Mike Norman Economics

John Locke's epistemological realism versus George Berkeley's linguistic constructivism. Subsequent findings favor Berkeley's view. Human's participate in the construct of their reality through the way they express themselves about it and their relationship to it. Short and worth a read.OUPblog — Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking WorldGeorge Berkeley and the power of words Kenneth L. Pearce | Ussher Assistant Professor in Berkeley Studies (Early Modern...

After Trump announced the existence of the alt-left on live TV, media outlets scurried to tell the world exactly where the term emerged from. CBS explains that it “came out of the conservative media.” CNN, quoting a director at the Anti-Defamation League, describes it as a “made-up term used by people on the right.” Heavy.com writes that “the term ‘alt-left’ began being used by the online conservative media in 2016 before it slowly migrated to more mainstream conservative voices, like Fox...

Donald Trump’s rhetoric, promises and even at times his policies (when they see the light of day) are as far from the neo-con/neo-liberal status quo of contemporary American policies as one could have deemed imaginable for a US President, not long ago. When one analyses his policy rhetoric, Donald Trump remains something of a Robert Taft style conservative. The defining characteristics of such an ethos is an opposition to foreign interventions and the bloated ‘moral’ (aka immoral)...

Considering all this information, it seems unlikely that the United States can remain a liberal country much longer. The paradoxes of liberalism are coming to a head. Asia TimesCould the road from Charlottesville lead America toward civil war?Sabena Siddiqui

Weekend reading on economic and political economy. Phil always has interesting things to say as a philosophical economist or economic philosopher.American AffairsUtilitarian Economics and the Corruption of ConservatismPhilip Pilkington

This is an interesting analysis from the POV of globalization, the global economy, geopolitics, geostrategy and political economy.  I am not endorsing the analysis itself, although it is plausible and makes many good points such as the geopolitical conflict between sea-power or thalassocracy, and land-power or tellurocracy.  While the specifics are interesting, the method of analysis is much more significant. The chief reason I am posting it is to show how developing an entire...

It seems that children need to spend time with other children and adults as well as play with toys for their brains to develop properly but far too many of them are spending too much time logged onto their computer screens, tablets, and mobile phones instead. I read of one woman who was late home and worried about her boy maybe getting up to no good and found him and his friends all sitting around in silence in the kitchen all one glued to their mobile phones.Boy, did I have fun as a kid, in...

Amazon make no profit at all on its postal deliveries. Years ago everything was delivered by a Royal Mail postman which was a low paid, but pleasant job if you didn't mind the cold weather in the winter. Up until a few years ago the postmen used bicycles and you could see their Royal Mail bikes chained up everywhere - and often not chained up at all because no one would nick them with their distinctive company colours. It was a little bit of Old England seeing the postmen on their bikes, but...

The Democratic Party establishment apparently hasn't gotten the word yet. The HillRNC raises millions more than DNC in JulyBen Kamisar

If the genuine left is smart, it will take a step back and see this for the gigantic opening it is. Lots of Trump voters are now up for grabs, and if they can come up with a genuine message of economic populism that avoids the typical leftist pitfalls — such as supporting misguided young people dressing up like ninjas, carrying flags and hurling rocks at people trying to give a talk — the opportunity to create a populist movement of immense national significance is there. People across the...