Mike Norman Economics

New record high... up about $100B from previous all time high last week to close Thursday at $1,180B...Treasury appearing to be reducing Reserve Assets at Depositories by about $100B per week over the last couple of weeks....   Treasury has reduced Reserve Assets like this by $800B since March 23rd equity markets bottom...Still not clear if this is a deliberate policy.I sent Treasury an email inquiring about the current TGA policy have not heard back yet... will report here if I do...

Stephanie Kelton says no problem for countries that issue their own currencies, set their own rate, and don't take on obligations not in their currency. Edward Chancellor says no, because "inflation." Interestingly, he argues from history and makes no distinctions, treating all situations as homogenous regard of monetary regime and attendant circumstances. Fail.Financial TimesCan governments afford the debts they are piling up to stabilise economies? Stephanie Kelton and Edward...

Buffett parroting Trump here... Highlight: “If you print bonds in your own currency, what happens to the currency will be the question.” Buffett says. “But you don’t default. The U.S. … has been smart… to issue its debt in its own currency.” #YFBuffett pic.twitter.com/7iy6pUkPQZ— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) May 3, 2020

Good thread examining the current Gain of Function issue:TIL of "Gain of Function" research (GOF).GOF is monkeying around with viruses to see if you can get them to "gain" some new "function"—e.g. infect new animals, increase virulence, create vaccines, whatever.And GOF research comes with major risks—including accidents.— Justin Owings (@justinowings) May 2, 2020

Some good news here:Well this is good news that so far there is no evidence of reinfection!...Tests in recovered patients found false positives, not reinfections, experts say https://t.co/a0eof1KuJG— Anne Eacker MD (@EackerAnne) April 30, 2020

Zinger.Information Transfer EconomicsWhat's in a name?Jason Smith

He sends out a tweet saying Tesla's stock is too high? That is illegal and egregiously detrimental to his investors. Idiot.

Perhaps, perhaps, this crisis marks an end of the “neoliberal era”.The word “neoliberal” immediately provokes contention, but let’s not get fancy or upset here. For our purposes, neoliberalism is just a set of social heuristics: 1) that markets are in general the most capable institution for organizing human affairs; 2) that therefore, absent strong reasons to the contrary, use of market or market-like institutions should be maximized, “completed”, expanded even into domains heretofore...

Paul Jay is back, and I'm listening to a Col. Lawrence Wilkerson interview right now. It's good.Analysis News: Paul Jay

I did say the Danny Dorling article was a bit old. Claim There were fewer deaths recorded in the first 15 weeks of 2020 than in the first 15 weeks of 2018. Conclusion Correct, although the number of deaths in recent weeks far exceeds the number at the same point in any recent year. Fullfacts.orgThese death figures are correct, but deaths from Covid-19 are still rising