Mike Norman Economics

The powers that be pump money into mainstream economics to make it look like there is no alternative. The role of government The left believes the government has a role to play in the economy beyond simply correcting “market failures.” Prominent leftist economists like Stephanie Kelton and Mariana Mazzucato, argue for a government role in economic equity and shared prosperity through policies like guaranteed public employment and investment in innovation. The government shouldn’t merely...

While the West is divided, with the US and the EU arguing with each other and suffering from internal crises, China and India are becoming world powers. What does it mean globally and locally? Should we expect any Asian country or Asia as a whole to become a new powerhouse? How to preserve security in the region and what Russia’s role in that could be? The world’s balance of power is slowly, but steadily moving towards Asia. While some countries like South Korea and Japan still depend on...

The front groups that have been funded for decades by billionaires Charles and David Koch, majority owners of the fossil fuels conglomerate, Koch Industries, are determined to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court because he has demonstrated a willingness to write decisions favorable to gutting regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. Whether Kavanaugh has a history of sexual assaults is irrelevant to that agenda. As recently as last evening, a dark money group that keeps its donors a...

More framing.This is a really good article. Concise, precise, and clearly formulated so that anyone can understand it. Disseminate widely.Here is the lede: Governments of all stripes base their policies on mainstream economics. Powerful challenges to the mainstream, especially from ecological economics and modern monetary theory, explain why we are in a hole and can’t seem to get out. If this article is largely correct, we can conclude that the economics profession is a major cause –...

Some ideas seem too good to be true. Like this one. It comes from a 13-year-old listener named Amy. She says she knows the government has trouble finding enough money to pay for stuff like schools and hospitals. And she wondered if it has considered just printing more money. She asked us: Can the government do that? Just make more money to pay for stuff? Fiscal hawks say, 'no way!' We'd have crazy inflation! But there's a group of economists that says, 'yes, we can create way more money,...

About framing and cultural mindset. Important now that MMT is gaining traction and neoliberalism is being challenged by social democracy. This is an issue that Bill Mitchell among MMT economists has been particularly devoted to, although they are all concerned with it as a matter of strategy now that MMT is ascendent. My point here is a disquieting one. It is the case that many neoliberal ideas are plain wrong; neoliberalism, for example, might well have retarded productivity growth. It...

History suggests otherwise, as well as intelligence reports In other words, al-Nusra’s sole aim is to destroy the Assad regime and, ergo, it is on the same side as the “moderates” and worthy of the same military assistance. If the “moderates” can’t say to al-Nusra, “We won’t work with you”, then how could the US? Intelligence reports to the French government have been recording US air strikes against Isis that have avoided endangering positions held by al-Nusra. When Isis arrived in its...

A quarter point rate hike is baked in, but what happens after?

As a reminder, yesterday we reported that Europe has unveiled a "Special Purpose Vehicle" to do just that, which not only would bypass SWIFT, but potentially jeopardize the dollar's reserve status. As we explained, "given U.S. law enforcement’s wide reach, there would still be a risk involved, and European governments may not be able to protect the companies from it. Some firms will be tempted to try the new infrastructure, however, and the public isn't likely to find out if they do. In...

Dark money and conflict of interest on SCOTUS. Sex scandal is just a canard. The real issues go far deeper. Not that the sex scandal is immaterial. In fact, the GOP seems to have decided it doesn't need educated white women after having previously decided that it doesn't need college-educated white males and non-whites. The "Big Tent" has narrowed to not-college white males and Evangelicals.Wall Street On ParadeThe Kavanaugh Nomination’s Money Trail Leads Back to Clarence Thomas Pam...