Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, August 03, 2009
The End of Western Civilisation / Politics / GeoPolitics
Butler Shaffer writes: My understanding of history, economics, and the laws of causation, have long led me to expect the present collapse of Western Civilization. I did not, however, anticipate the culture experiencing a free-fall into an awaiting black-hole. Like T.S. Eliot, I suspected Western society would end "not with a bang but a whimper." I envisioned a more gradual decline, one to which individuals could make the necessary adjustments in their lives that would lessen the impact and help to restore societal order.
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Monday, August 03, 2009
China Internet Users Now Outnumber U.S. Population / Politics / Tech Stocks
The number of Internet users in China has exceeded the number of the population of the United States of America. The majority of China’s cities and towns are connected to the World Wide Web. Even 92.5 percent of Chinese villagers can enjoy the Internet at their homes via telephone lines.
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Sunday, August 02, 2009
Bernanke Is Stuttering, Stammering, Panicking / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Gary North writes: Bernanke video: He stutters; he stammers; he is in visible panic mode over Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve. Watch it. You'll love it! Then send it to your friends.
Usually, when Ben Bernanke is interviewed, he has the demeanor of a college professor in the presence of freshman students. Of course, as a full professor, he did not have to teach freshmen. That is for untenured assistant professors to do. Stammering and stuttering are therefore a real departure for him. There is a reason for this.
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Mainstream Media Economic Recovery Propaganda, False Profits and Some “Surprises to the Upside” / Politics / Mainstream Media
321gold.com founder Bob Moriarty never fails to get a rise out of The Gold Report readers, simultaneously raising hackles and awareness. In this interview, his fifth with us since last November, he rails against continuing business, media and government shenanigans. He prophesizes bankruptcy, riots and revolution. But he also sees a bit of silver lining in the thunderheads, predicting “a lot of surprises to the upside” in the resources sector.
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire / Politics / US Debt
"The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight." - Edward Gibbon – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
It can't happen here, This is America / Politics / US Politics
As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their Chinese counterparts finished toasting each other on "agreements" reached, Homeland Security announced its latest plans to thwart terrorism that includes the active involvement of citizens. "You are the ones who know if something is not right in your communities, such as a suspicious package, or unusual activity," said DHS Secretary Janet A. Napolitano. The public needs to be educated and engaged. Specifics were not given about the curriculum behind citizen education programs, nor were definitions of "suspicious" and "unusual" given.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Why Are We Moving Toward Socialized Medicine? / Politics / Healthcare Sector
Yaron Brook writes: Government intervention in medicine is wrecking American health care. Nearly half of all spending on health care in America is already government spending. Yet President Obama’s “reforms” will only expand that intervention.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
U.S. Empire Origins: Revolution, World Wars and World Order / Politics / GeoPolitics
Andrew G. Marshall writes: Russia, Oil and Revolution - By the 1870s, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Empire had a virtual monopoly over the United States, and even many foreign countries. In 1890, the King of Holland gave his blessing for the creation of an international oil company called Royal Dutch Oil Company, which was mainly founded to refine and sell kerosene from Indonesia, a Dutch colony. Also in 1890, a British company was founded with the intended purpose of shipping oil, the Shell Transport and Trading Company, and it “began transporting Royal Dutch oil from Sumatra to destinations everywhere,” and eventually, “the two companies merged to become Royal Dutch Shell.”[1]
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Federal Reserve is a Ponzi Scheme that Creates Bubble After Bubble / Politics / Central Banks
Daniel Tencer writes: The Federal Reserve — the quasi-autonomous body that controls the US’s money supply — is a “Ponzi scheme” that created “bubble after bubble” in the US economy and needs to be held accountable for its actions, says Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney-general of New York.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Russian Economy and Russian Power / Politics / Russia
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Georgia and Ukraine partly answered questions over how U.S.-Russian talks went during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Russia in early July. That Biden’s visit took place at all reaffirms the U.S. commitment to the principle that Russia does not have the right to a sphere of influence in these countries or anywhere in the former Soviet Union.
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Monday, July 27, 2009
Bernanke Upside Down and Backwards: Is Central Banking at Death’s Door? / Politics / Central Banks
In a rare lucid moment, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently quipped,
“Technology means that foreign policy will never be the same again”
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Monday, July 27, 2009
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Trauma Industry Scroungers / Politics / Scams
BBC1 Panorama programme later today at 8.30pm (UK), and available afterwards on BBC Iplayer investigates the great gold rush that is on in the British trauma industry that has exploded up in recent years to more than a £7 billion annual industry.
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Monday, July 27, 2009
Ben Bernanke Goes On Self-Promotional Media Blitz / Politics / Central Banks
Before discussing Bernanke's self-promotional blitz, let's take a look a the Fed's massive coverup job on its balance sheet.
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Monday, July 27, 2009
Gatsby lives! / Politics / Social Issues
From time to time, I read my wife's "hometown" paper from my temporary "rest stop" in a Maine coastal town (pop. 2000). Philly boasts that its murder rate has decline 30% from 2007. This year it registers that only 162 homicides have been committed. Adding to this news is better news: The number of shootings has dropped 30 percent to 781 thus far, police said. Rape too has enjoyed a banner semi-year, for just 500 have occurred. All of this is good news to Philadelphia Mayor Nutter, said the Inquirer.
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Sunday, July 26, 2009
Germany Combat Operations in Afghanistan and Arms Trade / Politics / GeoPolitics
Rick Rozoff writes: Earlier this week German soldiers under NATO command shot to death two Afghan civilians and seriously injured two more in the north of the nation.
During the past ten days German troops in NATO's Rapid Reaction Force have been conducting a major combat operation in Afghanistan's Kunduz Province.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Citizens of the United States Welcome to Animal Farm 2009 / Politics / US Politics
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” - George Orwell – Animal Farm
The United States has gradually degenerated from a Republic based on individual liberties to a socialized oligarchy run by an exclusive few. The country was founded upon the platform of individual rights. We declared our independence from Great Britain because of excessive regulation and taxation. Americans fought for the right to live their lives free from the subjugation of an overbearing governmental body. The Founding Fathers declared our independence with these immortal words:
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Friday, July 24, 2009
American Clean Energy Act Is Not Going Anywhere / Politics / Energy Resources
If you have read my book “Detensive Nation”, you know I am concerned about the damage we humans are doing to our environment. Our intensive consumption of energy, arable land, fresh water, and minerals is not sustainable. That means we humans will be forced to adopt a detensive Cultural EcoSystem. In order to ease the pain of this transition, we need a positive, proactive, and intellectually honest political system.
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Friday, July 24, 2009
Investors Overcoming Profit Pitfalls & Fed Perfidy / Politics / Central Banks
“The Fed’s credibility has been tarnished by the easy credit policies it pursued and the lax regulatory oversight that let institutions ratchet higher their balance sheet leverage and amass huge concentrations of risky, complex securitized products…”William Donaldson, Arthur Levitt, Investors’, Working Group Report on Systemic Risk Regulation
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Friday, July 24, 2009
National Flu Helpline, a £70 per Person TamiFlu General Election Bribe? / Politics / Global Pandemic
The National Flu helpline has now been online for more than 24 hours, and traffic levels suggest more than half of the british population has visited the site during this time, many of whom have gone on to obtain the requisite straight forward ant-viral authorisation within a few mouse clicks.
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Friday, July 24, 2009
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité – Providence, Miracle or What Really Happened / Politics / US Politics
Warning: Reading the following may be hazardous to your mental health. The material herein has caused readers to experience Cognitive Dissonance (CD). CD is the discomfort felt at the discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation that contradicts a strongly held belief system – It’s that queasy feeling that rises in your gut and screams, I DON’T BELIEVE THAT! Because, if you accepted the new information, you would have to admit you been ”had,” or ”conned,” in this case into shopping for stuff to trash the planet.
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