Mike Norman Economics

The BBC has got into trouble for reporting the C14 Ukrainian neo-Nazi as just lovable rogues trying to protect their country. BBC LEGITIMISING NEO-NAZI HATE CRIMES IN UKRAINEIf the BBC carried a report portraying Neo-Nazi’s engaged in hate crime in London as lovable rogues turned to a good cause there would be outrage.  Yet that is what the BBC has done in a report on Ukraine entitled ‘C14 Group: hooligans who catch separatists’.    An impartial journalist adhering to the BBC “editorial...

Most of what lies ahead hinges on who will control Syria’s oil and gas fields. It’s Pipelineistan all over again; all wars are energy wars. Damascus simply won’t accept an energy bonanza for the US-supported SDF, actually led by the YPG. And neither would Russia. Apart from Moscow holding on to a strategic eastern Mediterranean base, eventually Gazprom wants to be an investment partner/operator in a newly feasible Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, whose main customer will be the EU. Beyond...

Mathew Robane says that many cities compete with each other by offering massive incentives to attract large corporations to set up businesses in their cities, but, he adds, when you do the math these financial incentives are terribly inefficient and wasteful of tax payers money.  Mathew Rohane says how these big corporations know exactly where they intend to place their new second headquarters, shop, warehouse, or offices, and are just pretending to be looking around so as to get the maximum...

A superb article by Pat Buchanan. Are we willing to play passive observer as thousands and then tens of thousands of innocent civilians—the old, sick, weak, and infants and toddlers first—die from a starvation blockade supported by the mighty United States of America? Without U.S. targeting and refueling, Saudi planes could not attack the Houthis effectively and Riyadh could not win this war. But when did Congress authorize this war on a nation that never attacked us? Yemen today is...

You are the product.The InterceptStaggering Variety of Clandestine Trackers Found In Popular Android AppsYael Grauer

Abstract Corporate taxation is a perennially controversial topic in American politics. In fact, it may be the tax policy controversy that most Americans are aware of and even have an opinion about. Nevertheless, the purpose of corporate taxation is unclear in popular, or even for that matter, academic, discourse. In this paper we lay out and critically evaluate contemporary and historical corporate tax policy debates based on three common justifications for taxation: the “revenue”...

Here's a quote that would make Lars Syll retch: Because DSGE models start from microeconomic principles of constrained decision-making, rather than relying on historical correlations, they are more difficult to solve and analyze. However, because they are also based on the preferences of economic agents, DSGE models offer a natural benchmark for evaluating the effects of policy change.- MathWorks: Modeling the United States Economy "... based on the preferences of economic agents, DSGE...

Saudi princes and billionaire businessmen arrested in a power grab earlier this month are being strung up by their feet and beaten by American private security contractors, a source in the country tells DailyMail.com. The group of the country's most powerful figures were arrested in a crackdown ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman three weeks ago as he ordered the detention of at least 11 fellow princes and hundreds of businessmen and government officials over claims of...

In a time of global uncertainty, a vision of “made in the Americas” prosperity provides a unifying agenda for the continent. If implemented, the US could reassert its historical leadership among a group of countries that share its fundamental values, as well as an interest in inclusive economic growth and rising living standards. If the US doesn't do it, then China will.Project Syndicate.A Belt and Road for the Americas?Luis Alberto Moreno | President of the Inter-American Development Bank,...

Good post. Cites David Graeber. This indicates that some Chinese are reading Western alternative viewpoints, learning from them, and integrating them with specifically Chinese conditions. But it is also about corruption in general and is not limited to China.Project SyndicateThe Next Battle in China’s War on Corruption Andrew Sheng, Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong, member of the UNEP Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance,  former chairman...