Mike Norman Economics

For even MORE entertainment, watch how the people responsible for ANY f-ed up material systems issue have an Art Degree...For your entertainment, watch how the only people falling for the new "Trump called Coronavirus a hoax" hoax are artists of one sort or another (mostly writers).— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) February 29, 2020

Needs Mike's 'mental game':When the market is 30K: I wish I had bought ag 25KWhen the market hits 25K: Too risky to buy the marketWhen the market hits 35K: I wish I had bought at 25K— Read Cernovich dot com (@Cernovich) February 28, 2020

Hydrogen is often hailed as a silver bullet solution to emissions-free fuel since it burns clean, leaving nothing but water vapor, but the reality of using and producing green hydrogen is much more complicated. Hydrogen is already used as a power source in a lot of modern industries, including ammonia production, in refineries and as a feedstock for chemicals. The vast majority of the hydrogen in use, however, is not green hydrogen, but instead is what is known as “gray hydrogen.” While the...

Fun on one hand but it finishes with an estimate of the effect of the coronavirus epidemic on the Chinese economy, so read to the end. Political CalculationsMaths on the Back of an Envelope

The Trump administration is reportedly considering the possibility of re-implementing the Defense Production Act. Originally enacted during the Korean War, the Act essentially empowers the President to control the means of production—the idea being that it would be in the interest of the nation's defense to force private manufacturers to focus their production efforts on things that would benefit the country in a time of tenuous resources.... "Reportedly." Rumor maybe, but...

Not important, but Dee Hock is a good thinker and worth reading.Dee W. HockIS A SECOND HAND LIFE WORTH LIVING? Dee Hock | Founder and former CEO of Visa and author of Birth of the Chaordic Age (1999) with an edition named One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization (2005) which includes two new chapters

The arms industry is extremely profitable, but to keep the profits coming in it needs constant enemies. Russia and China for the bill nicely.Peace is bad for business. Welcome to the Most Corrupt Industry in the World ☠️ Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Tradehttp://www.theshadowworldbook.com/ [embedded content]

The coronavirus news flow is getting worse, and generating corresponding news flow. I just want to make a couple comments that stick close to my limited expertise. From a markets standpoint, the market that matters is the credit market, and not equities. I am not plugged into the credit market news flow, but I do not see anything that indicates that anything is irreversibly broken. Otherwise, the situation underlines the big difference between randomness and uncertainty. This is a geeky...

Looks like they are going to have to cut the IOR:Current factors are at $4.2T in latest H.4.1 and their $80b/mo. UST buying policy has rates plummeting to where the 3 year UST is currently yielding only 0.85%.So if they were to roll the whole portfolio into this 3 year duration of USTs  (which is their current policy goal) now at 0.85% that would yield about $35B annual...IOR right now is at 1.6% on the $1.7T (and rising...) of Reserves at Depositories so that creates a liability for them...

To prevent viral infections, doctors suggest practicing good hand hygiene. In light of the recent coronavirus outbreak, public health guidelines continue to emphasize this. Is hand washing really that helpful in the context of an epidemic? New research suggests that it is. Medical News Today  Why hand washing really could slow down an epidemic