Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Thursday, May 14, 2009
Countries Should Use their Central Bank Reserves to Tame the Speculators / Politics / Global Financial System
Michael Hudson writes: Yevgeny Primakov explains where Russia’s Neoliberal Model Went Wrong - Last week Izvestiya published an interview with former Premier Yevgeny Primakov, now president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Johnson’s Russia List published a translation on May 8). The discussion centered on a universal problem – what China and other Asian countries, as well as OPEC and Europe should do with the export surpluses and proceeds mounting up in their central banks from mortgaging or selling off their real estate and industry. Or to put matters in retrospect, what should they have done to avoid the neoliberal monetarist ideology that governments should do nothing at all with these surpluses, not even use them to fuel economic growth.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Who Rules America? / Politics / US Politics
What do you suppose it is like to be elected president of the United States only to find that your power is restricted to the service of powerful interest groups?
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Debt Spider Captures America - American Workers Consigned to Debt Serfdom / Politics / Global Financial System
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part IV - This is the fourth in a series of articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." This article focuses on America's "web of debt" entrapment.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Bankrupt California Seeks Federal Bailout / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
MarketWatch is reporting California formally asks Geithner for TARP assistance
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday to authorize assistance for his state from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, warning that depressed tax revenues may cut into basic services and halt the building of infrastructure.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Secrets of the Federal Reserve Bank Revealed / Politics / Central Banks
Bob Chapman writes: The Federal Reserve Act was legislated in 1913 to end recessions, panics and depression. Over that almost 100-year period they have been eminently no more successful then their predecessors. The Fed is a private corporation, which guides US monetary policy. Its staff is from Wall Street, banking, and transnational conglomerates and occasionally from academia. Of the 12 Federal Reserve banks the New York bank is the most powerful. The staffing of the Fed at the least is incestuous, because the member banks take part in the staffing, as they filter to the Fed what actions they should take.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Brave New World of Government Finance / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Eric Fry writes: Eighty-two steps back…one step forward. Last fall, without so much as a grunt from an elected official, the former Treasury Secretary of the United States doled out $170 billion dollars to the incompetents at AIG. Yesterday, the current President of the United States announced triumphantly that his new budget would “save” $17 billion, thanks to the elimination of 121 federal programs.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Fascist Star Trek Federation Vs Free Market Aliens / Politics / Financial Markets 2009
John Bowman writes: Several years ago, I remember reading an historical analysis of alien movies and other popular media, with an interesting conclusion that went something like this: With a few notable exceptions, during times of war, widespread geopolitical strife or general oppression or misery, E.T. is generally depicted in popular media as a benevolent visitor, yet in times of peace or general prosperity, E.T. is instead portrayed as a merciless invader.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Banks Modern Day Pirates Without Boats / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Pirates are all the rage these days. The brazen audacity of Somali Pirates seems to make headlines every other day. Not only does crime pay, it pays lavishly; over $15 billion a year by some estimates. Traditionally, a Pirate is someone who robs or plunders on the high seas. The most successful or notorious villains in history passed into folklore.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Socialism Returns to Haunt United States / Politics / US Politics
America is more than a country; it is the ideal of liberty. In economic terms, liberty translates into the entrepreneurial spirit of hard work, risk taking and self-reliance. And this spirit has made America rich beyond compare.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
House of Frauds, Tory Lords of the Manor Expense Claims / Politics / US Politics
The Telegraph continued with its leaking of outrageous expense claims at tax payers expense, where the reaction from the Speaker of the Commons was to deride the media for publishing the content rather than on seeking to hold MP's to account, which is not so surprising given his own past track record of going on spending binges to the tunes of several hundreds of thousands at tax payers expense beyond his salary.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Leftists Attack Critics of the Fed Money Printing Machine / Politics / Central Banks
Tom Woods writes: Question Authority (Unless I Say Not To)Finally, I’ve been attacked – sort of.
So far the response to my book Meltdown, a free-market look at the financial crisis, has been almost eerily favorable. That’s very gratifying, to be sure, but criticism is what gets debate going and pushes a given subject matter beyond its typical confines.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Global Debt Enslavement - From Gold Reserves to Petrodollars / Politics / Global Financial System
Reviewing Ellen Brown's "Web of Debt:" Part III - This is the third in a series of articles on Ellen Brown's superb 2007 book titled "Web of Debt," now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells "the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free." This article focuses on global debt entrapment.
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Monday, May 11, 2009
How Scotland's Unscrupulous Money Men Sought to Control Colonial America / Politics / Global Financial System
Neil Oliver and A History Of Scotland are about to go Stateside to document Scotland's international moneymen, who weren't averse to "playing the markets" for their own ends in the 18th century.
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Monday, May 11, 2009
Plan to Shut Down Fannie and Freddie as Tax Payer Bailout Grow / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says Options for Fannie, Freddie May Include 'Wind-Down'.
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Monday, May 11, 2009
U.S. Economy in Free Fall, Why is the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in this picture? / Politics / Oil Companies
The world is engulfed in a global economic crisis of staggering ferocity rivaling three other financial meltdowns—which all began in the month of October. [1]Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Debt Fuelled American Military Empire That Supports the Old World Order / Politics / US Politics
Those dastardly French! What arrogance! In 1789, they tried to destroy the Ancien Régime (read Old Order).
The Old Order is an aristocratic, social, and political system that prevailed in Europe between the 14th and 19th centuries. In it, power is held by the monarchy, the clergy, and the aristocracy, and society is divided into three Estates—the nobility, the clergy, and the rest of the people who are powerless. The Ancien Régime retains the privileges of both the nobility and aristocracy that existed in feudal times, and the people, whose lives have the value of mere livestock, exist only for the benefit of the state. The Ancien Régime is also militaristic, aggressive, and imperialistic. Wars are common, and between the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI, France fought in at least 27 of them.
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Cost of Health Care Plan Soars; Obama might Renege on Campaign Promises / Politics / Healthcare Sector
YahooFinance is reporting Upfront costs complicate Obama's health care plan.
Read full article... Read full article...Costs are emerging as the biggest obstacle to President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to provide health insurance for everybody.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
“I had a dream.” It was 2008 and Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. / Politics / US Politics
The world is engulfed in a global economic crisis of staggering ferocity rivaling four other financial meltdowns—which all began in the month of October. [1]
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Monsanto: Seeds of Truth / Politics / Agricultural Commodities
Sheila Samples writes: I have learned over the past decade if I want to know what's really going on in the United States, I have to cruise through the foreign media to see what's creating a furor or causing a stink. So, while searching for the status of Spain's on-again, off-again criminal proceedings against six Bush Administration war criminals, this headline in Der Spiegel caught my eye -- "Frankenfood Ban is Neither Populism nor Panic-Mongering."
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
How to Fix the Economy: The Retirement Plan Solution / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
The St. Petersburg Times Newspaper, Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"
This guy nailed it!