Mike Norman Economics

The publication of the Republican House Committee memo and reports of other documents increasingly suggest not only a “Russiagate” without Russia but also something darker: The “collusion” may not have been in the White House or the Kremlin. The NationRussiagate or Intelgate?Stephen F. Cohen | Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton University

Last night's release of the memo by Senator's Grassley and Graham asking the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation of Christopher Steele for possible violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 provides critical confirmation of charges presented in the HPSCI memo prepared under the leadership of Devin Nunes, but it also confirms that Christopher Steele was not just some random guy offering good gossip to the FBI. He was an official intelligence asset. He was, in John LeCarre's parlance,...

I don't know much about Israeli News Live - who say they are waiting for Biblical prophesy to be fulfilled, so they sound a bit dodgy to me - but I like the first part of this video. Some good news at last, let's hope more European countries come on-board. [embedded content] After 4 years of dead lock thanks to the fears instilled by the former Obama administration Russia and Norwegian military officials meet in Moscow. The talks were aimed at trying to avoid misunderstandings. Elsewhere in...

Plug for Steven Pinker's newest. I hope it's not famous last words given the emergent challenges humanity is facing. Open CultureBill Gates Names His New Favorite Book of All Time: A Quick Introduction to Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now Dan Colman See alsoRussia Insider$850 Billion Not Enough for 'Mad Dog' - Wants $50 Bil More for 'Lethality' Jason Ditz | AntiWar

Download PDF at link below.The Levy InstituteThe Macroeconomic Effects of Student Debt Cancellation Scott Fullwiler, Stephanie Kelton, Catherine Ruetschlin, and Marshall Steinbaum February 2018 Yves comments.Naked CapitalismNew Study Finds Cancelling Student Debt Provides Broad Economic Benefits at Low Cost Yves Smith

America’s top spies no longer retire. Instead, they sign very lucrative TV News contracts. Former CIA Director John Brennan has just been hired as a paid contributor by NBC and MSNBC. The downside of this new trend is obvious. These spies are not in the business of reporting the truth.... Well, at least they are in the open and what they say can be discounted. Butost of the "journalists" on the payroll of the intelligence services are undercover.Intel TodaySpooks & The Media — How The...

Four years ago, I framed it as a question: “George Soros‘ INET: An institute to improve the world or a Trojan horse of the financial oligarchy?” Today I would not use a question mark any more.Frances Coppola came to a similiar conclusion after attending the big INET gathering in Edingburgh in October.… Sleeping with the devil.Real-World Economics Review BlogGeorge Soros’ INET, the Trojan horse of the financial oligarchy Norbert Häring | economics correspondent for Handelsblatt, the German...

Good article about economics, power and ethics, with which I would substantially agree as a philosopher.  However, Professor Ruccio passes over the economic aspect of power, which bestows the ability to extract economic rent.  Power results in asymmetries that vitiate perfect competition and generate imperfect markets. This allows for rent extraction. Rent goes to the powerful, that is, the owners of real and financial capital, to the disadvantage of those lacking power, basically...

[embedded content]

Would be big... The Senate is nearing a bipartisan two-year budget deal that would bust budget caps and raise the debt limit — but punt on DACA. https://t.co/gemDOKpJkK— Axios (@axios) February 7, 2018