Mike Norman Economics

Lots of links.WilliamBowles.infoSyria Newslinks 17 April 2018

Here is a quote from John Maynard Keynes, writing in 1933: If I had the power today I should surely set out to endow our capital cities with all the appurtenances of art and civilisation on the highest standards of which the citizens of each were individually capable, convinced that what I could create, I could afford – and believing that money thus spent would not only be better than any dole, but would make unnecessary any dole. For with what we have spent on the dole in England since the...

I called it early and I continue to tell you why it’s happening.

Despite reports of a healthy US labor market, millions of Americans remain unemployed and underemployed, or have simply given up looking for work. It is a problem that plagues our economy in good times and in bad—there are never enough jobs available for all who want to work. L. Randall Wray, Flavia Dantas, Scott Fullwiler, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and Stephanie A. Kelton examine the impact of a new “job guarantee” proposal that would seek to eliminate involuntary unemployment by directly...

Imagine an end to Washington spending wars that leave filibustering senators blue in the face. Economist Stephanie Kelton does. She sees a world where the federal government can build a big, beautiful social safety net, strengthen the military and, for good measure, cut taxes on the rich. The government, in her eyes, can spend as much as it wants on anything without the bill coming due. Welcome to Modern Monetary Theory — a bizarro world that might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. The...

Calling the bluff. Sputnik InternationalPushback: Russia Has Answers to Possible SWIFT Cutoff, Debt Sale Ban by US See also This is not just a trade war from the US side. It is an economic war to deny China access to technology. China knows this. Zero HedgeChina Slaps 179% Tariff On US Sorghum Hours After US Bans Exports To China's ZTE Tyler Durden

So a tiny independent radio station in Ireland managed to interview Robert Fisk on the ground in Douma, but none of the British mainstream broadcast media today has him on, despite the political fallout from our Syria bombing attacks being the main news story everywhere? Meantime MSM propagandists including Richard Hall (BBC), Dan Hodges (Mail) and Brian Whitaker (Guardian) and many more queue up to denounce Fisk on twitter from their cosy armchairs. It bears repeating that the information...

Detailed. Disobedient MediaThe Southwestern Hemisphere Is Sliding Towards Its Own “Arab Spring” William Craddick, attorney, investigative journalist, and founder of Disobedient Media

Western airstrikes against President Assad were 'unjustified aggression' and a 'clear violation of the international laws', Syrian Church leaders have said. In a joint statement the heads of three major churches said they 'condemn and denounce the brutal aggression' and denied the Syrian army either owned or had used chemical weapons.... Christian Today (UK) Syrian church leaders blast 'brutal' and 'unjustified' airstrikesHarry Farley

So, I’ve changed the description of this blog’s perspective to socialist. I haven’t however, adopted the formulation “democratic socialist” which was used, in the 20th century, to emphasise a rejection of the Stalinist claim to have produced “actually existing socialism” in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. That’s no longer necessary. As has been true for most of the history of the modern world, the only serious threat to democracy is now coming from the right. So, it’s important to defend...