Category: US Politics
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Brewing a Conflict with China, Military-Industrial Complex's Latest Dastardly Scheme / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Washington has pressured the Philippines, whose government it owns, into conducting joint military exercises in the South China Sea. Washington’s excuse is that China has territorial disputes with the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries concerning island and sea rights in the South China Sea. Washington asserts that China’s territorial disputes with the like of Indonesia and the Philippines are a matter of United States’ national interests.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Ron Paul on the Costs of War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This month Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced the addition of some 1,900 mental health nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to its existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff in attempt to get a handle on the epidemic of suicides among combat veterans. Unfortunately, when presidents misuse our military on an unprecedented scale - and Congress lets them get away with it - the resulting stress causes military suicides to increase dramatically, both among active duty and retired service members. In fact, military deaths from suicide far outnumber combat deaths. According to an article in the Air Force Times this month, suicides among airmen are up 40 percent over last year.
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
Obama’s Veil Of Tears / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
Has a new leader of a great nation ever held such unlimited potential for his country and for the world?
The celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night after the 2008 campaign was by far the highest milestone in the magical Barack Obama movement so far, full of hope and equality, across all boundaries of people, all aimed at ending the special interest blockades in Washington that have stopped effective solutions for far too long. It seemed the nation was united in a rolling tide this young family man had somehow created from pure passion and intellect. Barack Obama had crushed the Republicans and even the Clintons. He was the peace candidate for the world.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
U.S. Military Drones Reported Operating Across the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: It’s easy to understand why Presidents, politicians and the military love robots. They don’t talk back. They follow orders. You press a button and they do what they are told. They are considered so efficient, and so lethal.
These modern killing machines represent science fiction reborn as science ‘faction.’
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mencken Was Right, American's Should be Skeptical of all Institutions / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant." - H.L. Mencken
H.L. Mencken was a renowned newspaper columnist for the Baltimore Sun from 1906 until 1948. His biting sarcasm seems to fit perfectly in today’s world. His acerbic satirical writings on government, democracy, politicians and the ignorant masses are as true today as they were then. I believe the reason his words hit home is because he was writing during the last Unraveling and Crisis periods in America. The similarities cannot be denied. There are no journalists of his stature working in the mainstream media today. His acerbic wit is nowhere to be found among the lightweight shills that parrot their corporate masters’ propaganda on a daily basis and unquestioningly report the fabrications spewed by our government. Mencken’s skepticism of all institutions is an unknown quality in the vapid world of present day journalism.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bernanke’s Plan for the Middle Class Fattening Wall Street, Starving Main Street / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Do you want to understand what the Fed is doing, but don’t have time to wade through volumes of tedious economics writing?
Well, now the pros at dshort.com have made all that possible. They’ve reduced 4 years of monetary policy into one chart that illustrates exactly what the Fed is up-to and who benefits from the policy. Here’s the link.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Ron Paul on CISPA is the New SOPA / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this year, strong public opposition led by several prominent websites forced Congressional leaders to cancel votes on two bills known in Washington as "SOPA" and "PIPA." Both of these bills threatened search engines and websites with possible shutdowns if the Justice Department deemed them insufficiently cooperative with our phony "war on terror," or if they were merely accused of copyright infringement. Fortunately the American public flooded Capitol Hill with phone calls and Congressional leaders dropped both bills.
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
The JOBS Act: Washington Takes One Step Back Toward Capitalism / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
I know my editorial credibility and reader confidence will suddenly collapse when this goes to print but I have some good news out of Washington and Congress. Yes, I know what you are getting ready to do but don't hit the delete button just yet!
The JOBS Act is actually good news for start-up and private company investors that will provide more liquidity, create an IPO boom and may be the beginning of a trend by Washington away from more regulatory and bureaucratic solutions holding down a nation and economy that simply can't compete with the rest of the world.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Unplugging Americans From The Matrix / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Americans, the British, and Western Europeans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the representatives of freedom, democracy, and morality in the world. The West passes judgment on the rest of the world as if the West is God and the rest of the world are barbarians in need of chastisement, invasion, and occupation. As readers know, from time to time I raise questions about the validity of the West’s extreme hubris. (See for example, the following articles: Washington’s Insouciance Has No Rival and Is Western Democracy Real or a Facade? ). China is often a country about which Washington’s moralists get on their high horse. However, China’s “authoritarian” government is actually more responsive to its people than America’s “elected democratic” government. Moreover, however incomplete on paper the civil liberties of China’s people, the Chinese government has not declared that it can violate with impunity whatever rights Chinese citizens have. And it is not China that is running torture prisons all over the globe.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Top Individual Income Tax Rates and the GDP Growth: Exposing the Lies of Rush Limbaugh and Right-Wing Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Jas_Jain
I am sick and tired of propagandist Rush Limbaugh claim, almost on a daily basis, that lower taxes, and he means the rate on the top individual income tax bracket, or marginal tax rate, leads to higher growth. Most right-wing Republicans believe in his lies and never bother to check the facts with the benefit of the hindsight. There is no subject related to the economy in America that has more propaganda than taxes because over time trillions are at stake.
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Salvaging Your Retirement Savings from the U.S. Government Ponzi Scheme / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
"It is unbelievable. Goldman Sachs? No one has any criminal convictions. The whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme." - Bernie Madoff
What is your average person to do? The governments who purport to own them and take half of their production every year also borrow on "their behalf" and have put not only them, but their children and grandchildren into levels of debt that can only be described as slavery. Meanwhile, the entire economy is so distorted by government regulations, taxes, tariffs, laws and legislation that calling it a "free market" is like calling Shaquille O'Neal a petite, pretty white girl. And, to top it off, the monetary system forced upon us by legal tender laws is a system based, at its core, on counterfeiting and price (interest rate) fixing.
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Monday, April 16, 2012
U.S. Constitution from Sneaky Beginnings to Encroachment on Liberty and Free Markets / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey, Casey Research : Legendary contrarian investor and the original International Man Doug Casey takes aim at the US Constitution, from its sneaky beginnings to its encroachments on individual liberty and free markets.
Louis: Doug, we've threatened to talk about the Constitution many times. Since there's increasing interest in the country's economic and political future, maybe now is a good time to put that into a fuller historical context..
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Battle for The “Soul” of Occupy Fear of Co-optation Leads to Self-Destructive Polemics / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Perhaps my problem is that I live in too many worlds at the same time, while many political eras live in me.
That may be why I responded so negatively to a recent polemic wrapped up in a poetic communique from AdBusters, the culture jammers in Canada, who do so much good work (and often so creatively) battling the consumption virus promoted by big corporations many of us have grown to despise.
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Friday, April 13, 2012
Obama's Real Goal is to Make Us Poorer by Any Means Possible / Politics / US Politics
By: William_Anderson
California regulators recently announced their plans to try to force people to live in dense housing developments rather than single-family homes, which environmental bureaucrats believe are wasteful and contribute to dread global warming. Likewise, the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has issued an order that effectively will keep electric power companies from building new coal-fired power plants, which will mean even higher electricity prices.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
I'm Worried About America's Future / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
I debated with myself about what to send as this week's Outside the Box. I have decided on a recent short but important post from my friend David Kotok, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Cumberland Advisors. He calls it "I'm Worried." There are some very thought-provoking ideas here, but what makes it particularly interesting is that I'm running into this sentiment more and more as I travel around the US; and when I'm abroad I also hear from people who are worried about the US. These are folks who rightly realize the world needs a strong US, both as an economic engine and as a leader –a chairman of the board, if you will –of a growing world. (Can the world grow and prosper without us? Of course, but not as easily, and the transition will not be pretty.)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Moloch State, When Government Safety Nets Break / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
The West's governments are going to default, one way or another. Politicians cannot bring themselves to stop spending money the governments do not have.
The deficits of the major Western governments are now so great as to be irreversible. The governments must now borrow money to be used to pay interest on money already borrowed. In the housing market, this is called a backward-walking mortgage. It invariably spells default. The subprime mortgages were mostly of this type.
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Monday, April 09, 2012
Ron Paul In Praise of Private Charity / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
One of the great fallacies of our time is that if government doesn't do something, no one will. Its corollary is that if you are opposed to the government doing something, that you are opposed to anyone performing that function at all. These disastrous fallacies color much of our national debate concerning heath care, education, poverty, housing, and disaster relief, and other issues.
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Monday, April 09, 2012
Obama's Supreme Court Rebuff / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Many Americans still revere the Supreme Court. As one of the three branches of the Federal government, confidence in their conduct and authority is usually higher than Congress or the Presidency. Yet when a real or contrived constitutional crisis develops, the screams and indignation arise and point to a convenient culprit. The current Obamacare case before this court has all the trappings of a full-blown confrontation. The reason is simple. The underlying question before the Supremes is not purely a legal matter. At stake is whether this country is actually a government under laws. Alternatively, is it an authoritarian dictatorship nuisance by irritating lawful restraints?
Sunday, April 08, 2012
America's Middle Class is Being Wiped Out, Soon to be a Nation With a Very Tiny Elite / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
End of the American Dream writes: The middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in the United States today. America is a nation with a very tiny elite that is rapidly becoming increasingly wealthy while everyone else is becoming poorer. So why is this happening? Well, it is actually very simple. Our institutions are designed to concentrate wealth in the hands of a very limited number of people. Throughout human history, almost all societies that have had a big centralized government have also had a very high concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. Throughout human history, almost all societies that have allowed big business or big corporations to dominate the economy have also had a very high concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. Well, the United States has allowed both big government and big corporations to grow wildly out of control. Those were huge mistakes. Our founding fathers attempted to establish a nation where the federal government would be greatly limited and where corporations would be greatly restricted. Unfortunately, we have turned our backs on those principles and now we are paying the price.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Nothing in Washington Is Worth Your Money, Including the "think-tanks" / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
The Washington Beltway is a war zone. It is the battleground over what the United States government does and what it does not do. It does a great deal.
Conservatives send tens of millions of dollars each year to Beltway resistance organizations. Some of them are called think tanks. They are dedicated mainly to getting the federal government to do other things, or else to do evil things without spending as much money. These organizations promote this idea: "Running government like a business." Whenever you hear this, think of a serious business: Cosa Nostra.
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