Mike Norman Economics

“The claim that Russia attacked America during the 2016 presidential election is both exceedingly dangerous and a complete falsehood,” says Stephen Cohen on Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay…TRNNIs Russian ‘Meddling’ an Attack on America?Paul Jay interviews Stephen CohenSee alsoThe arrest of Julian Assange was an act of revenge by the US government that strikes at the heart of journalism….Asia TimesYou have the right to always remain silentPepe Escobar A recently declassified CIA document...

The school children who have been protesting to stop climate change every Friday have understood a basic truth: They are being betrayed. By politicians. By business leaders. And by an entire generation of denialists. I would add "yet" to "the kids aren't nearly angry enough." It's coming. It took a long time for the growing rage about the Vietnam to surface in the media.Spiegel Online The Kids Aren't Nearly Angry EnoughA Commentary By Christian Stöcker

Modern Monetary Theory is having a moment. The theory, in brief, argues that countries that issue their own currencies can never “run out of money” the way people or businesses can. But what was once an obscure “heterodox” branch of economics has now become a major topic of debate among Democrats and economists with astonishing speed.For that, we can thank Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who told Business Insider in January that MMT “absolutely” needs to be “a larger part of our...

Socializing negative externality doesn't eliminate the actual cost. That needs to be accounted for.Tax Research UK It’s time for accountancy to put climate change at the core of financial reporting Richard Murphy

On April 11, 2019, IMF boss Madame Lagarde gave a press conference to open the 2019 Spring Meetings. The Transcript – includes the Madame waxing lyrical about Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). And you might have confused the press conference for a stand-up comedy routine except you would have to be ‘in the know’ to laugh. But the significant aspect of the conference came when a question from Japan focused on MMT. In attempting to put down our work, Madame Lagarde actually admitted that a...

The U.S. has no debt in the classic sense. Everything was paid for.

Some softness in this report, but other factors to consider as well.

Worthwhile article on MMT owing to the questions it poses. Not that MMT economists haven't addressed some of these questions. But I believe that some are still hanging. It also observes that an MMT-based world run on functional finance would look quite different from the conventional world of "sound money," especially with a Green New Deal in the offing to address the emerging challenges of global inequality of distribution and the threat of climate change. What does this imply socially,...

This article explains the ISLM view of MMT in some detail without being overly wonkish for general accessibility. While it is sympathetic to MMT, it is still wrong, but instructively so. Assumptions die hard.Notice the assumptions about the effect of changes in "money supply" based on money supply being settlement balances in the payments system ("bank reserves balances", abbreviated as "rb").The effect of such changes in conventional economics is based upon assuming that changes in the...

I was sent two papers by Thomas Palley the other day. I have known him for decades. He continually disappoints. He has become one of those self-styled Post Keynesians who are trying to destroy the credibility of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) for reasons that are not entirely clear although I know things I won’t write here. He thinks that if he drops a reference to Michał Kalecki, the Polish Marxist economist, into a paper, it qualifies one as being Post Keynesian. But, the reality is that...