Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Sunday, March 09, 2008
US Elections- Why the Press Corp Keeps Getting it Wrong / Politics / US Politics
Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek called Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination “inevitable.” It also called for Hillary Clinton to “start campaign for Sen. majority leader.” Newsweek was one of only dozens of national media that made that “analysis.” But the voters had their own ideas.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Why a Carbon Tax Would Hit Living Standards / Politics / Climate Change
Mr Humphreys complains that I ignored his proposal to offset the costs of a carbon tax by cutting other taxes. It's clear that he overlooked the fact that I made the effort of stressing that his proposal was designed to be "revenue neutral". But one of my major points is that it does not matter whether the carbon tax is "revenue neutral" or not. What matters is the impact of the tax on Australia's capital structure. This is a vital question that Humphreys failed to address.(I should point out that the Centre for Independent Studies — for whom Humphreys' monograph was written — have been as equally remiss).Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 02, 2008
US Election Make or Break Tuesday for Democrats Clinton and Obama / Politics / US Politics
It makes a refreshing ' CHANGE' as we have heard so many times over recent months, to have a real election campaign especially given today's hand picked Russian pseudo-election which effectively re-elects Putin for another 8 years.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 02, 2008
New Russian President Elected Medvedev Putin / Politics / Russia
ew Russian President Elected Medvedev Putin
Even before the polls close, there is no doubt that Dmitry Medvedev will be the new President of Russia. The only information that remains outstanding is the margin of his victory.
By all accounts, Dmitry Medvedev´s landslide victory could collect around 70 percent of the votes, but may fall a little short of Putin´s 71.3 percent victory in 2004 (but not by very much!)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
US Election Investor Political Priorities - A Survey / Politics / US Politics
Here we are, in the midst of a presidential campaign, trying to select a new leader for what is still the most economically powerful nation on Earth. The candidates are kissing all the babies they can get their palms on and smiling until their cheek muscles ache; but will they be able to produce any of the changes they talk about? Do we really want them to?Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
China Factor on US Economics and Politics - The Adverse Feedback Loop, Part One / Politics / China
My wife begins by offering a disclaimer. She is, she tells me, not a watcher of The View but tunes in only for the first five minutes. I, as a disclaimer, never watch the program nor do I consider myself much more than common couch critic of what television has to offer. The reason she brings this up to me over cocktails one night hinges on China. Why, she asks me, does Whoopi Goldberg seem so fixated on the country?Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Why is the Centre for Independent Studies Supporting the Destructive Carbon Tax? / Politics / Climate Change
Last week I wrote an article in which I condemned a carbon tax that John Humphreys is promoting for the Centre for Independent Studies. Mr Humphreys responded with an email to a reader in which he said: "I never claimed that a tax was a free-market mechanism". But I never accused him of making such a claim. What I did was call his approach "fallacious" and I used the following quote in support of my opinion:Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Obama Beating Clinton - Hope Prevails Over Help / Politics / US Politics
Hope mongering has been working much better than experience mongering. Now, the rest of the story….As befits American culture, politics is all about slick selling to the masses. Hillary Clinton is selling Day-1 help to victims and sufferers. Barack Obama is selling effervescent hope to yes-we-can dreamers. This media hyped horse race is like a fight between diet Coke and diet Pepsi, artificially sweetened candidates devoid of real nourishment.
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Monday, February 18, 2008
President Bush's African Safari to Find Friendly Faces / Politics / US Politics
President Bush is in Africa this week, sulking because he didn't get his way.In one of the rare times the past seven years, the House of Representatives, now under Democrat control for the first time in 12 years, defended the Constitution and refused to allow the President to bully it with a program of fear mongering. He really tried, though.
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Monday, February 18, 2008
The Democrats and the US Economy: Facts and Fallacies / Politics / US Politics
Democrats are doing what they do best: promising what they cannot possibly deliver, particularly when it comes to the economy. Listening to Dems pronounce on the economy is tantamount to "cruel and unusual punishment". What these clowns don't understand is that economics is a highly theoretical discipline with particular characteristics of its own, the main one being that economic problems tend to require long chains of complex reasoning. It is this inherent difficulty that gives rise to an abundance of fallacies and explains why people, seeing only the immediate effects of a particular policy or investment decision, tend to fall into the fallacy of composition and assume the same must hold for the economy as a whole.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, February 15, 2008
A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order F. William Engdahl - Part I / Politics / New World Order
F. William Engdahl is a leading researcher, economist and analyst of the New World Order who's written on issues of energy, politics and economics for over 30 years. He contributes regularly to publications like Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Foresight magazine, Grant's Investor.com, European Banker and Business Banker International. He's also a frequent speaker at geopolitical, economic and energy related international conferences and is a distinguished Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization where he's a regular contributor.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Russia 's Czar Putin? / Politics / Russia
Russia is a misunderstood country. The majority of Russian people are free thinking and determined to make Russia an open and fair society. Russia will never become a little America; however, Russia can be a key trading partner and ally. Many political observers have been predicting the absolute KGB style seizure of power by Vladimir Putin, particularly when it comes to the presidential elections in 2008 and an anticipated attempt to modify or ignore the Russian constitution and seek a third term.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 11, 2008
Democracy in the Madhouse / Politics / Social Issues
The success of self-government ultimately depends on the nature of the self to be governed.
Historians believe the earliest example of democracy occurred in India during the 6 th century B.C. There is, however, an earlier example, the story of which was lost for centuries and only recently rediscovered.
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Ron Paul Talks about the US Economic Collapse / Politics / US Economy
Anyone who has not listened carefully to what Congressman Ron Paul is saying should probably have a quick listen. Congressman (and Presidential Candidate) Paul has served on The House Banking Committee and The Financial Services Committee. If anyone is in a position to see what our country has in store financially it is this man.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 04, 2008
Eliminate Investment and Corporate Taxes - Investors For The Fair Tax Unite / Politics / Taxes
The vast majority of Americans are investors, although many don't realize it. The vast majority of Americans are creative with their 1040 numbers, although most won't admit it. The majority of Americans would agree that investing, retirement planning, and estate preservation would be easier to manage if the Internal Revenue Code was comprehensible. A landslide of American voters would elect any candidate championing IRC replacement surgery.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 04, 2008
Western Democracies Have Evolved Into Tyrannical Governments / Politics / New World Order
Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived.Activists and dissidents should understand that evil forces and tyrannical governments have evolved. Just as human knowledge and science expand, so do the strategies and instruments used by rulers, elites and plutocrats. By learning from history and using new technology they have smarter tools of tyranny. The best ones prevent uprisings, revolutions and political reforms. Rather than violently destroy rebellious movements, they let them survive as marginalized and ineffective efforts that divert and sap the energy of nonconformist and rebellious thinkers. Real revolution remains an energy-draining dream, as evil forces thrive.
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Sunday, February 03, 2008
Internet Undersea Cable Cut - Targeting of Iran? / Politics / Iran
There has been some concern that the undersea internet cables, that have been cut recently, are perhaps no accident?The first incident happened 8km from Alexandria in Egypt, which involved 2 cables apparently alongside each other. According to initial reports, the cables may have been "snapped" by a ship´s anchor.
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Friday, February 01, 2008
US / Mexico Border, Drug Trafficing and the US Economy / Politics / US Politics
Protecting the border is a big part of the presidential political debates. This week in a special edition of Outside the Box, my friends at Stratfor give us yet one more reason why we should be concerned when we look south. The topic not only concerns security, but our economy. The drug trade is becoming a problem. This is a short but very disturbing letter, but you should read it.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Is the Earth Heading for an ICE Age As Sunspot Activity Subsides? / Politics / Climate Change
According to a Press Release from the SSRC (Space and Science Research Center) in Orlando, Florida (dated January 2, 2008), "substantial changes" on the Sun´s surface will bring about the next climate change, and a long spell of cold weather.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 14, 2008
Socialist Myths vs Capitalism / Politics / Social Issues
I am forever getting emails from ignorant socialists accusing capitalism of all manner of heinous crimes. Clearly the socialist view of economic history is deeply rooted in Western society, a view based on facts that turn out to be nothing but socialist myths derived from political prejudices deeply hostile to the classical liberal order. This, I believe, accounts for the staggering ignorance of leftwing critics. The contents of one particularly stupid email immediately brought to mind an especially bigoted anti-capitalist tirade by Bryan Patterson that he wrote some years ago.Read full article... Read full article...