Mike Norman Economics

One criticism of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that I hear very often is that it applies only to the US or the countries with hard currencies that can issue bonds on international bond markets.... econoblog 101MMT, Tajikistan and foreign bond investorsDirk Ehnts | Lecturer at Bard College Berlin

Apparently, whenever some poor economic news is published about the United Kingdom, journalists have to weave in their on-going gripe about the outpouring of democracy in June last year that saw the Brexit vote to leave successful. Its hysterical really. The most recent example is from the otherwise sensible Aditya Chakrabortty from the UK Guardian (October 17, 2017) – Who’s to blame for Brexit’s fantasy politics? The experts, of course. The story has nothing much to do with the June 2016...

A peek into the military mind. Zero HedgeUS Army Is Preparing For Decades Of Hybrid Wars Tyler Durden

Backgrounder on Tom Cotton. According to Molly Ball of The Atlantic, Cotton's Harvard thesis reveals his philosophy: Cotton insists that the Founders were wise not to put too much faith in democracy, because people are inherently selfish, narrow-minded, and impulsive. He defends the idea that the country must be led by a class of intellectually superior officeholders whose ambition sets them above other men. Though Cotton acknowledges that this might seem elitist, he derides the...

Despite completely leveling Raqqa Dresden-style, the US deliberately let 1000 ISIS fighters escape, and, get this: AIR-LIFTED! them to Deir ez-Zor, to aide in the battle against Russia and Syria there. Russian TV keeps hammering away at the US, accusing them of all manner of double-dealing and treachery - deliberately helping ISIS hang in there in Syria, despite the fact that their situation is hopeless militarily. US aide to ISIS has become a very loud refrain on Russian TV, covered in...

For years now within Germany’s policy circles, there have been many who have pushed for an ‘expulsion’ or ‘voluntary exit’ mechanism for the Eurozone. I am now hearing this position advocated by FDP head Christian Lindner, a potential finance minister in the new German governing coalition. I believe this affects Italy the most and sets up an existential crisis down the line for the EU.... The upshot here is two-fold. First, in a crisis situation, a politically independent hardline German...

Exiled by the media like Seymour Hersh and Noam Chomsky, Philip Giraldi doubles down in the alt-media Last year, al-Jazeera Media Network used an undercover reporter to infiltrate some U.K. pro-Israel groups that were working closely with the Israeli Embassy to counter criticisms coming from British citizens regarding the treatment of the Palestinians. In particular, the Embassy and its friends were seeking to counter the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which has...

US-Russian relations continue hanging in the balance with NATO's expansion in Eastern and Central Europe and the Pentagon's controversial actions in Syria. While the US continues portraying Moscow as an adversary, the standoff is unlikely to translate into a nuclear conflict, American academic Vladimir Golstein told Sputnik.The US and the NATO are no longer hiding their goals, they are beefing up their military presence on Russia's borders, Vladimir Golstein, Associate Professor of Slavic...

U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear last week that he is close to withdrawing from the Iran accord unless Iran agrees to make changes. His chances for success are slim - and his blustering risks a dangerous escalation.… European diplomats are also concerned about the effects of a collapsed Iran accord might have on the conflict with North Korea. The Iran deal, after all, is the only blueprint available for how talks with the regime in Pyongyang might be initiated. "The worst thing...

Wilkerson sees war approaching.TRNNOn Iran, Trump Follows Iraq War Neocons Aaron Maté interviews Lt. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson See also In the U.S., Russia-hating liberals are joining the neocons in seeking more war in Ukraine, as the prospects for a rational and peaceful resolution to the crisis continue to fade, explains James W. Carden. Consortium NewsFueling More Bloodshed in Ukraine James Carden Also US forces conducted airstrikes against two ISIS training camps in Yemen on...