Mike Norman Economics

Among the growing list of priorities for the incoming Biden administration is a comprehensive investigation of the efforts to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service.In August, Aaron Gordon, reporting for Vice’s Motherboard, published a leaked internal document from the U.S. Postal Service showing that management was planning to eliminate hundreds of high-speed sorting machines in the midst of a pandemic. Sources inside the Postal Service that spoke with Gordon told him that they had “personally...

For readers who are not familiar with the concept of breakeven inflation, it is the nominal yield on a conventional Treasury bond less the quoted yield (indexed, or "real yield") on a matched maturity inflation-linked Treasury (TIPS). I discuss the mechanics of breakeven inflation in my handbook, Breakeven Inflation Analysis. The key observation is that the breakeven inflation rate is (roughly) equal to the required rate of inflation for the TIPS and conventional bond to have the same rate...

“What would happen if we gave the Earthlings our technological knowledge and methods? The first to seize upon them and use them to increase their own power would be the ruling class in all countries. This would be inevitable, because they already control the means of production and control the loyalty of 99% of all the scientists and engineers. In other words, they are the only ones who can apply the new technology, and they will use it to the exact extent that it can help them increase...

Perhaps the current crisis will contribute to transformation of the world economic benchmarks towards the prioritisation of the development of “human capital”, particularly healthcare and education, writes Yaroslav Lissovolik, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club. John Maynard Keynes’s optimism and legacy give us reason for hope, not only regarding the possibility to overcome the crisis and increase consumer welfare, but also regarding the possible transformation of the “moral...

It is Wednesday, so just a few snippets and some music. My main comment today is on the report released yesterday (December 15, 2020) by the national body Infrastructure Australia. The report – Infrastructure beyond COVID-19: A national study on the impacts of the pandemic on Australia – once again demonstrates the way in which mainstream macroeconomics, which has restricted government investment in essential infrastructure over the last three decades or so, has created poor outcomes and has...

40% GOP saying they will not get it.... even after Trump warp speeded the whole thing....POLL: Four in 10 Republicans ‘definitely’ won’t get COVID-19 vaccine | Just The News https://t.co/3wpG86pvhY— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) December 16, 2020

 Wealth naturally trickles up in free-market economies, model suggestsBut poor people already start out with a big disadvantage as it's expensive to be poor: The oligarchs can borrow money at extremely low interest rates, and the poor often pay more for things because they can only buy in small amounts. The Right always go on any 'hard work' and people getting what they deserve, and I have countered this argument in many ways, but this research paper could be the most powerful counter...

Numerous economics journals have not published Ole Peters work because they said they didn't think it would be interesting to their readers. The proposition is about as outlandish as it sounds: Everything we know about modern economics is wrong.And the man who says he can prove it doesn’t have a degree in economics.But Ole Peters is no ordinary crank. A physicist by training, his theory draws on research done in close collaboration with the late Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann, father of the...

Voting Machine company Smartmatic has delivered legal notices to three conservative news networks, demanding retractions of claims that the company was involved in rigging the election in favour of Joe Biden.…Speech is not free. There can be financial consequences for libel or defamation. If I understand the law correctly, plaintiffs must show that both cause and damage.Zero HedgeVote Machine Company Threatens Legal Action Against Conservative MediaSteve Watson via Summit News

About a year ago, the world's largest asset manager BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) declared its intention to increase its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investments more than tenfold from $90 billion to a trillion dollars in the space of a decade. Few took the investment firm seriously, given its spotty track record on climate action in the past.But just in case investors thought BlackRock was bluffing as usual, the company recently issued a chilling update on its approach to...