Mike Norman Economics

The latest crazy.Maybe taking a lead from Israel's shooting marching protesters as "invaders"?Breitbart NewsExclusive--Ken Cuccinelli: States Can Stop Migrant Caravan 'Invasion' with Constitutional 'War Powers' John Binder

Why is the Council of Economic Advisers producing party political propaganda for the GOP?… Are Trump's "economic advisers" really so ignorant of basic economic concepts beyond the most elementary textbook simplification?... But, but... economics is a science! (snark)Econospeak"Opportunity Cost of Socialism" Sandwichman

It's worth watching for the comments underneath. [embedded content] The current US national security adviser landed in Moscow less than two days after Trump vowed to pull out of the milestone Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, boldly accusing Russia of violating it.

This is a good video of Michael Hudson which is a kind of autobiography. He says how he started out studying music but he needed to a make a living as well, and then one day a friend told how sunspots affected a certain U.S district's water table which would cause droughts and this would put a drain on the financial system leading a crash. Michael Hudson found this so interesting that he decided to study economics.After he got his economics degree, he starting working for an oil company as...

This is absolutely excellent. David Buik, who is a thoroughly decent fellow who comes on to defend the City of London, is humbled and incredibly open minded to what Richard Warner has to say. Superb!Richard Werner gives excellent account about why small, non profit, local private banks are so good for an economy. They tend to invest in local businesses to increase products and services, while the big banks prefer to give loans for purchases, whether it be for consumer goods, like say, cars,...

Remember those silhouettes in the newspapers, a black outline of a man with 'Success ' written underneath, where you can pay for a course to learn how to become successful? Hey, our society is all about becoming successful, and if you haven't become successful, then maybe you're a failure?I've certainly worked very hard in my life, at work, and at college, as I was a workaholic, but I cured myself and nowadays. I prefer Buddhist non-striving. [embedded content] Work hard, always hustle,...

Funny critique of economics as patent nonsense. The Radford Free PressThose Lumps MatterPeter Radford

The US knows that its public pretense of pulling out of the INF Treaty in order to compel other countries to join an expanded version of it is unbelievable because most other powers with these intermediate-range missile capabilities won’t ever accede to a new agreement, but America’s going forward with this narrative anyhow in order to turn South Korea and Japan into missile bases for countering China’s game-changing DF-26 “carrier-killers”.... China, meanwhile, counts the Dong Feng-26...

Short book review, with some useful links.  "Fascism" is claimed to be a rising phenomenon. The question is, what is it anyway?  Does "fascism" denote a well-bounded set, or is fascism like pornography, hard to define but easy to identify when encountered, to paraphrase US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart?Open CultureYale Professor Jason Stanley Identifies Three Essential Features of Fascism: Invoking a Mythic Past, Sowing Division & Attacking Truth Josh Jones

Good backgrounder on the current state of the snake pit. Khashoggi is hailed in the West as a liberal, favouring democratic reform, but in fact, he was a staunch supporter of the monarchical system (of which MbS is the effective head). He contended however, that all these monarchies were “reformable”. Only the secular republics, he suggested (such as Iraq, Syria and Libya) were unreformable, and required to be overthrown. Where he fell out with MbS therefore, was that he favoured not a turn...