Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, October 15, 2010
China and the Future of Rare Earth Elements / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: STRATFOR
A recent diplomatic spat between China and Japan has heightened territorial tensions and called attention to China’s growing forcefulness with foreign powers. One of the more intriguing aspects of this development was China’s suspension of the export of “rare earth” elements (REE) to Japan. REE comprise 17 metallic elements with a variety of modern industrial and commercial applications ranging from petroleum refining to laptop computers to green energy applications to radar. China produces roughly 95 percent of the global supply of REE and Japan is the largest importer. China’s disruption of REE shipments to Japan has caused alarm among other importer countries, bringing new urgency to the search for new supplies and substitutes.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Democracy is Destroying the U.S. / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Faced with a horrible unemployment situation and many companies moving out of the US to countries such as China and India, many point the finger of blame at "globalism". But companies aren't necessarily leaving the US just because it can be cheaper to operate in other regions. The problem is much deeper and has more to do with companies escaping high taxation, ridiculous amounts of regulation and moving to regions that are growing as opposed to the US which is in a terrible state of disrepair and only getting worse.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Petty Socialism Compells Governments to Introduce the "Fat Tax" / Politics / US Politics
By: J_M_Finegold_Catalan
Rising healthcare costs and continuing recession-related fiscal problems have impelled numerous world governments to introduce a "fat tax."[1] Support for a similar policy is growing in the United States, which according to leading intellectuals suffers from a collective "weight problem."[2]
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Swiss Finish Sets New Standard for Global Bank Regulation / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Global_Intel_Report
INCIDENT: The traditional Swiss finishing school taught young women etiquette and social graces, but international bank regulators are talking about something much tougher when they refer to a "Swiss finish" for global banks.
Just how tough became clear last week, 4 October, when a Swiss commission proposed that its two giant banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, be subjected to capital requirements of up to 19%, nearly three times as tough as the 7% capital-to-assets ratio recently suggested by the Basel Banking Committee as a minimum global standard.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Why Do We Give the Police and Courts the Benefit of the Doubt? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeffrey_A_Tucker
It's been five years since the feds took aim at nasal decongestant. Under George Bush, a normal part of everyday civilized life became a criminal act, namely the over-the-counter purchase of Sudafed and many other products containing pseudoephedrine. You can get it now, but it is seriously rationed. You have to present your driver's license and no one without one may purchase it. The limits on quantities you are permitted to purchase fall far below the recommended dosage, and buyers rarely know when they are buying too much.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
America´s Shadow Class War and the 2010 Congressional Elections / Politics / US Congressional Elections
By: Global_Research
E.J. Dionne writes: The 2010 election is turning into a class war. The wealthy and the powerful started it.
This is a strange development. President Obama, after all, has been working overtime to save capitalism. Wall Street is doing just fine and the rich are getting richer again. The financial reform bill passed by Congress was moderate, not radical.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
BCCI Operations. Inside the Global Banking Intelligence Complex / Politics / Global Financial System
By: David_DeGraw
To get a more complete understanding of our current crisis, we need to look at the history of events that led up to it. We need to peer deeply into the inner workings of the Global Banking Intelligence Complex. Without acknowledging and exposing the covert forces that are aligned against us, we will not be able to effectively overcome them.
In the past I have shied away from going too deeply into the details of the intelligence world out of fear of being written off and dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. If I hadn’t spent the majority of the past 20 years investigating global financial intelligence operations, I certainly wouldn’t believe half of this myself. Given the severity of our current crisis and the imminent devastating implications, I now realize that I must go deeper into covert activities than I publicly ever have. The information I am about to report is very well-sourced and documented, and needs to be covered before we can proceed to exposing present operations.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Will 2011 be Another Stagnant Year for Cost of Living Adjusted Social Security Checks? / Politics / Inflation
By: Nilus_Mattive
In just a few days, the Social Security Administration is going to let retirees know how much their checks will go up next year. Or, in this case, how their checks aren’t going to go up at all.
If you were collecting this year, that’s going to sound painfully familiar because you heard the same thing last October!
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
NATO's Lack of a Strategic Concept / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Twenty-eight heads of state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will meet in Lisbon on Nov. 20 to approve a new “Strategic Concept,” the alliance’s mission statement for the next decade. This will be NATO’s third Strategic Concept since the Cold War ended. The last two came in 1991 — as the Soviet Union was collapsing — and 1999 — as NATO intervened in Yugoslavia, undertaking its first serious military engagement.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, October 11, 2010
A Spooked U.S. Economy in October / Politics / US Economy
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week we received worse than expected unemployment numbers, challenging recent claims that the recession has come and gone. Also, as the economy continues to suffer the after effects of the Federal Reserve-created bubbles of the last decade, there is renewed interest in gold. Fears that the Federal Reserve will pump even more money into the system had caused the price of gold to reach new highs.
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Monday, October 11, 2010
The Fed's Political Interference Must Be Stopped, A letter to Senator Scott Brown / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
The Honorable Scott Brown
Dear Senator Brown:
I am a constituent who would like to help. My father sent you my book, Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession. You wrote my father a thank you note, for which I am thankful. None of the other 20 or so senators and congressmen to whom we mailed my book sent an acknowledgement.
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Monday, October 11, 2010
The Killing and Reviving of the American Dream / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
USA Today loves to run lifestyle features that purport to show how we are living, what we are doing, what we like and what we don't like – premised on a collectivist assumption that all our preferences can be tracked and characterized with these aggregate claims.
Most of the time, these features are silly. It's not really true that we are all listening to Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, or tweeting what we had for breakfast.
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Monday, October 11, 2010
The Middle Class Caught in a Pincer Movement / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
A MODEST PROPOSAL
My understanding of our economic system has changed over the last couple years. I've come to the conclusion that the middle class of this country has been caught in a pincer movement by two armies. My definition of the Middle Class is households making between $50,000 and $150,000 per year. The Free Shit Army is attacking us on the left. The middle class has been the backbone of the country, doing the heavy lifting in this country. They get up every morning and trudge off to work to support their families. The Free Shit Army sleeps in. They have chosen to not educate themselves in order to advance in our society.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
How Russia Avoided Civil War 17 Years Ago / Politics / Russia
By: Pravda
On October 3 and 4 Russia remembered the tragic events of the fall of 1993. Mourning rallies and marches in many cities of Russia commemorated the perished defenders of the Supreme Council. In the capital alone, the ceremonies were attended by nearly a thousand people. Was there an alternative to the armed confrontation between the supporters of Boris Yeltsin and the defenders of the legitimately elected Parliament? Was it possible to avoid the tragic outcome? Ruslan Khasbulatov, the chairman of the Supreme Council, discussed it in an interview with Pravda.ru.
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Hungary Toxic Sludge Catastrophe Reminiscent of BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Dr_Tom_Termotto
Here’s the top headline on Yahoo! News on Thursday, October 7, 2010 regarding the Toxic Sludge Disaster in Hungary:
Scientists say heavy metal in sludge not dangerous (AP)
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Saturday, October 09, 2010
China Furious at The Nobel Peace Prize Award / Politics / China
By: Static_Chaos
Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "two decades of non-violent struggle for human rights". China is totally livid and called the award "an obscenity" as reported by Reuters.
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Friday, October 08, 2010
The Biggest Fraud in the History of the Capital Markets / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Ezra Klein: What’s happening here? Why are we suddenly faced with a crisis that wasn’t apparent two weeks ago?
Janet Tavakoli: This is the biggest fraud in the history of the capital markets. And it’s not something that happened last week. It happened when these loans were originated, in some cases years ago. Loans have representations and warranties that have to be met.
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Friday, October 08, 2010
Op-ed Warriors Defend the TARP Tax Payer Bank Bailout / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Christopher_Westley
Confession time: I still read newspapers the old-fashioned way, meaning the way my father and grandfather did, on paper, frequently at the kitchen table, and to the smell of a hot, Honduran coffee.
Friday, October 08, 2010
America’s Third World Economy / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the “New Economy.” The “New Economy” consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.
This economy was taking the place of the old “dirty fingernail” economy of industry and manufacturing. Education would retrain the workforce, and we would move on to a higher level of prosperity.
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Friday, October 08, 2010
IMF Calls for Huge New Round of Bank Bailouts / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Washingtons_Blog
The IMF is calling for a huge new round of bank bailouts.
As the Telegraph noted yesterday:
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