Mike Norman Economics

Klepper wrote that this way of doing business has been "spectacularly successful" for the health insurance industry. As he noted, between May 2009 and May 2017, the stock prices of the five largest investor-owned health insurers -- Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and United -- increased between 387 percent and 748 percent, much more than the Dow Jones average. The CEOs of those companies have become spectacularly wealthy as shareholder value has skyrocketed. They undoubtedly have to be...

The US no longer trusts Turkey?This is a game-changer. No one doubts that the US will intervene on Israel's behalf, but until now it has not been directly from Israel. This move changes US relations with Islamic states significantly.AntiWarUS Establishes First Permanent Military Base in Israel as Tensions With Iran Rise Jason Ditz

The aim of such language and threats is usually to goad the other party into some overt act that can than be used as justification for "retaliation". But none of the countries Trump mentioned is prone to such behavior. They will react calmly - if at all. There was essentially nothing in Trump's threats than the claptrap the last two U.S. presidents also delivered. Trump may be crazy, but the speech today is not a sign of that.The stressing of sovereignty and the nation state in part one...

The fight for the Syrian oiil fields begins. Never letting the nuisance that is the law get in the way of the American military, it seems as though the U.S. may continue pursuing this strategy, which will ultimately bring the American air force and the Russian air force together to bomb the same territory with complete polar opposite intentions while supporting rival forces on the ground. This is easily one of the biggest geopolitical events in recent times, taking place right under our...

In its summary of the cache of mostly Russian-language documents, Wikileaks claims they show how a long-established Russian company which supplies software to telcos is also installing infrastructure - with the government's blessing - that enables Russian state agencies to tap into, search and spy on citizens’ digital activity, suggesting a similar state-funded mass surveillance program to the one utilized by the U.S.’s NSA or by GCHQ in the U.K. (both of which were detailed in the 2013...

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear standoff, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.Loud murmurs filled the green-marbled U.N. General Assembly hall when Trump issued his sternest warning yet to North Korea, whose ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests have rattled the globe.Unless North Korea backs down, he said, “We...

US declares economic war on China. “The sheer scale of their coordinated efforts to develop their economy, to subsidize, to create national champions, to force technology transfer, and to distort markets in China and throughout the world is a threat to the world trading system that is unprecedented,” Lighthizer said. “We must find other ways to defend our companies, workers, farmers, and indeed our economic system,” he implored. “We must find new ways to ensure that a market-based economy...

Why the Minsk 2 agreement is so important.Fort RussUkrainian general admits the truth about Lugansk and Donetsk Boris Dzherelievsky, in kolokolrussia.ru, translated by Tom Winter

In his Tuesday General Assembly address, Trump is expected to call for international action against nonexistent North Korean and Iranian threats. According to an unnamed White House source, he’ll focus on “world regimes that threaten security,” adding: “Obviously one of the chief regimes that will be singled out in this regard is the regime of North Korea and all of its destabilizing hostile and dangerous behavior, as well as of course…Iran.” “And in those two cases as well as others, an...

Previous research has shown that China's entry into the WTO in 2001 has had a profound impact on jobs and wages of low-skilled workers in the US in sectors exposed to Chinese imports. The same is not true for Germany. This column argues this is because the import-side trade adjustment to low-cost competition had already happened before the rise of China, because the rise of Eastern Europe offered new export opportunities for German firms, and because China’s love for product quality found a...