Mike Norman Economics

In the words of Time, the US chose every step. “We chose to cut taxes on billionaires and to deregulate the financial industry. We chose to allow CEOs to manipulate share prices through stock buybacks, and to lavishly reward themselves with the proceeds. We chose to permit giant corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, to accumulate the vast monopoly power necessary to dictate both prices charged and wages paid. We chose to erode the minimum wage and the overtime threshold and the...

 France will send radicalised Islamists to re-education centres under a €40 million plan to tackle extremism, which the prime minister says is the biggest threat to the nation since Hitler.The suspects will be taught their patriotic duties and forced to undergo psychological treatment in an attempt to counter jihadist indoctrination.The aim is to prevent Muslim youths from following in the footsteps of the six home-grown terrorists who killed a total of 107 people in attacks in Paris on...

The answer [to the question why did it take so long] is, as Greenwald himself mentions, the financial security the contract with the Intercept gave to Glenn and his family. But that came with a serious reputational price that is no longer worth to pay.…Glenn Greenwald is a well known author. He will be able to gain enough readers to support his now again independent writing. Still independence comes at a price. Besides the income there are a lot of perks that come with writing for a larger...

Pepe comments on the fifth plenum of the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee that was just held in Beijing to plan the future course post-pandemic. Strategic Culture FoundationCan You Smell What the Chinese Are Cooking?Pepe EscobarSee alsoTwo elements had contributed to US hegemonic thinking such as its historically "Protestant evangelical vision" of manifest destiny, where leaders believed in providential right to dominate North America and later, the world, he [Jeffrey...

Even if DJT wins, the Dem Establishment  will be the backbone of the opposition party, it is worth reading. "You can't tell the players without a score card."Unlike Pepe, I would not describe the Blob chiefly in terms of the Democratic Establishment and Some GOP Never-Trumpers. I think that is a mistake. There are a lot people in the GOP that are totally on board with the Blob.The Blob is what "what former CIA analyst Ray McGovern brilliant christened MICIMATT (the...

Mostly aspiration without much detail (numbers). But this is only a first glimpse. The full report will not be released until March, 2021.This is a summary of Goldman's summary.Zero HedgeChina Reveals First Glimpse Into Its Economic Plans For Next Five YearsTyler Durden

RBA next week, and ECB in December. Einstein's definition of insanity. 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

Like in Bolivia, the strength of public opinion in Chile was so immense that the government, led by Chile’s richest man Sebastian Piñera, immediately conceded.“Yesterday Bolivia, today Chile, tomorrow Ecuador”Mint Press NewsIn Stunning Display of Popular Will, Protests in Bolivia to Chile Force Public Reckoning of “Chicago Boy” EconomicsBut it isn't over yet.Times Editorial Lets Slip Joe Biden’s Latin America Policy: More Obama-Style CoupsAlan MacleodSee alsoHow many years did it...

Consumers plan to spend $805 on gifts this year, down sharply from 2019More than twice as many say they are spending less, versus more, than last yearConsumer spending intentions often change over holiday seasonGallupAmericans Plan to Scale Back on Holiday Spending This YearLydia Saad

One important property of time series is models is whether they are causal or non-causal. A non-causal model has the property that future values of inputs affects the current values of outputs. For time series, the calculation implies the use of a time machine, which is generally not available. One needs to be careful of the issues posed by non-causality in financial model building, since time series libraries treat time series as single units, and contain many non-causal operations.... Bond...