Mike Norman Economics

If we abolish money from economic theory, what replaces it? The answer is: financial assets. Although this might be viewed as a superficial change, there are important implications. In particular, the central bank can manipulate the amount outstanding of some types of financial assets, but it cannot control all of them. We end up with a more realistic view of central bank power. They no longer control “money” and hence all commerce, rather they are reduced to worrying about setting interest...

The recovery has since picked up speed, so the deficit should be falling especially fast right now. Unfortunately, the FRED data site does not have updated figures, but the deficit is no longer falling. Indeed it’s exploding, expected to reach $1.1 trillion in 2019. Nothing like this has ever happened in America during a period of peace and prosperity. There is such a firehose of spending that Washington is hardly able to shovel dollars out the door as fast as they are being...

Reminiscence of the Future  Some Fast Thoughts On IL-20 [Important] Andrei Martyanov The Vineyard of the Saker Russian response options to the latest Israeli provocation The Saker Dances with BearsPutin’s Forfeit – From Strategic Mistake to Strategic Defeat in 24 HoursJohn Helmer TASS France partly to blame for Russian plane’s crash, says military expert Fort Russ The Overarching Strategic Logic Behind Provocations Against Russia: 2014-2018 Padraig McGrath Katehon...

With Russia that wraps I guess it's time to set up the next target, China, those bad commies. Yep, Neocons and National Endowment for Democracy (NED are involved. Another state they hype to implode from within with all the mess and he'll that creates.  Media outlets from Reuters to The Intercept falsely claimed the UN had condemned China for holding a million Uighurs in camps. The claim is based on unsourced allegations by two independent commission members, US-funded outfits and a shadowy...

It is Wednesday and so just some snippets. I have written about the behavioural impacts that studying mainstream economics, particularly the microeconomics component can have on students as they progress through their studies. I have observed sort of nice young people entering first-year and by later years, become arrogant, self-opinionated and delusional jerks. This phenomenon is particularly prominent if they go onto to do postgraduate level studies. It is well documented. The way...

Consortium NewsThe West Against the Rest or The West Against Itself? Pepe EscobarValdai ClubRUSSIAN BALL: A Russian Ball and Chinese Brick: Why Russia Is Perfect Target for Western Sanctions FRBNY — Liberty StreetDo You Know How Your Treasury Trades Are Cleared and Settled?Adam Copeland, Michael Fleming, Frank Keane, and Radhika Mithal Kremlin Troll Russia trolling JIT MH17 Max van der Werf (NL)Asia TimesRussia reveals the MH17 ‘smoking gun’ Pepe Escobar Russia  Observer Russian Mh-17...

The Iraq war? An honest mistake. The bailouts of criminal bankers in 2008? Unfair, but necessary. This is how they see things and it makes people apoplectic. In the face of a booming stock market and a grotesquely lopsided economic “recovery” during which the most wealthy members of society gained share from the bailouts, people remain angry and they have every right to be. The U.S. is not a free market economy, but a kakistocracy in which the “elites” have placed themselves above the law...

China is not afraid of “extreme measures” the United States is taking in their trade war and will use it as an opportunity to replace imports, promote localization and accelerate the development of high-tech products, state media said. The People’s Daily newspaper, which is published by the ruling Communist Party, made the comments in a front-page article in its overseas edition on Wednesday.... China to follow Russia's lead in import substitution. This means that those markets will be...

I said rates were going higher. Trade wars intensify but stocks rally just like I said they would.

Michael Hudson was one of the few that predicted the crisis. He explains how the foundation for the next crisis was laid by the bank bailouts by rescuing creditors instead of debtors.Michael Hudson — On Finance, Real Estate And The Powers Of NeoliberalismThe Lehman 10th Anniversary spin as a Teachable MomentMichael Hudson | President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the...