Mike Norman Economics

Tax is important. Just not for the reasons we think it is. Economist Dr Steven Hail tells Renegade Inc. that taxation exists to prevent inflation so some form of it will always be required to provide stability, but there are countless better ways to do it than taking away badly needed funds from people already struggling to pay their bills. “If governments don’t spend much, then they don’t need to tax much, because their spending won’t be creating inflation,” he says. “But it creates an...

And now off to meet personally with Vlad in Helsinki! #WINNING NEWS: NATO secretary general has called an emergency session after Trump demanded at this morning's meeting that allies immediately meet 2% spending goal or "I'll do my own thing," diplomats say. https://t.co/acty2jar0e w/@laurnorman — Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) July 12, 2018

BMW sticking to the MAGA script.Don't put it past the firms to balance out the trade themselves just to shut up the pols and  economists...Let’s clear the air. BMW is NOT moving U.S. production to China. Production in China is growing because of customer demand. Expansion of our U.S. plant, including $600M investment and 1,000 new jobs, is on track with a new X5 and all-new X7 arriving before the end of this year.— BMW USA (@BMWUSA) July 12, 2018

The US has already tested this strategy in Iraq and Libya, according to Sergei Shoigu MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Russia will always counter the US neocolonialist strategy aimed at weakening legitimate governments in other countries, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in an interview with the Italian daily Il Giornale published on Wednesday. "The issue at hand is the neocolonialist strategy, which the US has already tested in Iraq and Libya and which boils down to supporting any,...

U.S. corporate media spent years dismissing the role of neo-Nazis in Ukraine’s 2014 coup but it is suddenly going through a conversion, as Daniel Lazare reports. Exceprts Last month a freelance journalist named Joshua Cohen published an article in The Washington Post about the Ukraine’s growing neo-Nazi threat.  Despite a gratuitous swipe at Russia for allegedly exaggerating the problem (which it hasn’t), the piece was fairly accurate.  Entitled “Ukraine’s ultra-right militias are...

From my perspective, Frank Li is the simply best analyst on China and comparison and contrast of China and America in the sense of being informed, objective, and balanced. His writing is very accessible, and he provides a lot of links to related topics. He takes the long view. econintersectWhat is China's State Capitalism, Anyway? Frank Li | Founder and President of W.E.I. (West-East International), a Chicago-based import & export company

Is the Venezuelan crisis orchestrated because you can't buy toilet paper but you can buy tissue paper quite easily? And so a number of other things are strangely not available either, although meat and cheese are plentiful. Abby Martin says that Venezuela  is under financial attack from the US and the Venezuelan elite, and that the price of oil was manipulated to harm the Venezuelan economy to bring its government down.Venezuela sits on top of some of the largest oil reserves in the world...

Sometimes it’s good to get away.

"Out of sight, out of mind." Stumbling and Mumbling On class separation Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle

Keeper Joan Robinson quote on trade.The Case for Concerted Action Misinterpretation Of Joan Robinson’s Quote On Dropping RocksV. Ramanan