Mike Norman Economics

The British Government says we have run out of money so we have to have very harsh austerity now. They say it will put right the economy and then one day we will be all be better off again.Thatcher said we are living beyond our means and that cut backs are necessary. We have to tighten our belts, she would say. Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.Conservatives say they believe in the work ethic, and that no one owes you a living. They support the Conservative Party...

This guy describes MMT in a way which fits in really well with what my theory of what money is. No goods and services can be provided for free, so people will always have to work to provide them. So, if the government can just print money to pay for public services without taxing, then is it providing a free service?  No, society simply gets the money and works harder to provide the healthcare staff what they require.Let's say the government decides to spend deficit created money on a state...

Greg Palast is one of my favourites, whose books are so well written and entertaining to read that they are like reading a good novel.He says that with Venezuela it's only about the oil. The Koch Brothers have in Texas  two of the largest oil refineries in the world which can only process the most dirty oil, but Texas has only has very high grade oil. So, the Koch Brothers have been getting dirty tar sand oil from Canada and have been building a pipeline to bring it down - right over the...

The biggest names in finance all have an opinion on the polarizing theory, but not a plan. This article has some real concerns about MMT causing inflation, but it says traders should get ready for it because it could be coming.The article seems to be saying is that the general public - and students - should stay lumbered with enormous debt to keep inflation down.But the new fiscal spending should help grow the economy to soak up the extra money so there won't be too much, or any,...

They say they Maduro is running a communist dictatorship in Venezuela. But hey, that socialism looks good to me! Shame about the toilet roll, though. [embedded content] The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal investigated Venezuela's "humanitarian crisis" in a luxury mall in a rich pro-opposition neighborhood, where he looked for the "authoritarian socialism" that Trump and the corporate media talk so much about.

This is a really good article on how neoliberalism brought about the complete opposite of what they said it would. They said that there maybe a bit more inequality, but overall, most people would become better off as companies would be become more innovative and therefore more profitable.  The second was also a sense that if the government took shackles off of business, they would innovate and grow our way out of social problems. Relaxation of antitrust enforcement would lead to more...

A very informative program. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson is very concerned about Israel's future because Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are behaving so recklessly. After that, there is another look into the Skripal poisoning case.  [embedded content] On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff Col. Lawrence Wilkerson who discusses a variety of issues such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict in Kashmir, Hezbollah’s designation as a terror organisation by the...

Paul Claireaux @PaulClaireaux Where's the evidence for the debt explosion? Right here ... from @ProfSteveKeen 's excellent short book, 'Can we avoid another financial crisis?' (Deffo worth a read that one) (similar pic applies to USA) Stacey HerbertThe top 1% have kept pace with money printing so they are doing as well as they were in 1970, it's just that everyone else has lost their purchasing power and thus the wealth and income gap has widened.In 1970, the average...

A global debt crisis, trade wars and a slowing China risk creating a new recession – even before the damage of the last one has been undone. Since 2012, Chinese GDP has grown at an annual rate of 6-8 per cent – weaker than in the pre-crisis period (growth peaked at 14 per cent in 2007) – but still strong enough to support the growth of the Chinese middle class and stimulate the economies of its major trading partners. The US recovery has been slow by historic standards but growth in 2018...

Changing fertility rates challenge dystopian visions and UN projections about the future of our overcrowded planet Some good news, World population may peak at below 9 billion and then start to go down. As people become urbanized they don't want so many children. In the field extra hands are useful, in a city an extra child is an extra mouth to feed. And women want careers and less children. These remarks offer a window on one of the most compelling questions of our time: how many people...