Mike Norman Economics

Two summits – the cross-border handshake that shook the world between Kim and Moon in Panmunjom and Xi and Modi’s cordial walk by the lake in Wuhan – may have provided the impression Eurasia integration is entering a smoother path. Not really.... The way the soft power stacks up China = peace and US = war. Who is "winning"?Asia TimesEurasia torn between war and peace Pepe Escobar

Wishful thinking replaces intelligence.Strategic Culture FoundationNo, Your Intelligence Is Actually Bad. Very Bad Patrick ArmstrongSee also As recent events in Syria suggest, Russia has found an effective way of keeping aggressive Western powers at bay with state-of-the-art missile systems and electronic warfare methods – much of it reportedly developed by young scientists and on the cheap… "Like I said in my address to the Federal Assembly, we create second-to-none and state-of-the-art...

Pipelines.Tidbit. Professor Fadhel Kaboub happens to be an MMT economist.Renegade Inc.WWIII at Syria’s doorstep: Who stands to gain?Claire Connelly

The six Russian national security documents issued since Putin first became president in 2000 display a remarkable conceptual consistency.1 They argue that a polycentric world is emerging and shifting the balance of power from the West to the Asia-Pacific region.2The West is attempting to prevent this, according to Russia, and this will mean greater competition over values and less cooperation in combating global threats like migration, pandemics, global warming and resource scarcity....

Egypt’s monetary system began with barter. It was primarily based on agriculture – grain. This evolved into official Graineries and a farmer would then take his crop to the Grainery and receive a receipt. With time, the monetary system evolved where people would then accept these receipts (paper money) in payment. The receipt  would have been a credit slip representing the liability of the granary.Armstrong EconomicsThe First Representative Form of Money Martin Armstrong

Keeper Samuelson quote on the noble lie.Lars P. Syll’s BlogWhy some economists lie Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo UniversitySee alsoThe pretense-of-knowledge syndrome​

If you had asked me to structure a bear market trade, a rise in breakevens would have been the bread and butter answer. However, things are starting to get awkward. Breakeven inflation is no longer cheap relative to where the Fed wants inflation to be (and inflation has averaged below where they wanted it for a considerable time). If one is bullish on oil, there is perhaps more room for headline inflation to rise. Otherwise, it will be hard for breakevens to follow the rise in nominal...

Worldwide military spending was slightly up over the last year, with the US amounting to more than a third (35%) of global military spending. AntiWarRussia’s Military Spending Declines; US Now a Third of Global Spending Jason Ditz

Their political elite are largely technocrats. Qualified. Gneering NewsThe Chinese Government Is Dominated by Scientists and EngineersDion Greg Reyes, civil engineer

US begins engagement in economic warfare against China. Just hours after the White House revealed that it had extended exemptions on aluminum and steel import tariffs from the European Union, Canada, Mexico and several other countries, Nikkei reported Tuesday evening that China has presented the Trump administration with a plan to boost imports of aircraft, semiconductors and natural gas from the US to try and reduce its massive trade surplus. However, Chinese officials are less...