Mike Norman Economics

We have just seen the beginning of post-COVID economic data, and the numbers are literally off the charts. My feeling is that aggregate numbers will be meaningless, and we will need to look at industry-level data. I just wanted to look a bit ahead, to the post-lockdown future. My main concerns revolve around the small business sector, which I fear will be taking a bigger hit than larger businesses. The issue is that small businesses are a major driver of employment -- and we are likely to...

Throughout the Democratic presidential primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered a slew of robust proposals to reshape the American economy. Yet the Democratic presidential primary hardly engaged with questions of whether that restructuring was wise, who would benefit, and who would lose. Instead, the debate was dominated in no small part by a single question: “How will you pay for it?”On Friday, the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy...

Fed to reduce bond purchases to $60 bln/day from $75 bln/ day. Zombies sold. (Wrong.) Bank data surges higher. Get a 30-day free trial to MMT Trader. https://www.pitbulleconomics.com/mmt-trader/?s2-ssl=yes/

The worm turns.Zero HedgePentagon Fears Foreigners Will Buy Control Of US Defense Firms Amid Coronavirus VolatilityTyler Durden

15:51 "It is clear that we have entered recession," said IMF head Kristalina Georgieva. Due to the pandemic, the global economy experienced a "sudden stop" and the fund is now looking for a practical approach to prevent indebted countries from "falling off the cliff." 15:23 The ongoing pandemic will have a deep economic impact and recovery could be only expected in 2021, said IMF chief Georgieva. This target can only be reached if the virus is contained and liquidity problems are not...

This* is what #MMT has been arguing all along. It shouldn't just be for crises, and it's weird that anyone in favor of "central bank independence" doesn't think a central bank should have more tools.https://t.co/c6qSo4omNY — Scott Fullwiler (@stf18) March 27, 2020 *FT Opinion (Registration required)Why the Fed should put the Treasuries market on a war footing  Colby Smiththers

SputnikBelgium Confirms Case of COVID-19 Transmission From Human to Cat – National Centre The Unz Review [sad. we hardly knew ye.]Tulsi Gabbard Falls on Her Sword, by Philip Giraldi Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity TASS [corona virus doesn't mutate]US scientists’ findings indicate vaccine against...

The Right is on the warpath against China out of all of this... Bannon: The #CCP will not survive this, are a threat to the Chinese peopleThese oppressors have now shown what they've done to the entire Earth. They're an enemy to humankind #CCPVirus#WarRoomPandemic returns LIVE 5PM on @77WABCradioListen & watch ⬇️ https://t.co/6epKW1mS1H— War Room: Pandemic ☣️ (@WarRoomPandemic) March 26, 2020

Hybrid war with China intensifies.SputnikSenior White House Officials Agree to Cut Huawei From Global Chip Supply – ReportAlso at Sputnik US Resorts to Bashing Chinese Government Over Own Coronavirus Failures

Oil glut?SputnikSaudi Oil Industry at Risk as American, European Refiners Refusing Riyadh’s Crude – Reports