Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, October 09, 2017
Donald Trump: Warmonger-in-Chief! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
If a world conflagration, God forbid, should break out during the Trump Administration, its genesis will not be too hard to discover: the thin-skinned, immature, shallow, doofus which currently resides in the Oval Office!
This past week, the Donald has continued his bellicose talk with both veiled and explicit threats against purported American adversaries throughout the world. In a cryptic exchange with reporters during a dinner with military leaders, he quipped:
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Monday, October 09, 2017
How To Fight Corruption in the Philippines / Politics / Asian Economies
By: Dan_Steinbock
Despite opposition, President Duterte's Anti-Corruption Commission is vital in light of Philippine history and international experience. To be effective, the anti-corruption agency must be independent.
On October 4, President Duterte signed Executive Order 4 creating the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC). The Commission is mandated “to directly assist the President in investigating and/or hearing administrative cases primarily involving graft and or corruption against all presidential appointees.””
Monday, October 09, 2017
DiEM25: Europe Without Nations or Religion / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A friend sent me a post from the DiEM25 website last week, entitled Critique of DiEM25 policy on immigrants and refugees. DiEM25 is a pan-European political movement of which former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is a co-founder.
I started writing some lines as a response to my friend. Then it became a bit more. Wouldn’t you know… And then it was a whole article. So here’s my comments to it first, and then the original by someone calling themselves ‘dross22′. Now, in case I haven’t made this sufficiently abundantly clear yet, in my view Yanis’ knowledge and intellect is probably far superior to mine, and I’m a fan. But…
I don’t mean to imply that the views in the comment posted at DiEM25 are those of Yanis, but I do think it’s good to point out that these views exist within the movement. Moreover, as I wrote a few days ago, Yanis himself also thinks the EU should become ‘a federal state’. And I don’t agree with that. In fact, I think that’s a sure-fire way to absolute mayhem. Catalonia is only the latest example of why that is. Greece is an obvious other.
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Thursday, October 05, 2017
How to Fund a Universal Basic Income Without Increasing Taxes or Inflation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Ellen_Brown
Studies have shown that it would actually be cheaper to distribute funds to the entire population than to run the welfare services governments engage in now.
The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation? In a panel I was on at the NexusEarth cryptocurrency conference in Aspen September 21-23rd, most participants said no. This is my rebuttal.
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Thursday, October 05, 2017
The Pension Storm Is Coming To Europe—It May Be The End Of Europe As We Know It / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Mauldin
I’ve written a lot about US public pension funds lately. Many of them are underfunded and will never be able to pay workers the promised benefits—at least without dumping a huge and unwelcome bill on taxpayers.
And since taxpayers are generally voters, it’s not at all clear they will pay that bill.
Readers outside the US might have felt safe reading those stories. There go those Americans again… However, if you live outside the US, your country may be more like ours than you think.
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Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Totalitarian Collectivism / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
A Culture of Authoritarianism = A Society of Totalitarianism
The impact of the 21st Century in its short phylogenesis has produced a pseudonymous willingness to accept the most threatening viewpoints and behavior yet seen on the planet. Implied within this overview is the precept that free will is the natural basis of our collective makeup. Nevertheless, the flight from personal liberty and constructive communal cultural values has been in an unimpeded free fall as the coercion of the mob intensifies. According to this groupthink, no competing ontology is acceptable in this brave new world of multicultural purity. This snake pit of toxic venom has been poisoning the popular culture for dozens of decades. So far the battle for sanity has fought off the scourge. However, the recent escalation of pernicious assaults on the decency of human freedom has become indisputable.
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Monday, October 02, 2017
Spanish New Civil War Begins as Madrid Regime Storm Troopers Quell Catalan Independence Rebellion / Politics / Spain
By: Nadeem_Walayat
According the news reports more than 1,000 people attempting to vote in Sunday's Independence Referendum have been injured by the heavy handed tactics of the Madrid storm troopers sent in to quell the Catalan peoples uprising against the brewing Spanish dictatorship. Which is as I warned in my earlier extensive analysis could sow the seeds for a new Spanish civil war, for it should not be forgotten that during the 1930's it was a fascist Madrid regimes actions in Catalonia that sparked that civil war that ended with the ushering in of the Franco dictatorship.
Sunday, October 01, 2017
Catalonia and other EU Disasters / Politics / Spain
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I’ve seen a lot of videos and photos of the Catalonia attempt to hold a referendum today (Tyler has a “nice” series of them), and what struck me most of all, apart from the senseless violence police forces were seen to engage in, is the lack of violence on the side of protesters.
So when I see the Interior Ministry claim that 11 policemen were injured, That is hard to take serious. Not that the Catalans had no reason to resist or even fight back. That hundreds of protesters, including scores of grandma’s, are injured is obvious from watching the videos. Since rubber bullets were used in large numbers, fatal injuries are quite possible.
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Sunday, October 01, 2017
Spain Ignores Scotland Lesson as Catalan Independence Referendum Could Spark Civil War / Politics / Spain
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The cry going out across Catalonia is that if a far less populous region such as Scotland can hold an Independence Referendum then why are the people of Catalonia being denied the same right. The Madrid regime instead of following the cue from Westminister which did not stand in the way of the Scottish people having a vote to leave the United Kingdom held in September 2014, the Spanish regime has instead decreed that the people of Catalonia do not have the freedom to vote for potential independence from an increasingly dictatorial Spanish state, as evidenced by the threats and show of force in the form of thousands of armed police sent into Catalonia in an attempt to shut down all political dissent and prevent today's Referendum vote from taking place.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
I Thought I Was Middle Class / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
“The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream.” – Bill Murray
When I saw that slimy tentacle of the Goldman Sachs vampire squid, Gary Cohn, bloviating about Trump’s tax plan and how it was going to do wonders for the middle class, I knew I was probably going to get screwed again. And after perusing the outline of their plan, it is certain I will be getting it up the ass once again from my beloved government.
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Friday, September 29, 2017
What Does a War With North Korea Mean? / Politics / North Korea
By: Rodney_Johnson
Kim Jong-Un, or “Rocket Man,” as our president prefers, always looks like he just ate a sour pickle – unless he’s inspecting a missile factory. Then he looks like an evil character in a B movie, gloating over his plot to rule the world.I wish he’d move on to the monologue phase, where he talks so long that the hero of the film has time to slip out of his restraints, rescue the girl, defuse the bomb, and put the crazy little man on ice before the authorities arrive.
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Why Doesn’t Janet Yellen Resign? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Raul_I_Meijer
You would think, certainly if you were as naive and innocent as I am, that when you get offered the job of Chair of the Federal Reserve, you must be sure, before accepting, that you have the credentials and the knowledge required. If you don’t, it looks as if you don’t take the job seriously. Janet Yellen, who’s been Chair since January 2014, doesn’t seem to agree.
In a speech Tuesday for the National Association for Business Economics Yellen ‘honestly’ admitted that she doesn’t understand inflation, control of which is the Fed’s no.1 task (it’s debatable whether that’s a good idea). She doesn’t understand a bunch of other issues either. Those are her own words, not mine. Here are these own words:
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Nobody Will Escape the Coming Pension Storm—It Will Be Every Man for Himself / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: John_Mauldin
The coming pension and unfunded government liabilities storm is so big that many of us simply can’t get out of the way, at least not without great difficulty. This holds true not just for the US but for almost all of the developed world.
I did a lot of thinking after we published last week's Thoughts from the Frontline about the coming pension tsunami (subscribe here for free)—especially as I was reading your comments—and I wished I had made my warning even more alarming.
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Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Uncle Sam vs. Russia in Eastern Syria: the Nightmare Scenario / Politics / Syria
By: Mike_Whitney
The impending collapse of ISIS has touched off a race for territory in the oil-rich eastern part of Syria pitting US-backed forces against the Russian-led coalition of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. This is the nightmare scenario that everyone wanted to avoid. Washington and Moscow’s armies are now converging on the same area at the same time greatly increasing the probability of a conflagration between the two nuclear-armed superpowers. The only way a clash can be avoided is if one party backs down, which seems increasingly unlikely.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
The Left Behind of America and Germany, Europe / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
“Forget Germany, Spain Is The Real Problem”, reads a headline. Eh… no. Germany is definitely the problem in Europe. Spain is a bit player. That doesn’t mean nothing major could happen in Spain in its fight with Catalonia, and soon, but Spain, like all EU nations, is a de facto province of Germany.
What matters in the end is how Brussels and Merkel deal with Spain. And while it’s tempting to say that perhaps Brussels, the EU, is the main European problem, the European Union is run exclusively by and for Germany, so that doesn’t work either.
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Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Why Left Wing Nuts Get Away with Murder / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
"Once Upon A Time, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away" the left wing of the political spectrum were the vanguard of opposing the globalist warfare matrix. The anti-war movement changed the world in the 1960's and stopped the bloody carnage in Viet Nam. Judging by today's standards, that world is forgotten and the replacement culture has an attitude that preserving the empire is necessary no matter how trumped up the rationale is to maintain perpetual conflict. Choose the newest enemy; Jihad Islam, Russian nationalism, Chinese supremacy or North Korean belligerence and any dedicated internationalist can spin an argument why fighting the next war is necessary.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
BREAKING NEWS - United States Galloping Towards Nuclear War with China Proxy North Korea / Politics / North Korea
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Virtually every day brings forth BREAKING NEWS of the war of words being played out by the worlds two nuclear armed lunatics, Trump and Jong Un) stumbling there way into a hot war that would soon turn nuclear.
The latest exchange of verbal missiles began with America's Delirious President Trump grandstanding at the UN, threatening that he was prepared to totality destroy North Korea if 'Rocket Man' would not shut his big fat mouth, and stopped threatening the US and it's interests in the region.
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Monday, September 25, 2017
Here’s Why Turkey Can’t Stay Out Of Syria / Politics / Middle East
By: John_Mauldin
By Jacob L. Shapiro, Mauldin Economics : Turkey has tried not to be involved in Syria since the Syrian civil war began.
Instead, it preferred to work diplomatic angles or prop up proxies on the ground. But unseen forces keep pulling Turkey into Syria. Forces that date back to the times of the Byzantines and Ottomans.
It appears that the Turks can no longer resist, and that their security demands a more hands-on approach.
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Monday, September 25, 2017
A Constitutional Anniversary to Forget / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
While not a jubilee year, last week marked the 230th anniversary of the US Constitution. Naturally, most of its devotees enthusiastically praised the document which by now is seen on a par with Holy Writ itself. An editorial from Investor’s Business Daily provides an example of such hagiography:
Read full article... Read full article...The Constitution’s beauty is that it not only delineates our rights
as Americans, but expressly limits and defines government’s ability
to interfere in our private lives. This equipoise between citizens’
duties, responsibilities and rights makes it the defining document
or our nation’s glorious freedom.
But America is wonderful largely because of the Constitution and
those who framed it . . . .
What we have is too precious to squander . . . .*
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Catalonia, Kurdistan, Patriotism, Flags and Referendums / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
‘Tis the jolly time of elections, referendums, flags and other democracy-related issues. They are all linked in some way or another, even if that’s not always obvious. Elections, in New Zealand and Germany this weekend, referendums in Catalonia and Kurdistan the coming week, a looming Party Congress in China, quarrels about a flag in the US and then there’s always Brexit.
About China: the Congress is only in October, Xi Jinping looks sure to broaden his powers even more, and it ain’t all that democratic, but we should still follow it, if only because party officials will be either demoted or promoted, and some of them govern more people than most kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers. They say everything’s bigger in Texas, but in China everything really is. Including debt.
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