Mike Norman Economics

One of the more provocative claims in the book is that the American tax system, taken as a whole, and including state and local taxes, is not progressive, meaning it does not tax the rich more than the middle class or working poor. Instead, they write in their book, when you include the totality of taxes, "The US tax system is a giant flat tax—except at the top, where it's regressive." That is, the rich now pay a smaller tax rate on their income than everyone else.Planet MoneyGREG...

Morons still in full control... Nothing has changed... N-O-T-H-I--N-G.... If we don't act now to address the solvency of programs like Medicare and Social Security, our government's trust funds will be depleted in 13 years. The TRUST Act will help secure these programs because we can't keep ignoring a preventable crisis. pic.twitter.com/LnXKjDpBRY — Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) October 30, 2019

A retired U.S. general has warned that President Donald Trump's foreign policy in Syria is drifting dangerously close to piracy, following confirmation that American soldiers will be deployed to secure valuable oil fields in the east of the country and protect them from the Islamic State group. Retired General Barry McCaffrey condemned the plans on Sunday, following Trump's suggestion he wants to bring in Exxon Mobil or another U.S. oil company "to go in there and do it properly...and...

Across the West, usual suspects have been trying to impose the narrative that protests from Barcelona to Santiago have been inspired by Hong Kong. That’s nonsense. Hong Kong is a complex, very specific situation, which I have analyzed, for instance, here, mixing anger against political non-representation with a ghostly image of China. Each of the outbursts – Catalonia, Lebanon, Iraq, the Gilets Jaunes/Yellow Vests for nearly a year now – are due to very specific reasons. Lebanese and...

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the – Gross Domestic Product, Third Quarter 2019 (Advance Estimate) – data yesterday (October 30, 2019). It shows that the US economy “increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2019” which was slightly slow than the 2 per cent recorded in the June quarter. As this is only the “Advance estimate” (based on incomplete data) there is every likelihood that the figure will be revised when the “second estimate” is published...

Professor Andrea Terzi is an MMT economist. Here are some observations on the EZ. The second link contains a link to a recent paper of his, "A critical analysis of public debt under a non-convertible currency standard: Implications for the euro area"Money And The Real EconomyEuro area financial balances send a warning signalThe euro area has a unique opportunityAndrea Terzi, Professor of Economics, Franklin College, Switzerland

Influential pundits have argued that under the current situation there is no need for the government to worry about fiscal sustainability. They have found support in the proponents of so-called modern monetary theory, who have cited Japan as real-world proof of their heterodox doctrine. Even some mainstream economists, including Olivier Blanchard, have advocated for fiscal activism in Japan and argued against the consumption tax hike. An important basis of their argument is the absence of...

Powell is easy to read

Dr Micheal Baden hasn't finished his research yet, there's more to come, he says.  The body of disgraced money man and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan federal prison cell in August, bore telltale signs of homicide despite an official ruling that he killed himself, a pioneering forensic pathologist revealed to “Fox & Friends” in an exclusive interview Wednesday. Fox News Melissa Leon - Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy more consistent with homicidal...

Unfortunately, there is widespread confusion over MMT as MMT economists have developed it and the way that others describe it. This article makes an attempt but fails to disentangle the knot of conflation, but at least it is an attempt at balance rather than the usual rant.DW (Deutsche Welle)Modern Monetary Theory: Endless debt with no consequences?