Mike Norman Economics

News synopsis. Short.Moon of AlabamaSundry - Shutdown, Ukraine, Omidyar And Syria b

Addressing Trumpgate, Russiagate, the Steele dossier and other "evidence" without actual evidence using reverse "logic" to persuade, in this case, cast shade. Dilbert BlogHow to Make Your Opponents Try (and fail) to Prove a NegativeScott Adams

Robert Vienneau has a question for Marxists/Marxians/Marx scholars.Thoughts On EconomicsLabor Values Taken As GivenRobert Vienneau

We do not look to bolster America’s adversaries overseas; we look to pressure, compete with, and outmaneuver them. For this reason, we should consider human rights as an important issue in regard to U.S. relations with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. And this is not only because of moral concern for practices inside those countries. It is also because pressing those regimes on human rights is one way to impose costs, apply counter-pressure, and regain the initiative from them...

If you are a fan of Pepe Escobar.CounterpunchRome: A Eulogy Pepe Escobar

Tillerson’s comments underscore the fact that recent setbacks in the 7-year-long conflict, have not dampened Washington’s determination to topple the elected government of Syria and to impose its own political vision on the country. They also confirm that the United States intends to occupy parts of Syria for the foreseeable future.... As we have noted before, Washington is determined to throw up an iron curtain along the Euphrates consistent with its plan to split Syria into smaller...

Michael Hudson and Charles Goodhart team up. Longish and detailed but an easy read.CounterpunchCould/Should Jubilee Debt Cancellations be Reintroduced Today? Michael Hudson – Charles Goodhartalso Irrespective of what we may think of Syria, this is little but a full-scale assault on international law and the normative system embedded in the UN Charter that has taken decades of hard work to build, a fundamental cornerstone of the management and civilizational development of the world order...

The United States mistakenly supported China’s membership of the World Trade Organization in 2001 on terms that have failed to force Beijing to open its economy, the Trump administration said on Friday as it prepares to clamp down on Chinese trade. “It seems clear that the United States erred in supporting China’s entry into the WTO on terms that have proven to be ineffective in securing China’s embrace of an open, market-orientated trade regime,” the administration said in an annual...

Marshall Auerback partners with Chuck Spinney on this article. Interesting.CounterpunchBoss Tweet’s Generals Already Run the Sho Marshall Auerback – Franklin C. Spinney

The U.S. military has put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy unveiled on Friday, the latest sign of shifting American priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.... “We will continue to prosecute the campaign against terrorists that we are engaged in today, but great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of U.S. national security,” Mattis said in a speech presenting the...