Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Fraud in Fractional Reserve Banking / Politics / Central Banks
By: Frank_Hollenbeck
Suppose you bring a fur coat to a dry cleaner, and discover that the owner allowed his wife to wear it before cleaning it (which is also the subject of an episode from Seinfeld). Or, suppose you gave your car keys to a hotel valet and, when attempting to pick up the car later, were told your automobile was lent to teenagers who took it for a joy ride while you slept at the hotel. You would not be too happy, and for good reason. When you surrendered your clothes or your car keys it was a bailment. You retained ownership and gave the clothes or car keys for safekeeping. In no shape or form, did you surrender ownership of the items or lend out your property.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
A Message to Ferguson: You Are Fighting The Wrong Battle / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Tensions in the US are high. Hundreds of millions of people have been extorted and many have been kidnapped and beaten. People are frustrated and demanding answers, and to find them they are looking to.... authority figures?
They've been well-trained. But it is not with these authority figures true liberation lies. It would be better for us all, as individuals, to look deep inside ourselves and find an inner calm that runs in all living beings and recognize the true terrorists.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Now The British Are Fleeing America / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Remember when Americans fled Britain and the monarchy? Well, now the British are fleeing from America and its modern tyranny...
Take London Mayor Boris Johnson, for instance.
Johnson has been London’s mayor since 2008 and is even planning on running for Parliament. His big mistake was being born in New York, though. Even though he moved at age 5, the US government wants him to pay capital gains taxes owed by American citizens earning income abroad.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Islamic State Reshapes the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
George Friedman writes: Nuclear talks with Iran have failed to yield an agreement, but the deadline for a deal has been extended without a hitch. What would have been a significant crisis a year ago, replete with threats and anxiety, has been handled without drama or difficulty. This new response to yet another failure to reach an accord marks a shift in the relationship between the United States and Iran, a shift that can’t be understood without first considering the massive geopolitical shifts that have taken place in the Middle East, redefining the urgency of the nuclear issue.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
60 Minutes Infrastructure Report Was Corporate Propaganda / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: James_Quinn
I rarely if ever watch 60 Minutes, as they have been kissing Obama’s ass since before he was elected in 2008. They are part of the left wing media and are now a joke when it comes to investigative journalism. Last night it came on after the football game I was watching and the opening story was about the infrastructure crisis in this country. I thought I’d give it a chance. After five minutes of propaganda, mistruths, false story lines and interviewing an ultimate insider hack lobbyist for corporate America, I turned on a more realistic truth telling show – The Simpsons.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Once Upon A Time There Were Philosopher Kings / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
Not That Socrates
Newswires report, November 22, that Portugal’s former prime minister, José Sócrates spent another night in detention after a court judge questioned him in an investigation of suspected tax fraud, corruption, and money-laundering during his time in office. For the other Socrates, and Plato, there was only one form of government which would not slip and fall. The Republic which would not dissolve and disappear in corruption, deceit, designer wars to fool (and kill) the people, degeneracy of all sorts and kinds such as cult-food and and money-sport replacing good eating and healthy exercize. A society which would not be lost in a storm of rhetoric and fake logic replacing any kind of debate or discussion. The people could only benefit – but to get it they would have to struggle, moderate their desires and avoid greed.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Defeat of USA FREEDOM Act is a Victory for American Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It will not shock readers to hear that quite often legislation on Capitol Hill is not as advertised. When Congress wants to do something particularly objectionable, they tend give it a fine-sounding name. The PATRIOT Act is perhaps the best-known example. The legislation had been drafted well before 9/11 but was going nowhere. Then the 9/11 attacks gave it a new lease on life. Politicians exploited the surge in patriotism following the attack to reintroduce the bill and call it the PATRIOT Act. To oppose it at that time was, by design, to seem unpatriotic.
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Just What is Islamic State? / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Sir John Baggot Glubb, better known as Glubb Pasha, was one of the modern Mideast’s most colorful and romantic figures. He and ‘Chinese’ Gordon of Khartoum were the last of the great British imperial officers.
Seconded by Britain to its protectorate, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Glubb built up its small Bedouin army, the Arab Legion, into the Arab world’s finest military force.
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Internet Is A Perfect Example of How a Free Market Would and Does Work / Politics / Internet
By: Jeff_Berwick
Some people, apparently, still have a fear of being free (they fear not having violent owners). It's a fear I've never understood... but whenever you mention to them how much better a free market would be than the statist crapitalism we have today they like to say, "Show me one example of a truly free market that works!"
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Strategic, Methodological and Developmental Importance of Knowledge Consumption - Production in Countering Terrorism and Ensuring Peace / Politics / Religion
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
Conventionally, Knowledge had been associated with the God, Scriptures, Religions, Sacrifices and sometimes even Sex till the development of the Modern Science, Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences, Language and Literature. For terrorists and religious fundamentalists, Knowledge has become a deadly weapon. Knowledge poses several new and unfamiliar Methodological, Theoretical, Strategic and Practical Challenges related to Peace, Development, War and Terror and the very existence of the Humanity. Nobody is fully aware of the potentialities of Knowledge, including the top Think Tanks and Universities for they are dealing with fragmented Knowledge and self-growing bundles of Data.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Central Bankers, Fear and Other Bad Counselors / Politics / Central Banks
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The original idea behind a central bank is that medium and longer term monetary policy should not be allowed to be held hostage by a short-term prevailing political wind, that an incumbent politician and his/her party should not be permitted and/or enabled to manipulate a nation’s currency for political gain. A central bank was (and still is officially) supposed to be independent of politics, to be a buffer between a society’s long term interests and a politician’s short-term ones.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Russia and China Rapprochement Akin to Porcupines Mating / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Casey_Research
That was how the slow and careful rapprochement between Russia and China has been described by Eric Margolis, one of my favorite geopolitical writers.
US shenanigans in Eastern Europe and the East China Sea—fomenting so-called colored revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia (both on Russia’s periphery) and egging on China’s neighbors to make aggressive territorial claims—have pushed the Russian bear and Chinese dragon together. In May, the two uneasy neighbors reached a de facto alliance represented by a 20-year, $400 billion deal for Russia to supply China with natural gas.
Friday, November 21, 2014
That G20 Meeting / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Alasdair_Macleod
G20 gatherings of world leaders on the surface are all the same: they conclude with a meaningless anodyne statement that everyone can agree with. But these meetings do serve a purpose: they allow the world leaders to meet informally and exchange views.
Since the last G20 in St Petersburg in 2013 when there was a high degree of conviction that economic growth would return, the global economic outlook has instead deteriorated significantly. Instead of last time's mutual bonhomie over the prospect of their collective success, the world's leaders this time are almost certainly worried. They would have learned about the failure of monetary policy everywhere. They would have had this first-hand from Japan's delegation, which is on its way to financial and currency destruction. The despair in the European delegations would have been obvious as well.
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Friday, November 21, 2014
How Americans Came to Oppose Fracking / Politics / Fracking
By: Walter_Brasch
For the first time since high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as nonconventional fracking, was developed, more Americans oppose it than support it.
According to a national survey conducted by the independent non-partisan Pew Research Center, 47 percent of Americans oppose fracking, while 41 percent support it. This is a 7 percent decline in support from March 2013, and a 9 percent increase in opposition.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
The Cultural and Political Consequences of Fiat Money / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: MISES
Jörg Guido Hülsmann writes: It may seem unusual that an economist would talk about culture. Usually, we talk about prices and production, quantities produced, employment, the structure of production, scarce resources, and entrepreneurship.
But there are certain things that economists can say about the culture, and more precisely, that economists can say about the transformation of the culture. So what is culture? Well, to put it simply, it is the way we do things. This can include the way we eat — whether or not we dine with family members on a regular basis, for example — how we sleep, and how we use automobiles or other modes of transportation. And of course, the way we produce, consume, or accumulate capital are important aspects of the culture as well.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Will Saudi, Emirati Move Anger U.S. Muslims? / Politics / Religion
By: STRATFOR
The UAE Cabinet approved a list of 83 designated terrorist organizations on Saturday, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Much more significant, though, was the inclusion of many Muslim organizations based in the West that are believed to be allied with the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Prominent among them are two American Muslim groups: the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
United States Social Crisis - No One Told You When to Run, You Missed the Starting Gun! / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd – Time
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Putin’s World: Why Russia’s Showdown with the West Will Worsen / Politics / Russia
By: John_Mauldin
Russia and its redoubtable president, Vladimir Putin, have been much in the news lately. The latest flurry came when Putin was taken out behind the woodshed at the G20 conference in the Philippines last weekend over his recent moves to inject more Russian troops and arms into Ukraine.
For today’s Outside the Box we have two pieces that deliver deeper insights into the situation with Russia and Putin. The first is from my good friend Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group and author of Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. You probably caught my mention of Ian’s presentation at the institutional fund manager conference where we both spoke last weekend. He had some unsettling things to say about Russia; and so when he followed up with an email to me on Monday, I asked if he’d let me share the section on Russia with you. Understand, Ian is connected, and so what you’re about to be treated to here is analysis from way inside. (He’ll be presenting at our Strategic Investment Conference again next April, too.)
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
Making Money While The World Burns / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I was reading this letter to his fund investors by Hugh Hendry, a very intelligent and probably slightly autistic fund manager I’ve liked a lot forever and a day and have written about quite a bit in the past, and it got me thinking about how and why I see the world different from the way he does, and wondering how you see that difference.
Hugh was for years known as a true bear, and then he turned around, changed his views and turned bull, only at the same time he did not. If that makes any sense. I’ll take you through the letter as posted by Tyler Durdenand try to explain what struck me in it. It’s much easier and safer not to write things like this, but I think there are things you must explore, like how do you react when realize your world is falling to bits.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Breakfast with a Lord of War and Nuclear Weapons / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: Casey_Research
By David Galland, Partner, Casey Research
For reasons that will become apparent as you read the following article, I was quite reluctant to write it.
Yet, in the end, I decided to do so for a couple of reasons.
The first is that it ties into Marin Katusa’s best-selling new book, The Colder War, which I read cover to cover over two days and can recommend warmly and without hesitation. I know that Casey Research has been promoting the book aggressively (in my view, a bit too aggressively), but I exaggerate not at all when I tell you that the book sucked me in from the very beginning and kept me reading right to the end.
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