Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cold Warm Cold and Marglin vs Adam Smith !? Huh ??

Yes . That's the weather cycle in a day here in Canberra . When you wake up in the morning , it is so cold that you will either need to wear a thick jacket ( if your heater is not on and that is basically what I do) or you can shiver all morning long . Around noon , it is cool ... more like warm to me . When it gets to evening... it is cold again .

This was not the case last year . Hmm . I wonder why . Anyway , the weather in Australia (southern areas) are always unpredictable .

Tun was admitted in Langkawi and transferred to IJN . Was shocked initially to read Tun had difficulty in breathing in Langkawi . Thankfully subsequent updates from blogs confirmed that Tun was well and Sufi released a press statement . Well well , that's the power of blog !!

You know , I would prefer to equate the blogs in Malaysia to the CNN in the States . The blogs here are so fast in passing news around , especially in Tun's events . The papers are always slow . Ok I understand the slow process in printed media . But in the online version ?? It is slow as well . That is why we refer to blogs . Fast , "accurate" , precise , interesting , juicy .

Though some Ministers and Deputy Ministers or perhaps Senator claimed that blogs are spreading rumours about certain people in the upper echelons . Oh yes . Pak Lah did not faint at all . He just "almost fainted" . That was the term used by the mainstream media . Don't make me laugh guys . This is ridiculous . In debating terms , utterly preposterous .

Hmm . All right . I hope Tun gets well as soon as possible and be healthy always . I pray for the health and safety of our beloved former Prime Minister that has served in the public service for many years with Distinction not only in the local arena but also internationally where he leads the voices of the Third World impoverished and Western-discriminated countries .

Long live to our former PM . No . Perhaps our PM . He will always be the PM of Malaysia . Yes . That's the proper term . A leader will always be a leader to me :)

So yes . I did an argumentative essay on Marglin's arguments . Professor Stephen Marglin is a Harvard staff and he holds a Chair there I read . Anyway , in his article , Marglin argues that the organization of work in the firm was not shaped by technological superiority but that changes in technology were driven by the capitalists' desire to impose control over workers . He aruged that the change of systems from guild to "putting-out" to hierarchical factory was driven by the great desires of capitalists' to grab a greater share of the pie at the workers' expense .

In his paper , Marglin also criticized Adam Smith's division of labor theory . Interesting huh .

His arguments seemed good but some are still arguable . Hmm . You can always read up on what Marglin wrote . Interesting stuff . Takes time to understand though .

His paper was published under the title "What do bosses do?" , Review of Radical Political Economics .

Check it out . Have a good day everyone .

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