At 09:29 PM 12/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Doug and the LBOers,
>
>Anyone read Lester Thurow on the Euro in the January 11th edition of the
>Nation. Anything tu-it.
>
>Your email pal,
>Tom L.
>
>
They also have an article by Thurow on Euro at http://www.commondreams.org/.
Sounds right to me, maybe. I imagine some countries will be real happy not to have to rely on our money system. Not because it's not stable, but cause we piss them off. And was it here or in BW where I just read about the net outflow of money. So maybe it's not as stable as it used to be? I wish you econ guys would talk about this stuff.
However I can't see countries rushing to keep their reserves in the Euro until it's been around awhile, but who knows, maybe they've been panting for the opportunity. Course, since US consumer demand is supposedly keeping the global economy afloat( which I'm not sure I buy )they might think twice. But the future possibilities for problems seems high. I mean if we've been top money-dog all this time, then a lot of the system must be set up to take advantage of that situation.
Which brings me back to the question about oil. I was just thinking that the Big Cigars are faced with so many unfamiliar wild cards, they might be really worried about a further deterioration in oil prices and it's effect on Mexico, etc, .
The domestic economy is being fueled by the consumer. The consumer is giddy with market profits. Earnings are already a problem, what will all these trading households do if there's more bad news from south of the border? It seems to me that a big market drop would be very dangerous at this time. Because consumption would come to a screeching halt. How many more people can refinance?
Thurow mentioins possibility that int. rates would have to go up to compete with Euro, but aren't EU interest rates quite a bit lower than ours?
As the IMF forcast concluded, it all depends on what US investors do when faced with increasingly perilous market conditions.
*******************
On that show I've mentioned, Sunday, PBS, Religion and Ethics, they had some lefty cleric talking about the fact that most ALL the churches, not just the Pope, would be calling for debt cancelation this year. That could get really interesting, no?
********************** Just saw a cab-top ad for Camels: GO FOR THE TROPHY SMOKE with a picture of an old dude with sunglasses and a young blonde woman in a strapless gown. Wierd.
************************ FREAKS
Some earlier comments about the freaks on daytime talk shows got me ta thinking. For a long time now I've been telling people that these shows are put on so that the public will think the working class doesn't deserve a decent healthcare system.
My friend Stella, who's interesting enough as it is, refused to go on Jerry Springer cause they wanted her to make stuff up. You'd think a gorgeous, clean and sober bi-sexual woman who works for the rights of sex workers and wears a dildo on stage fronting her lesbo band would be enough.
Still I don't think these people are freaks, except maybe their ability to take it all on TV. It seems like it's the so-called respectable folks who are the real freaks. I thought that back in the "free-love" days, and I still do. I mean, I don't know anyone who's been into anything as sick as the Bill and Monica thing. Eating pizza and getting a blow job and sober at that. That's some cold shit.
Man, I wish Roseanne Barr would get into some issues, besides suppporting Clinton. I want my Donahue.