Mike Norman Economics

McConnell not bluffing…. This weeks tax haul pretty high though and TGA + EMs now back up to 490B … and leading spending rate is falling we probably can last into November before “out of money!”….Mitch McConnell warns that Republicans won't back down from vow to force Democrats to raise debt ceiling alone: 'Do you guys think I'm bluffing?' https://t.co/qexPJ3BERz— Metro_TV (@Headlinenews_) September 17, 2021

The US, UK, Canada, and Australia are circling the wagons and everyone else is outside the circle. In addition, Australia just pained a big target on itself for China's missiles. Strategic brilliance.Magpie's Asymmetric WarfareAustralia’s Back-Stabbing Diplomacy.Magpie

These debates are in part about economic questions — both what the constraints on issuing new public-sector liabilities (“borrowing”) are in principle, and of how close we are to those constraints in practice. But a second and arguably more important dimension of the debate is political: In a public or legislative debate, what are the advantages and disadvantages of linking proposals for public spending with proposals for increased taxes?I think it’s useful to think of this second question...

Got lucky with a beautiful day. Gorgeous hike.

I explain the underlying dynamics causing the choppy market action of late.

 There's something wrong with these people. [embedded content]Medical staff can be heard in the video warning the patient about the risks of leaving the hospital, stating they were worried about his condition. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times Medical staff can be heard in the video warning the patient about the risks of leaving the hospital, stating they were worried about his condition. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times. Saolta Healthcare Group has said it is “gravely...

 Oh well, so much for the metric system, it looks like we are going to go back to the silly imperial system. Boris Johnson’s government has promised it will pass legislation to allow British traders to sell their wares in pounds and ounces, rather than grams and kilograms, as it revealed plans to seek a liberalization dividend from Brexit.The restoration of old imperial weights, long demanded by Brexit supporters who resented the imposition of metric measures by Brussels, was among the top...

 Professor Jayati Ghosh says if more women economists had been successful in getting to the top of the profession economics would have been very different. Present neoclassical economies is very wealthy white male dominated, and so tends to emphasise competition over cooperation, and exploitation of the environment rather than trying to conserve and preserve it for the longer and common good. In this fifth and final lecture in the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s “Feminist Economics”...

In the 1980s, then-owner A. Alfred Taubman launched the "Third is the Word" campaign to promote A&W's new third-pound burgers to compete with  McDonald's quarter-pounder for the exactly the same price, but it bombed! Why? Americans thought they were getting a bad deal because three is a SMALLER number than four. Math education is important! It also shows you why the metric system is better than imperial. A&W RestaurantsThe Truth About A&W's Third-Pound Burger and the Major Math...

Responsible Statecraft (China thought so)Were the US and China really on the brink of war last October?Reminiscence of the FutureUnderstanding Is Good.Andrei Martyanov, expert on Russian military and naval issues. Martyanov was born in Baku, USSR in 1963. He graduated from the Kirov Naval Red Banner Academy and served as an officer on the ships and staff position of Soviet Coast Guard through 1990. He took part in the events in the Caucasus which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In...