Mike Norman Economics

For any country, the foundation of successful diplomacy is a reputation for credibility and reliability. Governments are wary of concluding agreements with a negotiating partner that violates existing commitments and has a record of duplicity. Recent U.S. administrations have ignored that principle, and their actions have backfired majorly, damaging American foreign policy in the process.… In some cases, the US is unable to keep its agreements or honor its word over time, and in other cases...

On October 31, 2017, my blog – Europhile Left deluded if it thinks reform process will produce functional outcomes – countered some of the nonsense coming out of Europe (from the so-called progressive side) that the Eurozone hadn’t failed when judged by it bias towards mass unemployment and increasing precariousness of its citizens. I particularly noted the terrible record in terms of youth unemployment and NEETs. Yesterday’s blog – Massive Eurozone infrastructure deficit requires urgent...

According to news reports in the British press, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Russia’s industries to prepare themselves to be able to make a quick switch to war production. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-business-war-production-sochi-military-talks-a8069951.html Clearly, the Russian government would not make such an announcement unless it was convinced that the prospect of war with the West was real. For some time I have emphasized in...

Not  much here.  Says he is going to take 30 days to study the situation; ie more lethargy from the Trump administration.Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney Holds Brilliant Press Conference - Video... https://t.co/AlXjh5tL69 via @thelastrefuge2— Paul Webster (@plwtigers) November 28, 2017

Jimmy Dore is an excellent satirist who mixes serious politics with comedy which keeps his show really interesting. I would say that Jimmy Dore's politics and mine were about the same. Here he takes a satirical looks at the US military-industrial complex. [embedded content]

An in-depth discussion with renowned Palestinian scholar Prof. Joseph Massad. Alternet Max Blumenthal - GRAYZONE PROJECT - Exposing the Shocking and Continuing Alliance Between Zionism and Anti-Semitism According to this report the antisemitics in Europe drove the Jews out of their countries and this was exactly what the Zionists wanted as they hoped many of the Jewish evacuees would go to Palestine although most went to the USA instead.  Excerpt -  On the eve of Trump’s election,...

A media company backed by the conservative billionaire brothers will acquire Time, Fortune, People, and Sports Illustrated magazines Critics of media consolidation and the fossil fuel industry are decrying an announcement that the media company Meredith Corp., with a $650 million boost from conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch, will buy Time Inc.—which owns Time, Fortune, People, and Sports Illustrated magazines—for an estimated $2.8 billion. In a statement announcing the...

An excellent account of where America has gone wrong. At the end of the interview Alfred McCoy says how Obama was a brilliant strategist who was cutting China out of Western markets through trade deals which would have halted its rise but neoliberalism had disenfranchised so many working people that they voted for Trump who run on a populist ticked who wanted to end these deals. You can see here another reason why Trump was certainly not the leader the US elite wanted. [embedded content]...

Today, with the kind permission of Phil Butler, I am posting the full text of my contribution to his book “Putin’s Praetorians: Confessions of the Top Kremlin Trolls“. There are a couple of reasons for that.... The Vineyard of the SakerBook excerpt: How I became a Kremlin trollThe Saker

I say the challenge in Robin's final sentence is easily answered: Conscious intentions are all-important for the welfare analysis of signaling. Standard signaling models assume that people dislike sending the signal. It is this assumption that implies that signaling equilibria are highly inefficient - or even full-blown Prisoners' Dilemmas. If people enjoyed signaling, in contrast, signaling equilbria could easily be ideal. What superficially appears to be a vast zero-sum game turns out...