Mike Norman Economics

We’re back from a holiday weekend but the Senate is still out of session, having left Washington without acting on more economic aid. The official line from Republicans is that it’s time to see how previous efforts work before considering more. And anyway, the economy’s opening back up, maybe it won’t need federal support. This is a dangerously wrong attitude, especially because of the realities of the political calendar. Decisions will be made in the next few weeks that will put the...

On April 9, the Federal Reserve announced that it would take additional actions to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the initiatives are the Primary Market and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facilities (PMCCF and SMCCF), whose intent is to provide support for large U.S. businesses that typically finance themselves by issuing debt in capital markets.... Creditor of last resort. FRBNY — Liberty Street EconomicsThe...

In the wake of the $A60 billion bungle, the Australian government has turned its attention to creating smokescreens. Yesterday (May 25, 2020), the Treasurer released a statement – Temporary changes to continuous disclosure provisions for companies and officers – which effectively allows corporations to withold information from the public and investors about the state of their company finances. It will now be very hard to prove that company directors have mislead their investors. This is one...

Some American strategy thinking.OilpriceIs The U.S. Prepared For War With China? Gregory R. Copley via Defense and Foreign Affairs

The author exhibits zero understanding of actual MMT and criticizes a wildly mistaken stereotype. Not a good sign from China.Caixin (PRC)Wang Shuo: Printing Money Is Not the Solution You Think It Is Wang Shuo | editor-in-chief of Caixin Media and Caixin WeeklySee alsoHowever, this would count toward Wang Shuo's concern about the surge in central bank "money printing." While the understanding of the facts is wrong, the facts appear to be influencing expectations.Zero HedgeJPMorgan: The Surge...

Goldman writes this morning that with businesses shuttered and job losses mounting rapidly, "there is growing concern over the ability of borrowers to service their debt obligations and the resulting risks to financial stability." In response, Goldman "assesses the likely scale of economy-wide credit losses, the exposure of creditors to those losses, and the potential risks to financial stability and the banking sector" to conclude that "rising bankruptcies and delinquencies suggest the...

Back from the dead.Zero HedgeKim Jong Un Oversees Meeting To Increase NK's 'Nuclear War Deterrence' Tyler Durden

The anti-vax, Covid-19, 5g, Bill Gates depopulation conspiracists say they would never take a vaccine. Many tell me I can have their one. But these scientists felt perfectly safe injecting themselves with a new vaccine they had developed.Scientists in Russia have carried out the first unofficial trial of a Covid-19 vaccine – and they say it’s effective. Epidemiologists in Moscow took the unorthodox step of injecting themselves and examining their own results. Russian researchers test...

Attempts to privatize the Moon run counter to international law, CEO of Russia's Roscosmos State Space Agency Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station on Monday. "We will not, in any case, accept any attempts to privatize the Moon. It is illegal, it runs counter to international law," Rogozin pointed out. The Roscosmos CEO emphasized that Russia would begin the implementation of a lunar program in 2021 by launching the Luna-25 spacecraft to the Moon....

Trump thinks he’s fighting a new Cold War against China but he’s really just fighting the next round in an old war on Asia that’s over 200 years old. And it’s a war he cannot win....  Gold, Goats 'N GunsIs Trump’s New Cold War Necessary? Tom LuongoSee alsoIndia PunchlineIran surges in Venezuela in defiance of US sanctionsM. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service