Mike Norman Economics

The levies come roughly three months after Beijing began investigating complaints made by the Wine Industry Association of China that Australian winemakers have flooded the market with cheap wine since 2015. Mainland China is an $850 million market for Australia’s wine exports and the leading consumer, consuming about 40% of Australia’s total overseas shipments....FortuneChina slaps 200% anti-dumping tariffs on Australian wine as relations continue to sourEamon Barrett

"Dual circulation" explained.I would expect China and Russia to expand cooperation in tech as a key piece of their strategic alliance.East Asia ForumHow China’s ‘technological independence’ strategy will transform its economyJianmin Jin | Chief Digital Economist at the Global Strategy Planning Division, Fujitsu Ltd., Tokyo

The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27. Congress earmarked $454 billion of that stimulus money to be distributed by the Treasury to the Federal Reserve to be used for emergency lending programs to save businesses and jobs during the pandemic and keep credit flowing to the U.S. economy. The catch was that the Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, would have to give his approval for each of the programs.Since June, Wall Street On Parade has been reporting that $340 billion of the $454...

 Scientists discovered the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), where tiny sounds, like tapping beads and glass, whispers, rustling paper, flicking your fingers, etc, can trigger a relaxation response. Then alternative health practioners started making ASMR videos by whispering, rustling paper, and playing with glass beads, but they weren't very effective.When I was 14 years old our music teacher played to the class some white noise which I thought sounded horrible, but few years...

Link at CDC.  Short. New Approach to VaccinesmRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters...

So much for jobs coming back to the US. And Indonesia has even come online line as far as cheap labor goes. And in the background are Latin America and Africa.I don't see "capitalism" being transformed into something that is clearly not "capitalism" before the whole world is developed economically. Of course, there are many varieties of capitalism in addition to classical economic liberalism and contemporary neoliberalism, and neoliberalism is beginning to collapse of its own weight.The...

Collapse watch. Some on energy, some on social, political and economic factors. Cites Peter Turchin's research on the coming age of discord. Not much new, but he brings it together to paint a picture of what is likely to come: Tough challenges emerging with an ungovernable country and broken political system to deal with them.The establishment Democrats that control the party are not up to the job and I would expect them to lose the House in the mid-term and likely the presidency in the next...

Joe Biden’s presidency amounts to a golden opportunity to initiate a direct and honest dialogue with China on issues that require constructive engagement. But time is of the essence. If Biden begins his term by choosing division over dialogue, changing course will soon become difficult, if not impossible.Good luck with dialogue. Corporate shill Biden ("I haven't got a progressive bone in my body") has a nightmare neo-con war hawk cabinet bent on US hegemony (economic, political, and military...

Sleight of hand.Naked CapitalismNathan Tankus: What the Hell is Going On With CARES Act “Funds”?Yves Smith

The notion that racism and sexism were the primary factors driving the Trump vote is not born out by the data, economics was very important too. The rural working-class found their lives a little better under Trump and don’t believe the Democrats care about them. Will Biden address the inequality or bend to the demands of Wall Street? Thomas Ferguson joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast....Transcript.The AnalysisEconomics Not Culture Wars Drove Most Trump VotersPaul Jay interviews...