Mike Norman Economics

It is Wednesday today and a blog-lite day. An announcement and a few videos only. But plenty to occupy your time if so inclined. I have an important announcement to make, a video of our Birmingham event (May 11, 2019) and some music from one of the best guitar players. Thomas Fazi and I also have an article coming out in The Tribune magazine soon in response to a rather unsavoury and silly attack on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) by an ex-advisor to the British Labour Party. There will also...

Chinese firm is a queen on tech chessboard, but Beijing will just tell its whiz-kids to reach the next level…. Asia Times Why capturing Huawei is no victory in tech war Pepe EscobarSee alsoZero HedgeWhite House Planned To Use Huawei As Trade 'Bargaining Chip'Xi Warns 'Prepare For New Long March' As Beijing Braces For Drawn-Out Trade FightBeijing Warns Of "Unwavering Resolve" In Huawei Fight, Accuses Washington Of "Bullying & Blackmail" "We Will Beat America Out Of Its Wits": China...

My, my. turns out that Huawei was not only making its own chips in anticipation of exclusion, but also preparing its own operating system. Obviously, native developers will create their own apps hosted in a Huawei store. This market is lost to US firms (think Google and Apple).The decoupling of the US from China and end of Chimerica is leading to a new division of the global economy into blocs, on one hand, and on the other, to a push for national self-sufficiency and control the commanding...

This is nothing new. India households have always been holders of gold. Chinese households also have a preference for gold.As India and China become more prosperous, this demand will likely increase.Checkpoint AsiaIndian Households Hold More Gold Than the World’s Top 10 Central Bank Holders CombinedBanikinkar Pattanayak

This is a big deal even though it won't be noticed by most people. However, precise measurement essential to science and measurement involves application of metrics defined by criteria. The units and their criteria are arbitrary. There was no such thing as a kilogram prior to the development and introduction of the metric system. Same with other measurement systems. The "trick" is to establish a constant criterion in a relative universe. That is as close to an absolute as human can...

Richard Murphy has been working on the New Green Deal over the last decade. In the second half of this post he provides an outline that is very useful in thinking about it. Tax ResearchGrowth, MMT and the Green New Deal Richard Murphy

The House of Representatives didn’t know what hit it.The Green New Deal, introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February, energized politicians on both sides of the political spectrum with its twin goals of carbon neutrality by 2030 and the promise of jobs for every American. It also polarized them. Critics have one main question: How the hell are we going to pay for it?As the guy responsible for the plan’s “jobs guarantee,” Andrés Bernal, 32, has a lot to answer for. And...

Google say they won't be upgrading Android on Huawei phones anymore. And I've just bought a new Honor 10 phone as well. All this will do is force Huawei to develop its own operating system, which will probably outsmart everything else..We've been constantly told about competition, and that you can't buck the market. But I always knew that the elite only love the market because they were the winners in it, and that as soon as they weren't winning so well they would buck the market.It's market...

Trump says he does not want a fight with Iran, but the military industrial complex is trying to force him into one. I have read that many conservatives are now very anti-war, mainly due to influence of the libertarians and Ron Paul, so Trump has a lot of support on this. Col. Larry Wilkerson says bombs won't work and so the US would be forced into a ground war if they go ahead. He says that the Pentagon is run by baboons and monkeys. With a thirty year Boeing veteran at the Pentagon, Patrick...

The debates about MMT are expanding. There are weird offerings springing up each day. I read something yesterday about how MMT is really just Marxism in disguise and therefore a plot to overthrow entrepreneurship. Well in a socialist society there will still be a monetary system! Most of the critiques just get to their point quickly – MMT is about wild printing presses undermining the value of the currency! That should summarise 25 years of our work nicely. But there are also other...