Mike Norman Economics

Global crises are revealing. How different countries are responding to the Covid-19 pandemic can tell us a lot about how their systems function. One of the most interesting differences is in how governments are offsetting the economic damage caused by extended lockdowns. Unprecedented reductions in economic activity have led many countries to rapidly adopt unprecedented policies, such as direct relief payments to households, or government grants to companies to cover worker salaries. These...

With governments searching for ways to manage the unprecedented economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy agenda implied by Modern Monetary Theory has become all the more appealing. Yet, insofar as MMT ignores the demand for money, it is a risky guide for policymakers. Inflation down the road.  "They" need a new meme. The threat now is deflation.Project SyndicateThe Problem With MMTWillem H. Buiter, a former chief economist at Citigroup, is a visiting professor at Columbia...

The author recognizes that the real issue is real resources. Increasing purchasing power without increasing production correspondingly will lead to inflationary pressure over time. The challenge is not where the money is going to come from, as MMT explains, but also what is going to be done with it. Will it increase real resources, especially productive resources, or will it just be saved, leading to greater inequality? Experts across the ideological divide thus agree on the need for...

Last Thursday (April 30, 2020), the US Department of Labor’s – Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report – showed a further 3,839,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the US, taking the cumulative total since March 14, 2020 to 30,589,000. In a labour force of 164 million odd, that implies the unemployment rate is already around 22 per cent. The highest rate endured during the Great Depression was 24.9 per cent in 1933, which prompted the US President to introduce the major job...

So what pretends to be a coronavirus bill is going to say, “You think the virus hit you? Wait till we hit you with the financial bill.” The financial bailout aims to enable the financial sector to extract so much money from the economy and drive so many small businesses under that the big venture capital firms and private equity can pick them up at low all prices. You could call it the “Monopolization of the US economy” bill or the “Contributors to Washington politicians” bill.......

Treasury may be on a jihad to reduce reserves at Depositories being created by the Fed... article ofc mentions nothing about the TGA.... unqualified Art Degree journos too dumb...We may learn more about current Treasury policy Wednesday... I have an email into them but they have not responded... may consider doing a FOIA request  if they don't respond... Treasury’s announcement Wednesday on its issuance plans for the coming months will signal how Mnuchin plans to manage a debt burden that’s...

This "virus!" thing better be a real problem...[embedded content]

OK then lets take their USTs in compensatory damages.... Trump says China made a 'mistake' and tried to cover up coronavirus outbreak https://t.co/SkrtvBEgK7— CNBC (@CNBC) May 4, 2020

We’ve never needed new economic thinking like we do right now. The economic effects of the COVID crisis are again laying bare the failings of traditional economic thinking. But it is also forcing our institutions toward beneficial policies that would usually be anathema to orthodox understandings.Evonomics has published hundreds of articles over the last four years that rationalize and explain what we need to do today, and why. Here’s a guide to those articles. We hope you, our readers,...

David Icke got banned from YouTube and Facebook because he was placing people's lives in danger with his Covid-19 and 5g conspiracy theories.I have explaining why YouTube's took this decision on Twitter, although there are better ways of dealing with people like David Icke.Wisdom Rebel say that rather than ignore David Icke he should have been brought into the mainstream to be interviewed and challenged. They also say that some of these conspiracies need investigating. They certainly do.An...