Mike Norman Economics

A recent poll from the Democracy Collaborative and YouGov reveals that most Americans are ready to spend more for social needs, even if it raises the deficit.  The debate around modern monetary theory (“MMT”) is picking up steam – with its partisans pushing the model further into the public sphere than one might expect, and the old guard of establishment economics, together with some more interesting critical voices, pushing back. The questions at stake can make the average person’s head...

I've read many times now how Julian Assange is in a state of total panic and can't calm down at all. In this article it says that Jillian Assange can't even eat properly and has become gravely ill.Just imagine if Julian Assange had been a Putin critic and was being treated like this in Russia? Imagine the outcry in the media? Imagine what our politicians would be saying?When under extreme stress the front cortex can become disconnected from the amydala, a primitive part of the brain which...

Mike Grubber says conservatives are scared as their world is changing too fast for them when they prefer the security of tradition. He says conservatives are not the bad guys as liberals tend to believe, and should show more compassion towards them. He goes on to describe an America which is fast becoming liberal, where the young are relaxed about identity politics and multiculturalism, more open to leftist politics, and are very concerned about the environment. Religion is also less...

More figurative language... no different from what the MMT people are doing all the time... Kuroda Says BOJ Has Enough Ammunition, Wary of Side Effects: Asked if the BOJ still has the capacity to do "something big," Kuroda said: "I think so.” He cited four policy options: cutting the -0.1% negative rate further, lowering the target for 10-year yields, increasing the monetary base or boosting asset purchases. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda says the central bank can deliver more big...

A very detailed walkthrough of the big new left economic idea. An excellent article on MMT by Dylan Mathews although doesn't think MMT will ever be fully implemented as some of its proposals are very radical. Well, we've got this far so let's see.  Dylan Mathews says how the Republicans will deficit spend to give tax cuts to the rich and to spend on the military blowing the budget, and then the Democrats get in and always balance the budget again. This means that when the Republicans...

This one is brief but gets quite technical. Simon Wren-Lewis proposed that the state create money but if inflation builds then taxation should be used to reduced the amount of money in circulation. I think this is faulty because it is using a tool at the circulation stage rather than the creation stage, which seems difficult to control and will have a very long lag. The existing tool of interest rates is proven effective at influencing whether people borrow or save, which is the moment that...

Labour’s shadow economic secretary to the Treasury stated, earlier this week, that Labour doesn’t support Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). CHRIS WILLIAMSON asks why not I still don't think MMT is explained very well, and to say that the government can never run out of dollars because it can print more just doesn't wash with the public. My brother thought it sounded like nonsense until I told him that society gears up to earn the new money by producing more goods and services, and so the...

You can't correct someone making a reification error by employing additional figurative language... you have to use proper real or literal language..Down-thread Bill for example is trying to correct a bunch of left-wing morons but here is his title: "...parties erect the plank and then walk it" ... nice pirate metaphor but sorry its not going to work... youre trying to correct people who are not understanding the abstraction of govt accounting and finance and are defaulting into...

Google are asking Trump to lift the Android ban on Huawei saying that to not do so would increase the security risk. Google say Huawei will only further develop their own version of Android which may have more security issues. Huawei phones have a large world wide market share and so Google and the U.S. could lose their grip. Every action can have unintended consequences.There's a paywall on the Financial Times site but the first time you go to an article there it usually let's you in. You...

Everyone panicked once again. I said to buy the dip.