Mike Norman Economics

Tax day and what follows has implications for the markets.

President Trump recently declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group. Here is a backgrounder on the Guard, Quds (Quds), the leadership, and the religious philosophy behind it. Could this become a very big deal? Yes. So you may wish to catch up on it.SouthFrontThe Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Qods Force

Jimmy Dore shows his anger here. The West is run by mega rich psychopaths and the media goes along with it. Western populations have no idea of the lies they are told.Neera Tanden says the US has a large deficit because of the wars it has fought to 'liberate' countries around the world and so the US should take their resources to pay for it. But that deficit money went straight into the pockets of the military-industrial complex which made a killing out of it. US companies take the resources...

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. The cries about rampant corruption in Russia have been going on the West since the collapse of the USSR. A couple of years ago, President Putin appointed a special investigator prosecutor to put an end to it. Now that officials are being held to account, the West is crying, "purge."Same with China and President Xi.Look at the credentials of the author and go figure.Project SyndicatePutin’s Art of the Purge Andrei Kolesnikov | senior fellow and the...

Is the US trying to lock the barn door after the horse is gone left over offshoring jobs to China? A new paper suggests so.Marginal RevolutionNew results on the China shock, furthermore the China shock is largely overTyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center

SummaryThe US budget deficit is $147 billion in March 2019; this is a net add to private domestic sector income. Dollars added to the economy by the federal government allow the private sector to post a $147 billion surplus and add to its stock of net financial assets. Private credit growth was again flat and added less than $1.8 billion to the money supply. A big drop from the January contribution of over $70B. Further, income flows from the national government impact investment markets...

Not every decision will turn out to be the right one. But in China, when mistakes are made, adjustments follow. While this form of accountability is not perfect, it has produced a track record that is exceptional by any standard. Interesting article coming from Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng, who are not considered government mouthpieces and have often been critical of China's policies. Chinese people seem to understand Chinese behavior, whereas most Westerners transpose their own cultural bias...

Most of the financial "professionals" writing on (against) MMT are clueless about both MMT and also the basics of finance in institutional arrangments. They think that the world is still on the gold standard, for example, likely because they strongly believe that it ought to be. But beyond that, also clueless about how the accounting works at the macro level. A very few do understand MMT, however. Paul McCulley of Pimco and James Montier of GMO, for example. Here is another voice to...

It appears that the Brexit process in Britain will now stall. My understanding of the Referendum was the majority of British people who voted wanted to leave the EU and that the politicians from all sides of politics unambiguously stated they would honour the outcome, whichever way the vote fell. That is what democracies are about. A lot of people are disappointed by vote outcomes. They have to grin and bear it. But in the case of the Brexit vote, the Remainers have never accepted the...

Some books on philosophy of economics.The Enlightened EconomistEconomics and philosophy Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation