Mike Norman Economics

Democratic institutions are not under stress--they're under aggressive attack, as unconstrained financial greed overrides democratic decisions, says economist John Weeks Neoliberalism involves not the deregulation of the capitalist system, but the reregulation of it in the interest of capital. So, it involves moving from a system in which capital is regulated in the interests of stability and the many to regulation in a way that enhances capital.... We have a capitalism in which the form...

The reaction of the Western media is a subset of the reaction of Western governments losing their monopoly as a consequence of globalization. Global Inequality“Fake news”: reaction to the end of the monopoly on the narrative Branko Milanovic | Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and formerly lead economist in the World Bank's research department and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for...

Thousands of Israeli families who have been searching in vain for answers since their babies mysteriously disappeared in the early 1950s – shortly after Israel’s creation – have been thrown a lifeline. The mystery of the missing children has plagued Israel for decades, with evidence mounting that at least some of the babies were trafficked by hospitals and orphanages – possibly with the connivance of Israeli officials. Other documents indicate some children may have died during experiments...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Has Rejected a Bid by a Chinese-Linked Consortium to Acquire the Chicago Stock Exchange, Amid Widespread Political Opposition to the Deal. The Exchange, Which Handles Less Than 1% of Daily US Stock Trading, Was Hoping the Sale Could Be a Springboard to a Brighter Future, Attracting New Listings and Investments From China. Unfortunately for the Institution, the Deal Came at a Complicated Time in US-China Relations When It Was First Proposed...

When I was at school we had to study the book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, and the book Animal Farm, by George Orwell. I also watched the films 1984 and Animal Farm. Well, if that was communism, I thought, I'm not interested in any of that. Millions of school children were forced to read, One Day in the Life of Ivan, but Aleksander Solzhenitsyn's book, 200 Years Together, has never been in print in the West. Despite reading those books one thing I knew...

Hardcore neoclassical economist John Taylor has edited a new handbook of macro-economics. The good news: the sands are shifting. After 2008, more attention has been paid to the obvious fact that we’re living in a monetary world. Guess what: it turns out that money is non-neutral after all. Two examples (summaries below): (A) Bordo and Meissner claim that whenever a country has a large banking sector it has a choice, during a financial crisis. It can bail out the banks or it can try to...

I’ve finally committed to delivering a manuscript of my long-overdue book Economics in Two Lessons. As part of the process, I’m going to post the chapters, one at a time, and ask for comments, criticism, encouragement and so on. To begin at the beginning, here’s the Introduction. Crooked TimberEconomics in Two LessonsJohn Quiggin | Professor and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland, and a member of the Board of the Climate Change Authority of the...

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, it has facts showing attempts of the West to meddle in Russia's internal affairs amid presidential election campaign. "In contrast to the unfounded accusations about almighty Russian hackers and some Russian influence on elections in other countries, we have the precise facts of the attempts of destructive interference of a number of Western countries in our internal affairs in the context of the presidential election campaign," Russian Foreign...

Some points in John Brennan's favor.Sic Semper TyrannisAnother response to Publius Tacitus concerning those meddlesome Russians TTG

Chris Hedges say how the oligarchs don't care about society as they are not really part of it. Educated in the top schools and universities because their parents can buy them in, so they don't care about anyone else's education.  They have their own private doctors and the best health insurance, so they  see no need why society should provide health care for anyone else. They never use public transport. They have their own acres of private grounds, so don't care about public parks. They...