Mike Norman Economics

This video is five years old, but it is still pertinent today. To think of the type of society we could have had, instead of the dog eat dog, low waged, excessive hours at work, high debt society we have today. McJobs! [embedded content] A two-minute excerpt from a General Motors video is a classic example of how easy it is to con American citizens into voting for the wrong politicians. By totally misrepresenting how working-class living standards improved, conservatives have convinced...

Dean Baker doesn't think there is going to be a recession soon, nor does he think that Trump has left the U.S. ill prepared for the next recent recession when it does come. For one thing, Dean Baker is not worried about the deficit. There is a popular theme in the media these days that the Trump administration is leaving us poorly prepared for the next recession. The basic story is that high deficits and debt will leave us less room to have a large stimulus when the next recession hits. This...

Branko Milanovic explains why Marx's historical analysis of socio-economic phenomena remains not only relevant but also preeminent, based on a few key insights. While he does not identify as a Marxist or even a Marxian, he credits the important influence of Marx on his thinking.There are no non-trivial economic phenomena that are not socio-economic, and Marx is the analyst that put his finger on the how and why. While it would be a mistake to dogmatize Marx, it would also be a great mistake...

The Russians are getting blamed for everything: They were behind the Yellow Vests protest; the Brexit vote was blamed on them; the BBC recently said that Russia uses humor to influence people, but no jokes are ever allowed to be said about Putin; the Russians influenced the black vote either by getting them to stay at home, or vote for Trump, or Jill Stein.When the Google CEO was asked by Congress if they had identified how much money Russian agents had spent on influencing the presidential...

AbstractIn the early 1730s George Berkeley began to explore the conceptual field between ideas and spirits that he previously claimed to be empty. In this field he found a rich set of concepts including “notions,” “principles,” “beliefs,” “opinions,” and even “prejudices.” Elsewhere I have referred to this phase in Berkeley’s thought as his “second conceptual revolution.”2 I believe that it was motivated by his increasing need to develop a language to discuss the social, moral and...

Reminiscence of the Future14/16 Andrei MartyanovAsia TimesChristmas makes a comeback in Damascus Sami MoubayedRTSyrian Christian town where Jesus’ language remains in use celebrates Christmas (VIDEO) EcnsChina's BeiDou system now at the service of global users EcnsHuawei set to post 21% sales growth in 2018 Consortium NewsA Reuters Report on Iran That Fueled US Diatribes Ivan Kesic. in Zagreb, CroatiaJacobinRussia Beyond Supervillainy Branko MarceticMint Press NewsBanned: The Smear...

Another good day. More signs of a turn.

What editorial control does the UK Guardian exercise on Op Ed pieces? Seemingly none if you read this article (December 24, 2018) – What Labour can learn about Brexit from California: think twice – written by some well-to-do American postgraduate working for DiEM25 in Athens. But when Thomas Fazi and I sought space to discuss our book – Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (Pluto Books, 2017) – or when I have sought space to provide some...

Peter Philips, author of the book, Giants: The Global Power Elite, says that the one percent own half of the wealth in the world and they have run out of places to re-invest their money. If you think about it, if you make a profit and keep re-investing that profit to make even more profit you are eventually going to run out of places to invest it.To find new places to invest their money the One Percent have got the IMF to force countries to privatise their public services and infrastructure,...

George Galloway says he has the biggest independent radio show in the UK at the moment and it's owned by Rupert Murdoch, but he says he might move the show over to Sputnik Radio. [embedded content] Polly Boiko reports on the UK media witch hunt against Sputnik journalists working at the UK bureau in Edinburgh who have been “outed” in a American owned British newspaper “The Sunday Times”. Ashlee Banks talks with former UK MP George Galloway about what this means, the possibility of...