Mike Norman Economics

An extraordinary number of former intelligence and military operatives from the CIA, Pentagon, National Security Council and State Department are seeking nomination as Democratic candidates for Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. The potential influx of military-intelligence personnel into the legislature has no precedent in US political history. If the Democrats capture a majority in the House of Representatives on November 6, as widely predicted, candidates drawn from the...

In reality, though, the address was almost evenly split between internal politics and weapons. And in, my view, the first part was waaay more important because if at least half of the tasks he set out in the first part of the address would be carried out, Russia (and world alongside with it) would be drastically transformed. To say that goals set by Putin in the address is ambitious would be a massive understatement in my opinion. If you rip out substance out of political smooth talk,...

Lamenting Germany’s WW1 defeat at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, Joseph Goebbels acknowledges a hard lesson learned: “While the enemy states produced unprecedented atrocity propaganda aimed at Germany throughout the whole world, we did nothing and were completely defenseless against it…Just as we were militarily and economically unprepared for the war, so also with propaganda. We lost the war in this area more than in any other. The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the...

A sweeping new study published in the journal Science has found that false or misleading stories spread faster and farther than the truth on social media. The researchers also conclude that the problem is not automated bots or ill-intentioned hackers, but the emotion-clouded minds of everyday users. The study, highlighted this week in The Atlantic, surveyed the spread of 126,000 news stories, including both true accounts and false “rumor cascades,” on Twitter between September 2006 and...

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Voices of sanity crying in the wilderness.Consortium NewsGang of Four: Senators Call for Tillerson to Enter into Arms Control Talks with the Kremlin Gilbert Doctorow and Ray McGovernSee alsoRussia InsiderKremlin Publishes Full Megan Kelly Putin Interview - NBC Cut the Best Parts (Video + Transcript)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has always said the country will never copy the political systems of other countries, in particular the Western notion of democracy. But under Xi—the most powerful Chinese leader in four decades—China’s own one-party system is one that is ready to be exported to regimes everywhere. Throwing down the gauntlet at the feet of the international liberal order. When asked whether China is deviating from its self-avowed policy of noninterference in other...

The European Central Bank has dropped its long-standing pledge to boost stimulus if conditions deteriorate, signalling the triumph of German-led hawks and marking a major turning point in the eurozone’s monetary regime. The approaching end to the QE-era pulls away the protective shield for Italy and the high-debt Latin states, and for thousands of “zombie companies” kept afloat on monetary life-support. Italy is the lynchpin of the euro. If Italy fails, the EZ fails. Stay tuned.The...

Didn't have anything to do with it (fiscal policy VERY favorable this week...$64B reserve drain on Thursday) but its still funny. People must have gotten killed selling the Cohn exit this week. COHN DEPARTURE MOVES MARKET: Dow now up 460 points since Gary Cohn exit. — Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) March 10, 2018 Mike had a good youtube this week setting this table: [embedded content]

Four men go into a cafe for breakfast and the bill comes to £30. But it's the birthday of one of the men so the other three guys say to him that as a treat they will pay for the breakfast.As they walk out of the cafe, the owner says sorry, the bill was only £25, and gives them back £5 in pound coins. Amazed at his honesty, the three men who paid the bill, take £1 each and give the cafe owner £2 for a tip.As they took back £1, they have now paid £9 each.3 x £9 = £27 plus £2 given to the cafe...

Venezuela, the other side of the story. The Europeans and the Americans have always been after the oil while using the same old propaganda. [embedded content] Venezuela, the shadow agenda. A documentary by Hernando Calvo Ospina This documentary is not temporary. It will be valid as long as the United States persists in ending the Bolivarian Revolution that is being built in Venezuela, ti seize its immense oil wealth. It is based on interviews with Venezuelan scholars who, in simple and...