Mike Norman Economics

Michael Hudson filtering up. Zero HedgeCanceling Debt And The Debate Over 5,000 Year Old Economic Policy Tyler Durden

The left, right, and center disagree on the merits of socialism. But these disagreements are often impenetrable, as they rarely even agree which countries are socialist. Socialist skeptics point to Venezuela as an example of socialism run amok, while socialists point to the Nordics as evidence of its virtues. To counter the obvious success of the Nordics, some will define them as actually capitalist. The capitalism-or-socialism binary gets further complicated as debaters introduce terms...

Next installment of the Epstein saga. The plot thickens. Mint Press NewsFormer Spy Details Israel’s Main Motive Behind Epstein’s Sexual Blackmail Operation Whitney Webb

Must-read. Note: Xi Jinping was trained as a chemical engineer.Andrew Batson's BlogWhat Xi Jinping thinks about development economics Andrew Batson

Likelihood of a pullback is growing. Blame the Fed.

Sounds pretty good for the UK: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to move quickly to take Britain out of the European Union, while promising to deliver billions of pounds in public spending to consolidate the Conservative Party’s once-in-a-generation gains among working-class voters still hurting from the financial crisis. Trump promises to move quickly on talks for a new U.S.-U.K. trade deal https://t.co/hzTqFgqDSM — Real Time Economics (@WSJecon) December 13, 2019

One News NetworkChina set to agree growth target of around 6% for 2020: NikkeiBolivia’s Morales lands in Argentina, will be granted refugee status HaAretzMost neo-Nazi music festivals are closely guarded secrets — not this one in Ukraine Michael ColborneBNE IntelliNewsRussia emerges as a top three fintech market Vladimir KozlovCheckpoint Asia — Anti EmpireRussia Needs to Stop Wasting Time on Diplomacy With the USA, Focus All Energy on Beijing, Delhi and Others Marko MarjanovićRTBerlin warns...

Nothingburger. DJT folded in face of economic consequences in an election year. He is a shoe-in in 2020 unless the economy tanks. The Democrats have nothing (but Bernie and they are not going to run him).  But this is hardly the end of it. The US is still fully committed to stopping China's rise, which is an impossibility.ReutersChina to buy $50 billion in U.S. farm products in return for tariff concessions-U.S. sourcesJeff Mason, Andrea Shalal, David Lawder

I think this is correct, and if it is the question arises, why a deal? The political answer is simple. Both bases require it. The Democratic "resistance" requires impeachment and the Trump base requires speedy acquittal. Everyone is satisfied and DJT wins, too. Hey, politics is all about winning. Moon of AlabamaThe Impeachment Deal Between The House And The Senate

Just days after it was sharply rebuked for its conduct in the Russia collusion investigation, the FBI is declaring it possesses no records of any disciplinary action taken against lawyers who pursued a deeply flawed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant targeting the Trump campaign. The declaration was made Thursday in a U.S. District Court motionseeking to dismiss an open records lawsuit brought by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that frequently...