Mike Norman Economics

 According to Andrew Cockburn, the MIC is just a racket, a profit making machine that can't be controlled. The US is pouring more weapons into Ukraine amid bellicose threats against Russia and the US-backed Saudi war on Yemen continues to massacre civilians. But not everyone sees a downside: “I fully expect we’re going to see some benefit from it,” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said this week of these and other flashpoints.Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine and author of “The...

Gilbert Doctorow — International relations, Russian affairs (talking from a position of strength)Mr. Nyet returns: Russia’s in-your-face behavior at the United Nations this weekGilbert Doctorowhttps://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/02/02/mr-nyet-returns-russias-in-your-face-behavior-at-the-united-nations-this-week/One World (still taking, not yet shooting)Analyzing President Putin’s Response To The Undeclared US-Provoked Missile CrisisAndrew...

This was well below the consensus forecast of 208,000 for this report.The BLS report will be released Friday, and the consensus is for 155 thousand non-farm payroll jobs added in January. The ADP report has not been very useful in predicting the BLS report, but this suggests weakness in the January BLS report....Calculated RiskADP: Private Employment Decreased 301,000 in JanuaryBill McBride

It’s Wednesday and a ‘blog lite’ day but there was an important speech delivered by the Governor of Australia’s central bank today that reveals the reasons that the RBA is once again refusing to be bullied into increasing interest rates rises by the ‘markets’. It is almost comical to observe the ludicrous self-importance that the ‘markets’ are exhibiting at the moment. Every day there is a new article or segment on the finance reports about how the ‘markets’ are going to win the battle...

UC Berkeley economists have launched a powerful new web tool that allows users to track, almost in real time, how economic growth and public policy affect the distribution of income and wealth among classes in the United States. The website, Realtime Inequality, is an extension of the pioneering work done by Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman that explores how law and policy in the U.S. and worldwide result in profound inequality in the distribution of economic...

Compared to the mainstream attention that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is receiving in the United States, it has been met with a more muted reception north of the border, particularly on the left. This is partially due to the perception that MMT is mostly concerned with disproving the need for taxes and that its promises of money for nothing are fundamentally dangerous. But this dismissive perception ignores MMT’s underlying theory and downplays its unique democratic and progressive...

After surging 500% over the past year, lithium prices have continued their meteoric rise in China.Mining.com’s EV Battery Metals index has quadrupled since May 2020.Greenflation, is increasing the costs of setting up new green power projects, which could slow down the pace of the transition.OilpriceThe Consequences Of A 500% Rally In Lithium Priceshttps://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Consequences-Of-A-500-Rally-In-Lithium-Prices.htmlAlso at OilpriceChina has been attempting to...

Historical backgrounder and good analysis of the current situation and its likely trajectory, including economic analysis. Lots os necessary information to understand the current geopolitical and geo-economic situation and its likely development.Covert Action MagazineAfter Failed Talks, Russia Will Likely Target Persian GulfAlex Krainerhttps://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/02/01/after-failed-talks-russia-will-likely-target-persian-gulf/

Gov't is basically running a balanced budget. That doesn't seem enough to keep an economic expansion going. Understanding the Daily Treasury Statement video course. https://www.pitbulleconomics.com/daily-treasury-statement/

The Federal Reserve’s acquisition of $4.4 trillion of bonds since February 2020 more than doubled the size of its balance sheet. Meanwhile, commercial banks’ balance sheets expanded by about $4.2 trillion in aggregate. Despite similar expansions, links between the Fed’s and the banking system’s balance sheets are complex.This blog post, the first in a two-part series, describes how banks have accommodated the very large involuntary increase in their Fed reserve balances that corresponds to...