Mike Norman Economics

The head of VTB Bank Andrei Kostin, who is currently in Davos at the Economic Forum, has spoken out in relation to the situation surrounding Western sanctions against Russia. "What we modestly call sanctions, in fact, is a full-scale economic war that aims to put tremendous pressure on our economy, to restrain its growth, to worsen the living conditions of our people, to worsen our economic development, and thus to influence the domestic political situation in our country, including the...

Sums up the Syrian crisis. It's shocking to see such evil coming from the West. How can we get the message out? [embedded content] An entire ‘fake-news’ industry emerged over the past five years in relation to Syria. Phantom armies of "moderate rebels" were moved around like pieces on an imaginary chess board. A secular, multi-confessional society was to be placed in the strait jacket of ISIS-type distortions of faith, and the truth would not be allowed to stand in the way. In the din of...

Joe Biden opens his big mouth again and shows that the US -installed post-coup Ukrainian rump government is a US puppet. US "leadership."RT‘Son of b***h got fired’: Joe Biden forced Ukraine to sack prosecutor general ‘in six hours’

Everything was looking so awesome this morning, until Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told a group in Davis that China's 2025 Technology Plan was a "direct threat" to the US, sparking another round of protectionist-fear-driven selling in stocks…. Zero HedgeUS Equities Tumble On Ross' China "Direct Threat" Comments Tyler Durden Also It appears the rhetoric coming out of Davos is slowly but surely catching up to markets - after initially just impacting the dollar - as former fund manager...

Venezuela’s presidential election race has begun with favorite and incumbent Nicolas Maduro signaling a nationalist, “anti-Trump” campaign while his demoralized foes scramble to find a viable candidate for a vote they predict will be unfair. Sums it up. The favorite wins. The opposition screams foul and runs to held to Washington. Washington declares foul and intervenes directly or indirectly. Wash, rinse, repeat. That's "democracy." They are now even doing it the US in the case of...

Income disparity in India has become even more stark, showing that efforts to alleviate poverty and achieve more inclusive growth have had little success. A survey carried out recently by international rights group Oxfam revealed that the richest 1% in India cornered 73% of wealth generated in the country last year, Press Trust of India has reported. A similar survey last year showed that India’s richest 1% held 58% of the country’s total wealth — higher than the global figure of about...

Full speech.World Economic Forum3 critical battles China is preparing to fightLiu He | Member, Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee; General Office Director, Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs Also In Davos, Alibaba founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma spoke openly and at length about some of the key challenges facing the world, delivering a stream of perspectives and guidance. "To gain success a person will need high EQ; if you don't want to lose quickly...

MMT, but it's a mixed bag. Some good, some not so good and some sort of ugly (Fed). But worth being aware of.The PolemicistBehind the Money Curtain: A Left Take on Taxes, Spending, and Modern Monetary Theory Jim Kavanagh

I just stumbled over a very nice figure from Destatis, Germany’s statistical office. It shows GDP and how you arrive at the correct number using the production, expenditure and income approaches. econoblog 101German GDP for students of economicsDirk Ehnts | Lecturer at Bard College Berlin

Meanwhile, Twitter's internal analysis of the hashtag has thus far found that authentic American accounts, not Russians, are driving #ReleaseTheMemo, according to The Daily Beast....  Zero HedgeDemocrats Demand Twitter, Facebook Crackdown On #ReleaseTheMemo "Russian Bots", There Is Just One Problem...Tyler Durden