Category: Social Issues
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Ungovernability / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Over the summer I introduced a two-fold assertion: 1) global economic growth is over (and has been for years and won’t come back for many more years) and 2) the end of growth marks the end of all centralization, including globalization. You can read all about these themes in “Globalization Is Dead, But The Idea Is Not” and “Why There is Trump” There are also extensive quotes of the second essay in wicked former UK MI6 spymaster Alastair Crooke’s “‘End of Growth’ Sparks Wide Discontent”.
When I say ‘the end of growth’, I don’t mean that in a Limits to Growth kind of way, or peak oil or things like that. Not because I seek to invalidate such things, but because I mean economics, finance only. Our economies simply ceased growing, and quite a few years ago. The only reason that is not, and very widely, recognized is the $21 trillion and change that central banks have conjured up ostensibly to kickstart a recovery that always remains just around the corner.
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Monday, October 17, 2016
From Piety to Pride to Pity, America's Racial Divide / Politics / Social Issues
By: Stephen_Merrill
As a boy growing up in northern Iowa in the early 60’s, I truly sympathized with the plight of Negro people in the United States. As an altar boy, I knew from Catholic teachings that all men are created equal.
The violence of white racism in other parts of the nation was plain for Americans to see on their home television screens. The injustice of Jim Crow laws was disturbing and outrageous. The brave nonviolent marches of the time seeking racial justice were inspiring to me. I was appalled and angered by the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi and then by the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Seek Your Independence: Anything Else Will Destroy You / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
Many people think The Dollar Vigilante is a fear mongering, pessimistic blog.
If you only read our headlines, then I can see how you would feel that way. But things are getting so bad that all we are doing is acknowledging the current state of affairs. The truth hurts.
After we began to analyze Shemitah and then Jubilee timelines, we became even more pessimistic because it was clear that even the deepest economic and military disasters were planned in advance.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Humanity at Risk / Politics / Social Issues
By: Stephen_Lendman
Never before in history was humanity more at risk than now. Earlier wars were fought with conventional weapons.
Today’s super-ones make them look like toys by comparison. Thermonuclear bombs, if used, can incinerate entire cities and surroundings.
Enough of them launched risks nuclear winter. Physician, nuclear expert, anti-war activist Helen Caldicott earlier said “nuclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction.”
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Unknown Voluntary Servitude and the Creature from Jekyll Island / Politics / Social Issues
By: Richard_Mills
Here's a long debated topic. Should we leave the creation of new money in the hands of bankers or place its creation solely with our government?
Let's try and answer it.
The Creature from Jekyll Island
On the night of November 22, 1910 a delegation of the nation's leading financiers, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, left New Jersey for a very secret ten day meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia.
Aldrich had previously led the members of the National Monetary Commission on a two year banking tour of Europe. He had yet to write a report regarding the trip, nor had he yet offered any plans for banking reforms.
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Friday, August 26, 2016
Why I Left Canada and Became A Citizen of the Dominican Republic / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
It took nearly ten years but this morning I was sworn in as a citizen of the Dominican Republic.
Many might ask, why would a Canadian citizen want to become a citizen of the Dominican Republic?
The answer is actually quite long and lengthy.
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Monday, August 22, 2016
(Really) Alternative Banking Systems / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Our by now regular contributor Dr. Nelson Lebo III, the New Englander ‘lost’ in New Zealand, sent me another article, and it’s great (well, in my view). His title for the article may put some people on the wrong foot, but I think that’s alright.
I’ve been to New Zealand a few times, and Nicole of course has even moved there, so I was aware of how poorly constructed many homes are -and often made of wood-, but I’d never heard of ‘curtain banks’. Still, they exist all over the country. Turns out, lots of New Zealand homes are so damp and moldy that curtains can literally save lives, and certainly make them more comfortable/bearable. But many people are too poor to be able to afford curtains. Hence the curtain banks. I’d be curious to know if similar initiatives exist anywhere lese on the planet. Do let me know.
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Saturday, August 13, 2016
Rebirth of a Nation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Thomas
Regular readers of this publication will be familiar with my frequent comments that all countries have a shelf-life – that they experience a slow rise, typified by a strong work ethic and a free-market philosophy, which results in a highly productive country. That productivity later results in a high level of sympathy for the disadvantaged, which political leaders turn into a justification for government largesse. That, in turn, results in a population that grows complacent and, eventually apathetic, culminating in a decline into totalitarianism.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Why We’re Ungovernable - Violence Goes Random / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Rubino
This series is based on the premise that debt works the same way for countries as it does for individuals and families: When you borrow too much your life spins out of control. For national and multi-national entities that means elections become unpredictable, economies function erratically, and public policies become more ad hoc and less effective.
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Saturday, July 23, 2016
Basic Income in The Time of Crisis / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Basic income is a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while, and while I won’t get anywhere near a comprehensive overview -there are too many uncertainties and untested ideas-, I’m going to try to paint a first chapter in a work of progress. Or, a thought experiment, for me and others.
Of course I’ve read a lot of and about other people’s ideas on the topic, and I’m sure there are many more out there that I haven’t seen yet, but I’m afraid to say that about all of those I did read tend to fall into the same ‘trap’. That is, they project their ideas, which are widely varying, onto -or close to- the economy (economies) and society (societies) as they are today.
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Monday, July 18, 2016
Cop Shootings - America Resembles Gunfight at the OK Corral / Politics / Social Issues
By: Stephen_Lendman
Hollywood is now real life. Instead of good v. bad guys shoot ‘em ups, it’s killer cops against people of color, mostly unarmed Black youths, victims of racist injustice.
Do five Dallas police officers lethally shot days earlier, another 10 wounded and now three Baton Rouge cops killed, seven others wounded on Sunday indicate victims are beginning to retaliate - or perhaps as one of my readers suggests a “gov’t covert ops designed to foment race war.”
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Thursday, July 14, 2016
When Will They Learn? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Submissions
Jeff Thomas writes: It will be no surprise to readers to say that collectivism is growing in the Western World. It matters little whether we refer to it as socialism, communism, Marxism, Fabianism, totalitarianism or any of its other names, the collectivist ideal is on the rise.
British conservatives worry over the extreme collectivist speeches of the new Labour leader,Jeremy Corbyn, who is far more to the left of the former leader, Ed Miliband, yet often fail to notice that Tory leaders are also becoming more collectivist in their rhetoric. Certainly the incoming Prime Minister, Theresa May, is further to the left than, say, Margaret Thatcher, yet we Britons often fail to notice that both of the primary parties are moving further to the left.
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
14 Signs the World Is on the Verge of Generational Chaos / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Mauldin
It is one of the great ironies of life that each generation believes its experiences are unique. The reality is that we have seen this movie before—with different actors, plot twists, and technological advancements.
The basic plot seems to push along a hauntingly familiar path.
In 1997, Neil Howe and William Strauss introduced the concept of Fourth Turning. They divided the population into four generational archetypes: Hero, Artist, Prophet, and Nomad. (read more about the archetypes and their characteristics here)
Each generation consists of people who were born and came of age at the same period in history. They had similar experiences and thus gravitated toward similar attitudes.
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Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Believe it or Not: More Kids Live At Home Now than Since The Great Depression / Politics / Social Issues
By: Harry_Dent
We all know the situation in the markets is dire.
Like, really, everyone knows.
There’s an old phrase from Margaret Thatcher’s day (and mine, I suppose) that has recently come back into use: There is no alternative.
There’s even an acronym: TINA.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Who’s Really The Fascist? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Like most of you, I too see an increase in the use of the term ‘fascism’ in the media, and it is -almost- always linked to the rise of Donald Trump in the US and various politicians and parties in Europe, Le Pen in France, Wilders in Holland, Erdogan in Turkey, plus a pretty bewildering and motley crew of ‘groups’ in Eastern Europe (Hungary’s Orban) and Scandinavia. I guess you could throw in Nigel Farage and UKIP in Britain as well.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Presidential Dictatorship / Politics / Social Issues
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Executive orders, undeclared wars, drone hits, assassination of citizens and non-citizens alike, the overthrow of foreign regimes, domestic spying, the abetting of known criminal activities through pardons, economic planning, opening borders, monetary manipulations are just some of the nefarious activities that routinely emanate from the most dangerous political office that the world has ever painfully come to know – the United States Presidency!
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Who Shall Wear The Robe And Crown? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I was going to take a day off today, partly because a kind Automatic Earth reader in Athens insisted on taking me out to lunch, partly because I need a break, and partly because the Financial Times complained about their inclusion in my Debt Rattles, which makes me think about the whole thing. Nothing bad about that. Think is good.
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Monday, June 06, 2016
You Are Here, the Next Fourth Turning, No More Room to Increase Leverage / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire. The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II." - Strauss & Howe - The Fourth Turning
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Muhammad Ali - Did The Greatest American Alive Just Die? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
“Boxing legend dies”, is what most headlines say. And the news was first reported on sports pages, though it did soon move to frontpages, fast.
Muhammad Ali was so much more than a boxing legend. So much more that to mention boxing first doesn’t do him justice. Ali was first and foremost a very brave and intelligent man, who changed America for the better. Or should we say: changed Americans?
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Thursday, May 26, 2016
Will The Swiss Guarantee 75,000 CHF For Every Family? / Politics / Social Issues
By: GoldSilverWorlds
The Swiss public will have to approve or reject a change in the constitution that would allow for an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI), or a preset, monthly minimum income to be paid out by the government to every adult and child in the country if their income falls below a specific threshold. Even though details of this proposal have been few and far between, the most commonly cited amount of this guaranteed income would be 2,500 Swiss Francs for adults and 625 francs for children. The architects of the proposal stress that this government-guaranteed payment, unlike the current benefit programs, will be entirely “no questions asked”, i.e. it will not be means-tested and it will apply for every person legally living in Switzerland.