    thanks.

    Reply to: It's a Dangerous Business, Pat Choate Chronicles America's Globalization Follies   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • There is a tech hub in AZ, hence those corporations own the Politicians. Same with California, Washington.

    I think the more "blue" a state is and the more there is absolutely no challenge to losing their elections the worse it is. (Same with "red" states).

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • Obviously there are many volunteers putting much time, effort, brain power, and heart into the Economic Populist web site. Thank you.

    Reply to: The Economic Populist Site Rank, Statistics and All of That Jazz   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • What is it about Arizona politicians, their support for more H-1B visas, green cards, and their utter disdain for American workers?

    - Janet Napolitano
    - John McCain
    - Jeff Flake
    - Gabrielle Giffords
    - John Kyle
    ...

    Is it big business in the state that owns these politicians? I believe that H-1B guest-worker cheerleaders Intel, Motorola, and Google have a large presence in Arizona. Who else?

    Democrats, Republicans, ... it doesn't matter. They are all owned by business interests. It's really a one-party system like in China where you can vote for either Communist party candidate A and Communist party candidate B.

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • We invent the transistor, the Asians sell us TVs and radios.

    We invent the integrated circuit, the Asians sell us computers.

    We invent the mass produced automobile, ...

    Steel, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, ...

    Not too long ago, we were the food basket of the world. Now, we can't feed our own population - just wait until this plays out.

    Now, explain to me again how globalization is so great.

    Dana

    Globalization is a LIE!

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • I'm assuming you mean the blog post because this isn't in reply to my comment but I'm personally torn on this.

    I believe the reports that allowing the auto industry to go into bankruptcy will probably trigger a much worse recession and in the Midwest, possibly depression level unemployment.

    But, ya, they have been squeezing workers, outsourcing jobs since the 1980's and while just this year they lost so much money yet building billion dollar plants around the globe...

    well, if that doesn't say mismanagement I don't know what does.

    There are also reports that they fired the American workers and kept the H-1B guest workers.

    This is also true of the financial sector, thousands upon thousands of jobs have been offshore outsourced.

    Reply to: Detroit Bailout   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • It sounds just like the first few minutes of 'Roger and Me'.

    Reply to: Detroit Bailout   16 years 5 days ago
    EPer:
  • It's everybody who is using the site, from the lurkers to the email forwarders to the linkers, to the commenters to the bloggers. I should have mentioned hey, create an account, log in. You do not have to be a blogger or a writer to join in on EP. The comments are threaded and tracked so you can see who replied to you and so on to have a conversation.

    Of course, posting economic fiction claiming increasing H-1B guest worker Visas is good for workers and the economy might get a major insult from me, since this is my #1 knowledge/activist/research area, plus I'm in the #1 occupational field targeted for labor arbitrage by these methods so it has a tendency to personally piss me off. ;)

    (see previous comment).

    Reply to: The Economic Populist Site Rank, Statistics and All of That Jazz   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • Robert Oak , Excellent coverage of issues that are affecting us all. Now more than ever in a century.

    Reply to: The Economic Populist Site Rank, Statistics and All of That Jazz   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • Increased labor mobility will put wage repression on steroids. That's labor economics 101, anyone will tell you that who is a credible economist, including Paul Krugman. It's intuitively obvious as well, a 100 Million workforce is suddenly flooded with a 2 Billion workforce, what happens, the law of supply and demand, which is the overriding equilibrium force in labor markets of course kicks in and wages go to slave wages, i.e. nothing.

    This has been proven over and over and over again and it's varied special interests who wish to rewrite the laws of economics and claim something doesn't work the way it has been proven to work through history as well as modern day policy scenarios.

    That is precisely, precisely the reason the US Chamber of Commerce and other Multinational corporations wants such a belief, because they want control over Domestic labor markets to further manipulate labor costs.

    Econ 101.

    You also miss the entire point that there are still natural barriers to outsourcing by physical proximity and this is precisely why India outsourcing firms demand H-1B Visas and use other Visas as well...because they facilitate technology transfer out of the country.

    Without them, that alone would stop a huge percentage of offshore outsourcing of S&T R&D.

    Ya know, we're open to opinions on EP except for one thing, wriiting economic fiction and your post sure is that.

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • First of all, the technological advancement we've seen in the past century and with it the increasing ability to move people and goods around the world, cheaply and quickly, makes globalization inevitable, the only question is when and how the world becomes a single integrated market.

    Currently the when and how question is being answered by the global corporate elite with "ASAP" and "increase financial mobility and the mobility of raw materials and goods, but restrict labor mobility". This works mostly in their favor by sequestering labor into isolated regions, at its extreme leading to sweatshop labor (if labor were mobile the workers would simply get up and find a different job elsewhere, forcing sweetshops to raise wages to remain competitive. Taken to the extreme, they would legally immigrate to the west, where they might still be impoverished, but at least they'd have a living wage). By answering the when part of the question with 'now' the corporate elite also makes life harder for the western worker by not giving him or her enough time to adapt to a changing employment market (a reasonable transition period would be on the order of 40-80 years). Globalization isn't inherently bad since it allows various geographic regions greater ability to specialize and thus increases the efficiency of the production process, it's just that neo-liberal globalization and pure absolute globalization done on a reasonable time scale are not the same things.

    "Our industries must be protected from foreign slave labor, Communist supported industries that have only economic warfare on their agenda, and erosion of national sovereignty by economic invasion."

    The problem with restricting labor mobility is that you still get outsourcing so US workers will still fall victim to more competitive foreign labor, but it also facilitiates the slave labor workforce by allowing for the creation of local monopsonies on labor in the third world (the place labor mobility is most severely restricted).

    From the point of view of labor then, immigration liberalization is a good thing. If not in the short run, at least in the long run, where (baring corporate collusion) slave labor as a practice is eliminated.

    As for 'erosion of national sovereignty by economic invasion of communist countries' people need to recognize that globalization erodes the sovereignty of all nations, not just the ones at the top of the hierarchy. Sure china now basically owns the US government, but now they can't demand their money back for fear of undermining the entire world economy as well as their own, so in a sense they've lost control over their assets (investment in US treasury bonds or whatever it is they use to buy up US debt) the same way we've had our 'sovereignty eroded'. It's a double edged sword.

    Reply to: Obama Picks Cheap Labor & Guest Worker Queen Janet Napolitano for DHS!   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • Can you imagine, 911 calls routed to India and there is a dire emergency where one going to little subsidiaries in the US who then put people onto airplanes, like cargo, for hospitalization in India? 20 hour delay, hey, no problem it's cost effective to do things this way.

    Bummer your spouse died on the table and sorry you cannot afford the costs of being there or even collecting the body for burial but hey, 1-800-YOU-BURY is a new service allowing for globally competitive funerals and burials run virtually. See your spouse dumped at sea, pick a religious representative and prayer of your choice from over 20 selectable items. Get a video of the event to preserve your memories. Have a web cam installed where the burial site is so you always feel close to your loved one, only $9.95 a month!

    Other options are cremation! We video tape the entire process and fast shipping! We Federal Express your loved one's remains in a triple plastic sealed box, designed especially for our services!

    (not responsible for delays or damages in shipping).

    Reply to: Medical Care Outsourced to Mexico   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • I've been wondering the same thing because while GM has lost $72 Billion since 2004, $42.5 Billion in 2007 alone.

    What is not clear is the profits their subsidiaries are making in China and India and are those profits being reported in GM losses or what is going on here in terms of profits kept offshore for tax purposes or even possible one time write downs to again keep profits offshore.

    I cannot find out any info on what exactly is being reported by GM, is that total global profits and if they go into Chapter 11, what that means from their global subsidiaries.

    It sure appears to me at least to be a massive global mismanagement going on here and it sure as hell isn't the union's fault (UAW), as so many like to claim.

    Matter of fact Economist Peter Morici really made me sick, testifying about how GM's labor costs are the problem. On what economic planet does that guy even live? What crap saying one must squeeze the US workers to make a company profitable. I didn't think he was neither right and the Senate assuredly should have had other economists testify on GM.

    That's just ridiculous to blame the workers when GM is selling Aeros in China for $1100 dollars and building up billion dollar investments in India and elsewhere. What exactly are the current profit returns in those markets, like India, China, Brazil, Russia and are they counted in GM's reports or separate as part of some subsidiary or how this all works.

    Then, they completely ignore the GMAC, but how is that affect GM's bottom line?

    Here is GMAC now applying to be a holding bank in order to get some of the $700 Billion dollar bail out, same as American Express, credit cards and previously, investment houses did.

    I believe GMAC had mortgages, way beyond auto finance.

    GMAC, which is jointly owned by GM and Ceberus Capital Management, has been battered by the credit crisis. The lender's borrowing costs have risen, so dealers have found it more difficult to finance their showrooms.

    Consumers have struggled to make purchase vehicles. Last month the company said it would only make loans to buyers who had credit scores of at least 700.

    In the third quarter GMAC posted a $2.52 billion loss -- its fifth quarterly loss in a row.

    Reply to: Detroit Bailout   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:
  • Insurer Offers Option for Surgery in India

    Friday 21 November 2008
    by: Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times

    " The health insurer Wellpoint is testing a new program that gives covered patients the option of going to India for elective surgery, with no out-of-pocket medical costs and free travel for both the patient and a companion.

    The program is being tested at Serigraph, a printing company in Wisconsin whose managers have been looking for ways to curb rising health care costs, said Dr. Razia Hashmi, chief medical officer for national accounts for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is affiliated with Wellpoint.

    "This is a first for us," Dr. Hashmi said. "We will be monitoring every aspect of this very closely, to make sure everyone is satisfied and there are good clinical outcomes." "

    full article at
    http://www.truthout.org/112108HA

    Reply to: Medical Care Outsourced to Mexico   16 years 6 days ago
    EPer:

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