Mike Norman Economics

(These remarks will be delivered today at the UBS European Conference in London.) Multiplier EffectA Better Way to Think about the “Twin Deficits”L. Randall Wray | November 13, 2018

When elections don't go the way the US wants. On Monday, the United States called the election of leaders and parliamentarians in the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk a “farce,” according to a spokeswoman for the US State Department, Heather Nauert. On Sunday the two self-proclaimed people’s republics held elections for leaders and parliamentarians. Turnout in Donetsk reached 80.1% of voters, while in Lugansk the number was 77%, according to the central...

Another optimistic video about climate change and how to reverse it. [embedded content] Below is a really good video of how a man transformed a near dessert in the U.S. into to fertile and lush green land. 50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything | Short Film Showcase [embedded content] Almost 50 years ago, fried chicken tycoon David Bamberger used his fortune to purchase 5,500 acres of overgrazed land in the Texas Hill Country. Planting grasses to soak in rains and...

Kalecki refutes Say's law, which says essentially that money is a "hot potato" and people spend or invest all of it immediately without intertemporal saving. That is to say against a strict interpretation of Say's law, choice is not anything like immediate in a modern monetary economy, and saving negatively affects consumption of consumer goods and productive investment in capital goods thereby reducing effective demand below full employment. Since private debt is a feature of a modern...

I have been reading the new book by Costas Lapavitsas – ‘The Left Case Against the EU’ – which has been recently published. It is solid and clearly explains why the EU is not an institution or structure than anyone on the progressive Left should support or think is capable of reform any time soon. It has become a neoliberal, corporatist state and hierarchical in operation, with Germany at the apex bullying the weaker states into submission. Divergence in outcomes across the geographic...

On one side the mathematician Roger Penrose. On the other side the philosopher Emanuele Severino. A double lesson by two masters of thought to understand future scenarios: philosophical, but also practical.Some A.I. scientists believe that one day machines will have consciousness, but Roger Penrose said that would never happen as a machine, no matter how bright it was, would never be aware.A computer can take in data and give out information or new data. It can record light, heat, colour,...

The NationWhy Liberal Hegemony? James Carden, contributing writer at The Nation and the executive editor for the American Committee for East-West Accord IrrussianalityTHE LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL ORDER Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa Global Research | Opinion (11 Aug 2018, republished 10 Nov)A Decalogue: The Ten Theses of American Empire-Building: A Dialogue James Petras |  | Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at...

Crossing the Rubicon. There is no UN mandate for this. While the US could not directly force SWIFT to cut off Iranian banks, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had warned that penalties would be applied to SWIFT and any other firms that refused to comply with the latest sanctions, effectively forcing SWIFT to pick between compliance with US demands or angering top EU officials. It picked the former. Zero HedgeSWIFT Cuts Off Iran Central Bank As Tehran Sells 700,000 Barrels To Anonymous...

Spoiling the fun. Meanies. On November 11, Sipila stated that Finland’s GPS signal had been intentionally disrupted during NATO’s exercise Trident Juncture over the past few weeks. “It is possible that Russia has been the disrupting party in this. Russia is known to possess such capabilities,” Sipila told public broadcaster Yle. On November 6, Finland’s air navigation services issued a warning for air traffic due to a large-scale GPS interruption in the northern part of the country....

Smackdown.Sic Semper TyrannisClapper and Brennan are felons? Probably yes.Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.) At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military...