Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Bernanke Blamed for the Fiscal Mistakes of Congress, The Buck Stops Where? / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Browne
Last week, we witnessed Ben Bernanke's Senate confirmation hearings for a second term as Fed Chairman. The air was thick with hypocrisy, as Senators vied with each other to cast blame on the Fed Chairman for the fiscal mistakes of the Congress. As an overtly politicized figure who has looked to bolster the poll numbers of successive Administrations, Bernanke certainly should shoulder a large share of the blame for steering the United States towards the brink of bankruptcy; however, he did not act alone. Ironically, many of his co-conspirators are currently his harshest critics.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
There is NO Consensus On Global Warming / Politics / Climate Change
By: Prof_Richard_Lindzen
A clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition
According to Al Gore's new film "An Inconvenient Truth," we're in for "a planetary emergency": melting ice sheets, huge increases in sea levels, more and stronger hurricanes and invasions of tropical disease, among other cataclysms -- unless we change the way we live now.
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Saturday, December 05, 2009
Ben Bernanke, You are the Moral Hazard / Politics / Central Banks
By: Submissions
Jim Bunning writes: Four years ago when you came before the Senate for confirmation to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve, I was the only Senator to vote against you. In fact, I was the only Senator to even raise serious concerns about you. I opposed you because I knew you would continue the legacy of Alan Greenspan, and I was right. But I did not know how right I would be and could not begin to imagine how wrong you would be in the following four years.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Bernanke is Not the Problem But the Rogue Fed Institution / Politics / Central Banks
By: Andy_Sutton
Yesterday a poll was released that only 21% of Americans support giving Helicopter Ben Bernanke a second term as chairman of the US Fed. This compared to 41% thinking that someone else should be given the job. I must say this is quite an improvement. I wonder if Rasmussen would have been able to say 2 years ago that 21% of Americans even knew who Bernanke was? If nothing else, the financial crisis and economic debacle of the past two years have certainly shone some much-needed but unwanted light on the Fed and its clandestine activities. As much as I disapprove of Bernanke’s policies and his handling of virtually every aspect of what has gone on, I’ll be the first to admit that Big Ben isn’t the problem. No, it isn’t him or Greenspan, or Volcker. It’s the institution itself that is the problem.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Everybody Wins in Health Care Reform Except You! / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: DailyWealth
"Everybody wins."
That's my theme for investing in health care in 2010.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Distortions, Lies, and Muggings by the Fed, Bank of England / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
The first priority of Central Bankers in any crisis is to buy time by any method available. By now, it should be perfectly clear that Central Bankers are willing to unconstitutionally usurp authority in an effort to buy that time.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Global Warming and the Age of the Earth: A Lesson on the Nature of Scientific Knowledge / Politics / Climate Change
By: David_Deming
The world stands on the verge of committing itself to limits on the emission of carbon dioxide that would drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels. If this fateful decision is made, the economies of developed nations will be strangled. Human prosperity will be reduced. Our ability to solve pressing problems, both human and environmental, will be severely limited. We have been told that these shackles must be imposed to forestall a hypothetical global warming projected to occur some time in the distant future. But to date the only unambiguous evidence for planetary warming is a modest rise in temperature (less than one degree Celsius) that falls well within the range of natural variation.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Ukraine Economic Catastrophe the Problem Not H1N1 Swine Flu / Politics / Eastern Europe
By: F_William_Engdahl
The Ukraine deaths attributed by WHO and Ukraine authorities to an uncontrolled outbreak of H1N1 Swine Flu are not the result of H1N1, a virus whose very existence has never been demonstrated by WHO. The deaths appear to be a consequence of collapsing general health conditions as well as supplies of basic grains. The IMF conditionalities imposed on Ukraine as precondition for a stabilization loan and not Swine Flu is where we should look for the cause.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Key Battleground / Politics / Afghanistan
By: STRATFOR
U.S. President Barack Obama announced the broad structure of his Afghanistan strategy in a speech at West Point on Tuesday evening. The strategy had three core elements. First, he intends to maintain pressure on al Qaeda on the Afghan-Pakistani border and in other regions of the world. Second, he intends to blunt the Taliban offensive by sending an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan, along with an unspecified number of NATO troops he hopes will join them.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Why Obama’s Troop Surge in Afghanistan? / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Shamus_Cooke
Tuesday’s announcement that President Obama will send an additional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan — while begging his foreign allies to send an extra 10,000 — will have dramatic effects throughout the American and world society.
The hope that Obama’s election would drastically change U.S. foreign policy has been destroyed. The effects of his troop surge will change the minds of millions of Americans, who, until this point, were giving Obama the benefit of the doubt.
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Economics vs. Politics / Politics / Economic Theory
By: Frank_Chodorov
It may be that wary beasts of the forest come around to accepting the hunter's trap as a necessary concomitant of foraging for food. At any rate, the presumably rational human animal has become so inured to political interventions that he cannot think of the making of a living without them; in all his economic calculations his first consideration is, what is the law in the matter? Or, more likely, how can I make use of the law to improve my lot in life?
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Global Warming Climagate, Fixing the Climate Data around the Policy / Politics / Climate Change
By: Michel_Chossudovsky
More than 15,000 people will be gathering in Copenhagen for COP 15: the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Official delegations from 192 nations will mingle with the representatives of major multinational corporations, including Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, The representatives of environmental and civil society organizations will also be in attendance. Parties & Observers
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Healthcare Freedom or Healthcare Bureaucracy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The U.S. Preventive Task Force caused quite a stir recently when they revised their recommendations on the frequency and age for women to get mammograms. Many have speculated on the timing for this government-funded report, with the Senate vote on health care looming, and cost estimates being watched closely. Just the hint that the government would risk women's health to cut costs is causing outrage on both sides of the aisle.
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Monday, November 30, 2009
The Simple Math of CO2 Reduction / Politics / Climate Change
By: Ronald_R_Cooke
Those who propose draconian measures to curb CO2 production need a math refresher course. Look at the projections. Assuming existing CO2 reduction policies are not changed, by 2030, human activity will account for about 3.3% of global CO2 production (NASA). By itself, the United States is projected to contribute 15.8% of world human emissions in 2030 (IEA/EIA). Therefore:
Monday, November 30, 2009
Ominous Signs Are Aligned, Not A Particularly Good Sign / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
By: Robert_Singer
Having trouble making sense out of the Recent Headlines:
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Is Doomsday Coming? Perhaps, but Not in 2012 [1]
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Survey: Nearly half of adults don't plan to get H1N1 vaccine
Monday, November 30, 2009
Ben Bernanke Pleads to Keep His Job as Fed Chairman / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
Ben Bernanke is on yet another self-serving mission to save his job. Please consider The right reform for the Fed an op-ed by Ben Bernanke in the Washington Post.
Here is Bernanke's entire article (in italics) with my comments interspersed in plain type. Most of my comments are made straight to Ben Bernanke, but they apply in general to all central bankers.
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Day Global Warming Stood Still / Politics / Climate Change
By: Mark_Sircus
From the mainstream press we read, “As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria. [1]
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict / Politics / Iraq War
By: Submissions
In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion. Five years later, the cost of Iraq war operations is over 10 times that figure. So what's behind the ballooning dollar signs? Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilme's exhaustedly researched book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict," breaks down the price tag, from current debts to the unseen costs we'll pay for years to come. In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Big Government Socialist Beast and The Plague of Self-Delusion / Politics / US Politics
By: Tim_Case
"It has been proved, by indisputable evidence, that power is not the grand principle of union among the parts of a very extensive empire; and that when this principle is pushed beyond the degree necessary for rendering justice between man and man, it debases the character of individuals, and renders them less secure in their persons and property…" ~ James Winthrop, Antifederalist No. 11
I doubt there are many who have thought about the transitive verb, secure, used by James Winthrop in the quote above. Noah Webster’s, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, says secure is to make certain; to put beyond hazard, then addresses secure in this context: "Liberty and fixed laws secure to every citizen due protection of person and property…"
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
When the Revolution Comes, Wear Your Dog Tags / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Wednesday morning the 25th at 9:45 a.m. meant a visit to Dr. Nick, the ophthalmologist. The office was peopled predominantly by seniors who looked near 80. Two in conversation admitted to being 78 and 79. I felt young. Still, that’s your future and not too far off. Make the most of your remaining time, I thought.
A sign was placed prominently on the desk in front of the receptionist:
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