Mike Norman Economics

There's a huge amount being written about Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain with the focus on Bitcoin volatility. so I am going to be selective in posting. John Aziz is a good analyst and MMT-friendly. He sorts through some of the complication.azizonomics Bitcoin Is Failing As Money—But Bitcoin Cash Isn’tJohn Aziz

Don't believe what you read in Western media. Polin explains how China's neo-Mandarin political system actually works. The problem with Western analysis of non-Western peoples is two-fold.  First, the West assumes its exceptionalism and attempts to impose in on the world in order to fulfill "the white-man's burden" as a rationale, but the real agenda is permanent Western world dominance. The end justifies the means, even it involves destroying countries to "save" them. Secondly and...

For all of these reasons, 2018 will be a year for vigilance and attention to detail in a world that is very troubled and moving towards disorder. US getting back at Russia for the defeat in Syria? The obvious outcome is that the US is on track to lose Europe.Une parole franche Herman Gref in "The Financial Times": a grave warning that merits our full attention Gilbert Doctorow | European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd.

Did Nikki Haley lie to the world about Iranian missiles being used against Saudi Arabia by Houthis of Yemen? Or was Haley played like Colin Powell was? Scott Ritter argues in the affirmative.(Why it would make a difference if true eludes me when almost all the weapons being used against Yemen are of US origin.)The American ConservativePropaganda Exercise Aiming to Prove Iran Supplied Missiles BackfiresScott Ritter

The study of self-organizing groups points toward what could be called a cognitive economics.EvonomicsCognitive Economics: How Self-Organization and Collective Intelligence WorksGeoff Mulgan is chief executive of Nesta, the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, and a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Ash Center

Pirate bands are radically democratic and egalitarian: Hayek and the evolutionary imperative. EvonomicsThe Invisible Hook: How Pirate Society Proves Economic Self-Interest WrongDavid Sloan Wilson | SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University and Arne Næss Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo

Gilbert Doctorow is generally positive about the 2017 National Security Strategy that was recently released by the White House. It indicates a shirt toward foreign policy realism and away from the foreign policy idealism that characterized US policy since Ronald Reagan's presidency under neoconservative and liberal internationalist influence in both the Republican and Democratic Parties.Une parole franche Kissinger’s Fingerprints on the Trump Security Doctrine, 2017Gilbert Doctorow |...

Some views on distinguishing critics from cranks and quacks.ChrisAuld18 signs you’re reading bad criticism of economics Chris Auld Unlearning Economics 18 Signs Economists Haven’t the Foggiest Information Transfer Economics18 signs you are not having a productive conversation about economicsJason Smith Dani Rodrik's WeblogThe Economics Debate, again and again Dani Rodrik

An interesting article about Bitcoin in the Guardian today by Will Hutton. He seems to like it but he says it will never be quite the same as regular money as it is far too volatile for that. But blockchain changes everything. It becomes a means to transfer digital cash – or crypto-currencies, of which the best known is bitcoin – in vast amounts, across any border, instantaneously. The blockchain makes sure bitcoin is spent once; indeed, blockchain was first invented by the originators of...

The president wants a partnership with Vladimir Putin, but his national security leaders are pursuing aggressive containment. Jeet Heer seems to believe the propaganda that Russia is a dangerous adversary, but this is an interesting article in that he believes Trump is still going against his administration by trying to improve relations with Russia and China.  Heer says that to balance Trump's conciliatory words towards Putin, his administration may take a more hard line position to...