Mike Norman Economics

Important. Andrew Batson summarizes Charles Kindleberger's insight into development in terms of ability to transform the economy — what promotes it and what hinders it.Neoclassical economics assumes flexibility among the factors of production and also flexibility within them, resulting in immediate response to economic "laws," e.g., based on natural market forces that automatically generate spontaneous order (general equilibrium).However, economic forces are not independent of social and...

Continuation.Bill Mitchell – billy blogPuzzle: Has real wages growth outstripped productivity growth or not? – Part 2Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

...I will outline the issues as I see it. One typical insight offered from neoclassical modelling is that a recession would be the result of some sort of shock. Although my argument is that recessions are hard to forecast, that seems to offer almost no information. We can usually see certain mechanisms behind a recession, as is discussed in my manuscript (which is volume one). So it's a hard sell to say that recessions are purely random processes. We can get slightly more specific, such as...

Facts show nothing suspicious about the re-election of Evo Morales What is the difference between an outright lie — stating something as a fact while knowing that it is false — and a deliberate material representation that accomplishes the same end? Here is an example that really pushes the boundary between the two, to the point where the distinction practically vanishes. And the consequences are quite serious; this misrepresentation (or lie) has already played a major role in a...

The neoliberals’ impact on the “new right” is nowhere clearer than in the British hard right’s attempt to enforce a no-deal Brexit. The populist right-wing backlash against neoliberal austerity is just more neoliberalism. Those people who hate the present system and turn to the right will get more of the same. Life will get harsher. The ongoing and increasingly intense conservative backlash currently taking place across Europe is often understood as a populist reaction to neoliberal...

CNN ran an article called 25 times Trump has been soft on Russia. Caitlin Jonestone disagrees. Caitlin Johnstone discredits a CNN listicle on Trump’s “softness” towards Moscow. In fact, she writes, the U.S. president has  actually been consistently reckless towards Moscow, with zero resistance from either party.  Consortiumnews.com  Caitlin Jonestone - 25 Times Trump Has Been Dangerously Hawkish On Russia

Craig Murray BlogThe Roger Stone – Wikileaks – Russia HoaxCraig Murray, formerly British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Rector of the University of Dundee The Unz ReviewReclaiming Your Inner Fascist [satire] C. J. Hopkins The Vineyard of the SakerChina, Bolivia and Venezuela are proof that social democracy cannot thrive in the global capitalist order Jeff J. Brown MarketWatchOpinion: The OAS lied to the public about the Bolivian election and coupMark Weisbrot | co-director of the Center...

In May of this year, House Budget Committee Republicans sent a letter to Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) requesting a hearing on MMT. Tomorrow, the House Budget Committee is holding a hearing titled “Reexamining the Costs of Debt,” and MMT is expected to be a central theme. The Hon. Mr. Womack neglects to say that Dick Cheney told us that President Reagan (who has been sainted by the GOP) showed that deficits don't matter. ? Maybe he should rethink his position. House Budget CommitteeThe...

I am currently working through the entire Commissaire Maigret detective series written by Belgian author author Georges Simenon. I read a lot as I travel around and I have 74 (out of 75) Maigret novels to read. But don’t let that fool you, I am already becoming familiar with Maigret’s forensic way of thinking (-:. So for the next two blog posts we will be conducting a forensic examination of data to solve a puzzle that appears to be confusing people. This is the sort of puzzle that people...

Bullish sentiment is up