Mike Norman Economics

The Times carry water for the deep state and the military-industrial complex again. The New York Times (9/18/17) gave an enormous platform to a hawkish think tank that is funded by the US government and by top weapons corporations, letting it absurdly claim, without any pushback, that the gargantuan US military—by far the largest in the world—has been “underfunded.” On September 18, the Senate voted overwhelmingly (89 to eight) to pass an enormous, record-breaking $700 billion Pentagon...

The situation in Syria is reaching another critical point. There is an increased possibility of a large scale clash between U.S. and Russian forces. We had warned of such a clash over control of the rich fields east of Deir Ezzor. At least three incidents over the last days point to more significant escalations.... Moon of AlabamaSyria - Russia Accusing U.S. Of Attacks, Abduction Attempts, Team-play With Al-Qaeda b Fort RussRussia: We will attack Kurdish-led forces in Deir Ezzor if they...

Continuation of part one, previously linked to here at MNE. Asia TimesUS the likely loser of trade war with ChinaKen Moak

When criticising game theory you often get the rather uninformative and vacuous answer that we all have to remember that game theory — as is mainstream neoclassical theory at large — is nothing but ‘as-if-theory’ built on ‘as-if-rationality.’ As Ariel Rubinstein has it, however, this only shows that “the phrase ‘as if’ is a way to avoid taking responsibility for the strong assumptions upon which economic models are founded” … It's bad enough when game theory is applied uncritically to...

In Part 1 of this mini-series – When relations within government were sensible – the US-Fed Accord – Part 1 – I examined the pre-1951 agreement between the US Treasury department and the US Federal Reserve Bank, which saw the bank effectively fund the US Treasury. The nature of that relationship, which began when the central bank was formed in 1913, changed in 1935 when the legislators voluntarily chose to change the capacity of the currency issuer to buy unlimited amounts of US Treasury...

The idiots at S&P are at it again, downgrading China's "debt." This asinine rating agency does not understand the distinction between a currency issuing nation (of which, China is one) and a country that doesn't issue currency or, that has debt denominated in another currency.All of China's "debt" is denominated in yuan, which they have the monopoly power to issue. There is zero risk that China wouldn't be able to meet its obligations in yuan.Anyway, what do you expect from a firm...

Caterpillar is a major indicator. "We see stable growth for the Chinese economy in the next two to three years. We are optimistic about that," said Chen Qihua, vice president of Caterpillar Inc. and chairman of Caterpillar China. "We also expect steady growth for our industry -- no huge growth, but sustainable growth."After a nearly five-years downturn, China's excavator industry has been picking up since the second half of last year.... Ecns.cnCaterpillar upbeat on China's economy,...

Quite a while ago I wrote an article entitled “Counter-Propaganda, Russian style” in which I tried to show that far from censoring the russophobic propaganda of the AngloZionist Empire, the Russians try hard to give it as much visibility in Russia as possible. The reason for that it very simple: by showing the Empire’s propaganda the Russian media provides incontrovertible evidence of the hatred the Empire has for Russia and for the Russian people. This very slick counter-propaganda...

Fixing the corruption problem in China’s ruling Communist Party is “world class hard” and the battle will never end, the country’s top graft-buster told Singapore’s prime minister in a rare meeting with a visiting foreign leader. Wang Qishan, who heads the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, has been at the forefront of President Xi Jinping’s fight against deep-seated corruption, and speculation has swirled about whether he will retire or stay on at next month’s key party...

Farms failing to meet environmental requirements will be closed and fewer chemicals will be used in Shanghai's agricultural production. These are part of the city's endeavors to promote the construction of a green and modern urban agriculture. Quality is the name of the game. "Shanghai's agricultural development is more about its ecological function, and compared with quantity, we should focus more on quality," Zhang Guokun, director of the city's agricultural commission, said...