Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, October 08, 2012
Manipulating the U.S. Unemployment Rate, About That "Expected" Drop In Participation Rate / Politics / Unemployment
Calculated Risk had an interesting but misleading post A decline in the participation rate was expected due to the aging population.
Read full article... Read full article...This decline in the participation rate has been expected for years. Here are three projections (two from before the recession started). The key to these projections is that the decline in the participation rates was expected:
Sunday, October 07, 2012
The Innocence of Christians - Just the Facts Without Any Bad Acting / Politics / Religion
Everyone is aware of the recent amateur 15minute production by the name of "Innocence of Muslims" whose primary goal was to incite violence by outraging the followers of Islam through its offensive depictions.
Instead the following documentary that whilst focusing primarily on Christianity but could equally apply to any religion, and done without attempting to incite violence through offensive depictions but rather focuses on the facts.
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Sunday, October 07, 2012
Financial Warfare: Destabilizing Iran’s Monetary System / Politics / Fiat Currency
ESFAHAN – Dramatic fluctuations of the Iranian rial triggered small protests among merchants in Tehran’s grand bazaar on October 3rd, 2012. In an attempt by authorities to prevent further devaluation, Iran’s central bank recently issued new limits on the amount of USD available for purchase at a subsidized rate, leading many to panic as the rial fell 40% against the dollar since the start of October. Although the demonstrations were economic in nature, many took advantage of the moment to voice their grievances against the political system, with many crediting President Ahmadinejad with overseeing fiscal mismanagement that has exacerbated Washington’s unceasing barrage of economic sanctions. Ahmadinejad’s political opponents also blame his administration for economic mismanagement, sentiment that is appearing more frequently among Iranian society.
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Saturday, October 06, 2012
Another Phony US Employment Report: Spiralling Number of Involuntary Partime Workers / Politics / Unemployment
The employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 114,000 new jobs in September and a drop in the rate of unemployment from 8.1% to 7.8%. As 114,000 new jobs are not sufficient to stay even with population growth, the drop in the unemployment rate is the result of not counting discouraged workers who are defined away as “not in the labor force.”
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Friday, October 05, 2012
China to Use Rare Earth Metals as Pawns in Conflict Over Islands With Japan / Politics / GeoPolitics
Heiko Ihle: As China and Japan continue to ratchet up tensions over a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, many investors may be wondering how the dispute could affect the marketplace. One potential area for fallout is the market for rare earth elements (REEs): the futuristic sounding group of 17 minerals with unpronounceable names that play a critical role in everything from hybrid cars to flat screen TVs. As discussed in our October edition of the Euro Pacific Capital Global Investor Newsletter, these minerals have shown particular sensitivity to the diplomatic relationship between the two Asian giants. If the current situation deteriorates (as it has this week when several major Chinese banks pulled out of International Monetary Fund events in Tokyo), the REE market may come under intense pressure.
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Friday, October 05, 2012
The Ugly Truth About the Promise of the JOBS Act / Politics / US Politics
Shah Gilani writes: Last week I wrote about how the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) can be a pathway to funding brand new businesses as well as small operating companies to further American entrepreneurship and create jobs.
I even called the legislation, signed into law on April 5, 2012, a "light at the end of the tunnel" in terms of its potential to stimulate the economy.
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Friday, October 05, 2012
Why American's Need a Second Passport / Politics / US Politics
"Thus, far and wide, they migrate either to the Goths or to the Bagaudae, or to other barbarians everywhere in power; yet they do not repent of having migrated. They prefer to live as freemen under an outward form of captivity, than as captives under the appearance of liberty. Therefore, the name of Roman citizens, at one time not only greatly valued, but dearly bought, is now repudiated and fled from, and it is almost considered not only base, but even deserving of abhorrence." - Salvian the Presbyter
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Thursday, October 04, 2012
Is Quantum Internet Next? / Politics / Technology
Ever since Captain Kirk uttered the immortal words "Beam me up, Scotty!" in Star Trek, teleportation has always occupied a fascinating seat within the front rows of our pop culture. Science has not yet caught up with the fiction of beaming a person or object between two places, however, quantum teleportation is no longer a fantasy. In fact, it's been proven so many times that an international space race to develop quantum teleportation is currently underway.
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Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Iran Wage Price Spiral Towards HyperInflation Panic Collapse Triggered by U.S. Currency War WMD's / Politics / Iran
Whilst the Israeli PM was busy using propaganda cartoons at the UN to prepare the brain washed masses of the world for an attack against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, in addition to the raging cyber war, the currency war against the Iranian elite has continued to accelerate as the US elites succeeds in decoupling Iran's central bank from the global central bank crime syndicate that manages the relative rates of free fall amongst all fiat currencies to give the illusion of currency stability which has sent the Iranian Rial literally into free fall.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
We're Deep In The March Toward Economic Socialism / Politics / Financial Markets 2012
Shah Gilani writes: Have you noticed that the world is on a creeping - some (that would be me) would say cascading - slide into socialism?
It started with one giant step in the direction of economic socialism.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Korea's Gangnam Style Victory Over Japan / Politics / Asian Economies
Mike Rogers writes: I was at my son's school the other day and got into a conversation with a friend who is the chief of Japan operations for Korea’s electronics giant, Samsung corporation. His son and my son are in the same class again this year and so it was very pleasant to see him and talk. During that talk, we came to the subject of how Samsung is dominating the market in flat screen TVs and moving that direction in the hand held computers and cellphones field too.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
The Occupation of America / Politics / US Politics
"A people should know when they are conquered." Maximus responds, "Would you, would I?" – From the movie, Gladiator
One hundred years ago the American republic was overthrown and captured by financial elites and money power during the Taft and Wilson administrations, the first Republican and the second Democrat. Both the Federal Reserve and federal income tax were born and you know the rest of the story consisting of two world wars, the Great Depression and stock market crash, the rise of communism and fascism and the Cold War. Since that time directed current events, history and financial markets have ruled at the expense of free markets and free people.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Big Oil Funding U.S. Politics / Politics / US Politics
U.S. Rep. John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, received nearly twice as much financial support from donors tied to the energy sector than did the next-closest recipient, a report from the National Wildlife Federation finds. The 20-page report highlights the role it says oil companies play in U.S. politics, stating energy companies are working behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to influence legislation in favour of oil, natural gas and coal policies. The NWF report finds that the current 112th U.S. Congress has voted one out of every five times against legislation drafted in favour of environmental issues.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
No Increase in U.S. Standard of Living Since 1997 / Politics / Social Issues
There's a belief among certain economists – and the wider population – that if the government takes a more active role in the economy, the social outcome can be improved. Dr. Lacy Hunt, executive VP of Hoisington Investment Management Company (HIMCO), says it's a false belief… and he has proof to back it up. An unprecedented buildup of debt, he shows, can only lead to one outcome: a drop in Americans' standard of living.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Gold IS Good Money / Politics / Gold and Silver 2012
Last year the Chairman of the Federal Reserve told me that gold is not money, a position which central banks, governments, and mainstream economists have claimed is the consensus for decades. But lately there have been some high-profile defections from that consensus. As Forbes recently reported, the president of the Bundesbank (Germany's central bank) and two highly-respected analysts at Deutsche Bank have praised gold as good money.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
How the Government’s Lies Become Truth / Politics / Propaganda
In my last column, “A Culture of Delusion,” I wrote that “Americans live in a matrix of lies. Lies dominate every policy discussion, every political decision.” This column will use two top news stories, Iranian nukes and Julian Assange, to illustrate how lies become “truth.”
The western Presstitute media uses every lie to demonize the Iranian government. On September 28 in a fit of unmitigated ignorance, the UK rag, Mail Online, called the president of Iran a “dictator.” The Iranian presidency is an office filled by popular election, and the authority of the office is subordinate to the ayatollahs. Assange is demonized alternatively as a rapist and a spy.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Netanyahu, Israeli Leader Shamelessly Meddling in U.S. Election / Politics / US Politics
Eric Margolis writes: NEW YORK – Hell week! That’s what this city’s angry, frustrated taxi drivers call each year’s opening of the United Nations. It was even worse than that in the last two weeks.
Narrow, congested island of Manhattan became a nightmare of gridlocked traffic, blocked streets, blaring horns and fuming drivers. Convoys carrying visiting bigwigs, large staffs and bodyguards tried to force their way through the impossibly congested streets, blue lights flashing, sirens howling. A VIP lane was created, shades of the USSR’s Leonid Brezhnev.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Israel Attack on Iran - The False Flag October Surprise Option / Politics / Israel
The world continues to spiral out of control, as the foreign policy of greed and hubris ratchets up for the next episode of destruction. The prospects of World War III increase with every NeoCon concession to the irrational and suicidal adherence to the Zionist objective of Middle East dominance. The worst kept secret circulating the inner circles of militarist and intelligence agencies are that an October Surprise may be on the horizon. With all this advance notice, the timing probability is unlikely that next month will be the days of dynasty. Nonetheless, the expectations that another major false flag operation is planned to fabricate public sentiment to support an expansion of the perpetual war, that only advances an Israel-First objective, is in the advance stages of execution.
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
Is Iran Trying To Tell Us Something We Won’t Hear? / Politics / Iran
New York, New York: Sometimes, major media is the last to recognize, shifts in policy positions. Iran is a case in point.
In the lead up to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s annual speech to the General Assembly, the American TV stations were preparing their audiences for another provocative Israel-hating rant.
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Twin Demons of War and Central Banking / Politics / Central Banks
The 20th century was the century of total war. Limitations on the scope of war, built up over many centuries, had already begun to break down in the 19th century, but they were altogether obliterated in the 20th. And of course the sheer amount of resources that centralized states could bring to bear in war, and the terrible new technologies of killing that became available to them, made the 20th a century of almost unimaginable horror.
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