Mike Norman Economics

 Prof Buzgulin says Putin is a puppet of the Russian oligarchy, a powerful group of people who deliberately keep Russians poor. No different from the situation in America.What the MSM don't tell you is what type of liberal Navalny is: A Milton Friedman neoliberal, whose oligarch backers admire the fascist, Pinochet. Under Navalny there will be less democracy. When these oligarchs are told that Pinochet murdered thousands, they say that he saved Chili & protected free markets. They want a...

 Digital China.Not all great though.Nearly 8 percent of respondents experienced online fraud and reported losses, down four percentage points from the previous year. Three out of four people said they received fraudulent messages, among which 80 percent came from text message services, said the report....ECNSReport: 85% of users paid by scanning QR codes in 2020China DailyAlsoThe survey report also showed insufficient self-protection in payment security, with "all payment passwords being the...

Good one.The Vineyard of the SakerXi and Putin make the case for win-win vs. zero-sumPepe EscobarJi Pei takes the Howard Zinn approach (The People's History of the United States) to analysis of Hong Kong and Taiwan.See also at VSThe triads, the Kuomintang and Hong Kong’s “democracy riots”Ji PeiSee also (referred to by Pepe Escobar above)The StalkerZoneMUNICH-ESQUE DAVOSRostislav IshchenkoAlso linked to previously but relevant here. These speeches mark a turning point in world history. The...

 Asturias, yesterday. A karstic cliff, about 50m high. The sea and the rain have carved pipes in the rock through which the waves are sprayed at full speed when there is rough seas. An impressive spectacle, impossible to comprehend with a video its true beauty[embedded content]

 Oversea and Internal Mail[embedded content]

On Monday (February 1, 2021), I wrote about recent developments in the EU, which make it hard to argue that it can be reformed in any way that would deliver progressive outcomes. There was also a good article in the London Review of Books (January 7, 2021) – Ever Closer Union? – by veteran British author Perry Anderson, which, while long, is worth reading if you somehow still think the EU is a haven for democracy and progressive potential. It provides a massive body of evidence that...

Spoiler alert...it didn't end well. Trade and invest using the concepts of MMT. Get a 30-day free trial to MMT Trader. https://www.pitbulleconomics.com/mmt-trader/?s2-ssl=yes/ Download my podcasts! New one every week. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1105286 Mike Norman Twitter https://twitter.com/mikenorman

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?First:Remove the central assumption behind the madness and recognise that money is a system of rules in which government has to be a central player, an umpire. The demonization of ‘fiat money’ is rubbish. So is the idea of freeing up market forces by deregulating the finance system. The question is not whether governments should be involved, but how they should be involved – what constitutes good governance of the system.Second:Find ways – it will require a jettisoning of...

Economic growth is linked to population growth. Russia's demographics are not exceptional, however. Population decline is becoming the norm, and it is not just the pandemic. It's the national birth rates.Beyond this, modern societies do not encourage large families. Young people are in education for longer, thus postponing marriage and children. Women have more career opportunities, producing similar results. And children are expensive. State assistance can do something about the last...

According to Eyck Freymann, author of ‘One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World,’ the BRI is evolving to place less emphasis on traditional heavy infrastructure, and more on high-tech cooperation and digital services.He told Nikkei Asia that "Beijing wants to dominate the physical infrastructure underlying global communications, particularly the internet,” adding: "This will give it an advantage in internationalizing its tech sector and pursuing future tech-related deals with partner...