Mike Norman Economics

China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) administrated by central authorities saw their profit surge in the first seven months this year, according to the state asset regulator.  China now has 96 central SOEs, down from 196 in 2003, as the central government has restructured central SOEs to improve their efficiency and competitiveness. From January to July, the 96 companies posted a total profit of 1.05 trillion yuan (about 152.8 billion U.S. dollars), up 23.9 percent year on year,...

How does a tariff work? A tariff is a tax on imported goods, so if a Chinese good is sold to an American, the American literally has to pay the tax. The quote above is from Mr. Trump, as recounted in Peter Coy’s “The Real Pain From Trump’s Tariffs Trickles Down to Consumers” in Bloomberg Businessweek; it clearly highlights the fact that either (1) Mr. Trump has no understanding of how tariffs work, or (2) he does understand, and he’s lying.... Trump is apparently assuming that the price...

As I always do I give the payroll number forecast for tomorrow's jobs report.

US foreign policy is being dictated by an American Jewish Zionist whose only concern is Israel, not the American people. What sort of democracy is this? Sheldon Anderson has dinner with Trump once a month, and is frequently on the telephone to him. He has donated $55 million to the Republican Party and thinks he owns it. He's up for nuking Iran! He should be put on trail and thrown in prison as he is a maniac who is a threat to all life on the planet. Public enemy No 1.The American (and...

We might all have the capacity to be geniuses, but we can't access the all the parts of the brain for this to happen. Could we all be born with immense intelligence, but only a few of us get the connections to activate this. We consider matter to be unconscious, but is there a link between matter and consciousness?Did we evolve the right way - I'm not saying predetermined by God - but did we evolved in sync with the universe, and like a seed, it was already built in for us to evolve in a...

Last week Washington threatened Iran, Syria, China, Venezuela and RussiaTerrifying, the US is out of control! The crazies are in command. The living dead run Washington. Oh, and Trump has accused China of meddling in the U S presidential election. Well, if the Democrats mannered to pull that stunt off, I guess the Republicans might as well jump onto the bandwagon. The nuclear war doomsday clock maintained on the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website has advanced to two minutes before...

Part 1 continued from yesterday.Bill Mitchell – billy blogReflections on the 2nd International MMT Conference – Part 2Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Politicians should be as focused on bank malfeasance as they are on welfare overpayments and strawberry sabotage In handing down his interim report last week at the financial services royal commission, the Honourable Kenneth Hayne was damning in his criticism of the behaviour of Australian bankers. It wasn’t a lack of laws, guidelines or codes of conduct that led to the richest banks stealing from the poorest Australians, the commissioner argued, it was simply greed The neoliberal...

Is Beijing aware of the trap being set? It would be crazy to follow through with liberalization of the financial sector, inviting Western takeover.Defend Democracy PressIs China still willing to open its financial sector during trade war? Frank TangSee also “We at the Trump administration have updated our China policy to bring the concept of competition to the forefront. It’s right there at the top of the president’s national security strategy.” Revealing. US tells China: we want...

The crazies gets crazier. President Trump seems to have lost control of them, prompting the question, who is the president now anyway.Just as with Iraq and WMD, the New Times and the Washington Post are driving the crazy.The NationMore Cold War Extremism and Crises Stephen F. Cohen | Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton UniversitySee also As the United States squeezes China economically through an escalating trade war, it is...