Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Label me Cow

Point of order: 1] Its football season, a moment of silence

2] just finished jamming that Bootsy Collins “I’d rather be with you” and Ahmad Jamal "Misdemeanor".

So, for the record, I don’t hate McCain, I just think he dying. As well don’t hate Obama; he has just reducing questions to the general than toward the specific. Neither of them deal with the realities in America outside of being topical. They don’t see it seems, what is going on, or how we are loosing our country to outside global interest and that WE THE PEOPLE are loosing out daily in this ground war. Maybe I am wrong, but from not talking about China and the steel industry while in Pennsylvania to the foreclosures in Georgia when speaking of economics, I don’t hear specified answers from either. Case in point.

A British bank and investment firm has managed to buy a group of tenements buildings in East Harlem, New York. Now I have not heard either talk or mention this, not even in the topical sense of protecting America for Americans (which would be mandatory based on what I have read of both candidates’ economic agendas, if they are to work.

Now, not only is most of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac owned by Japan, Belgium and some selected Arab countries, Eastern and central Europe is getting in on the land grab. Dawnay, Day, the London-based investment bank, has dropped about £250 million on homes in Harlem, New York. Why, because they know that gentrification in America Urban areas is big loot, a cash cow. Not just a few building I add, but a few square miles north of 100th Street. This private bank, even opened a well staffed office in downtown Manhattan, under the name of Dawnay, Day US Real Estate Management.

We talking about more than 1000 acquisition in East Harlem in 47 buildings from the North side of Central Park from East 100th Street and East 120th Street. But I cant be mad at them, if I had Pounds, against the historical lows in the dollar.

But back to the front runners, they don’t even mention this kind of stuff yet they claim to focus on and target the grass root common man. These places, like here with the foreclosures, anywhere from 40 to 50% live below the national median income annually. And how do they get folks out after they buy the properties, they raise the rent, to $1000 per square foot and evict folk. They will talk about helping Fannie mae and Freddie Mac, as I said, but when it comes to regular folks, no mention, just the middle class. And just think, Harlem used to be a middle class community. A few years from now, middle wont be able to afford it anymore. And it seems on the surface that McCain or Obama don’t even know, for I do hope and believe they care. So you can call it what you want, and suggest you label me cow, cause yep, I got beef.

54 comments:

Keli said...

*singing* I'd rather be with you, yeah...

It's not quite football season...but it's close...it's damn close...and I could not be more excited.

All will be well once my boys in the Burnt Orange and White have their season opener.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm admitting right now it took me reading the last sentence twice before I got the tittle (gimme a break, it's humpday and my mind is on strike). And I heard McCain has mild Alzheimers, but that's a rumor as far as I know.

Real question: what can the two big guys do about gentrification issues? I'm asking for real because I don't have a deep enough grasp of real estate /federal gov't/economy and the like.

What would be a helpful stance to take on issues like this (foreign ownership/investment in domestic/federal government organizations)?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wu Tang Junkie - caught that title folk.

Now back to the original, neighborhood, criminals

Clocking dollars, by the hour like his digital

Styrofoam silencers, he rolled around with the

Wildest niggaz peeling caps known as the Islanders

from Staten, where crazy clips be clappin

Slept in his principal spreads, threads, made of satin

Labeled as the cow he had crazy beef

Seen him at the flicks, he pulled out on Duke, Hez and Latief

But he fucked up, he shoulda kept it real and went for kill

cuz if he don't, these niggaz with black barrels will

But, shit will never calm down, one day downtown

He dropped an ounce off

Money had slept like a nightgown


"Ghostface Killer - Motherless Child lyrics"

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

Keli
I heard some young babe did a remake, heard its wack

Tayo
information, read constitution first anmd all u can - cut off cathode ray tube to be more productive

Anonymous Anonymous
first your name is clasic, i got a book of vers going to press called ANONYMOUS GUESS
&
yep u tight hip hop head jones
thats where it came from, the title

RealHustla said...

At this point in their campaigns it would be like committing political suicide for either of them to talk about changing life for the common man. It's impossible to come up with a plan that everyone is going to be happy with. Let's say Obama has a plan to keep potential foreclosure victims in their homes but it involved them incorporating community services for economically disadvantaged, drug addicted, and just straight up po folk all up and through their middle class neighborhoods. There would be a lot of angry folk wanting to hurt Obama for suggesting such a thing. I'm not saying this is the solution, I'm just trying to give an example to support my point.

Kofi said...

East Harlem? How about Midtown?

An Abu Dhabi business bought the Chrysler building a few months ago.

NoRegrets said...

Moo.

Ms. Go Getter said...

always learning something new when I stop by!

Anonymous said...

My husband was raised in Harlem (along with 12 siblings) in a row house his parents eeeeeeeked by in affording at the time but they did it and his retired father still lives there now but he's already predicting that he, as a home owner, could be priced out with property tax/insurance increases once the gentrification begins in full swing.

And yes, MOO because yeah, I got serious beef with that shit.

Lina said...

Love bootsy and that song: "Gonna stick my love in ya eye baby..."

I think America needs to fall back. I say that because we are attempting to extend an empire that is smothering its own self. We just need to chill out and let an ally have control for a little while to rebuild our resources, come up with some innovative technologies and find a way to export an important and highly lucrative product instead of importing everything.

One Man’s Opinion said...

"Label me cow, because yeah, I got beef". Priceless.

rainywalker said...

We will wake up one day and they will own everything, lock, stock and barrel.

The Love Collective said...

That's what I'm saying: McCain nor Obama have the answer. Now, what famous artist sampled Booty's "Rather Be With You" and made it into a 1990s thug classic?

msladyDeborah said...

If the price of beef continues to rise, I'll be down your way to to cut myself a t-bone! (Okay, I couldn't resist that one):)

Seriously, come by my spot in about three hours and check out my post. I think you will find it to be interesting!

Anonymous said...

Yep--"globalization," of sorts, is going on big time in our own back yards (almost literally), and it's business as usual for us. About the campaign's lack of attention to it--the myopic focus on certain "issues," if you want to call them that, scares me.

Love how we barely heard jack-diddly-squat about the Anheuser-Busch hostile takeover by a Belgian co. last month--I swear, I thought beer bellies all across America were going to revolt, but guess not.

There's a huge new real estate project here in downtown, The Spire, and I forget the numbers, but already foreign investors are scooping it up like nobody's business--I *think* it's somewhere in the neighborhood of already 40-50% sold to foreign investors.

The rest of the world is getting richer off of us, while we continue to borrow from Peter to pay Paul, at the same time digging ourselves deeper into this abyss of national debt. Who knows, maybe they'll be gracious enough and hire us to peel their grapes & apples & stuff for them.

Check this out--some of the companies on the list might surprise you--like Trader Joe's, Churches Chicken (ilgh!) and Caribou Coffee.

And, thought you might find this interesting...

María said...

LOVE bootsy collins.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

So many things have captured the american public's attention over the last 50 years. This current state of affairs did not happen overnight. This "real" or "imagined" take-over of, or better still the mortgaging of America is not news. What is news is the apathetic spirit of Americans. I do think that most Americans believe that they are better off that they really are and that "those folks" caught in the housing financial crisis has no connection to them. Just like folks have no concern about the plight of farmers...especially Black farmers, just like no one has any connection to the mass gentrification of America's urban centers.

It is not so much what the presidential candidates have in their ecomomic plans, but rather how are everyday Americans going to take up the gauntlet and be connected to their legislators on the local and State levels. The problem is folks do not believe they can affect change at the federal level.

For me the final analysis after the election is where my concerns will lie. What can be done and be implemented. This is why it is doubly important not only to get a president elected that has some sense, but also federal legislators that can support, push, bully and support positive ecomomic forces. It will take 100 years to undo the last 8 years of this administration. It will undoubtly get worse before it gets better. In the next term if all goes well, ther is a chance that the Supreme Court could indeed be staked with Thugood Marshall-esques judges. That would have a profound affect on the lower courts.

My beef is with my neighbors and citizens who do not vote, who do not do anything but rant about the ills of politicians. Yes of course, no one is beyond reproach or criticism. But at the end of the day. Americans have to live up to and take hold of By the People, Of the people and For the people. There is no magic politician that can erase all the ills that trouble us. But as long as we believe someone else will do the housework then we can certainly look forward to Octavia Butler's "Parable Of the Sower" future.

It is not enough to talk shit. It is not enough to express outrage. We vote with our feet and wallets. Each choice we make about what we buy and from where must be conscious and deliberate. But see that takes work and a real commitment to what America used to be and could be known for again.

Anonymous said...

lol. great post. the best line to me is the first. i love my people but i may love football just a little bit more

Sauce said...

Where you get that funk from? Digging that!!!

Glad it's football season too. Mane, you kilt it with label me cow. I read the title, half the post and was looking at the post pic like huh, what's with the cows and cuts of beef?

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

RealHustla
So politicis is more important than the people - k

Kofi
We for sale no doubt

NoRegrets
Not u too LOL

Ms. Jones
Thanks folk u get my email jones
Charming Driver
Moo, Moo, MOO, lol

Lina
Can I stick it in yo eye - LMBAO

One Man’s Opinion
Good look folk – what was up on the booty call ?

rainywalker
Glad u and me got barrels, the rest of America want to outlaw guns

The Love Collective
Yea, heard the Beyonce cut, weak, lamers don’t even knew it was written by the True BC

msladydeborah
Will do and u don’t want none folk

Tamra
To be honest, I read it every day for 3 weeks, the beligum company take over of Bush, as well as hiw much loot McCain wife made. It was in newspapers, but if hearing comes from tv, u right, I don’t get my news from TVs

Immoral Matriarch
If 6 was 9

Lovebabz
Well said, but unfortunately, voting in a republic don’t amount to jack, ask the s. Africans. I mean America is a republic and not a democracy – land owners make decisions

Gee
I can dig that

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

sauce
LMBAO u know how we memphis jones iz, wait til i post iz u a bich or what

KELSO'S NUTS said...

TORRANCE: The question is not whether the aftermath of Sterling-based real property investors' pickup of Manhattan real estate will be fair or just or kind? The question is why YOU haven't been buying even in USD?

I already told you how my commie dad demolished this thing. He was in 3x-write off govt-subsidized non-recourse loan tax shelters for a few years before the Reagan-Bradley 1986 changes disallowed the 3x deduction. He figured that NYC real estate no matter where (his was in Brooklyn by Pratt). would always have value and the property taxes in NYC are extremely low, so he took ownership and paid and paid and paid and paid until he heard the first grumblings about a CMO problem and he sold at the top.

I'm going to ask Herrera, Navarro and Varela to their faces what they plan to do in terms of monetary policy and then I'll have a look at Obama's first budget and whatever plan he has to deal with the mortgage crisis.

No matter what I hear or see, I'm buying Manhattan real estate and any US oceanfront I can find. I think the right thing to do is to lend Bolivars now if you can find them to build up the grub stake for this.

If Obama decides to ignore it and continues the Bush budgets and loose monetary policy, I'll wait until the first budget before I move. If Obama takes a very pro-active stance and splits up the package between a Brady-izing of the CMOs and a generous mortage holiday, and commits to signalling the fed that he wants tight policy, I'll play smaller. If McCain wins, I'll wait one budget just the same and then SHOVE.

Look, I don't smoke but in 1998 MO and RJR were screaming at me. What could I do?

To coin a phrase from the original Karate Kid movie: "Capitalism yes? Good. Capitalism no? Good. Capitalism 'guess so'? No good."

We do a NCAA pigskin contest at HELL. 10 plays a week. Sides, totals, money lines, split lines...your choice at level stake based upon Pinnacle's prices whenver you post your selections.

Then, we have a special Bowl competition. Please feel free to join.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Torrance you are somewhat right...land owners have a huge say on where tax dollars are spent on the loval level!

But the vote is still a very powerful tool for the masses and it did get Nelson Mandela elected. It is a tool that is a great equalizer between the have and have nots. I am not that cynical yet. And at the same time I do not beleive the vote is the only thing, it has to be used in conjunction with other civic duties like showing up for jury duty. Like going to city council meetings and reading the budget beforehand. Like paying attention to zonning boards and appeals. The vote is not the be all and end all of democracy. If this is not a democracy then folks better roll up their sleeves and get busy.

As I said I am not jaded or cynical. I remain hopelessly optimistic. Yep a bleadin heart liberal of the highest order.

Hey Kelso, not just Manhattan real estate, although that is optimum, but just about anywhere where urban centers are starting to look attractive...except of course Newark, Camden etc--they are a bit a ways away from looking ideal. But then again perhaps now is the time. I am noticing that cities and towns are moving away from building single family homes and more mixed use projects...housing/retail, etc. Cities and towns are feeling the pinch of education budgets that drain dollars. Mixed use projects come with tax incentives and if the retail entity is strong revenue dollars are still attractive. Oh, but I digress...

OG, The Original Glamazon said...

I'm ready for some football!!

On the politics true dat!

-OG

Lena said...

See I didn't even know or hear about that Harlen thing and I watch the news and read the paper everyday. You know...I usually just skip the political stuff in the news now because I figure it is biased and I get my info from here anyway. Ha.

Anonymous said...

Hey I am a NewYorker so I totally can understand whats going on in Harlem .However its occuring Brooklyn also.Neighborhoods that were prodominantly black not too long ago are being heavily populated by white people ,and the lanlords are pushing many of the poor -working class out and raising the rent sky high!

By the way I like that Bootsy C"I rather be with you " Its one of them mellow laid back songs that you can sip some wine to and just relax!

Rich Fitzgerald said...

i got five on it, let's put our dollars together and buy back our land.

somebody asked about who turned bootsy's song into a gangsta rap classic - that would be Easy E or NWA and the song was "I'd rather f*ck you".

THE NOCTURNAL said...

thanks man

Anonymous said...

Found this http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/92/05/Foreign_May_Jun1992.pdf

--it appears to have been published in 1992, but it's still interesting and quite relevant.

The author, Cletus C. Coughlin, has written a whole lot of other interesting papers about the US and global economies (google him). It'd be interesting to see some of his thoughts and analysis about the evolution of and prognosis for the crap we're facing right now in comparison to some of what he wrote previously.

Kitty said...

Dang that's a shame.

Monroe Anderson said...

There's a bigger problem than gentrification. China is slowly but surely making moves that will result in its owning the biggest chunk of the USA.

The Socialite said...

I wish someone like you was sitting in the audience with the Press to ask them these type of questions, instead of pointing out that Obama is a celebrity and McCain is old.

Ticia said...

Good info Torrance.....

Man.....these folks taking over America - where are our politians!

THE PRINCESS "CC" said...

excellent point re mccain and obama, but what do you expect?

I mean really.

And i like the "beef" comment, classic.

Has anyone ever told you, you favor the rapper MJG he's from memphis too right??? I noticed this on a new UGK video he appears in. Especially with the hair.

Thembi Ford said...

"Id Rather Be With You" = Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" sample for those who aren't in the know...

As to globalization, this country really is going to hell in a handbasket no matter who wins this one. We've been burying the root causes to economic problems for so long that the public just cant bear it.

Curious said...

You know the British have always been the largest land owners in NYC, at least since the 70's and they were ususally followed by the Japanese and the Dutch. So there is nothing new there. And with a weak dollar and much stronger pound or euro or other currency, why not buy some big apple it will only pay off in the end. In fact because of the weak dollar NYC has received goo gobs of foreign tourists spending their money because everything in the US is so much cheaper. And that goes not just for NYC but Miami and many other cities that attract foriegn spending.

Neither Obama or McCain will be able to prevent this and the real question would be why would they want to. We live in a global econonmy where many people in many places will buy here(where ever here is)and spend there and capital will flow and economies will grow and the wealth for all will increase, at least that's the theory.

BTW Freddie and Fannie may not be government agencies but they have always acted as such. If Mccain or Obama were to allow those 2 to fall, the economy would really collapse and the repercussions for the poor and middle class would be so devastating, you'd hear people start to call for the good old days of Joe Stallin.

So take your beef and throw it on the grill where it belongs and I'll bring the beer. Maybe a nice Belgian brew, Bud perhaps.

Waiting for Zufan! said...

Love the title.

Bet things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. There isn't an easy fix to this mess that the big Arbusto has gotten us into.

In response to your comment: I DID look for one of your books once, at Borders; said it had to be ordered, and I wasn't quite that ambitious... If I do read one, which one am I gonna like best, you think? Got a recommendation?

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

KELSO'S NUTS
I will join, and I wish I had the kind of loot u got and I land grab too

Lovebabz
I would never call u jaded or cynical

OG, The Original Glamazon
My kind of woman

Lena
You should read every word

Kai
Wine yummy

Rich
Luniz

THE NOCTURNAL
Any time

Tamra
Thanks, I will look it up.

Kitty
And we don’t know what hitting us

Monroe Anderson
Well u know I wrote about three times in past year

The Socialite
I would be escorted out with da quickness

Ticia
Thanks ghon how have you been

THE PRINCESS "CC"
LOL, what do u find him attractive lol. And u looking at too much videos, but I had a post suggestion for u after reading your last two

Thembi
Yep and the root is us letting them folk run our lives instead of us doing such

Curious
Now that we can do good friend lol

Waiting for Zufan!
Yes, Rockstar, stud, gigolo and make them order them. Thank u

Unknown said...

What's up Doc! I've been buzzing in and all. Thanks for bringing the issues that are of the utmost importance but for whatever the reason the media and the candidates don't seem to be interested in addressing. Always can get my daily dish of the goings-on right here...
Roschelle

Tyhitia Green said...

Good points, Lovebabz. I agree. :-) I love Octavia Butler too. Life imitating art. :-/

James Tubman said...

our people arent ready to know who the real obama is

im glad a blogger is talkin bout some real news

this is the future

the white boys who run this government has completely messed this country up

running it into deeper debt borrowing from places like japan, england (their mother country) and china

and now they are coming back in to claim their debts by buying up major american institutions like fannie mae and others

the world is getting ready to dump the dollar for the euro

and now you are just starting to see the ripple effects of that movement

and the poeple who are really feeling it unfortuantely are the black middle class

martin luther king said it best

"injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

the jews said during he holocaust "today me tomorrow you"

now we are starting to be affected

Sista GP said...

LOL. You are making me hungry. Can't eat. Had wisdom tooth extracted yesterday.

Shelly- Mom Files said...

I see you got that official nominee button for the web awards. That's pretty exciting! You know I'm pulling for you!

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

Blog Queen
Well just cvhecking jones

Demon Hunter
Babz is the truth, u need to chk out aunt Jackie too

James Tubman
I just want him to be prepared folk

sista gp
I know babe, babz told me to chk on u and I will call 2nite how is hubby, kids and my aunt

Sheliza
Thanks mom LOL, just found out today

Garth Sullivan
Garth, I will give u that and u know I am not attacking him, I want if his handlers read this to prepare HIM FOR WHAT IS REALLY REAL, I agree whole hardely – it is the media and I know u don’t fault me for making us the we in the people think about such

Keisha "Kitten" Isaacs said...

Hey Brother!

Thanks for the knowledge!

Unknown said...

I think for both candidates they have to speak in very basic generalizations because if you start making promises and then win "somebody with a good memory OR somebody who got beef" will surely call them to task! God forbid someone is actually made to come through on those campaign promises...

KELSO'S NUTS said...

@ JAMES TUBMAN: I think Obama's a young pol who's good and getting better and who has certain gifts. He is an obvious choice over McCain. Whatever other things anyone wants to put on him is his or her opinion.

I'm a permanent resident of a foreign nation anyway, so I can't vote. I asked my sister to vote 2x for Obama to cover my vote LOL!

I don't know what the fuck I am. I'm from an Eastern European Jewish family. I grew up speaking Spanish and English. My parents always told me to be very suspicious of Americans and that it was not likely that I'd die in the USA. How prophetic.

I have European features and a dark complexion. By American standards, I'm White.

I've already lived in England, Russia, Spain 3 times and now Panama. But there's a secret about White American people I came to discover. THEY ARE LAZY. THEIR WORK ETHIC IS HORRIBLE AND THEIR INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY IS ABSENT.

I only read the kinds of stuff you're writing about f/x and debt here among the regulars and on my site which is a collective of 24 completely crazed-up souls. There is no discussion of economics and national income accounting outside of a tiny little corner of the Black American and international blended blogosphere.

The "liberal" White sites are worse than the Wingnuts. They've got some weird hangup about economics and finance that they can't discuss money in material and scholarly terms. They can't be seen to be advocating free-market capitalism! I got booted off a site for criticizing someone who was advocating "revolution."

I made the point that my great-grandather and great-great uncles fought as Bolsheviks against the Tsar and it wasn't any joke. Revolution is violent class warfare and it's hideous. To be good at it you have to be willing to kill a policeman or a child in cold blood at the drop of a hat.

That's not who I am. Not hardly. I'm a civil libertarian. And I wrote as much. I was told that on that particular site they use the word "revolution" to mean "paradigm change" and not to take it so seriously.

I wrote back that I hardly saw an equivalence between the Blackberry Pager and M. Robespierre or F. Beria! I was asked to leave the site because my words were fightening and offending their regulars. This was how I discovered Fairlane and through him Torrance.

It's up to all thinking people all over the world to get the word out about how precarious a state the USA is in right now owing to inept, corrupt and sadistic fiscal and monetary policy. We have to keep a discussion going and use whatever ideas work.

And we have to be able to squeeze in a fuckin laugh or two.

no_slappz said...

zip

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

Keisha "Kitten" Isaacs
Anytime scholar/poetetss

Regina

That will be the day

KELSO'S NUTS
True, he is the obvious choice over McCain. And slavery may be some proof to your point and I simply dig the Robespierre reference. And how did u scare folks, let me know?

no_slappz
lol

no_slappz said...

torrance,

Foreign investors have ALWAYS had a stake in the US.

In 1999 the Germans (Daimler Benz) bought Chrysler for about $38 billion. Not long ago they sold it to an American investment company for a net price of about $1 billion. They took a huge beating when they tried to IMPROVE an American car company.

GM might disapper in a bankruptcy. But even if it does not, the company must dump thousands of employees.

The Japanese bought Rockefeller Center in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, as you mentioned, a muslim investment group from Abu Dhabi bought the Chrysler Building. This is good news in many ways. I once had an office in the Chrysler Building. Great place. Great location.

Arabs may own the Chrysler Building, but the Don't own the land underneath it. The land is own by Cooper Union (one of the best engineering, archtecture and art schools in the country). Cooper Union collects an enormous rent from the owners of the Chrysler Building and the school uses that rent to cover its operating costs.

Students accepted at Cooper Union get FREE tuition as a result.

Anyway, businesses from every nation buy pieces of the US when funds are plentiful. The British have been the biggest owners of US assets.

If the US is lucky, Toyota will pick up the pieces of collapsing US auto-makers.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

Torrance: How did I frighten them? I wrote uncomfortable things. I wrote what I knew about the Russian revolution and why my ancestors left after the fall of the Tsar. I wrote about Nat Turner and John Brown with the idea that violent systems require violent response or failing that non-violent leaders like Gandhi and Mandela who are absolutely fearless themselves and can inspire the same fearlessness in multitudes plus brilliant political instincts. But that economics and political brinksmanship always play are role.

I think my having presented fundamental change in those terms presented a kind of Copernican or Freudian problem for the readership. That what happens at the level of control is beyond just closing your eyes, swinging from the heels and voting "Democratic" or eating vegan!

Quite simply, Danton could not get the job done in France. The Mensheviks could not get the job done in Russia.

Nat Turner and John Brown were "morally right," but would you have been happy being on the receiving end of the violence? Are you REALLY ready to decide what side you're on? LOL!

KELSO'S NUTS said...

@ SLAPPZ: Good points all around. Cooper Union, though, is probably the last remaining EUROPEAN university in the US. Many of the state and land-grant university systems were excellent and cheap enough to be almost free. I got my MBA from UCLA nearly 20 years ago and I only paid $1100 per year in tuition.

At over $20K per year, SUNY, UVA, U of Michigan, Chapel Hill, and UCAL are "bargains" but $20K when Cambridge or Salamanca are close to free? Something's terribly wrong. But it's beyond my ability to understand fully.

You and Torrance may well have studied this topic more recently than I did, but I remember reading the Tobin model of "national wealth" and the thesis that a country's net worth as it were can be explained largely by return to the unit of capital and return to the unit of labor.

I found some sense in that. I think that a lot of the Japan worship/bashing in the 80s was kind of silly given how strong US labor and capital return was and has been. With regard to the presumed Japanese superiority of the 1980s, I always found the Fremont (CAL) Toyota case a fascinating cross-cultural study well worth reading. What I took away from the case was that American labor productivity especially in the auto sector was excellent and the collective-bargaining system was beneficial to labor and management both. The Japanese system of human resource management kind of replaced a couple of false gods (servitude and uniformity) for two others(drugs and alcohol) and for a little while that worked.

But only for a little while. When Toyota Fremont under Japanese corporate culture went bad it when worse than it had when it was a dispirited, drug-addled UAW shop, in a very depressed part of the state. But I digress....

I would like to revist Tobin at some point and see if the USA of today is explained by the model and if not can the model be improved or are the results outliers or should the model be tossed in the garbage.

Anonymous said...

Mad late response...

Bone Thugs sampled BC in the song "Mo Murda" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4M8022TsYw

Respect the blog and your words.