Mike Norman Economics

After bitcoin goes to (essentially) zero (since it is global, even a few oddballs can prop up its value for years at some low level, like hobbyists do for all kinds of things), which it will, some will say that it was regulation that killed it, not, as I explain, because crypto is worthless because it is not part of a balance sheet and as such has no inherent value to extinguish debt. To be clear: That bitcoin can’t withstand being treated as any other ordinary good yet does not deserve...

Yuge $56B non-risk asset add on Thursday, big risk asset price markdown on Friday: Same thing that happened back in February 2016:$SPX -3.85% for week, worst since -5.96% first week of 2/2016, all 11 sectors dn, 463 issues dn, w/183 dn at least 5% & 25 dn at least 10%, 42 issues up, w/6 up at least 5% & 3 up at least 10%, $SPX lost $511B today, $945B for the week, up $752B YTD & $5.1T fr election— Howard Silverblatt (@hsilverb) February 2, 2018

Many of you might of not have seen this British documentary about how a local businessman set up his own bank. It's excellent and although it covers a serious topic the filmmakers have done such a good job of it that it is great entertainment too. After the 2008 crash a Lancaster businessman called Dave Fishwick, who had made millions out of selling mini-buses, decided to set up his own bank. He was disgusted by how the big banks had behaved in the lead up to the crash and also how they...

The new arms race heats up. The Trump Administration's newly-released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) lays out plans to modernize the US nuclear triad by integrating nuclear capability on the F-35 fighter jet, deploying low-yield warheads at sea, and developing new silo-based strategic weapons, among other initiatives.… Nutty logic. The review claims a stronger US nuclear deterrent is needed to discourage Russia, China, Iran and North Korea from either developing new weapons or expanding...

The House Intelligence Committee memo on abuse of power by the Federal Bureau of Investigation appeared just after 12:00 pm Eastern time, and American political life never will be the same. The House Republicans make a persuasive if not prima facie case that senior FBI officials used a fake dossier paid for by the Democrats to get a court order for electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign. If the charge sticks, America will have a real life instance of the sort of scenario found in...

It's very difficult for many countries to be democratic in the world because the US will just come in and install their own guys where it's made to look like democracy, but it isn't. They pay a few rebels to start protesting and then use agent provocateurs to stir up trouble and so the police crack down heavily. This gets the big demonstrations going and with the help of corrupt sections of the media eventually a new pro US government gets intalled. KVThe tentative first beginnings of a...

Jeremy Corbyn sought to heap pressure on Theresa May to publish her full tax return as figures released by Labour showed he paid almost £50,000 in tax in 2016/17. The Labour leader received a total income of £136,762 – including his salary as an MP, pay for his role as leader of the opposition and pensions – and paid a total of £48,079.80 in tax. He said: “Tax avoidance and evasion deprive our public services of tens of billions of pounds every year and will only be tackled if we have...

When banks offer loans, money is created as an IOU, something many MPs aren’t aware of. As a result the UK economy is based on ever growing levels of debt You might not all agree with all of Positive Money's proposals, but I have put this up for discussion.  KV Back in November the big story arising from the Chancellor’s Budget wasn’t any of the gimmicks and giveaways designed to grab positive headlines, but something seemingly more mundane – the Office for Budget Responsibility...

They say strategy led by DoD policy wonks could lead to dangerous nuclear escalation. I feel a bit more hopeful now after reading that not all of the military top brass are hellbent on world war? KV  The Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), to be released Friday, will include a call for the deployment of low-yield, “more usable” nuclear warheads, a move widely anticipated when a draft of the document was leaked to the Huffington Post on January 11. So while the...

It’s time to pull up our big boy pants and face the facts: The Democratic party is NOT a suitable vehicle for the progressive agenda. Mike Whitney says that the rank and file of the Democratic party are fed up with Russiagate, they want real politics that can make real changes to the quality of life of Americans. It's time to dump the Democrats. he says. KV The Democrats don’t seem to understand that the Russia investigation has made Trump stronger not weaker. They don’t see that...