Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Fed Greatest Lie Exposed - 50 Years of No Real Economic Progress / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Bill_Bonner
Public life bumbles along under a combination of false pretenses and self-imposed delusions.
At the start of last week, it was widely reported that US central bankers had gone as far as they were willing to go. There were voices in the Fed, said the news, urging caution. There would be no further monetary stimulus measures, said the commentators.
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Tuesday, May 07, 2013
The New Untouchables of the 21st Century / Politics / Unemployment
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Throughout history and throughout the world, there have been classes of untouchables. Best known perhaps (other than Elliott Ness and Wall Street bankers) are the caste that goes by the name in South Asia, a.k.a. the Dalits, but there are/were also for instance the Cagots in France, the Burakumin in Japan, and the Roma and Jewish populations in medieval Europe though the Middle East. In the US, one could include the black and native populations. Wikipedia has this definition:
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Handicapping the Potential Successors to Ben Bernanke / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Casey_Research
By Paul Brodsky
[Ed. note: This article originally appeared as a guest contribution in the "Midweek Matters" Casey Daily Dispatch.]
A couple of days after the Fed announced Ben Bernanke would not attend the Jackson Hole summit, for the first time in twenty five years, the New York Times (on the first page, no less) ran an in-depth profile of Janet Yellen, the heir apparent to run the Fed. Beneath her profile there were three other candidates "being discussed": Roger Ferguson, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers.
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Monday, May 06, 2013
Human Liberty Is Doomed / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
Any discussion on liberty presupposes an understanding of human nature. Today, the utter confusion and distorted mindset of humankind, relegates animal instincts, as the premier motivation for salacious existence. The criteria for a cordial civilization have long been "consigned to the dustbins of history". Standards for civil and moral conduct are debased by a global disintegration to achieve the ‘good’ for the hunt of acting ‘nice’. Polite and pleasant facades are no substitute for truth and meaning. Yet, the heights of evil transactions seem to be hailed routinely, as the only achievement that power hungry sociopaths aspire to impose on the rest of the planet. Never-ending conflict is inherent in the human condition, while the state of liberty is unusual and resides within the character of the ethical spirit.
Monday, May 06, 2013
Western Media Justifies Israel Terror Attacks on Syria Exposing Propaganda Hypocrisy / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Danny_Schechter
An Israeli plane bombs a target in Syria. The news is passed along first to Fox News, (huh?) by someone in the Administration.. It happened on a Thursday, but we find out about it late on Friday. The New York Times assigns three reporter to cover the story that goes up on the website in the middle of the morning on Saturday.
Earlier that day, President Obama, speaking in Costa Rica, said there will be no US ground troops on the ground in Syria. Now, the Administration says it is considering “military options.”
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Sunday, May 05, 2013
Politicians and Religions Spreading the Virus called Fear - Video / Politics / Propaganda
By: Submissions
Very few people understand the programming of fear, and why it distorts our perceptions. While fear is a program used for our survival, fear also creates irrational beliefs that cause larger systems of fear like politics, religion and the media. "A Virus Called Fear" is a short film about the conditioning of fear, and what irrational fears can lead to.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Israel Terror Air Strikes On Syria, Desperate Attempts to Provoke War Against Iran / Politics / Middle East
By: Global_Research
Tony Cartalucci writes: Alleged airstrikes hope to expand conflict, undermine Syrian advances, and provoke Syria and Iran to give US justification for military intervention.
Once again, Israel is “leaking” information about alleged airstrikes it claims it has conducted against Syria along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
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Sunday, May 05, 2013
The Myth of U.S. Economic Recovery, Social Crisis in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
US stock markets surged Friday to new record highs as Wall Street traders seized on a tepid jobs report to engage in a fresh orgy of speculation.
The official line promoted by the Obama administration is that the United States is in the midst of an accelerating economic recovery. For the corporate and financial elite that runs America, and the section of the upper-middle class that hangs on its coattails, a soaring stock market is indeed what defines economic health. For the vast majority of the population, however, life five years after the Wall Street crash of 2008 is dominated by the daily struggle to make ends meet.
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Sunday, May 05, 2013
Professors and Grade Inflation - ‘A’ is for Average / Politics / Education
By: Walter_Brasch
About 1.8 million students will graduate from college this year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At least one-third of them will graduate with honors. In some colleges, about half will be honor graduates.It’s not that the current crop is that bright, it’s that honors is determined by grade point average. Because of runaway grade inflation, the average grade in college is now an “A.” About 43 percent of all college grades are “A”s, according to a recent study by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, and published in the prestigious Teachers College Record. About three-fourths of all grades are “A”s or “B”s.
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Saturday, May 04, 2013
Government Crooks Responsible for the Greatest Wealth Transfer in History / Politics / Inflation
By: Bill_Bonner
Last night, six of us went out to dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in Salta. We ordered two bottles of good Laborum cabernet sauvignon. We had beefsteaks, dessert and coffee. The bill came to 1,058 Argentine pesos (about $200).
Was that a lot... or a little?
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Saturday, May 04, 2013
Al-Qaida Myth, the Gangland-style Execution of a Retired Bin Laden / Politics / War on Terror
By: LewRockwell
Two years ago this week, US special forces shot and killed Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man.
American TV is filled with chest-thumping and flag-waving about how bin Laden was hunted down and executed. For most Americans, bin Laden was the acme of evil and author of the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 people. Good riddance.
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Saturday, May 04, 2013
Down With Plato and Rousseau, Up with Robert Nisbet / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
Is civil government the only true government? Does it alone possess legitimate sovereignty? Defenders of the modern state insist that this is the case, and that it should be the case.
Robert Nisbet, as a sociologist, looked to social organizations as the source of political tradition. He explained the rise of the modern state in terms of series of conflicts between the national civil government and other institutions inside its geographical territory. He saw the rise of the modern state in terms of the state's claims of sovereignty, a sovereignty which is it refused to share with other institutions. These other institutions had possessed limited sovereignty. He also explained the rise of classical Athens in terms of this insistence on state sovereignty. He explained the Roman Empire under Augustus and later emperors in terms of this quest for unitary state sovereignty: a war-state.
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Saturday, May 04, 2013
The US Fed's May Day Riot / Politics / Central Banks
By: Adrian_Ash
Oh the people's flag is deepest red, just like the government's budget...
AS MAY DAY protests go, the US central bank's looked pretty tame on Wednesday.
Athens' strikers burnt a giant picture of Angela Merkel dressed as Hitler. Students in Washington threw bags of urine at each other. Protesters in Madrid waved flags shouting that "Austerity ruins & kills", while Turkish police broke up an illegal demo with tear gas and water cannon.
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Friday, May 03, 2013
Income Inequality - Richer Than You / Politics / Social Issues
By: Richard_Mills
Income inequality in Canada and the United States is on the rise. Read on to learn the real reason why…
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) analysis of income inequality data shows the richest one percent of Canadians make $180,000 more today - adjusted for inflation - than they did in 1982.
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Friday, May 03, 2013
The Fed Plays Pass the Parcel, Blames Congress for Lousy U.S. Economy / Politics / Central Banks
By: Money_Morning
Diane Alter writes: The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting concluded today (Wednesday) with one clear message to Washington: Thanks for the lousy economy.
Central bank members cited only "moderate" expansion in economic activity and a slow improvement in the stubbornly high unemployment level.
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Thursday, May 02, 2013
Check Out Who's Hiding $32 Trillion in Offshore Tax Haven Accounts / Politics / Taxes
By: Money_Morning
More than two million emails that shed light on the biggest tax dodge in history - trillions of dollars hidden in offshore accounts - have been uncovered by the British newspaper The Guardian and the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Some $32 trillion has been hidden in small island banking hubs which host a bevy of trust funds, shell corporations and other tax havens, the Tax Justice Network estimates.
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Thursday, May 02, 2013
How the U.S. Government Destroyed the American Economy / Politics / US Economy
By: Bill_Bonner
US stocks are turning down this morning, following news that private-sector job growth in the US slowed the most in seven months.
We've already recommended you exit US stocks and buy gold on the dips.
Nothing has changed our view... So we'll get back to where we left off yesterday – making camp for the night after a long horse trek into the distant reaches of our remote Argentine ranch...
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Wednesday, May 01, 2013
A Lost Battle : Wall Street Vs. The Real Economy / Politics / Credit Crisis 2013
By: Akhil_Khanna
Wall Street
The following activities of the worldwide financial institutions, motivated by the sole motive of maximizing profits, created the biggest financial bubble in the history of the world :
- Lending money to borrowers (individuals, corporates and governments) who had insufficient income or assets to pay off the loans undertaken.
- Engaged in and encouraged massive speculation in the currencies, bonds, equity and commodities exchanges.
- Use of leverage in the form of Derivatives and High Frequency Trading to game the process of price fixing on electronic exchanges.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Europe's New Look Economic Austerity / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: Andrew_McKillop
WRONG WAY BET
Defended on French TV channel BFM in an evening marathon looking at Francois Hollande's first year of power, April 29, by his Economy minister and other "party heavyweights" with a lackluster crop of one-liners, viewers saw recent opinion polls asking if French voters would vote again for Hollande, if an election was held today.
Roughly 19% said they would, and 64% said they would vote for Sarkozy if he stood again. Street interviews with average persons, one after another, said they voted the wrong way in 2012.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Redlines and the Problems of U.S. Military Intervention in Syria / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
The civil war in Syria, one of the few lasting legacies of the Arab Spring, has been under way for more than two years. There has been substantial outside intervention in the war. The Iranians in particular, and the Russians to a lesser extent, have supported the Alawites under Bashar al Assad. The Saudis and some of the Gulf States have supported the Sunni insurgents in various ways. The Americans, Europeans and Israelis, however, have for the most part avoided involvement.