Mike Norman Economics

A new book from Edward Elgar Publishing in association with GIMMSDescription of the chapters and their authors.The Gower Initiative for Modern Money StudiesModern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers

When the limit is reached, it forces Congress to reaffirm its willingness to spend what it is already legally obligated to spend.In my view (I am not a constitutional lawyer), the president should just ignore the debt ceiling as contradictory. Now, the president is assuming that one horn of the dilemma prevails when there is no logical reason for doing so. A constitutional argument can be made that the debt ceiling is in violation of the Constitution, specifically the Fourteenth Amendment,...

Mixed blessing, especially with the level of disorganization and divisiveness in India. Demographics leads to opportunities and challenges and population increase can increase growth but it can also present emergent challenges that are difficult to meet without high-level organization, which India has not demonstrated so far.In contrast, China recognized its demographic challenges decades ago, which was the purpose of the one-child policy. Now China growth has stabilized and even begun to...

Trade is settled either by barter, including using commodities, mostly precious metals historically, or a "safe currency" that countries are willing to hold. The USD, GBP, and EUR are considered safe currencies. Thus, an issue arises with "de-dollarization," which includes all currencies that Western powers control the use of. These currencies are considered "safe," that is, are not only default free but also relatively stable, but being subject to Western control, they put users at a...

Capitalizing the commons. Peter Dorman explains why this should not be done.Basically, actual value lies real resources ("stuff"), not in nominal terms ("money"). For example, this is suggested by the distinction between nominal (market price) and real (inflation-adjusted price). The value of stuff is based on availability and utility. The most "valuable" real resources are are vital resources. On this scale, air and water are the most valuable, although owing to their availability, they are...

 This is an important post by a law professor. Hat tip to Adam Tooze for pointing me toward it. Here is a key excerpt. According to Professor Menand, the Fed's sole mandate is promoting full capacity utilization and not chiefly managing inflation or running a command economy based on monetary policy decisions. The Fed has only a contributory role. Presently, it is widely assumed that the Fed has a mandate to manage the economy using monetary policy either as a replacement to fiscal policy or...

This was a year ago probably have even more now… Soon to be generating an additional $60B annual risk free munnie for doing nothing… 🤑13 Firms Hoard $1 Trillion In Cash (We're Looking At You Big Tech) https://t.co/VaNgozrS61 via @IBDinvestors— Patrick Morris (@patrickmorris) February 5, 2022

Trump: “DON’T CUT Social Security/Medicare”New policy video from @realDonaldTrump: Cut foreign aid to countries that hate us, cut the billions in Green New Deal extremism, secure the border & stop illegals from using taxpayer funded services, but DON'T CUT Social Security/Medicare for our seniors.pic.twitter.com/1UT065yOZ1— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 20, 2023 Biden: “Put all of it on the table”[embedded content]

According to McCarthy here the Biden people cracked:President Biden: I accept your invitation to sit down and discuss a responsible debt ceiling increase to address irresponsible government spending.I look forward to our meeting.— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 20, 2023 We’ll see…. 

The debt ceiling is being used a negotiating tool in American politics yet again. My concern with American politics is that most things seem to be over-dramatised, while some disturbing things are shoved under the carpet. The debt ceiling is a great source of hysterics from south of the border. My highly non-informed take is that this debt ceiling drama will end in the usual way, going to the 11th hour before some kind of deal is struck.American politics is kabuki. Externally, the drama is...