Mike Norman Economics

A source in the city of Esteli told the Star: “Here in Esteli now the opposition are marking the houses of people identified as Sandinista. “We're all taking what precautions we can, but I don't think the opposition are in the least interested in dialogue. They are determined not just to oust the government but to destroy the FSLN [Sandinista National Liberation Front].”... Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been leading attempts to secure peace and stability in the country since...

When you understand this game it’s not only extremely lucrative but fun.

Despite Gina Haspel's promises, we are in real danger of further excursions into the dark side. You sometimes wonder if there is any good in the world. After reading the all the stuff that I have read over the last few years I have been extremely shocked, that the ruling elite can cold bloodily start wars to make money shows they have no morality whatsoever. It is simply murder. But this article from The American Conservative is encouraging as it seems that there are many people on the left...

You will never make it if you trade from neediness.

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...