Mike Norman Economics

Resource scarcity developing which will affect war-fighting as well as domestic economies. But don't worry, climate change is just a hoax, you see. (snark)Naked CapitalismDire Climate Change Warning in Report for Pentagon: US Military Could Collapse in 20 Years; Lack of Water, Domestic Disasters, Disease, Mass Migrations as Threats to OperationsYves Smith

More than 46 years of initially military imposed neoliberalism has finally exploded into widespread frustration, protest and violence. This neoliberalism culminated in 2017 with twelve businessmen, among them Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, monopolizing at least 17% of the national GDP, demonstrating the huge gap in wealth equity. There is little doubt why the latest protests have exploded violently, with 18 dead so far – Piñera had declared war on his own people to protect his...

The real problem with the phase one accord announced on October 11 is the basic structure of the deal into which it presumably fits. From trade to currency, the approach is the same – prescribing bilateral remedies for multilateral problems. Project SyndicateNo Art to the US-China Trade Deal Stephen S. Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia See also Off-GuardianCan the US beat China in a “trade war”? Or will this be the end of...

In their most recent 10-year budget and economic forecast, the CBO made a big change, reducing their long-run forecast of the interest rate on government bonds by almost a full percentage point, from 3.7 to 2.9.  Most directly, the new, lower interest rate reduces expected debt payments over the next decade by $2.2 trillion. It also significantly reduces the expected debt-GDP ratio. Under the assumptions the CBO was using at the start of this year, the debt ratio under existing policy...

Short review of Richard J. Shiller's Narrative Economics. (The links are important.) How narratives shape presumptions as hidden assumptions, expectations and confidence that affect risk appetite, and behavior, including economic behavior, questioning how "rational" homo economicus actually is.  The post suggests the importance to TPTB of maintaining narrative control. Stumbling and MumblingNarrative Economics: a reviewChris Dillow | Investors Chronicle

The European project has always made life easier for capital. That’s why multinationals like it so much I was once so passionate about Europe that I wanted the UK to join the Euro. It was all passion and no thought. Larry Elliott always argued against the Euro, and it turns out he was right. He is one of the better journalists at the Guardian.I'm still passionate about Europe, but a future more social democratic one. The truth is that social Europe never delivered all that much, even in...

Immigration with Chinese characteristics:Breaking News: The 39 bodies found in a truck near London on Wednesday were believed to be those of Chinese citizens, the British police say https://t.co/Ss5kDc2xNT— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 24, 2019

Many in the West and Hong Kong mistakenly believe that mainland Chinese are unthinking and uncritical. On the contrary, one consequence of life behind China’s Great Firewall is a hypersensitivity to the veracity of information The Chinese people are aware of the censorship and in many ways are less gullible than the unsuspecting Western public who believe our media is fair and free.  There isn't a lot of censorship in China, in fact, most of the Western MSM is allowed, but I know the...

So-called digital currency (it's not currency–yet) is about a type of payments system that functions on the basis of blockchain transactions. If a central bank issues currency using blockchain it will be a genuine digital currency. It looks like it is coming, and at least one country is already doing it (Venezuela).The take-away is that blockchain payment is highly efficient and will eventually drive out less efficient systems. China apparently gets this, and China is already way ahead in...

Backgrounder. Beyond neoliberalism. Straight up neo-feudalism.NEOBeirut is Burning: Rebellion Against the Elites has Commenced Andre VitchekSee alsoStrategic Culture FoundationWest Can’t Wash Its Hands of Lebanon’s Meltdown Now, Given That It Supported the Corrupt System for Decades Martin Jay