My goodness, I did not mean to imply you were not "trained"! That remark came in the context of a comment on the fact that, despite the name calling, etc., I like this list and learn from it and am "happy to be here." I was trying to downplay our differences or our non-communication, and to show that I was not, in fact, being melodramatic, as you accused.
It is true that I was thinking of Max and others who post more often than you, but I certainly did not mean to somehow be criticizing you, or to be policing anyone's credentials. That would be a bizarre thing to see on Doug's list! I thought it was clear I am not even informally trained in real economics, but am in philosophy, incl. in what is called "pomo" around here, and that therefore I myself benefit mostly, but not exclusively from the former people. Looking back, I should have thrown a transition in there to make it clear I was not casting aspersions, b/c in the previous paragraph I was being somewhat critical or arguing. I did not think that my "praise" of them, would imply something about you. If it did, it is in part because of the way this list operates, not b/c I was being nasty.
As a matter of fact, Michael, I think you do have the right to brag, if you wanted to. I have read some of your work in MR over the past couple-three years, and I think it is excellent, high quality stuff. In addition to pieces on labor politics, I remember esp. your review essay of Braverman, which I think reminded us of how important and timely his work still is. I remember thinking it would have been nice to have seen you discuss Lukacs and reification in there, but this is not a criticism. The idea that the labor market should *not* be the primary locus of class struggle, could not be any more important. Alas, I think very few marxists and leftists realize this. Moishe Postone's re-reading of Marx is I think excellent on this, too. In a way, Doug's piece from Brecht Forum touches on this too.
Your piece on the labor market sounds very interesting, perhaps you could post some of it here.
I hope this has clarified our most recent misunderstanding.
--dfv
At 10:03 PM 1/30/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Daniel,
>
>Not to brag, far from it, but I am indeed a "trained economist," with
>more than 25 graduate course in economics and math through advanced
>calculus!! See my article, "The labor market is unlike any other," in an
>old issue of Monthly Review. Maybe you'll learn something.
>
>Michael Yates
------------------------------------------------------ Daniel F. Vukovich Dept. of English; The Unit for Criticism University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------------------------------