Mike Norman Economics

Some years ago, I was a panel speaker at an event in Sydney covering the topic of wage developments. I shared the podium with a young woman who was something like NSW Youth of the Year. It was at a time that employer groups were lobbying the conservative government to abandon penalty rates for workers in low-wage industries (hospitality, tourism, etc) and strip powers from trade unions. I spoke about how that agenda was designed to advance their class interests and fitted squarely with the...

Why has modern monetary theory come out of the academy? Because it helps model the current economic predicament and how to get out of it. "Anything we can actually do we can afford. Once done, it is there."John Maynard Keynes (1942) Excellent post by MMT's representative in Germany.It's a bit wonkish (graphs and variables) but it is addressed to a higher level audience than a popular venue and the math is kept simple. Probably not any more wonkish than the posts that Paul Krugman labels as...

Looks like the Treasury is using 'extraordinary measures' to keep the TGA stable as they juggle things under the Debt Ceiling...This is a good sign that these morons might actually be starting to figure it all out...What would have been a very large net disbursement from the TGA and associated price volatility inducing large increase in Reserve Assets in the banking system on Friday was offset by what appears to be Treasury not rolling over the exact amount of Intra-government Series...

10,000 per day now...  Transfer payments of Social Security and Medicare starting to dominate the growth in leading fiscal flows... mega-trend will continue for years...More than 10,000 people are now retiring each day in the U.S. But this daily retirement figure may fall by close to 2,500 people from an expected peak in the year 2023 to the year 2042 https://t.co/8tKzcfRiRS— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) June 4, 2019

Solid U.S. new care sales increase in May: Major automakers post U.S. higher May new vehicle sales https://t.co/q87EDk0TGN pic.twitter.com/l1H8XEuAWQ — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 3, 2019 From Mike's latest report: Auto loans were up $0.4B to $435B a new high.  Auto loans have risen 21 weeks in a row for a total of $12B. The growth rate increased by one-tenth to 3.3% YoY.  This is the fastest in 2 years.

Trade in both gold and USD deviates from recent past behavior.

Modern Monetary Theory disorients the Left by peddling simplistic monetary solutions to complex problems of political power. James Meadway is an economics adviser to the British Labour Party, who in this article is very critical of MMT. James Meadway says MMT can only work well in the US because the dollar is the world's reserve currency and it wouldn't be so effective in Britain.  MMT is also far too soft on the financial sector, says James Meadway, which is in need of serious...

As Valdai Club top analyst Yaroslav Lissovolik told me, there was much discussion “on the state of play in emerging markets in light of the developments associated with the US-China trade stand-off.” What emerged was the necessity of embracing “open regionalism” as a factor to neutralize “the negative protectionist trends in the global economy.” This translates as regional blocks along a vast South-South axis harnessing their huge potential “to counter protections pressures”, with...

Another side of the narrative. Longish and detailed, including eyewitnesses to events. US-supported attempt at regime change, with US spin after its failure? While the article doesn't mention it, the chief opponents of the present Chinese policy comes from Marxist-Leninist student that think the socialist revolution is being betrayed.Checkpoint AsiaEverything About the BBC/CNN Account of Tiananmen Square Is a Lie Godfree RobertsSee alsoThe Truth About the Iconic Tiananmen “Tank Man”...

Thomas Fazi is an Italian journalist and collaborator with Bill Mitchell on several books.The US is not the only neo-imperialist. It is joined by France and Great Britain.spikedFrench Colonialism Is Alive and Kicking in Africa, Has the Continent in an Iron Grip Thomas Fazi See also Disproportionate focus on corruption of national leaders distracts from the systemic theft of Ghana's wealth Slate98.3 percent of Ghana’s gold remains in the hands of multinational corporations Celina Della...