Mike Norman Economics

Detailed analysis of what is known so far.The InterceptNSA Worker’s Software Piracy May Have Exposed Him To Russian Spies Kim Zetter

I can hardly wait for the book and movie. Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.Publius Tacitus recounts the twists and turns and the still unanswered questions.Stay tuned. This story has legs.Sic Semper TyrannisThe Bonnie and Clyde of US politics Publius Tacitus

If your are following this.Ars TechnicaWorker who snuck NSA malware home had his PC backdoored, Kaspersky says Dan Goodin AlsoReutersKaspersky says it obtained suspected NSA hacking code from U.S. computerJoseph Menn

  Pretty damning.TRNNWilkerson: Trump's Generals Aren't Saviors, They're Dangers Aaron Maté interviews Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, US Army (ret.)

I don't see identarianism or identarian epistemology as problem although it is an issue. It lies at the foundation of postmodern critique.  identarianism or identarian epistemology are issues that a represetative democracy should be able to handle by ensuring that all identity groups are represented by qualified people. so that all can feel –genuinely – that they have a seat at the table rather than either token representation or no representation. This is what social and political...

Reports said UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn move to decline an invitation for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, amounts to a statement of justice for Palestinians among UK’s political elite. The Balfour Declaration, signed on 2 November 1917, may have only been less than 130 words, but has changed the course of Palestinians ever since. The declaration had offered a “home for the Jewish people” in what was then the entirety of historical...

David Malone, who wrote the excellent book, Debt Generation, writes on his blog about how now some countries have started trading oil in the PetroYuan which is backed by Chinese gold. Now we, as MMTer's, believe that pegging a currency to a precious metal limits what a government can spend to improve the life of its citizens through excellent public services, and also, to help the private sector to flourish and grow. (One of the reasons I like MMT so much is that the socialists get what they...

Fun if you are interested in Joan Robinson, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Cambridge of the Twenties, and enjoy personal anecdotes. Incidentally, I am surprised and not surprised that Joan Robinson confessed to not understand the first propositions of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. I am not surprised in that they sound like metaphysical statements and many if not most readers are at least initially confused by this appearance.  I am surprised, however, than Robinson did not...

The key idea, according to British political scientists such as Julian Le Grand and David Miller, is that market socialism retains the market mechanism while socializing the ownership of capital. The thrust of this social-democratic approach is that markets not only promote efficiency but also freedom and democracy thus giving wide political appeal. London School of Economics Blog Why market socialism is a viable alternative to neoliberalism David Lane | previously Professor of Sociology...

And American imperialism is scared. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has described the plan as an “attack” on “American genius.” In an excellent new book, The US vs China: Asia’s new cold war?, Jude Woodward, a regular visitor and lecturer in China, shows the desperate measures that the US is taking to try to isolate China, block its economic progress and surround it militarily. But she also shows this policy is failing. China is not accepting control by foreign multi-nationals; it is...