Mike Norman Economics

Isreal covid rates explained.Why the vaccines are effective, and still are effective. You need to take age and the amount of people vaccinated into consideration. Anti-Vaxxers on social media are trying to say the vaccines don't work, or worst still, may even be a leading cause of death. As usual, these people don't care for science or research, just the headlines will do. There is 90% vaccination rate in Israel among older people. The vaccines are 90% to 95 % effective, but there are still...

Why don’t they put the bus driver jobs in a job guarantee and then people will just show up to do that?  Or just include munnie for the school bus driving in the $3.5T infrastructure bill then people will magically show up?  Massachusetts’ governor has activated the state's National Guard to help bus students to school. Districts across the U.S. are struggling to hire enough bus drivers, complicating a school year already beset by the ongoing pandemic. https://t.co/bAwnekrySc— The Associated...

Bannon REALLY trying to fire up the MAGA base for a govt shutdown then eventually a default on debt ceiling….

The universal human need for mental control disrupts our quality of life.Mankind needs an off switch because this could promote healing, but our minds evolved to be constantly aware of danger, so the harder you try to banish negative thoughts, the more they come back, and in chronic situations, it can kill you. The system can go wrong, but the way to healing is through hobbies and things to do. The inability to escape from unpleasant thoughts has a major impact on many people’s quality of...

Credits to Weiwei Dia - Twitter 

 No comedy this week but we do have the Mad Drummer.[embedded content]The Mad Drummer

In principle, a currency’s command over any category of real input or output can be considered in terms of a suitably defined price index. The present focus is on the aggregate level and, in particular, a currency’s command over real final output. Earlier posts explore the topic in greater depth (links below). This is a crib notes version....heteconomistA Currency’s Command over Real Output in a NutshellPeter Cooper

I started a piece and then scrapped it, so I will just make a short comment on what I am seeing. Putting aside the questions of how the pandemic will evolve (I am not the person to ask), inflation and/or supply chain issues are obviously the main concern, with a secondary helping of politics.Supply chain disruptions were something that always came up in brainstorming about potential macro surprises — what if the “just in time” inventory system and outsourcing broke down? Well, the...

MMT proponent Steve Keen is running for the Senate in Australia’s upcoming election. In these unstable times this could be an interesting event. We wish him the best of luck....Brave New EuropeSteve Keen – Australia: MMT Runs for OfficeCross-posted from Steve’s website

This isn’t the post I sat down to write, but I wanted to lay this foundation before tackling the next set of questions. Here’s where we’ll go next…If MMT (and Keynes and Tooze) are correct that anything we can actually do, we can afford, then how do we operate in a world where that truth is revealed to the broader public? Are MMT economists too cavalier about the risks of inviting everyone in on the secret? Is honesty really the best policy, or do we need deficit myths and old-time budgetary...