Mike Norman Economics

Moon of Alabama explains how ridiculous, but dangerous for democracy nevertheless, the "Russian influence" media mania has become. He speculates felicitously that perhaps Putin is funding it to make the US look weak and Russia strong. Looking from the outside the U.S. media have simply gone nuts. There seems to be no other way to explain the silliness of their "reporting". Then again: Could they all be under Russian influence? Are Russian secret services paying for such stories? Consider...

The internet has received a substantial amount of blame for the recent increase in political polarisation. Using US data, this column argues that, in fact, the internet has played no significant role in a generally increasing trend of political polarisation that goes back at least to the 1970s. The results highlight the importance of looking beyond convenient narrative explanations, and the need for a deeper understanding of the drivers of political sentiment. Although unmentioned, an...

In recent weeks, investigators looking at how people acting on behalf of Russia targeted American voters have focused on Trump’s data operation. But although the FBI obtained a court order against Facebook to make it disclose evidence, the exact way in which US citizens were profiled and targeted remains largely unknown. But British data protection laws may provide some transparency on the company at the heart of Trump’s data operation – Cambridge Analytica – and how it created profiles of...

"The rent is too damn high." The problem with capitalism is rent extraction owing to market power resulting from effects of social, political and economic asymmetry. Neoclassical economics models capitalism (economic liberalism) in terms of perfect competition. This is not only an ideal, but also it is an unreachable ideal owing to institutional arrangements, on one hand, and asymmetry resulting from history and culture. In addition, government is inextricably bound up in the economy...

Giving the GOP establishment heartburn. Hey, they asked for it. RawStoryJoe Arpaio tells GOP he’s hot on the trail of Obama’s birth certificate and running for Congress Newsweek also Newsweek Joe Arpaio Revives Birtherism, Defends Record As Sheriff, Teases Return To Politics In Fresno Alexander Nazaryan See also FortuneRoy Moore Makes Ted Cruz Look Like a DemocratAllen Tullos is a professor of history at Emory University

Quite probably of course the very success of my blog, which jumped from 26000 monthly connexions to more than 200 000 monthly connexions could explain why what was thought to be “tolerable” in 2012 is no more by 2017 under Mr Macron’s rule.This suspension amounts to an act of arbitrariness and an act of politically motivated censorship.... Censorship rears its ugly head in France under the Macron government. The ruling elites of the world getting worried?Real-World Economics Review...

Synopsis review.Thoughts On EconomicsDean Baker's Rigged And Robert Reich's Saving CapitalismRobert Vienneau

Communist Party members should study contemporary capitalism but must never deviate from Marxism, Chinese President Xi Jinping said... “If we deviate from or abandon Marxism, our party would lose its soul and direction,” Xi said. “On the fundamental issue of upholding the guiding role of Marxism, we must maintain unswerving resolve, never wavering at any time or under any circumstances.”Xi said the party should better integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with the “reality of contemporary...

Progressives will make political gains when they stop assuming voters respond to nuanced arguments and ideas.… Progressives lose at the ballot and across the culture because they consistently overestimate the intelligence and decency of the American people.  SalonDumb it down, Democrats — or prepare to lose again David Masciotra

Masoud Barzani has overplayed his hand – no regional powers are going to assent to partition of Iraq. Backgrounder. Asia Times Unravelling the riddle of the Kurds’ Iraqi pipedream Pepe EscobarSee alsoEconospeakThe Kurdish Independence VoteJ. Barkley Rosser | Professor of Economics and Business Administration James Madison University