Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Why the New IMF Chief Will Cost U.S. Taxpayers Billions / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Money_Morning
Kerri Shannon writes:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made another mistake - a mistake that'll cost U.S. taxpayers a lot of money.
The organization's executive board yesterday (Tuesday) selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as its new leader. A U.S. pledge of support Tuesday morning secured Lagarde's approval. She already had backing from European countries and major emerging markets Brazil, Russia, and China.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Get Ready to be Financially Conscripted into Financial Repression / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Arnold_Bock
A new financial policy initiative known by the label “Financial Repression” may soon become our worst nightmare. ‘Repression’ rhymes with ‘depression’ which could be what we have to look forward to as rampant price inflation and permanently lower living standards take hold. Get ready to be conscripted into a citizen army assembled for the greater cause of saving the nation from being swamped by a tsunami of debt. Let me explain.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Dark Heart of Corporatism / Politics / Taxes
By: Jesse
A few seem to be waking up to the irony. A drumbeat of corporate persuasion that is noticeable to those outside the culture, and those who have switched off the propaganda feeds on the internet and in the mainstream media. But the illusion is unnoticed by those seeking an escape from complexity and the uncomfortable in simple solutions and slogans, quickly mouthed as a subtitute for thought.
Monday, June 27, 2011
What's the Endgame for the Arab Spring? / Politics / Middle East
By: HRA_Advisory
The many "typical" issues with downside potential that markets have been dealing are still some ways away from sufficient resolution to calm markets. One that has slipped off the economic pages, but is still causing much chatter on the political front, is the ongoing movement in the Arab world for changes of government. Though not as up front with the market crowd as when it began, it is still having its impact on markets.
Monday, June 27, 2011
U.S. Nuclear Accident May Be Imminent at Fort Calhoun Nebraska Nuclear Plant / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Patrick_Henningsen
While the mainstream media guardians have been napping, we published a comprehensive article warning the public of the dangers present at Ft Calhoun. Now we are told that the flood berm has now collapsed after being punctured by “an unidentified piece of machinery“. Our big media stars and knuckle-dragging elected officials should be reminded here that this plant’s rod pool holds 20 years worth of spent fuel rods from all plants in the state plus 1/3 of of the rods that were removed during a recent refueling that was just accomplished.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Banker Occupation of Greece / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Stephen_Lendman
Economist Michael Hudson calls it "Replacing Economic Democracy with Financial Oligarchy" in a June 5 article by that title, saying:
After being debt entrapped, or perhaps acquiescing to entrapment, the Papandreou government needs bailout help to pay bankers that entrapped them. Doing so, however, requires "initiat(ing) a class war by raising its taxes (harming working households most), lowering its standard of living - and even private-sector pensions - and sell off public land, tourist sites, islands, ports, water and sewer facilities" - in fact, all the country's crown jewels, lock, stock and barrel, strip-mining it of everything of worth at fire sale prices.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Bernanke, The US Central Planner Is an Idiot / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Ben Bernanke gave his second-ever press conference on June 22.
Before I offer my assessment, I think it is wise to make you aware of a long-forgotten film: a 1931 movie short by Robert Benchley, one of the supreme humorists of his era. Benchley came on-screen as an economist. He provided information on why the economy was about to turn around. (It wasn't.) The depression was over. (It wasn't.) The recovery was just around the corner. (It wasn't.) Then he offered the appropriate evidence. The people in the theaters fully understood. Once you see this video, so will you. Professor Bernanke will never seem quite the same.
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Saturday, June 25, 2011
The American Empire Hangs in the Balance as the ghosts of Roman Emperors Whisper / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Unforgiven : "You'd be William Munny out of Missouri, killer of women and children". – Little Bill Daggett – Unforgiven
"That's right, I've killed women and children, I've killed just about everything that walked or crawled at one time or another, and I'm here to kill you Little Bill, for what you did to Ned" – Willam Munny – Unforgiven
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Third World America Drowning in Debt and Choking on Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: Janet_Tavakoli
If a drunk driver crashed his speeding rental car into your house and killed your spouse, you would be outraged if law enforcers took bribes and refused to give the driver a blood test. If the judge then gave the killer a small fine and ordered you to pay the fine and pay for all the damages, you'd be outraged. If the government then handed the drunk-driver keys to a bigger faster rental car, handed the drunk driver an even bigger bottle of whiskey, and then gave you the rental bill; you'd storm Washington, blizzard elected officials with protests and organize friends and associates to vote these malefactors, the elected officials that betrayed your trust, out of office.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Say Goodbye to Your Standard of Living, Inflating Away America's Future / Politics / Inflation
By: Money_Morning
Michael Pento writes: Americans are suffering from a lack of adequate savings to fund a comfortable retirement. Our growing debt burdens virtually assure us that the lofty living standards of today will soon be nothing more than a long forgotten memory.
Those ideas are now becoming more promulgated.
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Friday, June 24, 2011
The Coming Upheaval in Republican Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
Since the late 1970s, when the Eisenhower-to-Nixon era of accommodation to the New Deal sputtered to a close, what it has meant to be a Republican in economics has been obvious.
It has meant free markets.
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Friday, June 24, 2011
U.S. Monetary System Descent into Fascism / Politics / US Dollar
By: David_Galland
The following interview with Dr. Vieira was conducted in early June of 2011 for the subscribers of The Casey Report – but after careful consideration, we decided that the content is so important; it needs to be shared with a wider audience. Feel free to pass it along.
Edwin Vieira, Jr., holds four degrees from Harvard: A.B. (Harvard College), A.M. and Ph.D. (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), and J.D. (Harvard Law School).
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Friday, June 24, 2011
U.S. Inflation Sick Minds / Politics / Inflation
By: Fred_Sheehan
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES - June 22, 2011 - "Lawmakers are considering changing how the Consumer Price Index is calculated, a move that could save perhaps $220 billion and represent significant progress in the ongoing federal debt ceiling and deficit reduction talks.
"According to congressional aides familiar with the discussions, the proposal would shift how the Consumer Price Index is calculated to reflect how people tend to change spending patterns when prices increase. For example, consumers tend to drive less when gas prices increase dramatically.
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Thursday, June 23, 2011
Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Realities of Military Withdrawal / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
U.S. President Barack Obama announced June 22 that the long process of drawing down forces in Afghanistan would begin on schedule in July. Though the initial phase of the drawdown appears limited, minimizing the tactical and operational impact on the ground in the immediate future, the United States and its allies are now beginning the inevitable process of removing their forces from Afghanistan. This will entail the risk of greater Taliban battlefield successes.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Mainstream Media Blackout on Nuclear Incident at Fort Calhoun Nebraska? / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Since flooding began on June 6th, there has been a disturbingly low level of media attention given to the crisis at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Facility near Omaha, Nebraska. But evidence strongly suggests that something very serious may have happened there.
Unfortunately for members of the public, there is no shortage of proof that serious nuclear incidents and radiation releases have happened in America, and have been covered up each and every time. For this reason, it is paramount that the media and the public demand every bit of information available on this latest event.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
More Efficient Ways to Stimulate Economy than Using the Military as a Jobs Program / Politics / Employment
By: Ellen_Brown
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. . . . We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people." –Dwight David Eisenhower, "The Chance for Peace," speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Apr. 16, 1953
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
California is the Greece of America, Time to Cut Off the Money / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Bill_Bonner
Oh my, oh my…this is getting interesting…
“How zombie consumers menace the world economy,” is a headline from Yale Professor Stephen Roach. Mr. Roach is misusing the word “zombie,” but he’s coming closer to understanding what is really going on.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Economic Austerity Is Good for the Greeks / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: Gary_North
Have you noticed the media reports on the intolerable nature of austerity in Greece? Have you read anything that praises this austerity and calls for more? You're about to.
The austerity we read about is a code word for "government spending cutbacks." In a media world run by Keynesians, the thought of cutbacks in government spending is a nightmare scenario. Keynesians believe that government spending is the source of both stability and growth in an economy. Any suggestion that the government has been spending far too much money is regarded as heretical.
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Chinese Government Buying Up the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits, Michael Synder writes: In 2011, America is for sale and the communist Chinese are eager buyers. The Chinese government is using sovereign wealth funds and Chinese state-owned enterprises to buy up economic assets and huge tracts of land all over the United States. Many of our politicians hail all of this "foreign investment" as something that is "good for America", while many others see something much more sinister going on here. In any event, this is a trend that is rapidly accelerating and that is causing great concern among patriotic Americans.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Fukushima, the Greatest Nuclear & Environmental Disaster in Human History / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Global_Research
Steven C. Jones writes: By way of comparison, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occured in 1986 in the Ukraine, Russia- heretofore the worst nuclear disaster on record- burned for 10 days and cumulatively killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide. The Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster has 5 nuclear reactors burning, 2 in partial meltdown and 3 in full meltdown- and they've ALL been uncontrollably burning since March 11th. Its been over 3 months and this nuclear disaster remains completely out of control. In fact, some industry estimates cite the possibility that these meltdowns will be contained (optimistically) in 1-3 years, at the very earliest.
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