Mike Norman Economics

Could see a significant slowdown in fiscal flows and that would be bearish for stocks.

Backgrounder. The plot thickens.The Vineyard of the SakerEnduring Terror Forever: from al-Qaeda to ISIS-KPepe EscobarSee alsoMoon of AlabamaUkraine Shuts Down Opposition Media - U.S. Ambassador Applauds 'Daring Act', Calls For Support

Socialism with Chinese characteristics, which some say is rooted in Confucianism.  In 1967, the Chinese Government launched the “523 Project” – a nation-wide research proramme aimed at finding new treatments for malaria. This effort, involving more than 500 scientists from 60 institutions, led to the discovery in the 1970s of artemisinin – the core compound of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the most effective antimalarial drugs available today.“Over many decades, China’s...

Death is inevitable for everyone. Our instinct as humans is to stay alive, but death will come to us all at some point, so why are we so fearful of it?  Do all cultures view death the same way? And why are some people more fascinated by death than others? One of the world’s foremost experts on healing and loss David Kessler joins William Shatner on this week's episode of 'I Don't Understand'  to help explain the concept of death and why it’s so scary for us[embedded content]David Kessler and...

Chinese authorities said it’s illegal for companies to make employees work extended hours and terminate their contracts for not following excruciating work schedules commonly known as “996” — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Supreme People’s Court jointly published several real-life scenarios on Thursday to clarify the country’s legal standards on working hours and overtime wages. The 10 cases are meant as a reference for local...

You can't tell the players without a score card.The ConversationWhat is ISIS-K? Two terrorism experts on the group behind the deadly Kabul airport attack and its rivalry with the Taliban Amira Jadoon, United States Military Academy West Point, and Andrew Mines, George Washington University

Short backgrounder on the origin, development and state of shariah law and how the Taliban may implement it this time.The ConversationExplainer: what is shariah law and what version of it is the Taliban likely to implement?Zuleyha Keskin, Associate Professor, Charles Sturt University and Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University (Australia)

Though we live in a highly complex, networked world, the paradigm that guides policymaking is largely linear, mechanical, and “rational.” This leaves us blind to the obvious – including our own blindness – and vulnerable to conceptual traps and collective-action problems....Must-read.  It's short and to the point. The main point is that societies are complex adaptive systems that are more suitably represented in terms of organic models than mechanical models. The Western tradition focuses on...

[embedded content]John Harris - The Taliban is Lying, Don't Believe Them

Hard to talk about markets when our soldiers are dying.