Mike Norman Economics

Why isn’t the unequal distribution of ex ante expected lifetime income—inequality of opportunity—conceptualized by us economists as the greatest of all market failures? And why isn’t the distribution of political power that creates & preserves a property order of unequal wealth seen as the greatest of all “regulatory capture by a special interest group” flaws in the working of society, economy, and the state?"….Conventional economics is based on ignoring embedded asymmetric power...

Demand exceeds supply capability in Russia.BRICSRussia Turns to China to Make Sputnik V Jabs to Meet Demand

 China is pulling away.Real-World Economics Review BlogChina and U.S. GDP: Purchasing Power Parity – chart

Must-read. Peter Radford is onto something.Economics is looking in the wrong direction by emphasizing capital-labor as the variables in production and supply and demand in distribution through markets and rationing scarce goods based on price. This post sets the stage for a more holistic approach to the world system in terms of key fundamentals. The more significant factors are energy and information.In my view, the foundational element is intelligence and its creative application, which...

“Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down: it is to uphold this rules-based order that China is posing a challenge to,” Blinken said. “Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and defend it.”Now, had Blinken been speaking to an actual journalist, he would have been asked in what specific ways defending “the rules-based order” against China would differ from trying to contain China and keep it down. He would have also been asked what...

 All are now focusing on economic and financial self-sufficiency now that globalization is on-hold for the foreseeable future. It's a consolidation phase to be expected in the historical dialectic. The process was getting ahead of itself and now geopolitics and geostrategy have intervened. Now questions arises as to whether the pause will be intensified by a new cold war and arms race, if not kinetic warfare on a regional or global scale. This implies rising uncertainty and increasing...

FDR at home. Empire abroad. These are incompatible in today's global environment.MR OnlineBiden uses first major address to lay out his program for the working classWalter SmolarekOriginally published: Liberation

Doctors are highly trained medical professionals trying to survive in a complex sociopolitical system. We have been pawns utilized by hospitals and government for our knowledge and skills, yet more recently expected not to have a voice or opinion.As a physician in private practice for 40 years, changes in the past 10 years have been difficult. It was hard for me to hear non-medical business administrators force cut-rate medicine compromising evidence-based patient care.Not just hospital...

The systematic divorce of ownership from managerial control of productive resources, a process growing organically within capitalism as it develops, makes it possible for the first time to think seriously about collective ownership of the means of production. The first question that arises is: what about the surplus? Capitalism is ideally organized to extract a surplus from the annual production and consumption of commodities and to vest ownership of that surplus in private hands. But no...