Mike Norman Economics

Opponents of single payer health care frequently claim that such a system might be wonderful in theory, but getting there would be too disruptive. Many Americans, the argument goes, have private health insurance coverage and the transition to a government plan would be jarring. “Half of America gets their health insurance coverage on the job,” American Hospital Association lobbyist and former Connecticut Democratic congressman Bruce Morrison told The Intercept last month. Single payer...

Not exactly a threat to NATO. But the beefed up nuclear deterrent guarantees MAD (mutually assured destruction, especially in light of development of hypersonic missiles. And the modernization would make an attack of Russia extremely expensive. This is a defensive rebuild rather than offensive expansion. Russia FeedWhat are Putin’s military objectives? Anna

They know at the very least they'll be spied upon and become permanently unemployable.  Russia Insider RT Employees in the US Are Quitting en Masse Over Security Fears

North Korea’s official newspaper Rodong Sinum says the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to assassinate leader Kim Jong-un in May. Criticizing a UN decision to set up a “Counter-Terrorism Office” earlier this year, Rodong noted in a weekend commentary that the US was using the “pretext” of counter-terrorism and non-proliferation “to overthrow legitimate governments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya one by one by waging military attacks on those countries.” Citing an example, the...

Ed Smith of Positive Money suggests solutions for Britain's growing unsustainable debt crisis which is threatening another great UK recession.  [embedded content]

Explanation of why expected utility theory is "an ex-hyoptheis."  Actually, there is a lot more wrong with it such hypotheses used as assumptions in the construction of homo economicus, and the exportation of homo economicus from theory to practical use. Homo economicus is a theoretical construct used to simplify the complexities of human behavior for use in an economic model. But human behavior is not limited to economics other than in quite specialized cases, where it is reasonable...

“The political analysts and inexperienced generals of U.S. leaders thought that Afghanistan was a bite-sized meal which can readily be devoured and added to their list of colonies” on October 7, 2001, when Occupation Enduring Freedom was launched, the Taliban said on its English-language website. “However, they were unaware that this valiant nation has broken the horns of every invading force and thrown them into the sinkhole of history.”  “Afghanistan—where empires go to die.” ― Mike...

You can't make this stuff up.If this is not snark, then the West is in for an ass-whipping, administered by themselves. If true, the entire West has caught the Hillary Clinton syndrome. They simply cannot see that their major problems are of their own creation. Deep in denial. PoliticoHow to tame Putin Maura ReynoldsSee also The first communist revolution had almost as many consequences for the rest of the world as it did for Russia itself. Its demise has brought about another type of...

Critical realism proposes an approach to the social world that pays particular attention to objective and material features of the social realm -- property relations, impersonal institutional arrangements, supra-individual social structures. Between structure and agent, CR seems most often to lean towards structures rather than consciously feeling and thinking agents. And so one might doubt whether CR has anything useful to offer when it comes to studying the subjective side of social...

Hyper enrichment of a handful of radical corporate state supremacists wasn’t what classical capitalism was supposed to be about. Many companies are destroying themselves with the 'buy back' scam. The libertarians will argue that unfettered, unregulated capitalism and 'greed is good' will produce the largest growth and the greatest benefits for society, but we can see how this Ayn Randian selfishness only destroys companies.  Excerpts:  The monster of economic waste—over $7...