Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, April 07, 2014
Ron Paul - Ft. Hood, An Avoidable Tragedy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week we saw yet another tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas, as a distraught Iraq war veteran killed three of his fellow soldiers before killing himself. It is nearly five years after the last Ft. Hood shooting, where 13 people were killed. These tragedies are heartbreaking and we certainly feel much sympathy for the families of the victims.
Sunday, April 06, 2014
The Unsustainable Distortion That is America / Politics / US Debt
By: Gordon_T_Long
The Peril of a Two Class Society
Since the end of WWII the US might be considered as being divided into two eras. The first from after the war untill 1979 and the second from 1979 until today. The era's are determined by the growth of family income.
As dramatically different as these two eras are, they are even worse when we consider the structural change, where the US family income shifted from a single to a two family income, which closely mirrors these two eras.
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Saturday, April 05, 2014
Another Fake Afghan Election / Politics / Afghanistan
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Afghanistan’s national election held this week is a sham. A group of candidates, handpicked by the US, will pretend to compete in an election whose outcome has already been determined – by Washington.
The candidates include US groomed politicians, and drug-dealing warlords from the Tajik and Uzbek north. Chief among them, Rashid Dostam, a major war criminal and principal CIA ally who ordered the massacre of over 2,000 Taliban prisoners.
Saturday, April 05, 2014
Russia and U.S. Waging Financial War? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Julian_DW_Phillips
As the Ukrainian crisis unfolded threats of financial war came from Russia and to a lesser extent from the E.U. and the U.S. They were not carried out except a few sanctions targeting key personnel in Russia. These were shrugged off and the crisis appears to have dropped to a series of posturing by both sides. A sigh of relief crossed the developed world and investment life went back to normal. In the past we have had similar events that were defused in a similar way. But history teaches us that that the world can suppurate easily and quickly in tense situation like this. The First World War started because of one shot from a pistol. He Second World War were preceded by trumpeting of 'peace in our time' as mistaken politicians thought they had made peace with Germany.
Saturday, April 05, 2014
Party Time Over For French Political Ecology / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Once-Was Natural Party of Government
When President Hollande swept to power a long time ago on the political timescale - nearly 24 months ago – sweeping out the eccentric and ever more-corrupt Sarkozy with his non-performing economy and ever-rising jobless numbers, budget deficits and national debt, Hollande also swept in the ecologists. To do just the same thing as Sarko! French ecology politicians banded together in a shifting coalition called Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, EELV, and were handed key roles in Hollande's first government, of course receiving the Energy-Ecology ministry, and also the Housing ministry.
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Friday, April 04, 2014
The Fed Desecrates The U.S. Constitution / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Raul_I_Meijer
An amusing discussion is firing up ever more about what the ECB should do in the face of a – perceived or not – deflation threat. Many voices are clamoring for immediate action, claiming Mario Draghi et al may well already be too late, or even use words like “the spectacular idiocy of EMU policy”, as Ambrose Evans Pritchard does, who’s been on the topic for a very long time. IMF’s Christine Lagarde is a little less impolite and says: “More monetary easing, including through unconventional measures, is needed in the euro area.” Draghi yesterday showed an unexpected sense of humor when he responded to Lagarde: “The IMF has been very generous in its suggestions on what we should do.”
Friday, April 04, 2014
The Energy “Crisis Curve” is Accelerating in a Dangerous Part of the World / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Money_Morning
Dr. Kent Moors writes: Sitting in a new land of plenty, Americans rarely notice disturbing energy trends elsewhere in the world.
But in the course of my global work, it’s impossible not to recognize there are serious energy shortages developing in other parts of the world.
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Thursday, April 03, 2014
The Government Foil to Energy Independence (and Profit) / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Money_Morning
Dr. Kent Moors writes: As the rush to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) gathers steam, the Energy Advantage portfoliois primed for even bigger gains.
Make no mistake, LNG exports are now set to hand us one of the best investment opportunities of the decade.
That's a stunning reversal from just seven years ago, when everyone agreed the United States would be using LNG imports to meet 15% of its gas needs by 2020.
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Thursday, April 03, 2014
Indiana Jones And The Real New World Order / Politics / New World Order
By: Andrew_McKillop
From G7 to G20 and Back Again
Although attempts are made, from time to time, to define “the New World Order” these attempts are almost exclusively made by leaders of the G7 group of “mature postcolonial democracies”, which only these past few days shrunk back from G8 including Russia, to G7 excluding Russia. The much larger and more representative world grouping of the G20, which was formalized only in 2008 at the Washington Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, has already moved to head off any exclusion of Russia from the next G20 summit, to be held in Brisbane in November.
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Thursday, April 03, 2014
What to Expect From Janet Yellen / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: MISES
Patrick Barron writes: No change.
Oh, you want more? Groucho Marx used to tell a joke on himself that “I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would admit me as a member.” That pretty much sums up why we shouldn’t expect much from the new chairman of the Federal Reserve System. This administration and this Congress will never admit anyone that is not of the Keynesian-School-of-economics persuasion. As long as this mentality resides in the political halls of power, our nation will not get another Paul Volcker.
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Thursday, April 03, 2014
3 First Steps To Cleanse The Economic System / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Since we can all attest to the fact that our financial banking economic system is bust and busted, we should probably look at ways to repair and cure it. And we don’t want to wait for the system to repair itself from the inside with the aid and abetment of its political stooges, revolving door and otherwise, because that will only lead to everyone else paying through the nose for a system they didn’t break to begin with. If we don’t seize control over this ourselves, it will never be cured, and the guys that went for broke and succeeded will make out like bandits and disappear like thieves into the night, leaving us with enough damage to last for multiple and miserable generations.
Thursday, April 03, 2014
Ukraine and the Most Profitable Gas in the World / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
There is only one certainty in Ukraine: The energy sector must and will be transformed, and how long this takes will depend on who ends up in the driver's seat and how serious they are about becoming a part of Europe and reducing dependence on Russia. But by then, investors will have missed the boat.
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Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Obamacare Ship of Fools / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
It was so fitting that Obama sauntered into the Rose Garden on April Fools day to proclaim the wonderful success of Obamacare. We are the fools for allowing this fool and his fellow fools in Congress to further bankrupt our country with this disastrous government run clusterf*ck. He is a dangerous empty suit. The only thing that mattered to him and his sociopathic control freaks in the last two months was hitting an enrollment number that he could tout as success. Making sure there are enough doctors in the plan or ensuring excellent healthcare services once you get sick is not part of their agenda. And they certainly don’t worry about the 7.1 million people paying their premiums. That’s the insurance companies’ problem.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Underground Shadow Commerce is the Real Economy / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
As the deadline for filing yearly income taxes is rapidly approaching, businesses especially hard pressed to make a profit in a depressed economy struggle with their tax compliance. Reporting legitimate deductions and costs is the easy part. When you are losing money, disclosing a diminished income stream based upon lower margins, is not a difficult decision. Nevertheless, small enterprises burdened with government regulation costs and tax obligations, often are unable to conduct business and retain a net return. Self-proprietorships frequently are so scared that many look to the cash underground economy to hide income earnings.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
French President Dismisses Government, Calls In The 'Blairites' / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
Tony Blair To The Rescue
French president François Hollande dismissed his Prime Minister and cabinet on Monday following his Parti Socialiste's massive loss of power, symbolized by PS mayors and councillors being voted out in 155 large cities, following the 23 and 30 March local elections. Key PS “bastions”, where in some cases Hollande's party has held uninterrupted power for 100 years, such as Limoges, fell with other bastions such as “red” Toulouse and Angers. The supposed xenophobic and unconstitutional, racist and Nazi-leaning Front National of Marine Le Pen made huge gains.
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Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Janet Yellen Is Destined To Be The Best Fed Chairman Of All Time / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Jeff_Berwick
Janet Yellen has only been Chairman of the Federal Reserve for less than two months and I am already convinced that she is the best thing to happen since Barack O'Bomber was first elected and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
There are a number of reasons for that.
First, as we can see by her speech yesterday she is going to be a laugh riot. And, secondly, all of her actions will undoubtedly, indisuptably destroy the dollar... And, of course, we dollar vigilantes have prime seats and are positioned to profit from that inevitability. We thought Helicopter Ben was a literal gold mine but Janet Yellen will easily surpass him as a great source of mockery and profitability.
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Wednesday, April 02, 2014
The U.S. Budget Box & Containing Debt and Deficit Craziness / Politics / US Debt
By: DeviantInvestor
Imagine that the US government is, euphemistically speaking, locked in a box created by deficits, debts, and decisions. There are six sides to the box - each an exit. We can describe them as:
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
FiTs And Starts For The Solar Economy / Politics / Solar Energy
By: Andrew_McKillop
Nadeem Walayat Explains in his most recent article on the follies of UK government attempts to “go low carbon” and self righteously pretend it is Saving the Planet from global warming catastrophe, Nadeem Walayat explained what solar feed-in tariffs really mean. Under the former New Labour regime paying FITs of 44 GBP pence or about 70 US cents per kilowatthour for Home Solar producers, pricing their electricity output at 1120 US dollars per barrel equivalent of energy (1600 kWh per barrel), they would have every reason to do the following.
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Russia and the United States Negotiate the Future of Ukraine / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
During the Cold War, U.S. secretaries of state and Soviet foreign ministers routinely negotiated the outcome of crises and the fate of countries. It has been a long time since such talks have occurred, but last week a feeling of deja vu overcame me. Americans and Russians negotiated over everyone's head to find a way to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and, in the course of that, shape its fate.
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Across Europe Secession Movements Intensify / Politics / European Union
By: BATR
All the attention over the epoch vote by Crimean’s to leave the Ukraine makes for a timely review of other separatist factions that are seeking a similar resolution. The List of active separatist movements in Europe is exhaustive. The immediate impression is that a pervasive discontent, shared by legions of subjects, who want independence and self-determination, will be hard to derail. When European autocratic and aristocrats ruled, the only option was revolution. Today the descendants of the old regimes still wheeled power under the guise of democratically elected authorities. However, separatist sentiment does not mean the same to every splinter group.