Mike Norman Economics

Math is purely formal, involving the relation of signs based on formation and transformation rules. Signs are given significance based on definitions. Math is applicable to the world through science to the degree that the definitions are amenable to measurement and the model assumptions approximate real world conditions (objects in relation to others) and events (patterned changes in these relations). Methodological choices determine the scope and scale of the model, which in turn...

On December 8, 2017, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their latest labour market data – Employment Situation Summary – November 2017 – which showed that total non-farm employment from the payroll survey rose by 228,000 in November, slightly less than the October net increase. While the payroll data showed a fairly strong employment outcome, the Labour Force Survey data estimated a weaker rise in employment (57 thousand) in November. The labour force was estimated to have...

Optimism is high with the price of the cryptocurrency up 1,438 per cent over the past 12 months, but the very factor enthusiasts like most about bitcoin is also one of its biggest drawbacks.…Enthusiasts like bitcoins because their supply is limited. The pace at which bitcoin “miners” can create new units automatically declines over time, with the maximum possible number of bitcoins fixed at 21 million. To converts, that limit means that bitcoins, unlike the fiat currencies issued by the...

Nicholas Wilson is a British solicitor who became aware of financial irregularities at HSBC bank worth hundreds of millions of pounds. He fought a 13 year legal battle to get justice and compensation for HSBC customers that the bank had overcharged. Eventually HSBC got a £4 million fine, in other words, they got away scot-free. But Nicolas Wilson also uncovered massive fraud, more financial irregularities, and money laundering rackets going on at HSBC and this video shows how the baby faced...

China needs a quick injection of MMT. Follow Russia's lead and float that sucker.Zero HedgeChina Unveils Plan To Combat Trump Tax Reform: “We’ll Have Tough Battles" Tyler Durden

The GDP growth target for next year might be set at 6.5 percent amid China's transition from high-speed growth to high-quality growth, Securities Daily reported Monday, citing a partner with Ruihua Certified Public Accountants.... Jiang Chao, chief economist with Haitong Securities, said that high-quality growth means that high-speed growth will not be a goal anymore and the target for economic growth rate in 2018 will still be downplayed and the country will not go back to...

That's quite a crystal ball they got there at Treasury. It is unclear what is more ridiculous: that the propose gift to corporations will not only pay for itself but lead to a perpetual engine of trickle-down economic growth, one which has been refuted in every single instance in history, or that the Treasury expects the US economy to continue for another decade without a recession, which in 2027 result in an 18 year period of continuous growth since the last official recession ended in...

The fact that Donald Trump built his political reputation on the lie that Barack Obama was born in Kenya should have been a tip-off to this, but here we are.…  “I don't think I went overboard,” Trump said in 2013. “Actually, I think it made me very popular. . . . I do think I know what I'm doing.” Salon The birther blemish: Republicans still think Barack Obama was born in Kenya Jarrett Lyons

IntroductionThe American welfare state was created in 1935 and continued to develop through 1973. Since then, over a prolonged period, the capitalist class has been steadily dismantling the entire welfare state.Between the mid 1970’s to the present (2017) labor laws, welfare rights and bene ts and the construction of and subsidies for a ordable housing have been gutted. ‘Workfare’ (under President ‘Bill’ Clinton) ended welfare for the poor and displaced workers. Meanwhile the shift to...

Back in 1987 a reporter interviewed Mike Tyson about his upcoming fight with Evander Holyfield. The reporter asked Mike if he was worried about Evander and his fight plan. Mike famously replied,”Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” That thought came to mind when I read the latest plan articulated by a Pentagon spokesman for our military forces in eastern Syria.... Sic Semper Tyrannis Waiting for the punch in the mouth TTGalso The immediate consequence of Trump’s...