Mike Norman Economics

Some of the most interesting of that new work is from, and about, central banks. As an example, here is a remarkable speech by BIS economist Claudio Borio. I am not sure when I last saw such a high density of insight-per-word in a discussion of money and finance, let alone in a speech by a central banker. I could just say, Go read it. But instead I’m going to go through it section by section, explaining what I find interesting in it and how it connects up to a larger heterodox vision of...

This is an odd one, but totally fascinating. When I first saw this I felt alarmed as the host looked like he was part of the occult, maybe Count Dracula even (although he is a very nice guy), and then there is the title suggesting massive conspiracy theories, but not far into the interview I started to warm towards Mads Palvig.Mads Palvig is Norwegian and had been an investment banker, but he started to question the role played by central banks who he believed were controlled by a handful of...

The bifurcation of the global economy was already in process. This stemmed firstly from America’s geo-political financial sanctions regime (i.e. Treasury Wars) – and the consequent attempts by targeted states to de-couple from the dollar sphere. The ‘war hawks’ surrounding the President are now inventing a whole new swathe of ‘tech crimes’ for sanctioning – ostensibly to give Trump oven more of his much-desired negotiating ‘leverage’. Clearly the hawks are using the ‘leverage’ pretext, to...

… the main task today remains to prevent a global war, which is increasingly seen in the US by some as the only way to avoid a day of reckoning. Needless to say, this war is seen as possible in the US by people who have zero knowledge and qualifications in serious military issues and it is not a bad idea to keep reminding all kinds of neocon trash which runs Empire today from their comfy country clubs and offices that many of them will have their own personal conventional 3M14 or X-101 with...

Warning to the US and UK (Anglo-American Empire) and their European vassals in NATO that there will not be regime change in China resulting from ongoing liberalization? China is committed to going its own way, which is unique to its history and conditions, so get used to it. “The practices of reform and opening up in the past 40 years have shown us that the Chinese Communist Party leadership is the fundamental character of socialism with Chinese characteristics … east, west, south, north,...

Both reports look at the usage data and the content themes the IRA run pages provided. Both claim that the intent of the IRA was to influence the election and to sow discord within the U.S. population. But there is no, none, nada, zero evidence in the data that the IRA had such an intent. Nor is their any testimony or statement on it. In contrast the Muller investigation, which looked into the case, found evidence that the IRA had a commercial intent. Unfortunately this is mentioned...

Contemporary liberals are temperamentally conservative — and what they want to conserve is a morally bankrupt political order.,,, A characteristic of neoliberalism? Maybe I was predisposed to democratic socialism; I always considered myself to be “on the Left,” even as a teenager. In any case, it’s become clear in retrospect that watching the liberal class respond to events over the past decade has been a powerful stimulus in my politicization. Which is to say, I didn’t acquire radical...

A major aspect of the CIA’s detention and interrogation operations has been purposefully hidden from view, primarily due to secrecy guidelines that make it illegal for anyone “read into” the program to reveal even its very existence. Recent declassified documents make clear that there was not one, but two CIA torture programs. These programs used different interrogation techniques, responded to different bureaucracies within the CIA, and had very different levels of oversight. This...

Colonialism and "the white man's burden." The story of the East India Company and how transnational corporate totalitarianism began. The rest is history that is still unfolding in accordance with this paradigm that has been adapted to neoliberal globalization and how capitalism is uplifting the masses, in particular those who are not of European descent. There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India - as horrible as it may have been - was not of any...

Zimbabwe!Tim Worstall doubles down.(Tim covers himself in the concluding paragraphs though.)Continental TelegraphThe Problem With Modern Monetary Theory – Explained For Children So MMT Enthusiasts Can Understand Tim Worstall