Mike Norman Economics

In my view, the root of the problem is in the socio-economic system loosely called "capitalism" and it cannot be overcome without a redesign of the system, which is not actual democracy but rather plutocratic oligarchy. If "capitalism" is defined as a socio-economic system (not merely an economic system) that favors "capital" (property ownership), with "land" folded into capital, over the other factors, namely, "labor" and "natural resources," based on the priority of "capital" for...

New one on me. Back in the day, the police just had batons and tear gas. Since then it has evolved to pepper spry, tasers, non-lethal bullets, smoke canisters, sound and water cannons, and now pepper "balls," bullets really. Pepper balls and other irritants are used to disperse or move a crowd in a case of civil disturbance, and authorities might use pepper balls as compared to tear gas canisters for a few different reasons, says Hodgson. Theoretically, he says, they can more accurately...

Brad DeLong makes a frank admission. The smart money has been that our success as an industry is primarily the result of the social-intellectual rather than the formal-intellectual component of higher education. But we are not sure. This problem, however, has been on the back burner for years… generations… perhaps centuries… because our “customers” have long been highly satisfied. But now this knowledge problem of ours has suddenly become urgent. The social-intellectual component of...

Governments save economies. Never let a mainstream economist tell you that government intervention is undesirable and that the ‘market’ will sort things out. Never let them tell you that large-scale government bond purchases by central banks lead to inflation. Never let them tell you that the government, when properly run, can run out of money. There is unlimited amounts of public purchasing capacity. The art is when to apply it and how much to release. That can only be determined by the...

The problem is not so much individual policemen (yes, the problematic ones are almost always male) as police culture. Instead of "few bad apples," it is police culture, which varies from department to department that underlies this as a continuing issue.But there is also an overall cultural approach to policing, and in the US it has increasingly become a militarized one, especially since the inception of the Global War on Terror, which as a domestic component. For instance, the US has never...

Infrastructure = public investment. Beijing wants to see big investments in the building blocks of China’s digital future – everything from 5G and data centers to artificial intelligence (AI) and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.... When you have engineers in charge. While the term ‘new infrastructure’ is not itself new – it first appeared during the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2018 – these high-level announcements represent an elevation of the initiative as a key...

How fast can the economy recover from a recession? A faster recovery would look like a V-shaped bounce. A slower recovery would look like a “swoosh.” The path depends on the economic sectors and time series data you look at. Here are some FRED Blog examples that study past episodes.... As with all historical comparison's relative to the present, YMMV. Conditions seldom match. In the hope that, even in these extraordinary times, history can teach us a lesson, we look at the FRED graph...

Companies in China that acted swiftly and decisively are likely to emerge stronger out of the COVID-19 crisis, and will be better prepared to withstand the next major disruption.... Chinese companies have upped their game. McKinseyFast-forward China: 30 ways companies are reactivating business and reimagining the future beyond COVID-19 Nick Leung chairman and Joe Ngai managing partner of McKinsey’s Greater China region, Jeongmin Seong, partner, and Jonathan Woetzel, senior partner and...

As usual, Pepe Escobar has an interesting take, but I don't think he is finely attuned to the American situation. This is quite different from the Vietnam antiwar protests and Occupy, for example. Moreover, this is not only an American phenomenon. There are mass demonstrations in other countries, too. If I had to sum it up succinctly, it would be, "enough is enough." And I don't think this is solely about racism, either. It's a visceral reaction that carries many labels, but none of them...

Pretty decent economic analysis. I posted the following comment there:Not all Democrats are missing in action on calling for federal support for full employment, already mandated by the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978 (15 USC § 3101). AOC and the squad, for example, have proposed adopting the universal job guarantee that is foundational to Modern Monetary Theory aka MMT. Stephanie Kelton, one of the most prominent MMT economists was Bernie Sander's chief economic advisor. The...