Mike Norman Economics

It looks like wine and olive oil in moderation are good for you after all. Although, grapes may be healthier. A dangerous  substance called TMAO is made from animal products by your gut flora.The good news is that TMAO levels may be controllable either through dietary modifications or drugs that disrupt the production of the metabolites in the first place. Backing up prior research findings, the study affirmed dimethyl butanol, a compound found in olive oils and red wine, blocked the gut...

This is an excellent review and critique of Stephanie Kelton's The Deficit Myth. Michael Edesess lowers the boom in the first paragraph and then proceeds to explain it. Short and to the point, with quotes from many prominent MMT critics. The debate over the much-touted and much-criticized modern monetary theory (MMT) is the murkiest I have ever been involved with, short of secondary school debates about the existence of God. But I finally see it clearly. Incredible as it may sound to nearly...

According to Fadel Kaboub, a modern monetary theory economist, a monetary sovereign country is one that issues its own currency, taxes the people in its own currency, issues debt in its own currency and has a floating exchange rate that is not fixed against another currency. Technically, such a country cannot default on its debt. It can also pursue its economic development objectives without worrying too much about the reactions of international investors. Modern monetary theory is an...

(Reuters) - Tax authorities in nearly 100 countries saw 10 trillion euros ($11.2 trillion) in offshore assets come to light last year due to the automatic exchange of details for 84 million bank accounts, the OECD said on Tuesday. That marked a sharp increase from 2018 when tax authorities began sharing on an annual basis information like balances and transactions on offshore accounts, uncovering 5 trillion euros in assets previously hidden in 47 million accounts. Reuters  Governments...

The trillion and billionaire communists that want to control the world 

The little-known but powerful US Agency for Global Media has financed protesters in the city and helped them with technical support About US$2 million was earmarked for the protest movement in Hong Kong, but has now been frozen as part of a general overhaul and restructuring by a new agency boss. An ally of President Donald Trump, CEO Michael Pack didn’t specifically target the Hong Kong funding, which was apparently caught up in his management overhaul. The restructuring, though, has...

Airborne transmission could be the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19. LOS ANGELES: Airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus is highly virulent, and could be the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19, according to a study which assessed the progression of the pandemic in three major epicentres across the world. Scientists, including Mario J. Molina -- the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry -- assessed the transmission pathways of COVID-19 by analysing...

Abby Martin covers the whole truth about the Afghanistan War, from the CIA construct of the 80's through today's senseless stalemate. Two decades, three administrations, tens of thousands of lives; it's time to #EndTheForeverWar. [embedded content]

California-based pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences has announced that a five-day course of its antiviral drug Remdesivir — shown in tests to effectively fight COVID-19 — will cost $3,120 to Americans with health insurance and $2,340 to those on Medicaid. Yet research published in April calculated that the drug could be produced at a profit for as little as $0.93 per day. The study, led by Dr. Andrew Hill from the Department of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, U.K., and...

The economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic is often conceived of as a pivotal moment ushering in major shifts in political economies across the globe. The most profound shift taking place in China’s political economy is a move away from the export-led growth strategy adopted in the 1990s to a new economic model based on domestic consumption, indigenous technology development and urbanisation.... Eurasia ReviewCOVID-19 Accelerates China’s Political Economic Transformation –...