Mike Norman Economics

The “Very Smart People” can’t understand why the market isn’t crashing.

Huge government spending. Tax cuts. Protectionism. Watch it succeed spectacularly.

As Paul Craig Roberts says, if you offshore the jobs you offshore the wages, and then demand falls. To think of all those ships going around the would wasting fuel when most if the goods they carry could be made at home. KV For the past few weeks I’ve been reading a raft of literature by lawyers, economists and bureaucrats involved with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other free traders. It’s been a fascinating journey into an alternate world, one in which frictionless trade and money...

I often wonder why the elites like austerity as it must harm their businesses to. In a recession the government can deficit spend and boost the economy without causing inflation. The new money injected will will give people extra purchasing power and so more shops will open and businesses will expand all employing more people, plus more businesses will start up as well. I would have thought that conservatives would be right up for this, but no, they vote for austerity parties wrecking their...

How to Fix the Eurozone Could this fix be implemented in all Eurozone countries, as it does sound like a good idea. KV  Rome can regain control of its monetary policy without breaking the rules of the eurozone. By BIAGIO BOSSONE, MARCO CATTANEO, MASSIMO COSTA AND STEFANO SYLOS LABINI 7/5/18, 10:10 AM CET   Updated 7/5/18, 4:18 PM CET In Joseph Stiglitz’s recent article for the POLITICO Global Policy Lab (“How to Exit the Eurozone,” June 29, 2018), the Nobel-prize wining...

A job guarantee in a new green economy. Sounds like a good idea to me. KV  There’s been much talk about Trump’s plan for jobs and infrastructure that entails over one trillion dollars in new spending (without tax increases) and promises to employ thousands of American workers. Because it looks like this would require significant deficit spending,  it has drawn stiff criticism: even Trump’s the own conservative supporters have expressed concern. Among advocates of Keynesian spending and...

Well, I'm glad I in the UK because all that employment regulation served me well. And the NHS served me well too as I didn't have to rely on my boss to provide my healthcare for me or my family so that meant less subservience. Theses regulations, and government provision, helped give me FREEDOM!  KV Kevin America’s unemployment rate is hovering near half-century lows. There are now more job openings than unemployed workers in the United States for the first time since the government began...

It's funny how so many of the the working class are voting conservative now, and the middle class, who don't need the benefits so much, are voting left.  In the last UK election, Corbyn picked up most of his votes from the middle class and even the upper class. [embedded content]

OPCW report inconclusive based on the facts it contains. Moon of Alabama Syria - OPCW Issues First Report Of 'Chemical Weapon Attack' in Douma b

The tariff tussle that began today is linked to Beijing's ambitious 'Made in China 2025' and Belt and Road strategies, which will transform the global economic and geopolitical landscape; this rivalry could last for decades, some experts have said. First "shots" fired in the Thucydides trap that seems to be springing? Will the struggle for dominance be over quickly, or last perhaps for the rest of the century? Asia TimesTariffs ‘kick off 50-year trade war’ with China Pepe Escobar See...