Mike Norman Economics

New test may be soon available...This could be huge. Within days, the UK is readying roll out millions of tests that can tell whether you have had the virus (by checking for antibodies). Will be delivered by Amazon or available for "minimal" cost from pharmacies. https://t.co/vVCwT5cb79— Akshat Rathi (@AkshatRathi) March 25, 2020

Morons:  "Fed can just run negative equity!"Wrong.... Watch Chair Powell on the @TODAYshow: https://t.co/doaDYcIRIa — Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) March 26, 2020

I recently said on Twitter that regulations would might be better than a carbon tax, but as soon as I tweeted it I wondered how easy would that be to implement worldwide and whether a tax might work better?This article addresses that question.Why not just use regulations instead of taxes, like mileage standards for cars? Economists know regulation is complicated. Regulations by nature have to sort between what is a target and what isn’t. The regulatory process contains numerous opportunities...

Zero Hedge [booze, too]Six States Declare Marijuana Dispensaries "Essential Businesses", Exempting Them From LockdownTyler DurdenThe Intercept Gilead Sciences Backs Off Monopoly Claim for Promising Coronavirus DrugSharon Lerner The Vineyard of the SakerUS in panic to obtain the Coronavirus vaccineRuslan Ostashko, Translated by Scott RTOver ONE THIRD of world’s population under lockdown over Covid-19 – AFP tally Paul Craig Roberts [we pretty much knew this already, this study confirms...

Although a big fiscal package is in the pipeline (admittedly the Greatest Deliberative Body in the World is playing its usual log-rolling games), smashed supply, and rampant "money printing" (ha!), breakeven inflation in the United States is cratering (figure above). This is exactly what should have happened, although the big question is whether current pricing is an overshoot of fundamentals. (I leave that market call to the reader.) I outline why this puzzling inflation perspective is the...

Markets and societies are inextricably linked, but sometimes they can diverge. https://www.pitbulleconomics.com/mmt-trader/?s2-ssl=yes/

Common Dreams ‘This Is a Massive Scandal’: Trump FDA Grants Drug Company Exclusive Claim on Promising Coronavirus Drug Julia Conley, staff writer Antonio Fatas on the Global EconomyCOVID-Economics Links (March 25)BruegelCoronavirus and the politics of a common fiscal instrument Mark Hallerberg and Stavros Zenios econintersect.comWhy Did President Trump Call Coronavirus "Chinese Virus"? Frank Li | Chinese ex-pat, Founder and President of W.E.I. (West-East International), a Chicago-based...

Germany has been the epicenter of the austerity crazy. But the only final solution is to get free of the euro straight jacket. The dollar works in a currency union of sovereign states in the US because the union is string socially, politically and economically.  Those condition don't apply in Europe, and the US had to go through a bloody civil war on this way to it. The notion that a common market with a common currency and open borders has failed and failed so badly that nationalism in...

Based on the experiences of other countries, it appears the number of cases per day (and deaths per day) will peak about 2 to 3 weeks after well observed shelter-in-place orders are issued (some areas are reporting less than 2 weeks - that would be great). In some areas of the United States, shelter-in-place orders were issued a week or more ago. In some states and communities, orders have still not been issued. Based on the experience in China, it appears the recovery can start in about...

A close parallel to this situation was the state of Third World debt in the mid-1980s. Mexico’s announcement that it could not meet its foreign debt service was the shock that brought ugly financial reality into conflict with the assumption that somehow any government debt could be paid – even debts denominated in a foreign currency. The international financial system was rescued by the issue of Brady bonds – “good” new bonds for old “bad” ones. The capital value of these bonds was still...