Mike Norman Economics

The Bank of Russia continues to sabotage Russia's economic recovery by over-estimating the effects of a hostile U.S. Congress. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Elvira Nabiullina.  Russia InsiderBank of Russia’s Worries Stifling GrowthTom Luongo

I'm going to place my bets that Steve Keen is right, what about you? But Max Keiser might seem a bit crazy but he is really a very clever guy.  Anyway, I'm not a risk taker and if I had some Bitcoins I would hang onto them for a short while and then get out well before it crashes.Is this more tulips? [embedded content] How much energy does bitcoin mining really use? It's complicated Bitcoin hype has reached an all-time high. But if running the bitcoin network uses up as much yearly...

Oliver Stone says Putin is a man of peace. [embedded content]

The Trump Administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans...

The two BRICS powers Russia and China are moving towards dethroning the greenback as global reserve currency. The Global South is moving away from the US dollar to the Chinese yuan owing to US politicization of global finance. Russia FeedNew Russian Yuan-backed bond poses threat to US dollar hegemony

Nine media outlets have been registered as foreign agents by Russia’s Justice Ministry, in accordance with a recently passed law. The law comes in response to the US Congress’s moves towards RT America. On Tuesday, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, including its regional branch Radio Azatliq, along with six other outlets were recognized as foreign agents, according to the website of Russia’s Ministry of Justice. The list also includes the Kavkaz.Realii, Krym Realii...

When one section of the rich violently suppresses others, and takes dramatic action at the expense of other capitalists, this is what Marxists call “Bonapartism.”... Not Napoleon but Louis and The Party of Order. In recent American history, the key issue of division among America’s ruling elite has been how to combat the rise of Russia and China as competitors on the global stage. The rise of the Eurasian superpowers is something the billionaire monopolists who run the USA find...

Venezuela's plans to issue a cryptocurrency are an early warning of an attack on the Western-dominated global financial system.… The kicker. To keep its dominant role in the global financial system, the West is essentially interested in holding back progress. That, perhaps more than anything else, gives non-Western powers, including rogue ones, a potential technological advantage born of strong incentive.… Good luck with holding back progress. Bloomberg ViewGovernment-Run Digital Currencies...

Where thinks tanks are at there best is investigating long terms trends and international best practice, lifting eyes above the day to day crisis management of civil servants.One such area is Land Value Taxation.  In our age of rentier capitalism, poor productivity and a housing crisis our latest policy hero seems to be Henry George, with think tanks across the political spectrum championing it.  Of course it is far easier to propose a policy reform than to get down to the nitty gritty...

The global financial media are always on the lookout for signs of an impending financial crisis in China – and the dark prognostications about the future made by several external observers relate to both internal and external financial flows. But there are reasons to believe that both concerns may be overplayed, and that what is occurring especially with respect to cross-border flows is a much more complex process reflecting a medium-term plan of the Chinese state, in accordance with its...