Mike Norman Economics

Capitalist democracy" is an oxymoron, capital (ownership) being favored institutionally over land (environment, ecology) and labor (most of the people). Capitalism is the economic system of plutocratic oligarchy not actual democracy — government of, by and for the people. The economic system that correlates with actual democracy is socialism. Social democracy is a mixture of the two.In response to the imperial circus, the Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group...

Some recent research highlights the point I have made in the past that who your parents are matters for your future prospects. We all make choices as we emerge into the adult world, but the constraints that are dished up to us by our parents are in many cases more important in determining our future outcomes than the choices we make. The mainstream neoclassical explanation for income differentials focus on the choices – for education, training, and other career development pathways. From a...

Not only economic but also strategic.OilpricePutin’s coup In India Will Shock The U.S.Simon Watkins

I am not sure about the best way, but cutting military spending would be a step in the right direction for many reasons.It [the military budget] would focus on actual defense, on preventing wars, and above all, on scaling down our gigantic military. It would involve cutting that budget roughly in half over the next few years and so forcing our generals and admirals to engage in that rarest of acts for them: making some tough choices. Maybe then they’d see the folly of spending $1.7 trillion...

The coming property correction is inevitable, and the extent of the impact on the overall economy depends highly on how it is managed. Just as the Chinese government has managed Evergrande’s default process, we implicitly assume that Beijing will demonstrate relative competence in mitigating systemic risks as part of the property correction.As such, our baseline scenario is reasonable if not deliberately more aggressive on the downside. For instance, our projection does not account for...

Keeping up with India. Many of his policies draw from Imperial rule and treats dissidents as a threat, just as the British did.The more things change, the more they remain the same?The Wire (India) ?— OpEdModi and His Brand of Hindutva Are Direct Descendants of the British Raj and its PoliciesArjun Appadurai

Regular readers will know that I think the current inflationary phenomenon is transitory. They will also know that I see the continual claims by financial market economists that central banks have to increase interest rates now to avoid an accelerating inflationary episode as having little economic content and lots of self interest content. If rates go up, they win their bets and the more they can bully authorities to do their bidding the more certain their bets become profitable. I am glad...

If the object was to limit imports from China the tariff was successful. If to stimulate domestic production, the tariff was a miserable failure. Imports just shifted to other Asian countries.The US is on track to import a record 27.8 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV panels in 2021U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar modules have not had the desired effectDirect shipments from China fell as a result of the tariffs, but domestic producers haven’t managed to fill the gapOilpriceWhy Tariffs On Chinese Solar...

 This is actually a big step forward although labor is unlikely to view it that way. This is what is supposed to happen in the case of technological innovation. Humans should not be doing these jobs if unnecessary.This is disposable labor rather than necessary labor, i.e. needed for social reproduction. Disposable labor can be either redirected using an employer of last resort policy or subsidized to increase leisure. (See Sandwichman (Tom Walker) at econospeak on disposable time). Zero...

Kaldor quote. Free trade leads to inequality by favoring endowments, i.e. developed regions over emerging ones.Although the post doesn't mention it, America took advantage of protectionism under the 19th. c. American System and then switched back to imposition of the British System after becoming dominant in the 20th c.The Case for Concerted ActionRamesh Chandra On Nicholas Kaldor And Circular Cumulative CausationV. Ramanan