Mike Norman Economics

With any country that, like Iran, has been the subject of acrimonious debate in Washington, pronouncements by American observers about events in that country have more to do with politics here than with what is going on over there. So it has been with much of the spinning and interpreting of protests in Iranian streets during the past few days. Some guidelines for intelligent, responsible, and useful commentary on those protests are in order, and applicable no matter what are the policy...

It's laughable how Iran has been picked out as a rogue state but Israel, which is brutal to the Palestinians, and Saudi Arabia, which spreads international terrorism, gets hardly any criticism. Israel is not surprisingly most active in patrolling the Internet as it is keen to keep out any material sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or critical of Israeli treatment of Arabs. Its security services scan the stories being surfaced and go to the service providers to ask that material be deleted...

Good article about the political situation in Iran.Here is an aside. “The policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has said. “I don’t see how anyone can say America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism.” Of course, this ignores US support of Wahabi and Salafi Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE, which are far more repressive theocratic dictatorships than Iran's. Then, there is Israel, an apartheid state that is in effect a...

Professor Cohen updates on Ukraine, which is turning into Trump's folly, along with Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and North Korea, giving "America First" new meaning based on his previous statements. DJT now owns it, and it promises to come back and bite him. The NationFour Years of Ukraine and the Myths of MaidanStephen F. Cohen is a professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University and a contributing editor of The Nation.

I stand with Paul Feyerabend in taking an "anarchistic" approach to the philosophy of science. There is no "scientific method" that is the final arbiter of doing science. Or, as Mao famously said but did not follow through one, "Let a hundred flowers bloom." The cream will rise to the top. Science is what scientists do, and free inquiry requires that they be free to pursue their curiosity. Exploration of options and alternatives is basic to evolutionary theory. Those that don't adapt to...

Dragon-breath.  Calling Siegfried.Real Clear DefenseComing to Grips With a Rising China Ramon Marks

Big fight shaping up now that weed has been capitalized? Ignoring how well Prohibition worked out? States' rights?The HillSessions will end policy that allowed legalized marijuana to prosper Reid Wilson

Just before Xmas (December 22, 2017), the IMF proved once again that leopards don’t change their spots. Thy released a Working Paper (No. 17/286) – Australia’s Fiscal Framework: Revisiting Options for a Fiscal Anchor – that demonstrated they hadn’t learned a thing from the last decade of crisis and fiscal interventions (stimulative and opposite). The paper demonstrates no understanding of context, history, or the role that fiscal policy should play in advancing general well-being. It is a...

Summary of Grantham's guesses (described "absolutely my personal views")A melt-up or end-phase of a bubble within the next 6 months to 2 years is likely, i.e., over 50%. If there is a melt-up, then the odds of a subsequent bubble break or melt-down are very, very high, i.e., over 90%. If there is a market decline following a melt-up, it is quite likely to be a decline of some 50%. If such a decline takes place, I believe the market is very likely (over 2:1) to bounce back up way over the...

President Trump has not changed his position on protecting entitlement programs from funding cuts, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday. After last month's GOP victory on tax reform, many Republicans are calling for changes to the social safety net as a way to cut government spending. But, asked about Trump's repeated campaign pledge to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Sanders said he doesn't support cuts to the programs. "The president hasn't...