Mike Norman Economics

All this Fed “hawkish” rhetoric already causing a reduction in the Depository regulatory asset values this from H.8 as of 2 Wednesdays ago:Probably down another few $B this week so probably -$15B or so…4Q 2018 these losses reached about -$40B equities sold off about 20% so if we’re at -$15B we’re going to see the current 8% or so reduction at this point… sounds about right…Plus Mike is reporting we’ve gone into a short term fiscal surplus this month with Fed still adding 100s of $B system...

Weaponising the dollar will only catalyse this process of de-dollarisation. The basis of any financial system or fiat currency is trust. The British pound bears the legend “I promise to pay the bearer one pound” as the note is not money qua money, but a note of promise to pay money to the holder of the note, originally in the form of gold. Using money as a weapon undermines this trust. The use of dollars as the currency of preference gives the US enormous geopolitical power and at the same...

Federal government running a surplus. Stagnation now.

For four decades, mainstream economists have slammed the door on the idea that the US government might intervene to manage the prices of certain goods. But this reactionary mindset has no sound basis, and today’s inflationary episode should be an occasion for reconsidering the question....Project SyndicateThe Case for Strategic Price PoliciesJames K. Galbraith | Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public...

The CradleIran-Russia hit maximum strategyPepe Escobarhttps://thecradle.co/Article/columns/6033Asia Times — OpinionEpidemic of insanity strikes America’s leadersSpengler (David p. Goldman)https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/epidemic-of-insanity-strikes-americas-leaders/  Naked CapitalismMacron Suggests EU-Russia Talks. Meltdown Among EU, US Apparatchiks Follows.Yves Smithhttps://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/01/macron-suggests-eu-russia-talks-meltdown-among-eu-us-apparatchiks-follows.htmlMoon of...

2022 Edelman Trust Barometer | Edelman (download report)https://www.edelman.com/trust/2022-trust-barometerEdelman Trust Barometer 2022: What you need to know ...https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/edelman-trust-barometer-2022-report2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Summaryhttps://www.edelman.com/news-awards/2022-edelman-trust-barometer-reveals-even-greater-expectations-business-lead-government-trustECNS (China gloating)Chinese citizens' trust in their government tops 90 pct: Edelman

India PunchlineBlinken delays US response to RussiaM. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Servicehttps://www.indianpunchline.com/blinken-delays-us-response-to-russia/Russia ObserverRUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 20 JANUARY 2022Patrick Armstrong, retired analyst and diplomat (2008) serving in the Canadian Department of National Defence specializing in the USSR/Russia from 1984 and a Counsellor in the Canadian Embassy in Moscow in...

Spoiler: that would be British intelligence seeding The Guardian.IrrussianalitySpooks, Russia, And DisinformationPaul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawahttps://irrussianality.wordpress.com/2022/01/20/spooks-russia-and-disinformation/See alsoRussian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added that claims by the Department of State that Russia is not being surrounded by NATO bases and that nobody promised not to expand...

And ZERO F’s given by any policymaker in US… btw where is SecTreas Janet Yellen? Disappeared… I’m not getting it…The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to a three-month high last week, likely as a winter wave of COVID-19 infections disrupted business activity https://t.co/JGfUsstGT5 pic.twitter.com/EKHrOO7Pv7— Reuters (@Reuters) January 20, 2022

How the hell anybody doesn’t think this is going to cause a recession in 1Q is beyond my understanding…Nearly 9 million Americans have called in sick to their employer, saying they have COVID-19 or are caring for someone who has the virus, CBS News reports. This is three times the number from just a month ago and represents 6% of the U.S. workforce.   In addition, 3.2 million people say they are not working because they are afraid they could contract COVID-19 or pass it along to someone...