Mike Norman Economics

From 'How China Escaped Shock Therapy' it seems that China may have considered shock therapy and neoliberalism, but they rejected it because of their long tradition of state ownership of many industries, which had served the country well for centuries. Russia is capitalist, but has a lot of state industries too because it feels under threat from the West, and although state industries may be less efficient, they are more robust. Because of Western antagonism Russia has aligned with China and...

Complete fucking scam… somebody got paid off by China….Meanwhile in China pic.twitter.com/umxOxnMFqf— Truckistan Amb. Poso 🏁 (@JackPosobiec) February 7, 2022

India PunchlineMoscow confronts ‘good cop, bad cop’M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign ServiceReminiscence of the FutureThe Main Motif.Andrei Martyanov, former USSR naval officer and expert on Russian military and naval issueshttp://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-main-motif.htmlTASSRussian ambassador says Russia, US are in talks on world orderhttps://tass.com/politics/1400561Pravda.ru (Russian private media)Russia only has to do one thing to make Ukrainian army...

...I am now going to dump on MMT. First, I agree with Noah that it is a policy proposal not a theory at all. The proposal seems to be “deficits should be increased”. In particular, MMTers insist that MMT is not functional finance and they do not agree with Abba Lerner, who argued that deficits should be increased unless and until inflation is undesirably high. Now the proposal “deficits should be increased” does not imply an optimal policy. If no matter how high the debt is, it should be...

For the record. I'll let MMT professionals respond, if they care to. But it is not framed in a way that calls for a response. It's Twitterish. So don't wait for it.Angry BearEzra Klein on MMTRobert Waldmannhttps://angrybearblog.com/2022/02/ezra-klein-on-mmt

Record US trade deficit means record holdings of USD by foreigners. So, Treasuries are logical.

Gilbert Doctorow — International relations, Russian affairs (important)The fatigue factor: the ongoing marathon of European diplomacy is a useless distractionGilbert Doctorowhttps://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/02/08/the-fatigue-factor-the-ongoing-marathon-of-european-diplomacy-is-a-useless-distraction/RT Germany an ‘occupied state’ – Russiahttp://www.econmatters.com/2022/02/fannie-mae-survey-bad-time-to-buy-home.htmlAmericans have ‘lost touch with reality’ –...

 This debate looks good, but they normally want you to take out a subscription, so I won't be able to view it, but maybe one day it will free on YouTube. The Chinese communist/ markets system fits in well with ancient tradition. And in Europe, because of WW2, European governments nationalized a lot of their industries too, believing it strengthened the country during war. In the UK, the NHS was backed by many conservatives, because they believed it would improve the health and fighting...

The ECB backstop in a rising rate environmentMacrocosmThe return of the PIIGS?Philip Pilkingtonhttps://macrocosm.substack.com/p/the-return-of-the-piigs

It’s Wednesday and I am working on other things today, which need finishing. But today we saw once again why the Australian Labor Party is a disappointment. They regularly frame the economic debate in neoliberal terms, which make it harder to break out of the mainstream narratives. But, today, they even go social policy wrong and will support legislation that allows religious organisations (schools etc) to discriminate against gays and trans people under the platform of ‘religious freedom’....