Mike Norman Economics

Another rant from Tim Worstall. If we can't get the rich to pay for all this democratic socialism the Left would give us these days, then how are we going to pay for it? Up pops that other current bright idea, modern monetary theory: We just print the money and go spend it. It is actually true that nobody has ever had socialism paid for by the rich, so it's good to have an alternative idea out there. It's even true that modern monetary theory works, in theory.The only problem is when we...

I was poring over the Federal Reserve minutes from Feb. 21, and as I was rolling my eyes and looking around my den for something to throw, I was reminded of the comments from then-Fed chairman Ben Bernanke years ago when he was asked if the Fed was "monetizing debt." The reply was "No."Yet here we are, years later, and the new mantra is now "Modern Monetary Theory," which says central banks and sovereign treasury departments can print any amount of money they so desire over any extended...

The echo chamber. One school of thought that’s been the focus of strenuous debate, known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), holds that worries about increases in public debt are misplaced, and that the federal government can easily take on much larger spending in some key areas without raising revenues through higher taxes. But at least one progressive policy wonk has his doubts about that increasingly popular approach. Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project accuses MMT supporters of...

If Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) were implemented, foreign exchange markets would have their say about it, that is if we still had floating exchange rates. FACT: No matter how much money the Fed prints, or what they do with their balance sheet, you cannot spend more money than you make. You can make up a shortfall with debt, but after a while, creditors will have had it with you. Governments have always found the temptation to borrow, overspend, and tamper with the value of their...

The battle of the titans. Or maybe better, David and Goliath. We have to free ourselves from the loanable funds theory — and scholastic gibbering about ZLB — and start using good old Keynesian fiscal policies. Keynes — as did Lerner, Kaldor, Kalecki, and Robinson — showed that it was possible to promote economic growth with an “appropriate size of the budget deficit.” The stimulus a well-functioning fiscal policy aimed at full employment may have on investment and productivity does not...

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says that many members of Congress, like Elliott Abrams and John Bolton, expect to make a lot of money out of plundering Venezuela.But who's behind most it all, Wilkerson says, it's mainly the Koch brothers who rule most of the U.S. from behind the scenes? They have an incredible amount of power, he says, and they only care about money, not the American people, or the amount of people, or servicemen, who will die in their wars.Remember, it's the Koch Brothers who are...

Yes, they are gangsters, hardened criminals!  An accurate description of the US orchestrated event today at Venezuela’s border with Colombia was posted on The Saker’s website 3 days ago.  http://thesaker.is/alert-this-would-be-the-plan-for-next-february-23-2019/ Most of the world sees this as “US gangsterism.”  But no one does anything about it. John Wight asks:  “Does anybody really think that Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams care one bit about the welfare of the...

Peter Hatfield is a conservative and scientist who completely demolishes the climate change skeptics arguments. Skeptics, like Patrick Moore and Lord Monckton, actually twist the facts and use altered graphs to push through their their mumbo-jumbo.  Peter Hadfield says how Lord Mon Monckton loves live debates because he doesn't have to show his references. Peter Hadfield has emailed Lord Monckton many times asking him for his references, and when Lord Monckton replied, he checked them out...

Richard Branson was hoping to get 250,000 people attending his concert, and the Washington Post said that 200,000 people had turned up, but Google Earth photographs show that only 20,000 people were there. I guess that was a few rich kids. The Washington Post has stealth-edited all mention of Richard Branson's Venezuela aid concert in Cucuta, Colombia, after the paper originally claimed that the event "drew a crowd of more than 200,000 people Friday."  A Saturday analysis by Moon of...

From the Guardian: The UK is to ban membership of or support for Hezbollah’s political wing, the home secretary has announced, as he accused the Lebanese Islamist movement of destabilising the Middle East.  The decision was also welcomed by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who said “antisemitism and hate crime have no place in our city”.  The [U.K.] government said the organisation continued to amass weapons in contravention of UN security council resolutions, while its support for the...