Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Enron-i-sation of Europe; Is the Euro "Beyond Rescue"? / Politics / Euro
By: Mike_Shedlock
Steen Steen Jakobsen, chief economist for Saxo bank in Denmark discusses the Enron-i-sation of Europe in an Email "Macro Brief"
Read full article... Read full article...The Enron-i-sation of Europe: Finding solutions through SPV’s speak for themselves. Apart from the inability to being implemented (if German constitutional court is heard) it’s also a slippery road towards permanent aid. Hiding debt in more and more obscure vehicles is similar to Enron having 1000s of SPV hiding the “real issue”. Debt is debt. It needs to be paid back or someone needs to take a loss!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
America, Land of the Poor, Home of the Sick / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Michael Finger writes: Thanks to a series of destructive government policies and incentives, a health care crisis has been steadily building in America for a generation or two. But the release yesterday of the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual survey reveals that the problem of unaffordable healthcare is becoming epidemic. According to the report, health insurance premiums have jumped nearly 10% in 2011 for the typical family, compared to a 3% increase in 2010. The average annual cost for family health insurance now exceeds $15,000 per year, about 30% of median household income!
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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Germany's Inner Struggle Stifles EU Debt Crisis Action / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: John_Browne
The leaders of Europe have been criticized for their inability to deal expeditiously with the Eurozone debt crisis. Many view the paralysis through the prism of self interest: taxpayers of the EU's creditor nations are simply unwilling to finance spending of the bloc's debtors. But the hesitancy can also be ascribed to the growing voter dissatisfaction with the entire structure of the Eurozone, and in particular a chasm between German voters and German leaders.
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Monday, September 26, 2011
Ron Paul on the Palestinian State / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The Palestinian Authority's recent announcement that it would seek UN recognition as an independent state dominated the news and the political debate in the United States last week, though in truth it should mean very little to us. Only a political class harboring the illusion it can run the world obsesses over the aspirations of a tiny population on a tiny piece of land thousands of miles away. Remember, the UN initiated this persistent conflict with its 1947 Partition Plan.
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Monday, September 26, 2011
Mexican Government Under Assault From Drug Cartels, Washington Yawns / Politics / Mexico
By: OilPrice_Com
Suspected Mexican drug traffickers from the Zetas drug cartel on 20 September drove two trucks to a main avenue in the Mexican Gulf coast city of Boca del Rio in Veracruz state and dumped 35 corpses during rush hour while gunmen stood guard, menacing frightened motorists with automatic weapons.
So, why is this being written about here?
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Monday, September 26, 2011
America and Europe are Saving the Rich and Losing the Economy / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Economic policy in the United States and Europe has failed, and people are suffering.
Economic policy failed for three reasons: (1) policymakers focused on enabling offshoring corporations to move middle class jobs, and the consumer demand, tax base, GDP, and careers associated with the jobs, to foreign countries, such as China and India, where labor is inexpensive; (2) policymakers permitted financial deregulation that unleashed fraud and debt leverage on a scale previously unimaginable; (3) policymakers responded to the resulting financial crisis by imposing austerity on the population and running the printing press in order to bail out banks and prevent any losses to the banks regardless of the cost to national economies and innocent parties.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Fed's Ultimate Lie Exposed, Central Banks Are Not Banks / Politics / Central Banks
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
I am going to make a number of obvious statements that we all can agree are true, but what they add up to is a startling conclusion. What we call "central banks" are not banks at all.
What is a bank? I refer the reader to a straightforward but reasonably detailed answer here. A bank is a financial organization in which people deposit their money, we are told. This is true. A bank is a business, we are told. This is true. We are also told in this little essay that "each bank tries to make THEIR bank look better than all of the other banks by offering services that some other banks might not have". That is to say, banks compete in a market. This is true, conceptually at least, and also true to some extent in reality, although numerous banking laws seriously alter the market and the competition. But it is the pure idea we are after here, and in the pure idea a bank is a business that competes in a market.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Busted Europe, Euro and the European Union Are Going Down / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Gary_North
The European Monetary Union is going to break down. This will be followed by a break-up of the European Union.
This is denied by the New World Order's promoters of international unification. They have been planning for this since the end of World War I. They have been actively implementing this by stealth since the early 1950s. They used treaties to bring this political unification to pass. They used economic unification as the bait. The hook of political unification was always buried in the bait.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Credit Crisis 2011 Clintonomics Redux / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Barry_Elias
Recently, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Newsmax, Christopher Ruddy, interviewed President Clinton while attending the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) forum in New York City.
CGI is a non- profit entity founded in 2005 by President Clinton and the William J. Clinton Foundation. Through public and private collaboration amongst leaders in business, government, and non-governmental organizations (NGO), CGI facilitates actionable solutions to global issues.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Will Obama Earn His Nobel Prize and Abstain Palestine Vote; Or Play For Re-Election? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_Butter
I was never quite clear about why President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize?
I think it was something to do with the concept that he “supported” the idea that America should go along with the idea that the Geneva Convention is a bit more of a big deal than “quaint”. That’s an interesting concept, Adolf Hitler thought the Geneva Convention was “quaint”, but I’m not sure that Angela Merkel is going to get the Nobel Prize.
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Greek Politicians have had Enough of Austerity, EU Prepares to Abandon Greece / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Shedlock
Even politicians have had enough of Greek austerity programs as noted in Measures divide PASOK
Read full article... Read full article...Prime Minister George Papandreou and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday began the tough task of talking round PASOK MPs who are opposed to the austerity measures announced by the government over the last few days, as the prospect of the steps being rejected by Parliament becomes a strong possibility.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Greece forced to swallow EU's bitter pills / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Pravda
There are two noticeable trends in the story of public debt of Greece. The first is the intent of the EU to save the financial system of the country with loans - the only aid of the capitalist economy. The program is accompanied by unprecedented pressure on the Greek government that is forced to take a series of commitments on economic reform.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
US Corporations Moving to Offshore Tax Havens / Politics / US Economy
By: Bob_Chapman
One of the greatest detriments to job creation in the US is the overseas income deferral law. This unbelievable gift to transnational corporations is at the heart of free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing. Presently these corporations are sitting on $2.2 trillion in untaxed profits, which is costing the American taxpayer almost $800 billion in lost tax revenue if like in 2006 they are allowed to bring the funds back at 5-1/4% taxation. Those conglomerates want to bring those funds back into the US tax free, which means $1 trillion in lost taxes, taking advantage of the current financial situation in the US.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
US Puppet Regime in Iraq is Calling for a ‘Regime Change’ in Syria / Politics / Middle East
By: Patrick_Henningsen
It’s one thing when imperial bureaucrats in Washington call for ‘regime change’, but it’s quite another thing when the rallying cry is coming from US-installed puppet regime.
In this case, we’re talking about the now fully domesticated US-puppet government of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in Iraq, who is now calling for a regime change in its neighboring embattled country Syria. You would think that of all people, the Iraqis would not want to wish a US-sponsored sectarian free-for-all on their worst enemy, or neighbor. But think again.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Worsens, Time to Evacuate Tokyo? / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Videos
Experts warn that the possibility of evacuating parts of Tokyo can no longer be ignored. Further, they say that the total amount of radiation leaked will exceed amounts released from Chernobyl, making Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster in history. Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports from the Japanese capital.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? / Politics / US Politics
By: Robert_Murphy
Ever since Rick Perry derided Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, economists and other pundits have jumped into the fray. Progressive blogger Matt Yglesias says it's "nuts" for anyone to talk like this, because Social Security merely relies on future economic growth — just like a private pension plan. Free-market economist Alex Tabarrok responded to Yglesias with links to arch-Keynesians (and Nobel laureates) Paul Samuelson and Paul Krugman, both comparing Social Security to a "Ponzi game."
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Gore and Climatists Get Ready to Hibernate: Another Record Breaking Winter is Coming / Politics / Climate Change
By: Patrick_Henningsen
You can always gauge the level of desperation in a political movement by its inability to maintain a coherent message. This usually happens when the reality visible in the world runs contrary to the reality being professed from their pulpit.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
America's Secret War Plans Against the Red Empire, Economic Depression's Ultimate Conclusion / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Top secret documents reveal America's 1930's plan of war against the Red Empire, but America's foe in this war was not the Soviet Union or Japan, it was not even Nazi Germany, plan red was code for an apocalyptic war with Britain and all its dominions. The plan emerged from the Great Depression amidst the rise of evil regimes at a time when even some in America had been seduced by dark forces.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Why the Capital vs Labour Antithesis is Screwing Capitalism, Labour, and Free Trade / Politics / Protectionism
By: Submissions
David Chapman writes: The fundamental reason that "Free Trade" will end, and end badly, is that while movement of capital, goods and services is substantially free, and exchange rates are substantially floating, labour is imprisoned; creating massive imbalance.
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Obama's Doomed Deficit-Reduction Plan More Political Than Practical / Politics / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
With the scars from the summer's budget battles still fresh, U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday (Monday) unveiled a deficit-reduction plan that is aimed more at winning votes in the 2012 election than it was to win support from congressional Republicans.
The president's deficit reduction plan includes approximately equal amounts of spending cuts and revenue increases to reach its target of $3 trillion over the next decade.
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