Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Debit Card Interchange Fees and the Politics of Lobbying / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Fred_Sheehan
Legislation to modify debit-card interchange fees cannot compete with celebrity gossip. Yet, exhausted carcasses are carried on stretchers from the senate office buildings. The Huffington Post explained: "A full 118 ex-government officials and aides are currently registered to lobby on behalf of banks in the fee fight... Retailers have signed up at least 124 revolving-door lobbyists.... The flood fills the hallways with lobbyists and deluges the airwaves with ads. For weeks, Washington's Metro system has been papered with... ads on trains and station walls."
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Offshoring has Destroyed the US Economy / Politics / US Economy
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
These are discouraging times, but once in a blue moon a bit of hope appears. I am pleased to report on the bit of hope delivered in March of 2011 by Michael Spence, a Nobel prize-winning economist, assisted by Sandile Hlatshwayo, a researcher at New York University. The two economists have taken a careful empirical look at jobs offshoring and concluded that it has ruined the income and employment prospects for most Americans.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
IMF Make or Break Time / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Andrew_McKillop
The IMF's real goal, today, has mutated from supplying rapid aid to countries in balance of payments crisis (BOP crises) and more vague official goals for stabilizing exchange rates, aiding the growth of world trade, fighting poverty and newer elite fear themes, most recently global warming until its sudden fall from grace, after the disastrous and embarrassing Copenhagen "summit" of Dec 2009. Since the collapse of global warming as the underlying theme for generating new underlying financial assets, tied to emissions credits and carbon finance and thought able to generate at least one $ 100-billion-plus new funding vehicle for the IMF, it has shifted to its last and probably make or break role.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Ron Paul on Enabling of a Future American Dictator / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
These are truly troubling days for liberty in the United States.
Last week the 60 day deadline for the president to gain congressional approval for our military engagement in Libya under the War Powers Resolution came and went. The media scarcely noticed. The bombings continued. We had a hearing on Capitol Hill on the subject, but the administration refuses to bother with the legality of its new war. It is unclear if Mr. Obama will ever obtain congressional consent, and astonishingly it is being argued that he doesn't need it.
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Monday, May 30, 2011
HBO’s 'Too Big to Fail', A Fascist Fairy Tale / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
By: LewRockwell
Jens C. Kolbjørnsen writes: "Fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." ~ Benito Mussolini
Now that we are pushing the three years anniversary of the dramatic financial events of September 2008, it is fair to say, for anyone who has researched the subject on their own, that this movie is nothing but a popularization of the mainstream version of a crisis that only has been postponed and worsened. It portrays the criminals of the revolving door between Washington D.C. and Wall Street as heroes, without so much as touching upon the real reason for the boom and bust phenomenon.
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Monday, May 30, 2011
The Fed Is Not Printing Money The Fed Is Not Printing Money / Politics / Quantitative Easing
By: Mike_Whitney
I know what you've heard from "reliable sources" on the Internet, but it's hogwash. In fact, there is not one economist--to my knowledge--who would characterize the Fed's Quantitative Easing program (QE2) as a money printing operation.
What the Fed's doing is buying a bunch of long-term bonds (US Treasuries) in exchange for bank reserves. What this does is reduce the average maturity of the debt held by the public, which reduces long-term interest rates.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Innovation, the American Economy’s Most Surprising Deficit / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
I argued in a previous article why, despite America’s current obsession with government budget issues, the real key to bringing back our economy lies in a) fixing our trade deficit and b) restoring our capacity for innovation.
Although the former problem has now grabbed significant public attention, most Americans seem to think that our national capacity for innovation is healthy and without problems.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Dysfunctional, Thy Name Is Europe, Risks Transferred to ECB, A Random Walk Through the Minefield / Politics / Financial Markets 2011
By: John_Mauldin
"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome." - George Orwell
"Hindsight is not only clearer than perception-in-the-moment but also unfair to those who actually lived through the moment." - Edwin S. Shneidman, Autopsy Of A Suicidal Mind
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Sunday, May 29, 2011
Things Get Curiouser and Curiouser / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Bill_Bonner
As if it were not strange enough! Microsoft bought a phone company with no phones for $8.5 billion. Then, the public bid up the price of another Internet company, LinkedIn, to the point where buyers were paying more than $20 for every dollar of revenue that came the company’s way. As for profits, they capitalized each one at more than 700 times. At this rate, an investor wouldn’t earn his money back until 2,711AD.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Is Bankrupt Greece America's Future? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Greece has a sovereign debt problem. The bonds of the Greek government have been downgraded by a major rating service. Their prices have fallen sharply in the market. This means that the risk is high that the government will default on its sovereign debt.
The interest rates that the Greek government must pay in order to borrow have risen sharply. This is worsening the government’s solvency and budget problems.
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Sunday, May 29, 2011
United States on the Road to Ruin, Your Trigger Points / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
When would a wise Jew have begun making plans to leave Germany? 1933? 1934? 1938? 1939?
In retrospect, most people would say 1933, the year Hitler was appointed (not elected) Chancellor by President von Hindenburg. On 30 January, Hitler became Chancellor. He asked Hindenburg to dissolve the government and schedule new elections for March 5, which Hindenburg did.
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Saturday, May 28, 2011
Increasing the Deficits Will Fire-up The Economy and Add Jobs / Politics / Government Spending
By: Mike_Whitney
How do you light a fire under Congress? How do you get these guys to do what they're paid to do?Look, we're 5 years into this slump, millions of people have lost their homes and jobs, 44 million people are on food stamps, the economy is in the tank, and congress won't lift a finger to help. What's that all about? You'd think that the revision in GDP and the uptick in unemployment claims would set off alarms on Capital Hill. But it hasn't. They just shrug it off and move on. What do they care? They get their fat paycheck one way or another, so what difference does it make to them? Besides, if they play their cards right, they'll nab a 6-figure lobbying job as soon as they retire and spend the rest of their lives working on their chip-shot and swilling single-malt at the club with their moneybags friends. Doesn't that piss you off?
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Saturday, May 28, 2011
Why the Budget is the Wrong Thing to Fight About / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
The country is consumed right now with the fight over the Federal budget, specifically the plan of Rep. Ryan (R-WI) to balance it by (mostly) radically cutting spending on medical programs, especially Medicare. The recent Republican loss in New York’s 26th district’s special election—which had more to do with my friend Jack Davis running on a third-party ticket—has been interpreted as a referendum against the Ryan plan. And the states are, of course, tied up in budget battles of their own, most visibly the aggressive push to cut the cost of public employees by curtailing their unions.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Spanish Election Sets Precedent: More Debt, and Inflation / Politics / Spain
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
Unbeknownst to most investors in the North American markets, the Spanish went to vote over the weekend. Their votes proved that there will be no end to the European debt crisis.
When the markets opened early for Asian trading, the results of the election were immediately priced into paper currencies, especially the Euro, as well as real currencies, gold and silver. Commodities took a dive with the Euro, which was largely to do with institutional investors waking up to the sad reality of a continental banking system: you can’t please everyone.
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Friday, May 27, 2011
Transformation of the Entire World Into A Big Brother Prison Grid / Politics / Social Issues
By: Chris_Kitze
End of the American Dream writes: Do you want your children and grandchildren to live in a futuristic "big brother" control grid where everything they do is watched, recorded, tracked and tightly controlled? Well, that is exactly where things are headed. We witnessed some really bad totalitarian regimes during the 20th century, but what is coming is going to be far more restrictive than any of the despots of the past ever dreamed was possible. Today, nearly every government on earth is tightening their grip on their citizens. Paranoia has become standard operating procedure all over the planet and nobody is to be trusted. Global politicians will give speeches about liberty and freedom even as they undermine them at every turn.
Friday, May 27, 2011
This Spanish Spring is the Real Thing / Politics / Spain
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Giles Dexter writes: It was perhaps inevitable given its long associations with, and geographical proximity to the Maghreb, that Spain should be the first European country to be swept up by the wave known as the “Arab Spring”. Protests have been raging across the country since May 15th, and like previous rumblings in Greece, this Spanish Spring will likely send a new shockwave through the EU.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Why the IMF is a Drain on Your Wallet / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: Dominique Strauss-Kahn's forced resignation from the International Monetary Fund - and the search for an IMF successor - is a blessing in disguise. Strauss-Kahn's term in office saw a vast expansion of the IMF's activities, a fact often used to praise his tenure.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Pro Bank Bailout Christine Lagarde IMF Shoo In Replacement for Strauss-Kahn / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Mike_Whitney
French Finance Minster Christine Lagarde has emerged as the front-runner in the race to replace ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. She is a champion swimmer, an accomplished attorney, and a competent bureaucrat. She's also a friend of Wall Street who will ferociously defend the interests of big capital. Research assistant for the far-right American Enterprise Institute Jurgen Reinhoudt notes that under "France's free-market oriented economics minister"..."the top income tax rate was cut and, in a frontal assault on the 35-hour workweek, overtime work for hourly workers was made tax-free." (Don't Give Up on Sarkozy Just Yet, AEI)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
India's Nuclear Insanity / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Global_Research
Dr. Vandana Shiva writes: Fukushima has raised, once again, the perennial questions about human fallibility and human frailty, about human hubris and man’s arrogance in thinking he can control nature. The earthquakes, the tsunami, the meltdown at Japan’s nuclear power plant are nature’s reminders of her power.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
How China Plans to Leapfrog the American Economy / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
(And it’s Not What You Think) -
Many Americans are already concerned about China’s growing economic challenge to the United States. Indeed, the challenge itself is hardly news anymore. But a new book, Red Alert by Stephen Leeb, argues that Americans have radically misunderstood just what this challenge consists of.