Mike Norman Economics

The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front is ahead in polls for the upcoming municipal elections. President Daniel Ortega has an almost 80 percent approval rating among Nicaraguans and his party is ahead in polls for the Nov. 5 elections that will elect mayors across the country, according to a recent survey. Some 77.5 percent say that President Ortega has led Nicaragua correctly, while 77.8 percent said the Sandinista National Liberation Front government gives them hope,...

More thoughts on economic methodology. First a framework is needed and then theories can be constructed and tested in that framework. The simplest frame and most economical theory that explains the data sufficiently to be useful is preferred.A framework involving complexity is not necessarily better than one that doesn't as long as it gets the job done.Smith observes that theories constructed within the conventional framework that conventional economists presume is not getting the job of...

[embedded content] Martin Wolf says there will be a big financial crash in five years time especially as the US is weakening its financial regulations. He says how the 2008 crash was the worst in history where the economy was only saved by a massive bail out from governments, but the next crash will be even worse.Ed balls is a classic neoliberal who says that the less government gets involved in the economy the better (except, of course, when bailing out his buddies in the One Percent with...

[embedded content] Quite an interring interview.  The role of central banks is to support the big banks not the economy, says PCR, while the big banks are just gambling rather than investing in businesses. He says how it makes no sense for companies to incur debts in order to buy back their own shares which weakens them. He wonders whether if the central banks can keep the financial system afloat indefinably by printing money. 

CNBC cobbled together a video using reporting from Reuters, set to a somewhat ominous driving baseline, which began with the words “China’s economy may be in trouble.” The content of the video went on to imply that Zhou Xiaochuan said just that, in stark contrast to the confidence other Chinese leaders are espousing. In fact, Zhou’s words align with the central leadership’s consistent calls for efforts to reign in financial risks and continue to push for deleveraging. And the rising...

What Ed Harrison call "crony capitalism" is a feature of neoliberalism as government capture that favors special interests. "Crony capitalism" is an egregious example of the underlying assumption that capital formation should be favored over other factors in the interest of growth, based on the further assumption of trickle down. This results in upward distribution and growing inequality of income and wealth, which eventually leads to social dysfunctionality.Credit Writedowns Crony...

So what are the problems according to Blanchard and Summers? In their view, “the events of the last ten years have put into question the presumption that economies are self stabilizing, have raised again the issue of whether temporary shocks can have permanent effects, and have shown the importance of non linearities.” Only mainstream macroeconomists could possibly have thought that capitalism is self stabilizing. The rest of us—who have read Marx and Keynes as well as the work of Robert...

According to the late Bill Campbell, who established a reputation as the "coach" of Silicon Valley, only one thing determines whether or not you're a leader: the opinions of those you're supposed to be leading.…[Former Apple CEO John] Sculley shared one of the best pieces of advice Campbell ever gave him: "Your title makes you a manager. Your people will decide if you're a leader, and it's up to you to live up to that."... "Basically, how you make that happen is if you believe that...

Hyman Minsky goes to China. China will fend off risks from excessive optimism that could lead to a "Minsky Moment", central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Thursday, adding that corporate debt levels are relatively high and household debt is rising too quickly. A Minsky Moment is a sudden collapse of asset prices after a long period of growth, sparked by debt or currency pressures. The theory is named after economist Hyman Minsky...."If there are too many pro-cyclical factors in the...

John Brennan doubles down and insinuates that some connected with Trump colluded with "the Russians" in the "fake news" campaign that purportedly cost HRC the election, since "the Russians" would have need direction about targeting vulnerable states.Reaching for straws.Raw StoryFormer CIA director says it’s ‘implausible’ that Russians didn’t meddle in our election without American help Sarah K. Burris