Mike Norman Economics

Good analysis excepting this: The plight of the US middle class has been framed as a blame game, with China and its alleged unfair trading practices singled out as the culprit. Yet the evidence points elsewhere: to a dramatic shortfall of domestic saving that leaves America dependent on surplus saving from abroad to fill the gap. The result is a multilateral trade deficit, with China and 101 other countries, required to provide the foreign capital needed for the balance of payments. Project...

Finance and philosophy.Money, Maths and MagicThe Golden RuleTim Johnson | Lecturer (associate professor) in the Department of Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

More denial that international law and the Nuremberg precedent apply to US officials "just carrying out orders."International law only applies to "them" and not to US. (pun intended)It's clear that the US intelligence services need to be purged of this rot. Intel TodayFormer CIA Robert Baer : “Gina Haspel Used To Work For Me. She’s A Great Choice For CIA Director.” LSee also at Intel TodayFormer French President Nicolas Sarkozy Arrested Over Gaddafi Campaign Financing

[embedded content] George Galloway knows how to drive home a point. Excellent!

Let's hope the movements, how ether small to expose the Deep State and Hilary Clinton for what they are continue. And Charles Ortel says he's really closing in on Clinton foundation scandal now. I would like to see Theresa May and Boris Johnson look stupid if Russiagate falls apart.PCR Washington’s gratuitous raising of tensions with Russia that we have been witnessing for many years is so reckless and irresponsible that we need some relief from the depression of it all. Perhaps I am...

US President Donald Trump said he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the not too distant future to discuss an arms race that Trump called “out of control.” He also congratulated Putin on his election victory. Further details to follow. That's all RT says. KV

More pieces being moved on the grand chess board.SalonBehind this week’s Russia headlines: A mystery, a leap to conclusions and a fateful turn Patrick Lawrence | Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Salon

Policymakers have helped to perpetuate an economic model that is ultimately unsustainable. The article is based on Bill Mitchell's analysis of US unemployment.AlterNetThe Fed Is on the Verge of Making a Major Policy ErrorMarshall Auerback / AlterNet

A majority of the American public believe that the U.S. government engages in widespread monitoring of its own citizens and worry that the U.S. government could be invading their own privacy. The Monmouth University Poll also finds a large bipartisan majority who feel that national policy is being manipulated or directed by a “Deep State” of unelected government officials. Americans of color on the center and left and NRA members on the right are among those most worried about the reach of...

I am generally not in favour of trade protection. I grew up in a country that had very extensive protection (tariffs, import quotas) on manufacturing goods, which was justified on a number of grounds – capacity to shift to defense industries; stable employment; and more abstractly, an expression of becoming a ‘modern’ nation, leaving our agrarian roots behind. The initial move to impose high tariffs was that a young industry would take time to develop – the so-called infant industry...