Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, September 07, 2012
Mario Draghi Over and Out / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Fred_Sheehan
A collapsing order will do what it takes to retain power, no matter its abuse of law or decency. Writing in Die Zeit on August 29, 2012, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi wrote (in German): "[I]t should be understood that fulfilling our mandate sometimes requires us to go beyond standard monetary policy tools. When markets are fragmented or influenced by irrational fears, our monetary policy signals do not reach citizens evenly across the euro area. We have to fix such blockages to ensure a single monetary policy and therefore price stability for all euro area citizens. This may at times require exceptional measures. But this is our responsibility as the central bank of the euro area as a whole."
Friday, September 07, 2012
'About To Be Retired' Persons Views / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Ian_R_Campbell
In a survey of Canadians now between 50 - 60 years old, said to have an statistical error rate of not more than 3.5%:
-
on average 53% said they planned to work following retirement; and,
-
almost 50% said they had retirement savings of under $100,000.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
9/11 & Plato’s Allegory of the Cave / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
By: Robert_Singer
Below is an animated image of Flight 175 "crashing" into the south tower.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
September 12th Looms Large for Germany on Euro-zone Debt Financing Decision / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Browne
The German economy is undoubtedly the powerhouse of Europe. As a result, an understanding of the developments within Germany can offer a strong indication of the path that the rest of Europe is likely to take. Until recently, Germany stood as a bastion of sound money against those Keynesian led regimes in the developed nations that favor continual currency debasement as an economic panacea.
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
The Permanent Unemployment Economy / Politics / Unemployment
By: BATR
The official underreporting of the unemployment statistics is a well-known fact. The cavalier dismissal of the systemic dismantling of the market economy by the Obama administration is undeniable. Notwithstanding, the lack of living wage jobs is not simply a partisan issue. Ever since the adoption of the globalist free trade betrayal, the national suicide of the free enterprise economy has continued. Transiting skilled employees into government dependents is an overt component of the "New Age" of reduced wealth and servitude for the ordinary American.
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
NHS Baldrick Cunning Plan to Export Best Doctors Abroad to Treat Foreign Patients / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest cunning plan out of the NHS high command / coalition government is for Britains best and brightest doctors and consultants to set-up 'NHS' hospitals abroad at huge tax payer expense to treat foreign patients under the illusion that this will generate profits that will be reinvested into the UK NHS.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Cellulosic Ethanol Production: One of the Decade's Biggest Examples of Wasteful Government Spending / Politics / Ethanol
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
In February we told you that despite nearing $15 trillion in debt - now close to $16 trillion - the U.S. government decided to spend $592,000 last year to figure out why chimpanzees throw poop.
Now we've discovered yet another example of wasteful government spending that has burned up more than $1.5 billion of your tax dollars - with nothing to show for it.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Character, Policy and the Selection of Leaders / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The end of Labor Day weekend in the United States traditionally has represented the beginning of U.S. presidential campaigns, though these days the campaign appears to be perpetual. In any case, Americans will be called on to vote for president in about two months, and the question is on what basis they ought to choose.
Many observers want to see intense debate over the issues, with matters of personality pushed to the background. But personality can also be viewed as character, and in some ways character is more important than policy in choosing a country's leadership.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Ron Paul, How Long Will the U.S. Dollar Remain the World's Reserve Currency? / Politics / US Dollar
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
We frequently hear the financial press refer to the U.S. dollar as the "world's reserve currency," implying that our dollar will always retain its value in an ever shifting world economy. But this is a dangerous and mistaken assumption.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, September 03, 2012
Will Obama Manipulate the Dow Divisor, from Fiction to Reality? / Politics / Market Manipulation
By: Submissions
Wim Grommen writes: Dow Jones Index to 58 points
After intensive consultation with his advisors, President Obama has decided to modify the formula used for calculating the Dow Jones Index. On January 1, 2013 the Dow Divisor will be changed to 30. The result of this change will be that the Dow Jones Index drops from the current 13,124 points to about 58 points. The underlying value of the 30 component stocks of course remains unchanged. With this modification to the formula Obama aims to make the large Dow fluctuations of recent decennia a thing of the past, and hopes that this will bring stability to the stock market. Banks, major investors and pension funds welcome this change in the Dow Jones Index formula.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, September 03, 2012
What Makes People Happy? Ten Key Trends / Politics / Social Issues
By: DK_Matai
What's happiness? Does it really exist? Can happiness last? How does one become happy? How many people do you know that are really happy? What are the habits of happy people and the principles that might be at the root of their happiness? We asked ATCA 5000 distinguished members over the last several months and here are some of the results that we distilled from those one-to-one conversations around the world.
Monday, September 03, 2012
Is the Ron Paul Revolution Over? / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Allan Stevo writes: At 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Mitt Romney became the GOP nominee for President.
At about the same time, 5:15 p.m., I watched a man involved with Ron Paul’s Louisiana victory box up phones at an outpost of the Ron Paul Revolution – a place from which some of the dispersed grassroots campaigns were run. Boxing up those phones marked the end of the 2012 phone-banking effort in that remote location. A room that I had seen abuzz with volunteer activity for months from early morning until whatever hour it is that Hawaiians start to no longer accept political phone calls was now being packed into a few small boxes and being shipped away. A few small boxes of equipment, a few hundred dollars to keep the lights on, and a dream for freer times ahead filled rooms like that across the country night-after-night. Tuesday that was all packed up.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, September 03, 2012
How the Council on Foreign Relations Controls Conservative Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
I sent a stripped-down version of my movie review of 2016 to my Tea Party Economist list. I knew it would outrage some of them.
Why did I do it? To make sure D'Souza sees it. The list is large. Someone will send it to him. I want him to know that the Old Right isn't buying his thesis that Obama's agenda is somehow uniquely wrong because it is anti-colonialist. Obama is a defender of the American Empire as Bush was. His agenda is that of one of the factions of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is not in bed with the neocons, meaning big on Israel, but the dominant foreign policy objectives of the CFR were pro-oil and therefore pro-Arab long before 1948, let alone the late 1960s, when the neocons showed up.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Obama Doctrine: China is the New ‘Enemy Image’ / Politics / New Cold War
By: F_William_Engdahl
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the nominal end of the Cold War some twenty years back, rather than reducing the size of its mammoth defense spending, the US Congress and all US Presidents have enormously expanded spending for new weapons systems, increased permanent military bases around the world and expansion of NATO not only to former Warsaw Pact countries on Russia’s immediate periphery; it also has expanded NATO and US military presence deep into Asia on the perimeters of China through its conduct of the Afghan war and related campaigns.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Middle Class Lost Decade, Who do You Blame? / Politics / US Economy
By: Mike_Shedlock
The Pew Research center ponders The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.
Read full article... Read full article...Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some -- but by no means all -- of its characteristic faith in the future.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Don’t Count Out the Labor Movement / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
Almost every conservative political columnist, pundit, commentator, blogger, and bloviator has written about the decline and forthcoming death of the labor movement.
They happily point to Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker shortly after taking office in January 2011 took advantage of a Republican majority in the House and Senate to ram through legislation that stripped numerous collective bargaining rights for public employee unions. Among collective bargaining rights are those that assure decent working conditions and a fair grievance process to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory discipline.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, September 01, 2012
From Bollywood to Hollywood: Ripping Up the Social Fabric of India / Politics / India
By: Global_Research
Colin Todhunter writes: Apparently, we should ‘take care’ because we are ‘worth it.’ These are the feel-good catch phrases on English language TV channels in India that are being used to sell certain products. The commercials employ the same wording and that has been used in the West to sell these products for years. The actual news bulletins in India also bear a striking resemblance to the ‘newsworthiness’ agenda used by western channels. As in the West, the commercials and the news are becoming virtually one and the same.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Fictitious Fiat Money, the Singularity and Root Cause / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Joseph_Russo
If we wish ever to acquire an acceptable level of equitable harmony and justice both at home and abroad, it is essential that we maintain a keen understanding of, and a rather critical eye upon "money," which as you may know, in its fictitious form, is the singular root cause of all the world's most intractable challenges.
"In its true and honest form, money is the fruit of all freedom. In its fictitious form, it is the root of all evil."
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 31, 2012
The Quiet Coup d'Etat in the Anglo-American Financial System / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Jesse
This is a reprise of an interview with MIT economist Simon Johnson which was posted here in February, 2009.
Have we heeded Simon Johnson's warning? Has he proven to be prescient? Is crony capitalism and the kleptocracy becoming bolder, more aggressive, ever more demanding?
Friday, August 31, 2012
Mainstream Media, The Voice of Tyranny / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: MISES
Mike Reid writes: The reporting on a violent incident at the Occupy protests last year reveals the linguistic lengths to which newspapers can go to hide responsibility. The National Post said it best:
Read full article... Read full article...Scott Olsen, 24, a former U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired on Tuesday by police trying to prevent protesters from reclaiming a public square.