Mike Norman Economics

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

More on the proposed changes to bank regulatory capital requirements here from the Peterson people.Article is anti-proposal but there is still some good confirming data there regardless. How much would the Treasury's proposed exemptions from the exposure base reduce the effective capital requirement for the US G-SIB banks?  One indicator is that the Treasury considers that "Large U.S. banks hold nearly 24% of their assets in high-quality liquid assets such as cash, U.S. Treasury...

Moving towards a cashless economy will end cash in hand and ensure all taxes are collected while the big corporations and the mega rich encourage governments to create even more tax loopholes for themselves. The hypocrisy is staggering:  All the taxes are being shifted onto ordinary people stifling the economy while elites get the public to pay for their wars, their military machine, for the next generation of unneeded nuclear detergents, and for the infrastructure and legal system they need...

Former White House strategist and current Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon has teamed up with conservative donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer to promote insurgent candidates to challenge the GOP establishment and create an organizational apparatus to advance the populist and economic nationalist policies championed by those candidates.... Breitbart News The Long Game: Bannon Creates Political Coalition to Advance Populist Economic Nationalist Agenda and Smash the Establishment...

MMT is breaking into the big time.Los Angeles TimesOp-Ed — Congress can give every American a pony (if it breeds enough ponies) Stephanie Kelton | professor of public policy and economics at SUNY Stony Brook, chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in 2015, and an economic advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Business InsiderOne chart shows why Trump could have big trouble getting his tax plan past some Republicans Bob Bryan

John Harvey rates the Trump tax plan piece by piece.Forbes — Pragmatic EconomicsTrump’s Tax Plan: The Good, The Bad, And The UglyJohn T. Harvey | Professor of Economics, Texas Christian University

Gurdgiev's analysis of the Russian banking sector is of particular interest. It is sound and under the control of the central bank, which is imposing reforms that give the appearance of weakness in the sector. The opposite is true. Consolidation is taking place firmly under the state rather than oligarchs.true economicsPimco on Russian Economy: My TakeConstantin Gurdgiev | chairman of the Ireland-Russia Business Association, contributor and former editor of Business & Finance Magazine,...

President Trump’s 2018 budget contains the largest dollar cuts to programs for low- and moderate-income people proposed by any President’s budget in the modern era, reflecting a strikingly imbalanced approach to reducing the deficit or offsetting the cost of its proposed tax cuts. The plan would cut these programs by an estimated $2.5 trillion over the next decade. About two-thirds (66 percent) of the budget’s cuts would come from these programs, which help low- and moderate-income...