Mike Norman Economics

Russia, you see, has a serious problem with population decline. They’re expecting a 28 percent plunge in women of childbearing age by 2032. Their population peaked at about 148 million, in 1991. You might notice that as the year of the collapse of communism. After the revolution, a series of factors — including introduction to the joys of international capitalism, with the accompanying loss of free health care, spiking economic inequality, accelerated substance abuse, etc. — caused Russia...

The starting point of MMT is that our thinking about money is conditioned by the view that money is based on gold, which leads us to ignore the radical differences between gold-backed money and “fiat” money, which comes into existence by government decree, and does not require any backing. With a gold-backed currency, the concept of a government deficit makes sense – the government must have gold, in order to spend it. However, with a fiat currency, a deficit must always be self-imposed;...

Well, I agreed with everything John Wright said here. But I became fascinated by the embedded clip of Putin. For the first time I noticed how the interpreter also copied Putin's tone and mannerisms so you get to hear how he is expressing himself. I have noticed this before but hadn't really thought about it, but I guess interpreters don't just translate, they also try to give an indication of how things are being said. Well, Putin has always sounded modest, genuine, concerned, and sincere to...

I like to put something out here occasionally that is non political or about economics but which I have found interesting. I found this video about EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique - to be quite fascinating. To me EFT is absolutely crazy, in fact, I always considered it to be a scam, but now a district within the British NHS is offering EFT to its patients.  Professor Dr Tony Stewart's research (he is a NHS consultant) showed that EFT can be effective in only 4 or 5 sessions...

We don't have a democracy, Israel and our ruling elite conspire against our national interest. It's an oligarchy.I guess it's all about weapon sales and creating fictitious enemies to scam the public into buying more weapons - as if piling more onto the millions we already have world make any difference.It's a protection racket and the ruling elite should be put on trail for treason.  [embedded content] Anya Parampil reports on Al Jazeera’s censored four-part investigation series on the...

An interesting podcast.  The British Conservative, Jesse Norman, says Adam Smith wasn't the neoliberal or the libertarian that many on the left believe (or the right, I might add). The interviewer mentions how Margaret Thatcher carried around all the time in her handbag the Wealth of Nations, but Jesse Norman laughed at that saying that many Conservative politicians can quote three sentences from the Wealth of Nations but have never read the book. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a...

Frances Coppola’s concerns about fixed versus floating exchange rates for developing countries is presumably interesting to some, but it tells us little about the validity of MMT...  Bond Economics The Myth Of The Myth Of Monetary SovereigntyBrian Romanchuk

More on how Hitler refused to develop the atomic bomb.Look at that photograph below, see how shocking it is? A child is still alive while everyone else is dead. Imagining the suffering? What's up with this world? I don't like to rant, but that photograph upset me! [embedded content] To intimidate the Soviet Union and prove to Congress the nuclear program should be funded, Truman dropped nuclear weapons on Japan to end the war; no scientist came forward to warn of the dangers to life on...

42% of the British public don't even know that there is a war going on in Yemen. Aid projects funded by Oxfam in Yemen have been hit in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, it has emerged, as the British government faces mounting pressure to halt arms sales to Riyadh.   A vital cholera treatment centre in Abs, in the Hajjah province, was hit in June in coalition war strikes – which are supported by British intelligence – despite the location being reported to the Saudi alliance more than 12...

The Conservatives have borrowed £670 billion in the last 7 years, while Labour governments have borrowed in total £500 billion in the last 33 years.British Conservative Party says we need to reduce spending because we have run out of money and so they have implemented harsh austerity.  Public services have been cut to the bone and the NHS is struggling while waiting lists have increased.Lots of people have had their benefits cut, or taken away completely, and suicides have been on the rise....