Mike Norman Economics

Zero Hedge Household Debt Rises By $572 Billion, Ends 2017 At All Time High Tyler Durden

Here we go...Mighty libertarian of them out there in Arizona...Arizona Senate Passes Bill to Allow Citizens to Pay Taxes in Bitcoin.via @tciccottahttps://t.co/Kjsen61leR pic.twitter.com/bm0yiYeW9U— Breitbart Tech (@BreitbartTech) February 12, 2018

hahahahahaha!!!  Oh no!  Deficit too small!!EVERYBODY got this WRONG and I mean EV-ER-EE-BOD-EEE.... U.S. government posts $49 billion surplus in January https://t.co/nw8Ic0KlPW pic.twitter.com/9nYd2l8zpZ — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 12, 2018

The recently passed Republican tax cut package will cost about $1.4 trillion over a decade, according to independent figures. It’s a very expensive policy that currently is not offset by an increase in government revenue, or by spending cuts.Another measure would cost about the same amount and it too would be hard to justify as a deficit-busting policy. But it might have greater economic benefits, say economists. That policy would be canceling all student debt. The contention comes from a...

As the EU’s internal crisis increases with many citizens rebelling against what has become a neo-liberal project, European politicians are racing to strip national governments of all power to prevent any further democratic interventions. The centre-left still believes the EU is an institution for the good of Europe. They fail to ask the most important question: Whose Europe are we talking about?... BRAVE NEW EUROPE Thomas Fazi and William Mitchell – The EU cannot be democratised – here’s...

Has the president figured out that the currency issuer has a monopoly on the currency and can set prices in markets rather than be a price taker?Sputnik InternationalTrump Urges DoD to Purchase Twice as Much Military Equipment at Half Price

While the West is all in a huff about repression of women in Iran over the headscarf law, women occupy senior positions in industry and government. Invited to Paris by the French-Iranian Center along with some 30 Iranian business leaders, the aeronautical engineer sought to break the clichés about the Iranian women. Translated excerpts from the interview follow:LE POINT: An Iranian woman as a chief executive … Is this not contradictory?SHARAFBAFI: No, I don’t see any contradiction...

I love Greg Palast, he infiltrated the Chicago School and was a pupil under Milton Friedman, but he was an impostor who only enrolled at the university to find all the faults in their theories. He became a first class student, excelled at mathematics, and even wrote a paper with Milton Friedman, but when Friedman wanted to publish it, Greg Palast downplayed his part in it and got Friedman to remove his name. Phew!Greg Palast has a superb image as a B-movie undercover private detective and...

When I first heard this I did not know who Claire Connelly was, but I thought this is really good, and then near the end she started saying how governments who issue their own currency can never run out of money. Wow, MMT! She is part of the Renegade Inc, the people who made the excellent Four horseman movie, but near the end of the film they said money should be tied to gold to stop banks creating as much of it as they want, but it seems now that Renegade Inc have finally embraced MMT. ...

More on the nothing-burger. Cui bono? Russiagate has been a convenient distraction that has allowed both parties to curry favor with donors representing the military-idustrial complex as a primary driver of the American economy. Makes one wonder whether the Clinton-Obama Democrats are cynical and stupid, or craven dissemblers using Russiagate as a cover to avoid dealing with traditional Democratic issues and to marginalize progressives who want to focus on them. The Nation Aaron J....