Mike Norman Economics

Is Putin planning to cave to the US? If so, will the Russian military permit it or conduct a coup? Or are these just rumors? Dances with BearsVice President for Capitulation – Putin Decides What Job to Give Kudrin John Helmer alsoSee alsoFort RussPutin’s key task for next six years – find a successor Inessa S

Here is the update on tomorrow’s jobs report.

The two hundredth anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth is giving rise to many conferences dedicated to numerous (and God knows there were many) aspects of Marx’s work and life. (I am going to one such conference in Haifa.) Add to it an even greater number of reviews of his work and influence (Peter Singer just published one a couple of days ago), new books on his life, a movie on Young Marx and the list goes on.I will also look here at Marx’s intellectual influence—but from a very different...

This week’s Economist magazine leads on the case for Universal Health Care, worldwide. That’s a big deal – the Economist is very influential, can’t possibly be accused of being a leftie spendthrift, and the case it makes is powerful. A couple of non Economist readers asked me for a crib sheet of the 10 page report, so here are some of the excerpts that caught my eye: Universal health care on the table, a raging debate over basic income or job guarantee — the frame is shifting rapidly....

Neo-fascists play an important official or tolerated role in US-backed Ukraine. John McCain and Joe Biden were at the center of it. While John McCain was out front on it, it happened on President Obama's watch and Joe Biden was tasked with Ukraine. It gets murkier. While Joe Biden was US VP and John Kerry Secretary of State, Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, became a board member of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest gas company, along with Devon Archer. Devon Archer, Hunter Biden John Kerry’s stepson,...

One of the ways in which the neoliberal era has entrenched itself and, in this case, will perpetuate its negative legacy for years to come is to infiltrate the educational system. This has occurred in various ways over the decades as the corporate sector has sought to have more influence over what is taught and researched in universities. The benefits of this influence to capital are obvious. They create a stream of compliant recruits who have learned to jump through hoops to get delayed...

We might be within 30 days of this reprieve for the system... “I think you are within a month of getting it ... done,” the California lawmaker told the Milken economic conference audience in Beverly Hills. U.S. House may vote on Dodd-Frank reform bill in May: McCarthy https://t.co/W2Ej6jSNeP — DC Monument (@DCMonument) May 2, 2018

Cloud Cuckoo land! A US court has just handed down the verdict that the Islamic Republic of Iran owes the families of those who died on 11th September 2001 6 billion dollars in damages. It behooves us to point out that no one, anywhere, ever accused Iran of being behind the 9/11 attacks for over a decade afterwards. The attempt to shift the blame to Iran has been a slow developing situation. The idea was first floated by James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, in 2015. The official position...

[embedded content] Sainsbury's CEO, Mike Coupe, has been filmed singing and humming 'We're in the Money' while waiting for an ITV News interview about his supermarket's merger with competitor Asda. Coupe made a statement after ITV released the clip, saying: 'This was an unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview. It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical 42nd Street, which I saw last year, and I apologise if I have offended anyone.'

Says the former Goldwater girl.But she is finally beginning to approach the truth: A lot of Democratic voters realized that she is really a Republican at heart. Enough to deny her the election.Zero HedgeHillary Clinton Now Blaming Socialist Democrats For Historic Election Loss Tyler Durden