Mike Norman Economics

Knowledge as a factor of production. Knowledge is broader than information. Knowledge includes tacit knowledge, skill, and critical and creative thinking. In other words, the study of knowledge involves epistemology, logic and language, psychology, and other relevant fields in addition to information.  Information can be formalized but a great deal of knowledge cannot, at least given present limitations and future prospects through technology. Labor as the human component of...

The "free trade agreements" have little to do with tariffs and can be better described as "investor rights agreements" in that their main purpose is to shield companies from sovereign law. Laws are designed to protect a nation from environmental and labor abuses, and that might otherwise impinge on profits. The beneficiaries of the agreements are not so much the nations as the elite business owner class in each country. The opulent minority. Free trade in the sense that private companies...

Strategic Culture FoundationThe West Slips Down Another Step Patrick Armstrong The Nation War with Russia? Stephen F. Cohen | Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton University TASSKremlin unveils agenda of canceled Putin-Trump meeting Sputnik InternationalAnonymous Reveals Proof "Russian Meddling" in Catalan Independence Vote Fake Sputnik InternationalDefamation Impossible: Hackers Leak More Details on UK's Info War in...

The IMF hitman in Europe, one Poul Thomsem recently published a European Money and Finance Forum (SUERF) Policy Note (October 2018) – A Financial Union for the Euro Area – where he basically told us that any changes that the IMF will allow to occur in the Eurozone architecture will be minimal and will not stop Member States “from being forced to undertake large pro-cyclical fiscal adjustments when the next shock or major downturn hits”. The term “large pro-cyclical fiscal adjustments” means...

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As I said 2 weeks ago. Stock market has bottomed.

Sputnik InternationalGerman Police Shut Down Concert Due to Mass Nazi Salute Moon of AlabamaWhat Poroshenko Gets Wrong - H.W. Bush And The Ukraine TASSUkraine’s government divides country by declaring martial law, Putin says TASSRussian Defense Ministry: NATO deploys troops along Russian border under drills' guise SouthFrontUS MILITARY CONTRACTOR IS HIRING PERSONNEL TO SUPPORT CLASSIFIED ‘CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS’ IN UKRAINE The DuranDonbass prepares for renewed assault as Ukrainian...

Probably nothing new here for regular MNE's readers, but I always enjoy a good interview of Ray McGovern. [embedded content]

Someone is manipulating the oil market, says Chris Cook, who is a regulator, but he doesn't think it is the government. He says it's very peculiar. A bad omen! Chris Cook interview starts at 19 minutes.Link supplied by Footsoldier. [embedded content]

What the Labour Party should be going for?What Craig Murray is addressing, without being explicit about it, is the theory of natural property rights based on John Locke's just-so story about mixing labor with land to acquire a natural right through use. This is based on a narrative that is unhistorical, on one hand, and on the other, it doesn't justify transfer, especially through inheritance. Marx gave the correct historical account based on "primitive accumulation," which amounts to...