Mike Norman Economics

The answer to the question posed in the title is No! Lawrence Summers’ macroeconomic assessment does not stack up. In – Is the $US900 billion stimulus in the US likely to overheat the economy – Part 1? (December 30, 2020) – I developed the framework for considering whether it was sensible for the US government to provide a $US2,000 once-off, means-tested payment as part of its latest fiscal stimulus. Summers was opposed to it claiming that it would push the economy into an inflationary...

Big bru-haha in GOP right now over Wal-Mart tweet...  pretty good rant from Bannon here taking down the right libertarians...[embedded content]

 Think about it, would you walk into a hospital for no reason to be there, and then go to a ward and film stressed out doctors desperately trying to cope with patients who are suffering and dying? This is what Zhang Zhan did, and yet the Chinese authorities never made her take her YT video down. But in Britain you will get arrested for filming an empty hospital. The Chinese authorities didn't know how bad Covid was going to be, and the last thing they wanted was frightened Wuhan residents...

 Without fixes for infrastructure, education, health care and government, the U.S. will resemble a developing nation in a few decades.But the consequences of U.S. decline will far outlast coronavirus. With its high housing costs, poor infrastructure and transit, endemic gun violence, police brutality and bitter political and racial divisions, the U.S. will be a less appealing place for high-skilled workers to live. That means companies will find other countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere...

 The U.S. political and economic system seems incapable of adapting to the new multipolar paradigm. Like a dinosaur it is doomed to perish because its mode of behavior and ideological depiction of the world are no longer viable.Material need usually wins out against ideological creed. Necessity over dogma. Twice this week, the European Union demonstrated that maxim in practice when it rebuffed Washington over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with Russia; and then again over a major investment...

Remember when many stocks were "low hanging fruit" in 2019, screaming to be bought? Dollar downtrend may just be starting to accelerate. 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

 No masks, no social distancing. Absolute madness! [embedded content] While in China they have been told to wear masks again because the new variant. [embedded content]Man hospitalized for COVID-19 after Queens Republican club Christmas partyAt least one person has been hospitalized for COVID-19 after attending an indoor Christmas dance party hosted by the Whitestone Republican Club earlier this month, the Eagle has learned.James Trent, chair of the affiliated Queens Village Republican Club,...

 I love my uncle. But when it comes to vaccines, he is wrongI recognize, with some trepidation, that people may wonder why I feel I need to speak out publicly about vaccines and against my uncle. The truth is, his name and platform mean that his views carry weight. After three hours, his Facebook post accusing government regulators of abdicating their responsibility to protect the public had 4,700 reactions, 2,300 shares and 641 comments.As a doctor, and as a member of the Kennedy family, I...

Corporate power in the United States has risen to unprecedented levels, but the rate at which this power has grown is decelerating. Both facts have important implications for the future of U.S. capitalism.According to the theory of capital as power (or CasP for short), the quest for capitalized power – and for more and more of it – is the key driving force of modern capitalism. Capitalists, CasP argues, particularly dominant ones, judge their power differentially. They measure it by the size...