Mike Norman Economics

There was an interesting article posted on Alternet (April 12, 2020) – Leftist policy didn’t lose. Marxist electoral theory did – in response to the dismal showing by Bernie Sanders in the current Democratic Primaries. I think it summarises the confusion that is now abundant on the progressive side of the political struggle. The arguments presented highlight the dilemma facing the progressive side of politics. Should Leftists compromise with centrists to get more traction? Compromise with...

A conspiracy theory about Covid-19 escaping from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the Trump administration’s Iraqi WMD. And the Washington Post’s Josh Rogin is playing the role of Judith Miller. Here we go again. Toward the end of his article, Rogin admitted, “We don’t know whether the novel coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab.” Up until that point, however, he offered every possible insinuation that the virus had indeed emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. His article...

Americans started buying 3M N95masks in mid-January, then non-perishables in February, followed by toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and guns.Now apparently, plant seeds are the next big thing… Zero Hedge It's Not Just Toilet Paper, Seed Shortages Spread As Locked-Down Americans Turn To Growing Their Own Food Tyler Durden

More free publicity for MMT.Project SyndicateThe Myth of “Helicopter Money”Yeva Nersisyan and  L. Randall Wray

Looks like its about ready for a trial before rollout. All the efficiency of digital "currency," but real currency ("central bank money") and less anonymity.Sputnik InternationalTrial Program for China’s Digital Currency Set to Begin in Four Cities

JNJ producing a weekly series every Tuesday:NOW: Join #JNJ and @lisaling LIVE for the first episode of “The Road to a Vaccine” featuring Dr. Paul Stoffels, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee & CSO and Dr. Rinke Bos, Principal Scientist, Vaccines, J&J: https://t.co/aRo3bY2KxY pic.twitter.com/gZKV3scW53— Johnson & Johnson (@JNJNews) April 14, 2020

I very much hope that this pessimistic forecast is wrong. It's bad but not horrible. The effect depends more on the response than to the disease. The effect of the disease will be minimal overall and most of the those that die were on the way out anyway (over 60).The demographic effect is not dire but the social effect could become dire since many of the issues leading to currency dysfunctionality may be amplified by the response. Cliodynamica — A Blog about the Evolution of...

The US is a global anomaly. This is the kind of "exceptionalism" one wants, other than those that are profiting from it.Conversable EconomistHealth Care Headed for One-Fifth of US EconomyTimothy Taylor | Managing editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, based at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota

When we think of a "squeeze" we usually assume "short squeeze." However, the collapse in WTF price is apparently due to a long squeeze. The main lesson to be taken away is for financial speculators. If you are incapable of taking delivery of a futures contract, you should be asking yourself exactly why you are trading the product. One of the standard trade strategies I saw in sell side research back in the day was hedging breakeven trades with oil futures. Although that looked cute,...

Oil prices go negative for the first time in history. How can this happen? Trade and invest using the concepts and understandings of MMT. Get a 30-day free trial to MMT Trader. https://www.pitbulleconomics.com/mmt-trader/?s2-ssl=yes/