Mike Norman Economics

The U.S. Central Command in the Middle East wants the oil fields in east-Syria under control of its proxy forces to set up and control a U.S. aligned Kurdish mini-state in the area. The Syrian government, allied with Russia, needs the revenues of the oil fields to rebuild the country.... Curiously, Moon doesn't mention the well-known fact that a Kurdistan and Sunnistan separating Syria and Israel from Iran is of the highest priority on the agenda of the Netanyahu government.Russia, Syria,...

When we created the website for Wall Street On Parade, it took us about 30 minutes to add a free plug-in function so that our readers could search the text of every article we have ever written. (See Search box in upper right-hand corner of our menu at the top of this website.) But at Wall Street’s top cop, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), if one wants to search corporate filings, one is limited to a four-year text search. This bizarre restriction inhibits investigative...

Similar to there Bayesian versus frequentist debate in statistical reasoning.Likelihood Principle My epistemological view on this is that the border between them is fuzzy and needs to be approached on a case by case basis, along with acknowledging a cognitive bias toward greater certainty than is attainable from the given and the reasoning about it. Humans don't like uncertainty and have a strong bias toward minimizing it at the risk of fooling themselves. Even statisticians....

Another dodgy writer from Veterans Today, but I thought this article was very informative and gives some idea of why the North Koreans are so terrified and behave the way they do. [Editor’s note: As Trump continues to ratchet up the tensions with North Korea, it is worth reminding ourselves of why the North Koreans are so scared of the US and why they have such a burning hatred for the Americans and their South Korean collaborators. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were slaughtered by the...

The term moral hazard originated in the insurance business. It was a reference to the need for insurers to assess the integrity of their customers. When modern economists got ahold of the term, the meaning changed. Instead of making judgments about a person’s character, the focus shifted to incentives. For example, a fire insurance policy might limit the motivation to install sprinklers while a generous automobile insurance policy might encourage reckless driving. Then there is Kenneth...

I know some of you will view Gordon Duff as a conspiracy theorist but this article is very good. I gave up on Veteran's Today for years because it seemed mad and offbeat and I preferred instead reporters like Chris Hedges who were more measured and less forthright, but now, as the US has become more openly pro war and terrifying with its mask more revealed - to those of us who care to look - I find Veteran's frankness quite appropriate and to the point. It's full of horrible adverts, though,...

I guess Zero Hedge is another of those Russkie sites like Drudge.Zero Hedge Russia Releases Photos Showing US Special Ops At ISIS Positions In Syria Tyler Durden

[embedded content] The promotional video of the Committee to Investigate Russia features actor Morgan Freeman in what is 'probably his worst role since Driving Miss Daisy,' says AlterNet's Max Blumenthal This is chilling, the producer Robe Reiner has made this short film about the 'Russian Hack' and it's a complete load of rubbish from start to finish, just total propaganda with no facts.

The title may be alarmist but the post is worth reading. David Graeber points out that the sectoral balances don't actually balance and asks why, since it is an accounting identity. When I first saw this diagram I was startled and confused. Was I missing something? Was there something about the math I didn’t understand? I passed the image on to two different economists and asked just that: isn’t there something wrong with the numbers here? You’ll notice that towards the end of the graph,...

The major trends in the development of economics summarized. How the profession lost the plot and also its way.Real-World Economics Review BlogEconomics as science in the world of great power politics (1800-present) Robert Locke