Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
President Obama's State of the Union Address Fuzzy on Maths / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night was high on rhetoric but short on math.
As with most Obama speeches, it was beautifully delivered. However, even where I agreed with the ideas, I couldn't quell a nagging suspicion that the numbers simply didn't add up, and indeed likely missed by a lot.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
China, Beijing's Pollution Alarms Neighbors / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: OilPrice_Com
The good news for the Chinese leadership is that their fiscal policies have paid off, producing both the world's second largest economy and the globe's leading creditor nation in less than a generation.
The less good news is that the country's hell-bent drive towards industrialization has brought in its train a host of collateral problems, not the least of which is pollution. Last month Beijing's air pollution soared past levels considered hazardous by the World Health Organization.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
U.S. Rogue State Business / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
Noam Chomsky's new book with David Barsamian 'Power Systems' keeps up appearances in what we can call Rogue State Business, Chomsky's line of business for more than 30 yeas. This business is perhaps in a downturn, but not yet in recession. Defining the difference is easy: being glad when the neighbors lost their jobs, and you didn't, is the American definition of an economic downturn but not, definitely not a recession. Only when you lose your job, is it a recession.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
America's Suffering Middle Class, Still Worse Off than 2008 / Politics / Social Issues
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
The government's numbers - primarily the monthly data on unemployment and inflation - tell the story of a slow but gradual recovery by the U.S. economy.
But the experience of millions of Americans tells a far different story.
According to a new national survey conducted by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, many Americans continue to suffer from the impact of the Great Recession.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Obama’s Expanding Kill List / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Prosecutors always expand laws far beyond their intent. Attorneys in civil cases do the same. For example, the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was passed in order to make it easier for the government to convict members of the Mafia. However, the law, despite its intent, was quickly expanded by prosecutors and attorneys and used in cases against pro-life activists, Catholic bishops, corporations accused of hiring illegal immigrants, and in divorce cases. “Junk bond king” Michael Milken, a person with no ties to organized crime, was threatened with indictment under the RICO Act. Prosecutors have found that the asset freeze provision in the Act is a convenient way to prevent a defendant from being able to pay attorneys and, therefore, makes it easier for prosecutors to coerce innocent defendants into a guilty plea.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Money at the Core of Liberty / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Bill_Bonner
I've been at the beck and call of rich men all my life. But I'll be damned if I'll be at the beck and call of every son-of-a-***** with a 3¢ stamp.
~ William Faulkner on losing his job at the Oxford, Miss., post office
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
State of The Union - Where is U.S. Unemployment Headed? / Politics / Unemployment
By: Ian_R_Campbell
This evening Eastern Time U.S. President Obama is scheduled to give his annual 'State of the Union' address. Favoured topics are said to be U.S. unemployment and jobs creation, and gun control. I expect Mr. Obama also to address the issue of defense spending, where he recently has been reported as saying 'Deep cuts' threat to security, Obama says in reference to pending defense budget cuts.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Past, Present and Future of Russian Energy Strategy / Politics / Russia
By: STRATFOR
Lauren Goodrich and Marc Lanthemann: The future of Russia's ability to remain a global energy supplier and the strength the Russian energy sector gives the Kremlin are increasingly in question. After a decade of robust energy exports and revenues, Russia is cutting natural gas prices to Europe while revenue projections for its energy behemoth, Gazprom, are declining starting this year.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Obama's State of the Union Speech to Disguise True Agenda / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler wrotes: In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, U.S. President Barack Obama will risk the ire of Republicans by telling the nation the government needs to spend more money to restore economic prosperity.
President Obama will spend much of his fifth State of the Union address outlining several new initiatives aimed at bringing relief to middle-class Americans hard hit by the Great Recession, White House officials have told several major news organizations.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Lincoln Baloney, Spielberg’s Sovietization of U.S. History / Politics / Propaganda
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
When Steve Spielberg’s movie "Lincoln" came out Time magazine featured interviews with him and his historical advisor on the film, Doris Kearns-Goodwin. Spielberg said the movie is based on part of Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals, because he was so impressed with her scholarship and the great detail and abundance of historical facts in the book. Goodwin herself wrote in Time that she spent ten years researching and writing the book to assure audiences that the movie was in fact very, very well researched. (This project was commenced shortly after she was kicked off the Pulitzer Prize committee and PBS for confessing to plagiarism related to an earlier book of hers).
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Should Americans Emigrate or Defect? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Anyone planning to permanently leave the US should give deep thought to whether they are emigrating or defecting.
The two concepts have so much in common that they tend to blur together. They may be best viewed as two extremes of the same axis upon which people can 'grade' themselves. But there is a significant difference between the attitude, motives, and actions of a straightforward emigrant versus a defector. And where you stand on the axis affects the most important aspect of who you are: How do you evaluate yourself?
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Monday, February 11, 2013
The 7 Biggest Obamacare Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: As more of the 2009 healthcare reform law becomes reality, Americans are learning the hard way that many of the biggest Obamacare promises were Obamacare lies.
In retailing, they call this sort of thing "bait-and-switch," and it's against the law.
In Washington, it's called "business as usual."
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Monday, February 11, 2013
Berlusconi is Back, and So Is the Eurozone Debt Crisis / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: Since the beginning of the year, the markets have been behaving as if the Eurozone debt crisis has been magically solved.
Yields on Spanish and Italian debt are trading more than 1% lower than at their peak, while world stock markets have soared close to all-time highs.
Unfortunately, you can expect that all of this euphoria will fade when the Italian elections take place on February 23-24.
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Monday, February 11, 2013
Only in California - The Media Loves Manhunts: Can Chris Dorner Survive? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York, February 8, 7 PM: Only in California, home of the late Huey P Newton and then the Symbionese Liberation Army that went several steps further, do characters emerge that transcend every action movie fantasy and stereotype, characters like an ex-cop who has declared war on the police on, of all places, Facebook in a 6000 word statement that’s being described as “rambling.” (He never claimed he was writer.)
He denounces police practices that he considers racist and abusive, although the sheer drama of the manhunt will make it unlikely that media outlets will seriously delve into the substance of his charges.
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
Ron Paul Warns - Beware The Consequences of Pre-Emptive War / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last year more US troops died by suicide than died in combat in Afghanistan. More than 20 percent of military personnel deployed to combat will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some 32 percent of US soldiers reported depression after deployments. More than 20 percent of active-duty military are on potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs; many are on multiple types. Violent crime among active duty military members increased 31 percent between 2006-2011.
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Saturday, February 09, 2013
U.S. Government Suing S&P Ratings Agency is Messing with U.S. Bond Market Bull / Politics / US Bonds
By: Peter_Schiff
With the announcement this week of its massive $5 billion lawsuit against ratings agency Standard & Poor's, the Federal Government took a bold step to squelch any remaining independence of thought or action in the financial services industry. Given the circumstances and timing of the suit, can there be any doubt that S&P is paying the price for the August 2011 removal of its AAA rating on U.S. Treasury debt? In retaliation for the unpardonable sin of questioning the U.S. Treasury's credit worthiness, the Obama Administration is sending a loud and clear message to Wall Street: mess with the bull and get the horns. Shockingly, the blatant selectivity of the prosecution, however, has failed to ignite a backlash. But as the move violates both the spirit of the Constitution and the letter of the law in so many ways, I can't help but look at it as a sea change in the nature of our governance. Call it Lincoln with a heavy dose of Putin.
Saturday, February 09, 2013
The Trial of the Pyx, Assessing the Value of Money Supply / Politics / Central Banks
By: Jan_Skoyles
The Trial of the Pyx, perhaps one of the oldest legal events in Great Britain, took place earlier this week.
Since 1282, the Trial of the Pyx, which is a full judicial trial, has taken place every year in order to check the integrity of new coins produced by the Royal Mint.
Taking place at the Goldsmith’s Hall in the City of London, the trial is done in three-stages and involves a jury of goldsmiths counting and weighing the new coins which are transported in the Pyx, Latin for ‘chest’.
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Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Is America a Police State Yet? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: If you need to ask the question, then the answer is “yes”. But that is a glib response and I do not feel glib about America's slide through the nine rings of political hell.
A police state is generally defined as a totalitarian government that exerts extreme and pervasive social, political and economic control over peaceful citizens. Ayn Rand called it “the ultimate inversion...the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission.”
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Tuesday, February 05, 2013
The EU’s Systemic Corruption Makes Solving the Crisis Impossible / Politics / European Union
By: Graham_Summers
The single most difficult aspect about analyzing market moves in Europe is the impact of the political class on just about everything.
Worldwide, politicians are not exactly famous for honesty. However, Europe is a very special case… where just about everyone is lying on just about everything involving the economy and banking system.
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Tuesday, February 05, 2013
United Statism of Amerika / Politics / US Politics
By: Gordon_T_Long
In 'The Road to Serfdom', F.A. Hayek showed how governments, supported by a collectivist mindset, always tend towards totalitarianism. Even the most libertarian government thus far created, the government of the United States, has slipped incrementally towards totalitarianism over the past two centuries, more noticeably since 911 and most alarmingly since the 2008 financial crisis. This is because it is an inherent trait of a government. Planned or random crisis events inevitably accelerate the process.