Mike Norman Economics

Ellen Brown says how in the 1930's the U.S. had a public bank called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which rebuilt America after the 1930's crash, but after WW2 the bank was shut down, probably because it competed with the private banks. Ellen Brown also talks about MMT, although she doesn't agree with everything about it. [embedded content] This episode starts with a look at three stories from Latin America. One of corruption in Brazil, one of a coup in Venezuela, and one of a strike...

On the practical side of philosophy of science. Adding nuance to Karl Popper on falsification. Further argument for the view that theories are useful but not "true." This may seem to contradict the realist view that theories are general descriptions of causal relationships. But I don't think that this is what is is implied. Rather, useful theories can be viewed as fitting the data because they reveal underlying structures that are not observed directly but only indirectly.  There is a...

On Aug. 19, 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. 1952: Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.Keystone/Getty ImagesThe documents provided details of the CIA's plan at the time, which was led by senior officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr., the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Over the course of four days in August 1953, Roosevelt would orchestrate not one, but two attempts to...

TruthoutOcasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal Is a Product of Youth Uprising Alex Wong TruthoutIn Venezuela, White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Coup Greg PalastCounterpunchThe West’s Colonial Mindset Lives On: a Short History of Western Imperial Arrogance Tom SanfordMint Press News Pompeo Attempts to Link Iran, Hezbollah to Crisis in Venezuela Whitney WebbSputnik InternationalPompeo Claims Hezbollah's 'Active Cells' in Venezuela Are Cause for US Action Fort Russ NewsMADURO REVEALS: US...

The question of how to pay for the Green New Deal is pretty silly when you take a step back and look at the larger issue at hand. Scientists are nearly in unanimous agreement that unless we do something unprecedented in the next twelve years, the Earth will become irreversibly hostile to human life in twenty years, with an estimated cost of $69 trillion to deal with this apocalyptic future. Given that the global GDP for 2017 was $75 trillion, it doesn’t matter what economic theory you...

Physician Ted Noel first admits that AOC went though rigorous math training to obtain her undergrad degree in International Relations and Economics, and then accuses her of making trivial math mistakes.  He then shoots from the hip himself, cooking up an off the cuff model of why AOC is clearly wrong.  Dr. Nolan  thinks he can just extemporize a response off the top of his head based on his undergrad math degree as part of his pre-med training when we are talking about launching another...

You can tell a lot about an idea from who likes it. You can tell even more about it by who doesn’t like it. And some of America’s most obtuse pundits do not like the Green New Deal.... SplinterThe Awful Takes on the Green New Deal Are Already Rolling In Paul Blest

Of course, currency sovereigns are self-funding so they don't need to cut other programs for funding purposes. However, currency sovereigns are constrained by the availability of real resources. In this case, choices must be made based on priorities with respect to real resource allocation.WHAT THE WORLD WANTS AND HOW TO PAY FOR IT USING MILITARY EXPENDITURES

Being unable to compete in terms of the technology itself or the pricing thereof, the US is instead forced to resort to so-called “lawfare” and infowars in order to undercut its Chinese opponent. The replacement of outdated American technological infrastructure with updated Chinese systems will also deal a heavy blow to the NSA’s ability to vacuum up countless communications, which is probably the real reason why the US is in such a frenzy to stop Huawei from expanding to Europe and...

Trump’s Energy Dominance plan is predicated on keeping control of the flow and pricing of oil around the world. This is why he’s meddling around in Venezuela, a project more than twenty years in the making by the U.S. but which he philosophically agrees with.He has no ability to stop the drive within our government to keep the Middle East a powder keg because Israel acts as if peace is an existential threat.But none of that will change the trend that now dominates, which is that the U.S.,...