Mike Norman Economics

Yep, 'centrists' are really just extreme right wing hawks who don't hold traditional conservative values. KV Today American centrists (who only get to call themselves that because plutocratic media control has made Orwellian neoliberal neoconservatism the dominant ideology in the US) are deeply, profoundly concerned that Donald fucking Trump is insufficiently hawkish. This would be the same Donald Trump whose administration just facilitated the bombing of Yemen’s new cholera treatment...

All hell broke loose at the G6+1, aka G7, while the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) aimed at global integration and a peaceful multipolar order Asia TimesPepe Escobar: Putin & Xi Top The G6+1 Pepe Escobar

Typically good analysis and assessment from Tom Luongo.Strategic Culture FoundationTrump Dangles Wooden Carrots at Russia over Crimea Tom LuongoSee alsoAlso good.DJT read this right. Brilliant on many levels. Even if this is all he accomplishes, he has secured his legacy and may emerge in historical reflection as a great president. But this summit between what is surely the oddest couple in modern diplomatic history may well launch the most serious effort yet to end the U.S.-North Korean...

There's a huge amount of stuff appearing on the Trump-Kim meeting, most of it fictive emotive babbling. MoA presents a brief and balanced summary of the key aspects. The losers, for now, are the hawks in Japan, South Korea and Washington who tried their best to prevent this to happen. The winners are the people of Korea, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. Special prizes go to President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and to Dennis Rodman who did their best to make this happen. Moon of...

On Macron's proposals for EU reform. It is almost as if the revolutionaries in 1789, instead of setting up a National Assembly enabling all privileges to be abolished immediately and a new fiscal system to be set up, had only announced that it would be a good idea to pause to reflect on the setting up of a commission to consider a long-term plan to save the Ancien Régime. It is the difference between doing something and empty rhetoric. Thomas Piketty's Blog at Le MondeThe Transferunion...

Most stories told about this declining labor share of national income is about capital claiming it for themselves — and on the surface, that's essentially what is happening. A major surge in output in the 70s went disproportionately to capital instead of labor.However, let's take a step back and think about the cause of that surge in output: women entering the workforce (see links here or here). If that's the cause, then the difference in the shock to NGDP and to wages could be almost...

A lot going on this week to make money.

Currently, banks are allowed to have accounts with the Federal Reserve that come with a lot of privileges: higher interest rates, instant clearing, and the security provided by being nondefaultable. Authors Morgan Ricks, John Crawford, and Lev Menand argue for ending these exclusive privileges by offering “FedAccounts” to everyone. FedAccounts would be a public option for the unbanked and underbanked while also providing substantial benefits to businesses and our economy as a whole....

More myth debunking.Ellis Winningham — MMT and Modern MacroeconomicsThe Bond Market Doesn’t Control Anything; the Currency-Issuing National Government DoesEllis Winningham

US-Canada relations and Canadian politics.  Dances with BearsDefecation in Public – Was It Soft or Hard When White House Officials Did It on the Canadian Prime Minister? Is Chrystia Freeland Also Aiming at Justin Trudeau? John HelmerSee also The G-7 summit once again made it clear that U.S. President Donald Trump is intent on treating America's allies worse than its enemies. Europe must draw the consequences and seek to isolate Trump on the international stage. Spiegel OnlineThe G-7...