Bitcoin’s growth from just being a tech curiosity was driven by popular discontent with banks and banking systems, mainly in the U.S. after 2008.
Author Archive | Tony Norfield
The UK’s Singapore-on-Thames delusion
I will not spend much time on this topic because it is so ridiculous. But the notion that the UK can become a ‘Singapore-on-Thames’ seems to underlie some Brexit fantasies. Do these have any foundation? – Tony Norfield
Airbnb’s A’s and B’s
This is most clearly shown in what is allowed by the powers that run the financial system.
The Mao-Roosevelt No meeting, 1945
In January 1945, Mao Tse-tung sent a message to U.S. President Roosevelt asking to visit the U.S. and discuss future relationships with China. The message got blocked by a U.S. diplomat in China, and Roosevelt apparently did not receive it.
China & U.S. power
Can China do much to fight back against the power wielded by the U.S. in the world economy? At first sight, that looks unlikely. China is big, but world trade is conducted in dollars, and the U.S. has economic, political and military influence across the globe.
Richie Rich & friends
Being the biggest rich capitalist country, the U.S. also has the largest number of wealthy people. Quite how many will come as a bit of a surprise for those who have heard the ‘1% versus 99%’ slogan; it is not just Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Viruses & imperialism
Despite conspiracy theories, there is no evidence whatsoever that the virus was manufactured in or escaped from a laboratory, in China or anywhere else. Such accusations ignore how easy viral transmission can be when other factors come into play.
British workers
As we wait impatiently while the Brits go through the interminable travail of Brexit, let us have a look at who they are. Not directly in a social, cultural or political sense, but by reviewing the data on UK employment. Work gives a foundation for people’s daily lives and will, in turn, have an impact […]
FX & Imperialism
What affects the exchange rate of a country’s currency? The answer depends on where that country stands in the world economy. Not simply because an exchange rate is the value of one currency versus another, so that you must weigh up two or more countries.
China & World trade
Just in case you had forgotten that China is a major part of the global economy, here is a chart from the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report.
Debt update
While the ratio of debt to GDP fell in 2018—for the first time in a decade—for both advanced & emerging market economies it remains high, much higher than at the start of the 2007-08 crisis; and has also continued to rise in some major economies. Debt update
The promised land
Palestine really was the Promised Land. So much so that it was promised to three different groups within a couple of years.
Imperialism, a Marxist understanding
Imperialism benefits imperialist governments and corporations, but also the mass of the populations in the powerful countries. The marxist perspective explains how.
Racism & imperial anxiety: U.S. vs Huawei
U.S. political opinion against China has two solid bases. The first is the longstanding racist and protectionist sentiment in the white working class; the second is a more recent anxiety about China’s economic prowess in America’s ruling elite.
Economic analysis & imperialism today
An introduction and slideshow of Tony Norfield’s presentation at the Rethinking Economics conference in Greenwich University, London, on the topic of ‘Economic Analysis & Imperialism Today’.
Liberals, the populist right & the politics of imperialism
How to respond to the rise of national populism? The phenomenon is evident not only in Trump’s U.S. but throughout Europe, as shown in this book’s comprehensive review of changes in mass opinion. The book also attempts to provide a solution to the problem, one that will defend democracy, but in doing so it inadvertently […]
Amazon, Google & Big Tech’s productivity paradox
Whatever you may think of the multi-billionaire founders of Amazon and Alphabet-Google,(1) there would seem to be one undeniable fact about their companies: they have massively improved productivity. Amazon has an e-commerce system that delivers very efficiently; Google has revolutionised Internet search.
Another day older and deeper in debt…
The question of debt is often absent from media coverage of the progress, or not, of the world economy.
Iran sanctions, imperial problems
Trump’s anti-Iran move on Tuesday was deeply worrying for allies of the US. It is a blow for those countries, especially in Europe, that were hoping to build on the big expansion of trade with and investment in Iran after the July 2015 nuclear deal was signed.
Nervous about Russia
Two weeks ago in Salisbury, less than 10 kilometres from the UK’s Porton Down chemical weapons establishment, a Russian and his daughter appear to have been poisoned. Sergei Skripal was a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a spy for the UK’s MI6.
