Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Greenspan Confirms the Fed's Highly Leveraged Fix / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
On January 7, 2011, Kelly Evans of the Wall Street Journal interviewed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. He rooted for the stock market.
Greenspan's circular logic was unenlightening: "Stocks are cheap if earnings are to continue higher." Taken as a whole, this does not mean much, akin to prophesizing: "The Red Sox will win if they score more runs than the Tigers." Greenspan's successful impoverishment of the American people often hinged on the suppression of his dependent clauses: "Stocks are cheap," was all we needed to know.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Hu’s On First: It Is China-US Summit Time / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
On the eve of the Chinese President’s visit to the United States, and the intense speculation about his intentions—and ours—I found myself a dark room at the Anthology Film Archive in the East Village watching a spectacular documentary by Chinese filmmaker Zhao Liang called Petition.
It's about the tens of thousands of people with grievances who seek redress in China at offices ostensibly set up to resolve their problems.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Bourgeoisie's Favorite Forms of Socialism / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
The mindset of the middle class is off-putting — to the heterodox, to the sovereign, and to the individualist. The mindset is a dull recital on the virtues of moderation and proscription: don't stay up too late; don't drink too much; don't exercise too hard; don't risk too much; don't challenge authority; don't question orthodoxy. By all means exist, just do so on an even, bovine keel.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Why Tunisia Changed the World / Politics / Middle East
By: Shamus_Cooke
Tunisia woke up the Middle East with a thundering yawn. After years of domination by western-backed tyrants, the working people of the Arab world are rising from slumber. Once fully awake and aware of their surroundings, they'll shake off the influence of the western nations with a collective flick of the wrist.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
China's Military Comes Into Its Own / Politics / China
By: STRATFOR
Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting the United States, perhaps his last state visit as president before China begins its generational leadership transition in 2012. Hu’s visit is being shaped by the ongoing China-U.S. economic dialogue, by concerns surrounding stability on the Korean Peninsula and by rising attention to Chinese defense activity in recent months. For example, China carried out the first reported test flight of its fifth-generation combat fighter prototype, dubbed the J-20, during U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit to China the previous week.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
America's Arab Puppet Dictatorship Regimes Are Going Down / Politics / Middle East
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: Oops! Something has gone terribly wrong with Washington’s plans for regime change in the Mideast. Wasn’t there supposed to be a US and British engineered revolution against Iran’s mullahs, followed by installation of a cooperative pro-western government and a bonanza for western oil companies?
The revolution came, all right, but in the wrong place. The explosion of popular fury in Tunisia that ousted its dictator of 23-years is sending shock waves across the Arab world and has alarm bells ringing in Washington.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Dallas Fed President Attacks Ron Paul / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Those lawmakers who advocate "Ending the Fed" might better turn their considerable talents toward ending the fiscal debacle that has for too long run amuck within their own house. The Fed does not create government debt; fiscal authorities do. ~ Richard Fisher (Jan. 12, 2011)
When the president of any regional Federal Reserve Bank stands in front of a bunch of Harvard University graduates to tell them about how the economic mess is not really the FED's fault, you know what's coming. It came.
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Monday, January 17, 2011
Food Riots 2011 / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Chris_Kitze
The stunningly violent food riots in Tunisia and Algeria show just how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems. But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets. Many of the protesters are throwing "fire bombs" or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves.
Monday, January 17, 2011
What Secrets Does WikiLeaks Have on Bank of America? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Global_Research
Mary Bottari writes: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is promising to unleash a cache of secret documents from the hard drive of a U.S. megabank executive. In 2009, he told Computer World that the bank was Bank of America (BofA). In 2010, he told Forbes that the information was significant enough to "take down a bank or two," but that he needed time to lay out the information in a more user-friendly format.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Prepping Minds for War Against China / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
You'd think the U.S. was already at war with China, given the immense amount of anti-China rhetoric spouting from the government and media. But selling wars takes time. The average American hasn't bought in to this false advertising yet. So the big lie will be repeated until its roots are deeply sunk into the American psyche: China, says the U.S. government, is a threat that needs to be "dealt with.”
Monday, January 17, 2011
The US-Israeli Coup in Beirut / Politics / Middle East
By: Mike_Whitney
The United States and Israel have executed a stealth coup that has precipitated the collapse of Lebanon's unity government.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton preemptively torpedoed negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Syria by telling "Saudi King Abdullah and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri that the U.S. would reject any settlement at the expense of the UN tribunal." (Tehran Times) Clinton knew that the Saudi-Syria team was close to a "breakthrough" that would have resolved contentious issues related to the investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. She could not allow that to happen because it would derail the US/Israeli plan for regime change and another Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
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Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tonight We Are All Tunisians / Politics / Middle East
By: Submissions
Yvonne Ridley writes: Over the last few days we have seen some of the bravest people facing down some of the worst.
Armed with nothing more than a revolutionary heart and hopes of a better future they gathered and protested as government forces aimed their weapons and fired live rounds in to the crowds.
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Sunday, January 16, 2011
Turmoil in Lebanon / Politics / Middle East
By: Stephen_Lendman
Reportedly, 19th century Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz once remarked: "Poor Mexico, So far from God, So close to the United States." His proximity comment applies to Lebanon. Bordering Israel, it experienced decades of belligerent interventions as early as 1954 when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proposed supporting the establishment of a Maronite-dominated Christian mini-state.
In 1978, Israel attacked Lebanon and occupied the country up to the Litani River before withdrawing under US pressure, letting UN Blue Helmets (UNIFIL) replace its own forces.
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Saturday, January 15, 2011
How Many U.S. Senators Does It Take To Screw A Taxpayer? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"Today, the government decides and they misdirect the investment to their friends in the corn industry or the food industry. Think how many taxpayer dollars have been spent on corn [for ethanol], and there's nobody now really defending that as an efficient way to create diesel fuel or ethanol. The money is spent for political reasons and not for economic reasons. It's the worst way in the world to try to develop an alternative fuel." - Ron Paul
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Arizona Shootings, The Lunatic is in My Head / Politics / US Politics
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
"The possibility of madness is therefore implicit in the very phenomenon of passion."
- Michel Foucault (Madness and Civilisation)
The mass shooting in Tuscon, Arizona was a sad and unpleasant event, but it was fully expected by those of us who stay informed. We couldn't predict exactly where such an event would occur, when it would occur or how it would occur, but we knew that it was only a matter of time before people began lashing out against "the system" in violent ways. In early 2010, a man lashed out by flying a plane into an IRS building in Texas, but this time the violence directly targeted a federal politician, who is currently hospitalized in critical condition.
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Saturday, January 15, 2011
Arizona Republican Resigns Over Tea Party Threats / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: A local Republican Party official in Arizona resigned his position this week after the attempted assassination of Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, citing the threat of violence from Tea Party members in his area.
Anthony Miller, who was hailed as a rising star in state Republican circles as one of the party’s few black leaders, was reelected last month to a second term as chairman of the Arizona Legislative District 20 of the Republican Party. District 20 is a heavily Republican area in the southwest suburbs of Phoenix, including Ahwatukee Foothills and parts of Chandler and Tempe.
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Saturday, January 15, 2011
US Pressure Triggers Collapse of Lebanese Government / Politics / Middle East
By: Global_Research
Bill Van Auken writes: Lebanon’s misnamed “national unity” government fell Wednesday after the political bloc led by Hezbollah withdrew over the failure to reach an agreement on policy toward a United Nations probe into the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Liquidate the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
"I would also like to note that the same research paper [produced by the Federal Reserve staff] analyzed the macroeconomic effects of the FOMC's full program of securities purchases ["Quantitative Easing," usually called, by non-economists, "printing money"], including the first round of purchases that was initiated in late 2008 and early 2009, the modification of the reinvestment policy that was announced last August, and the second round of purchases that was initiated in November.
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Friday, January 14, 2011
U.S. Media Selling Views and Calling it News / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: John_Kozy
America's journalists are not "newshounds." They are nothing more than salesclerks, hocking the products their employers want to sell. The pretty faces that now function as most television news anchors are no different than the pretty models used to sell other products. The American "free" press is comprised of nothing more than a number of retail outlets which sell stories slanted to please their target audiences. As such, they exist merely to sell snake oil.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Politics – Not Oil Prices – Are What's Behind the Deepwater Drilling Debate / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Money_Morning
Jason Simpkins writes: With oil prices rising and the Gulf oil spill fading from the forefront of the American psyche, deepwater drilling is set to emerge as a very hot, and very controversial topic in the months ahead - particularly among Republican representatives.
The GOP traditionally has been the party that supports the development of fossil fuels, while Democrats tend to push for more environmental regulation and a move toward renewable resources.
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