Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, May 10, 2010
Fed Audit Under Fire / Politics / Central Banks
It doesn't come as too much of a surprise that the measure to audit the Federal Reserve is coming under continuous fire from the central bank and its cronies. For the first time since the Federal Reserve was created nearly a century ago, they have hired an actual lobbyist to pound the pavement on Capitol Hill. This is a desperate effort to hang on to the privilege of secrecy and lack of accountability they have enjoyed for so long. Last week showed they are getting their money's worth in the Senate.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sovereign Debt Crisis, Washington Complicit in Massive Financial Wall Street Fraud / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
It was 7 years ago we said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bankrupt. Most everyone within the beltway knew it, but no one would say anything about it. This as it now turns out they were the poster companies, which led to sovereign debt problems, but also showed that they were involved in massive fraud over several years and many in Washington knew it. Earnings were fabricated in order to create conditions, so that the officers could collect millions of dollars in bonuses. Part of this scam was engineered by Goldman Sachs, which pushed more than $100 million in earnings into future years. Earnings were structured so that they justified larger payouts for executives.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 10, 2010
An Open Letter To Governor Charlie Crist Re: Bp Oil Volcano / Politics / Environmental Issues
Dear Governor Crist,
We are witnessing the greatest environmental catastrophe of the modern era in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the top experts have already estimated that this oil volcano has far surpassed the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Even if the current “stopgap” measures temporarily contain this gusher, it still remains an extraordinary challenge to permanently cap. Simply put, we have HUGE problems before us no matter how you look at it. Many are silently weeping in the privacy of their homes because of the sheer enormity and profound gravity of this ongoing, unprecedented, manmade disaster.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, May 08, 2010
End the Budget Deficit, End the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
From time to time, someone asks me: "What would you do about the Federal deficit?" I have this amazing answer: "End it immediately. Then run a surplus until it is paid off 100% – exactly as I would do with my own budget."
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
U.S. Military Might Cannot Win the Economic Struggle! / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
Government budget deficits and the debt crisis they created in Greece, and concerns that Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Italy may be nearing similar situations, have been dominating the news and roiling global stock, bond, and currency markets for several weeks.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
Is Sovereign Debt Crisis Contained to Subprime Countries? / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
As Americans observe the chaos in Greece, most assume that the strength of our currency, the credit worthiness of our government, and the vast expanse of two oceans, will prevent a similar scene from playing out in our streets. I believe these protections to be illusory.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
Why the Fed Does Not Want an Audit, America is Wall Street's Sucker / Politics / Central Banks
Rep. Alan Grayson: You Own the Red Roof Inn, Thanks to the Fed; Why the Fed Does Not Want an Audit; America is Wall Street's Sucker
Please play this must-see video by Alan Grayson explaining in great detail exactly why the Federal Reserve does not want to be audited, and thus why it absolutely needs to be audited.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
BP Gulf Oil Spill, The Halliburton Connection / Politics / Oil Companies
Margot Roosevelt and Jill Leovy write: Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
Kyrgyzstan Today: The New Administration’s Pressing Problems / Politics / GeoPolitics
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, having toppled the corrupt regime of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in Bishkek on April 7-8, faces many daunting challenges, from the economy gutted by Bakiyev’s insiders to reestablishing security in the country. It is in the interest of the three major outside players there – Russia, U.S. and China, to assist Otumbayeva’s administration, but it seems problematic at this point whether they will be able to lay aside their traditional rivalry to do so. Such being the case, it would seem that Kyrgyzstan faces a long, hot summer.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
How To Make A Million Dollars Using the Corporate Welfare Scheme / Politics / US Politics
There are people across the country making millions of dollars using the corporate welfare scheme described in this informative video. The reason you need to know how this is done is because YOU, the taxpayer are paying for this.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Restoring the U.S. Constitution / Politics / US Politics
More and more, people say they are in favor or returning to the historic meaning of the United States Constitution, a small federal government limited in its powers to those directly granted by the text of the Constitution. Having gone so far away from this model of government, such a return seems an impossible dream.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
The Oil Slick Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster / Politics / Corporate News
We have been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Let Goldman Sachs Interrogate the SEC / Politics / Market Manipulation
Since April 16, 2010, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicted Goldman Sachs on fraud charges, the bank must approach each day wishing it could stay in bed. New charges and rumors of lawsuits swirl around the firm. Goldman will have its day (or, years) in court, but the government agency that rolled the snowball down the mountain should also sit in the dock.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
U.S. Congress Financial Regulation Reform Hypocrisy, Exempt Themselves From Insider Trading Laws / Politics / Market Regulation
President Obama is pushing hard for financial reform except for where this crisis started, the Fed. Please consider Bank Bill Attracts Populist Amendments
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Economic and Social Crisis in Nigeria / Politics / Africa
Kola Ibrahim writes: As workers in Nigeria celebrate this year’s Workers’ Day, the political challenges before the working and poor people is more vital today more than ever before. That the capitalist political class has severally and collectively plunder the huge resources of the nation, while the poor people go hungry, is no more news. For the past almost eleven years of civil rule, workers have fought tooth and nail to gain better living but every demand of workers in this regard is met with stiff opposition from the capitalist ruling class at all levels.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Cutting Public Debt, Economic Science or Class War? / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
Hugo Radice writes: In The Bullet no.345, Ingo Schmidt showed how the credit rating agencies have sparked an assault by international bondholders on the sovereign debt of Greece, where workers are being made to pay heavily for the fiscal crisis of the state.
The following day, April 28th, the London-based Institute for Fiscal Studies made a major intervention in the British election campaign, publishing a report which called on the three main parties to ‘come clean’ about their plans for dealing with Britain's very own fiscal crisis – a deficit in 2009-10 of £163-billion, or around 12% of GDP. This prompted me to ask the question: why are the three parties, and all the British media, accepting without question the need to cut the deficit?
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Who Judges the Judges: Reporters Without Borders seems to have a geopolitical agenda / Politics / Social Issues
An organization calling itself Reporters Without Borders (RWB; French: Reporters sans frontières, or RSF) has just named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, China’s President Hu Jintao, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to their list of Forty Worst Predators of Press Freedom for 2010. Most significant about their list of ‘bad guys’ is the geopolitical relation of those leaders and those countries to the current ‘enemies list’ of the US State Department. That is no accident, as becomes clear when we look more closely at who funds RWB.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
The Fed Must Be Audited, The Fraudulent Practices of the Federal Reserve / Politics / Central Banks
In March 2004, when Alan Greenspan was Fed chairman, he suppressed the opinions of those Fed officials who knew that there was a housing bubble.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Greece Poverty and Social Implosion in the Wake of the Financial Bailout / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
“This is not our debt, but we are being made to pay for it,” said one angry Greek worker, explaining why he like thousands of other Greeks are taking to the streets in protest at their country’s bail-out plan.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Financial Fight Club: Ackman's Hedge Fund Vs. Wall Street's Ponzi Machine / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
When nobody seems to be losing money, nobody cares. If a corrupt scheme is "making money," everyone involved--from the culprits to the dupes--viciously attacks anyone who tries to expose it. Bill Ackman, manager of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., learned this lesson the hard way.
Read full article... Read full article...