Mike Norman Economics

Russia has braced itself against future financial storms. Analysts from the Bank of America (BofA) Corp. believe that the global stock market is in for a crisis that will echo the events of 1997-1998. Bloomberg cites the BofA’s strategists, led by Michael Hartnett, who wrote in a recent note that “US decoupling, flattening yield curve, collapsing EM — all echoes of 20 years ago.” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde holds the same opinion, stating, "The clouds on the horizon ... are...

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said on Thursday that as soon as the Department of Justice learns that an American company, private organization, or person has been hacked or otherwise covertly attacked…. This promises to be fun.The WeekDOJ will start alerting the public about foreign election meddlingSee alsoPoliticoJustice Department unveils strategy to fight election meddling, cybercrime Eric Geller

Standard economic theory assumes that humans behave fully rationally and are able to objectively calculate the value (or cost) of the different choices they are presented with. In fact, we pride ourselves on our rationality. Different from the animals, we humans have the unique capacity for logical thought and rational decision making. Or do we? According to behavioral economist Dan Ariely, we should be less proud of ourselves. In his entertaining book Predictably Irrational, Ariely...

Lighthearted but serious Patrick Armstrong updates us with links and humor.Russian ObserverRussian Federation Sitrep 19 July 2018 Patrick ArmstrongSee alsoStrategic Culture FoundationThe Establishment Strikes Back Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for SanitySee also Fort Russ The Butina Case: A Tale Of...

Lots of misunderstanding when it comes to the effects of tariffs.

If productivity is plummeting in the workplace, the solution might be simple: Make the work week shorter. One company did just that by experimenting with a four-day work week. The trial was so successful, management is seeking to make the change permanent.... CNBC4-day work week is a success, New Zealand experiment finds Sarah Berger

A perfect example of how free markets can sometimes explode costs. In Europe the government takes care of the healthcare and can negotiate using highly paid professionals to get the lowest healthcare and medicine charges. Where in America, the land of the free, it's down to individuals to figure this out, and most often, it's too complicated to figure out, or can never be figured out, it just remains expensive.Why not have a team of doctorates and top professions figure it all out instead...

Not a priority but of interest if for those who want to know more about how organizations deal with causation by analyzing the concrete in terms of the abstract.  This is related to what Hegel called "concrete universal, and Marx defined as "concrete abstraction." This is the basis of the dialect for Hegel and Marx's adoption and adaptation of it.A Philosopher's TakeCauses in Real Life – How Organizations Perform a Root Cause Analyses (RCA) Mike Steiner | Strategic Initiative Specialist...

Heretics are scorned or worse, but sometimes in history they prevail. However strongly people may disapprove of the president’s other words and deeds, anyone, anywhere across our political spectrum, who wishes to avoid war with Russia—again, conceivably nuclear war—must support and encourage this Trump heresy until it is no longer heresy, until the full debate over reckless US policy since the 1990s finally ensues, and until that approach changes, as should have happened, as Trump said, “a...

The economists' dilemma: If economic methodology doesn't base itself on assumptions common to the hard sciences, like homogeneity, additivity, transitivity, etc, then it won't be considered a real science. On the other hand, if economists ignore reflexivity, downward causation in systems, synergy, and other factors that affect individuals who are socially embedded, its output will not fit reality and it will appear lack empirical foundation, not to mention disappointing raised expectations...