Mike Norman Economics

The IndependentThe west wants to engage Russia and China on the climate crisis, while also demonising them – it won’t workPatrick CockburnSputnik InternationalNew US Treasury Guidelines Warn Crypto Industry of Perils of Sanctions ViolationsStrategic Culture FoundationColour Revolutions Fade AwayPatrick 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...

Nathan Tankus has an op ed up.Notes on the CrisisNew Guardian Op Ed: The case for minting a $1tn coin to deal with America’s debt ceilingNathan Tankus

Resilience cannot be restored without public spending, but the rentier business plan is to minimize taxes by shrinking the government, especially by privatizing its public utilities and other functions to create opportunities for charging monopoly rents, and to oppose taxation of economic rent. Today’s mainstream economic philosophy and academic curriculum throughout the West backs this neoliberal program by denying that there is any such thing as unearned rentier income or wealth.Yet only a...

Backgrounder. Why BRI  and the New Silk Road are going to happen and stretch to Europe. This is the US's worst nightmare and it will do everything possible to prevent it.Asia TimesWhen the West was itchin’ to go to ChinaPepe Escobar

Based on my own interactions with lawmakers on the Hill, I would estimate that roughly one-third of Congress is now MMT conversant. By that I mean that they could articulate—in very general terms—that the federal government is the issuer of the currency, that its budget is not constrained like that of a household or private business, and that inflation (not solvency) is the relevant constraint on spending.Congressman Yarmuth is more than generically conversant with MMT. He put in the time...

Summited today on my second attempt under terrible conditions. Blinding snowstorm whiteout and freezing temps.

Axios [mansplaining syndrome?]Sotomayor: SCOTUS oral arguments changed in part because female justices were interruptedErin DohertyVineyard of the Saker [stupidity, or overweening hubris that goes before a fall? See "Nemesis"]Russians are in total awe at the suicidal stupidity of the WestThe SakerDefend DemocracyCrazy: US sends the organizer of the Kiev coup [Victoria Nuland] to speak with Russians!Sputnik InternationalUS Asks Russia to Remove Missiles ‘Violating’ Treaty Which Washington...

The lumber real PPI is essentially back at the levels at the 2018M06 peak.The worst over?EconobrowserReal Lumber PricesMenzie Chinn | Professor of Public Affairs and Economics, Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison, co-editor of the Journal of International Money and Finance, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research International Finance and Macroeconomics

Well, as we previously pointed out, the bottom 50% own just 2% of all net worth, or a paltry $2.8 trillion. What is even more sad is that the wealth of the bottom 50% is virtually unchanged since 2006, while the net worth of the Top 1% has risen by 132% from $17.9 trillion to $41.5 trillion...True to form, ZH blames it on the Fed.Zero HedgePandemic Wiped Out Entire Savings Of 20% Of US HouseholdsTyler Durden

Putin says China always delivers on its promises, even if its intention of reducing its carbon footprint is an enormous endeavour. Speaking to CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to Xi's comments suggesting the possibility of a peaceful unification, and China's "philosophy of statehood," to suggest that there is no threat of military confrontation.[embedded content]President Putin on Taiwan: 'China does not...