Mike Norman Economics

The trajectory of mainstream economics can be understood in terms of how the discipline historically responded to moments of crises by attempting to “theoretically fix” the understandings related to five core “questions” of capitalist political economy – namely land, trade, labour, state, and legal-institutional framework. This involved legitimising improvements in land that led to the dispossession and the destruction of the commons, justifying free trade based on comparative advantage as...

Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is widely acclaimed as the person who vanquished and conquered inflation in the early 1980s. By implementing a monetary policy inspired from Monetarist prescriptions, he is thought as having restored the ability of the Fed to control the money supply and to bring down price instability. Yes, the economy suffered but the pain was worth it. Volcker received many accolades with Chairman Alan Greenspan considering him the “most effective chairman in the...

China criticizes the distributional structure of the US economy. China appears to be becoming more aggressive in the information war that the US has dominated until recently.ECNSRising Economic Polarization in the United States: Truth and FactsXinhua

 I don't know if any of you saw this, but last weekend I was in Granite Falls, WA, doing a wilderness survival training course. It was the hardest thing I ever did. Tested me to the limit, even more than my rim-to-rim Grand Canyon day hike in 2021.Nonstop rain, cold. Slept outside under a tarp. Had really poor equipment. I had to learn to compartmentalize my thoughts into half hour intervals just to get through the night. No sleep, by the way. I simply couldn't.Frankly, I am still processing...

 I did a video on attachments and how attachments are a source of our suffering. (Buddhist concept.) I related it to investing and trading. (i.e. we are "attached" to the outcomes.)People got pissed off. They unsubscribed or criticized me on talking about this.Is this normal? I've been trading for over 40 years. Been a member and floor trader on 4 exchanges. Managed money for a major hedge fund. Ran a proprietary trading desk for a major international bank.Economist by education. (Wharton,...

Full text.Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of ChinaChina’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis2023-02-24 09:00

Both India and China are importing Russian crude at a record pace.Energy Intelligence: at least 20 trading companies—but probably a lot more—are sending Russian oil around the world.According to Trafigura, the total number of tankers that have been “reserved” to carry Russian oil could be as high as 600, of which 400 crude tankers.Vitol, Trafigura, BP, Shell, Equinor—all of them upped and left whatever business they had in Russia, leaving an empty space. It did not take very long for this...

Does Martin Wolf make a sophmore error in thinking that saving causes investment? It appears so.The Radford Free PressWolf Knows Better. I know He DoesPeter Radford

B-dubs advertising a $3 beer for happy hour 4-7..  I believe this may be a 22oz draft … maybe only a 16.. … whichever I haven’t seen this type of price in quite a while…

Mom & Pop meat store over on the eastern shore:These prices aren’t too bad… $35 for 40lb leg segments…  right now the closer you can get to the farm gate the better the prices…Middle men getting excess margin right now… won’t last…