Mike Norman Economics

Some new things that I have been focused on that give unbelievably powerful trading insights.

The insect apocalypse is indeed upon us, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline. Another bad omen?Huff PostInsects Are Dying En Masse, Risking ‘Catastrophic’ Collapse Of Earth’s EcosystemsDominique Mosbergen

"Common sense" arguments against MMT. Zero operational understanding. Bonkers.The American ThinkerWhy the Radical Left (and No One Else) Touts Modern Monetary TheoryWilliam Sullivan

In short, Liu et al present an entirely different set of expected consequences for extremely low interest rates. Instead of faster growth, they lead to slower growth. Instead of higher productivity growth, the lead to lower productivity growth. While in theory enabling government to address income inequality, they actually exacerbate it by encouraging market concentration and monopolization. More time and research is needed, of course, to see how much impact the market concentration effect...

"Socialism." Cato Institute, what to expect? At the same time, Ryan Bourne's objection that the GND goes way past what is needed to address climate change and that its true agenda is broadly imposing progressive policy needs to be addressed. Ryan Bourne also brings up a point I often make myself. Economics is fundamentally about choice involving tradeoffs and opportunity cost. Rational choice is ruled by effectiveness and efficiency in doing so. Effectiveness is about setting goals,...

Global InequalityGlobal poverty over the long-term: legitimate issuesBranko Milanovic | Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and formerly lead economist in the World Bank's research department and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceSee also Our World In DataHow do we know the history of extreme poverty?Joe Hasell and Max Roser

Transparency International EU, is part of TIs “anti-corruption movement” focused on happenings in the European Union. It gets around 40 per cent of its funding from the European Commission, itself, although they claim this does not compromise their “institutional integrity and independence”. Let’s hope not! They have just released a report – Vanishing Act: The Eurogroup’s Accountability (February 5, 2019) – which confirms, in case one wasn’t already aware (looking at the Europhile Left...

Native American genocide, specifically the Cherokee nation. The real history of the United States, which was, by the way, contemporaneous with slavery. And, yes, the president of "the land of the free and the home of the brave" just made a joke about it.Slate“Work of Barbarity”: Here’s What the Trail of Tears Was Like, According to Someone Who Was There Rev. Evan Jones

Climate change is the top security concern in a poll conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, followed by Islamist terrorism and cyber attacks while respondents in a growing number of countries worried about the power and influence of the United States. From Reuters no less.American soft power is declining. Leader of the free world and beacon of liberty no longer?ReutersClimate change seen as top threat, but U.S. power a growing worry: poll

Wow. 16 million hits, and counting. Leave it to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)  to show how to turn a campaign finance primer into a viral video.  Certainly the first time a congressional hearing on strengthening ethics rules for the executive branch  reached such a huge audience.  This is a must-watch clip. I hesitate to add much commentary, as anything I write will likely not add all that much, and might instead only distract from the original.Nonetheless, full speed...