Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Central Banks Are Doomed, Thanks to the Fed's Criminality / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
The word "untouchable" means something different in India than it does in the West. In India, no one wants to be an untouchable. In the West, achieving the status of untouchable is the supreme organizational goal.
In India, untouchable status means that you cannot move up. In the West, it means that you can't be pulled down.
In every Western nation, certain institutions are untouchable. Anyone challenging them is regarded as a revolutionary, a kook, or a self-promoter looking for publicity.
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Sunday, July 22, 2012
America's Right to National Bankruptcy and Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Andrew Foy writes: People like me who believe the government should play a less active role in subsidizing healthcare costs are often asked the question "Do you believe healthcare is a basic human right?"
While this is an important philosophical question to ponder, it often lends itself to unexamined answers and political demagoguery. The imprecise answer "yes" to this question by most governments around the world (including the United States) has served mainly to accelerate healthcare-cost growth and benefit the medical-industrial complex at the expense of the public. To appreciate this point, one must consider the reality of what having a right to healthcare, as it is presently understood, actually means, and then consider who wins.
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Sunday, July 22, 2012
Fake Arab Spring are Post-Modern Coup D'etat / Politics / Middle East
By: Global_Research
Prof. Ismael Hossein-zadeh writes: Within the first few months of 2011, the United States and its allies lost three loyal "friends": Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Zine el-Abbidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Saad Hariri in Lebanon. While Mubarak and Ali were driven out of power by widespread popular uprisings, Hariri was ousted by the parliament.
Inspired by these liberating developments, pro-democracy rebellions against autocratic rulers (and their Western backers) soon spread to other countries such as Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
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Saturday, July 21, 2012
Titanic Banks Hit LIBOR Iceberg: Will Lawsuits Sink the Ship? / Politics / Banksters
By: Ellen_Brown
At one time, calling the large multinational banks a “cartel” branded you as a conspiracy theorist. Today the banking giants are being called that and worse, not just in the major media but in court documents intended to prove the allegations as facts. Charges include racketeering (organized crime under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO), antitrust violations, wire fraud, bid-rigging, and price-fixing. Damning charges have already been proven, and major damages and penalties assessed. Conspiracy theory has become established fact.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Playing Syria Roulette / Politics / Middle East
By: Stephen_Lendman
In Las Vegas, the house seldom loses. Rarely are dirty Washington schemes foiled. It's playing hardball against Syria.
Its dirty hands are all over months of violence. In a July 18 press briefing, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell refused to condemn Wednesday's cold-blooded killings.
Syrian Defense Minister Dawood Rajiha, his deputy General Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President General Hassan Turkmani died.
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Saturday, July 21, 2012
Worldwide Debt Default is the Only Solution / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2012
By: Jason_Hamlin
Sovereign nations, state governments, Californian cities, small businesses, homeowners, middle-class families, recent graduates and all types of other individuals and entities around the world are facing the same growing problem… DEBT. While the European Union is in the spotlight at the moment, the debt crisis is arguably worse in the United States and reaches its nasty tentacles into just about every nook and cranny of modern society.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Subversive Influences by Government Officials and their Allies to Shape Public Opinion / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
By: Joseph_Russo
Who is John Birch?
Did we mean, "Who is John Galt?" No, however, though we are all familiar with the profound inference surrounding the famous question from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, today we ask instead, who is John Birch?
Before we do, we must first ask, who is Robert Welch? He was the founder of the John Birch Society. Before we introduce you Mr. Welch and the society he founded, we wish to state that like every other political organization, JBS had its flaws and history of gaffs. Just like Congress, the Senate, Republicans, Democrats, the Tea Party, or the Occupy movement, no organization is exempt from flaws and valid criticisms.
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Friday, July 20, 2012
Europe - US Hegemony And China's G-3 Solution / Politics / Global Economy
By: Andrew_McKillop
Writing in the July issue of the Global Europe newsletter (a Czech Republic-based think tank part funded by the EU), PRC Ministry of Commerce analyst Zhang Xiaotong said: "…as world opinion turns pessimistic about the prospects of the Euro debt crisis, a fault line is emerging within China regarding the status of the EU as a great power and its role in shaping world politics and economics"
Friday, July 20, 2012
London 2012 Britain's Security and Transport Disaster Olympics / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The London 2012 Olympics reeks of seriously poor planning and management as virtually anything that can go wrong is going wrong, and this is even before the Olympics have even begun, we have had string after string of disastrous announcements as illustrated by the chaos surrounding G4S that was supposedly to oversee security for the whole Olympics who at the last count will be lucky to have half the security personal ready (if they bother to turn up for work). This has prompted another panic amongst the government to pull in another 3,000 troops to meet and greet peoples from around the world, where whilst some of whom will feel at home being under military occupation, most however will be shocked at the level of military presence.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Why Your Health Care Is so Darn Expensive... / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Doug_Horning
Alex Daley and Doug Hornig,Senior Editors, Casey Extraordinary Technology
The cellphone in your pocket is NASA-smart. Yet it costs just a couple hundred dollars.
So why is it that rising technical capabilities are leading to drastically falling prices happening everywhere, except in your medical bill?
The answer may surprise you…
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Brace Yourself, the American Empire Is Over / Politics / US Politics
By: Videos
Chris Hedges offers an interesting 3 hour interpretation of events that one rarely hears in the mainstream media.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Europe's Climate Energy Fix Moves On / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt, July 16, the European Commissioner for energy, Gunther Oettinger claimed it was now urgent and rational for the Union to add "another 20% target" to the three 20-20-20 energy targets for 2020, enshrined in the December 2008 climate-energy package.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
U.S. Cities Going Bankrupt / Politics / US Debt
By: Stephen_Lendman
In past decades, many US municipalities declared bankruptcy. Since 1981, 42 cases were filed. Ten came in the past four years.
Given hard times getting harder, what's happening now is unprecedented since the Great Depression.
Cities occasionally declare bankruptcy. In America, they're coming more often. Others in dire financial straits may follow.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
Are Big Banks Criminal Enterprises? / Politics / Banking Stocks
By: Washingtons_Blog
Here are some recent improprieties by the big banks:
Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this,this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis)
Laundering money for terrorists
Thursday, July 19, 2012
One Scam After Another, How the Feds Feed the Rich / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Bill_Bonner
The Daily Reckoning…proved right again!
We’ve been sticking our necks out. We had a strong hunch that the rich had gotten a whole lot richer not because they were suddenly greedier or suddenly smarter, but because of the feds. The feds were handing out money. The rich were first in line.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
Genetically Altered Foods – Are they safe? A proposed harmful change in controls / Politics / GM Foods
By: Submissions
Larry Cyna writes: Change in Regulations
There is an uproar in the US currently. Buried in the House Farm Bill, approved by the House Agriculture Committee on Friday, is the agribusiness industry’s latest attempt to shed regulations restricting new genetically engineered (GE) crops. While the bill’s massive food stamps cuts elicited widespread outcry, the industry quietly inserted provisions to rush new crops onto the market after only a cursory review of their safety. The uproar comes as lawmakers are attempting to reduce spending in the wake of the massive US deficit. Groups opposed to genetically altered foods are protesting the elimination of controls over genetically altered foods.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Corruption and Mismanagement See Much of the US Without Power / Politics / US Politics
By: OilPrice_Com
Amidst record-high temperatures and a very anti-climactic 4th of July, power outages have left millions without air-conditioning and even water in rural areas where households rely on electric pumps. At least 52 people have died from heat and three million people are still without power.
No it's not Yemen, where power outages in the capital Sana'a have sparked a new round of protests. It's the United States of America, where corruption converges with a moribund electricity distribution system to produce increasingly frequent blackouts across the Midwest and East Coast.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Focus on the 20% Because You Can Replace Lost Money But Not Lost Time / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
If this were a law firm, you would be wise to hire another.
I define puttering as follows: "Unsystematic work that fills time without accomplishing much output." I define frittering as follows: "The refusal to take advantage of opportunities that have been placed in your hand."
I have known some very successful people over the years. Some have been rich. Others have been influential. All of them have had this in common. They have not puttered. They have also not frittered.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Disclose Act (s. 3369) Destroying the First Amendment / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits, KrisAnne Hall writes: ALERT: The Disclose Act (s. 3369)has been resurrected and it will further destroy the remnants of our 1stAmendment and diminish the power of our grassroots groups!
It is always shocking to me that those we elect are absolutely clueless to the true government that they were elected to support and defend. Day in and day out we hear our representatives refer to our government as a “democracy.” Our founders did not establish a democracy, they established a republic. At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a women referred to as Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia, “Well, Doctor, what have we, a republic or a monarchy?” It is said that Dr. Franklin, without hesitation, said, “A Republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.” Here we are 225 years later and our own representatives do not know the correct answer to this question.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Belief in the Fed Heads South / Politics / Central Banks
By: Paul_Lamont
In 1720, British legislators considered the South Sea Company's proposal to privatize the national debt. While they debated this swap of debt (in the form of annuities) for stock, a speculative mania for South Sea shares began. Edward Chancellor in Devil Take the Hindmost relates; "Exchange Alley in April 1720 resembled 'nothing so much as if all the Lunatics had escaped out of the Madhouse at once.'"
Most remarkable in this particular financial episode was the involvement of high level authorities.
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