Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Rethinking Edward Snowden: Unwitting Enabler of the Corporate-Libertarian-Technocratic State? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Simply, I think the conundrum of enigmatic Edward Snowden is beginning to offer glimpses that somewhat validate an early and tentative hypothesis of mine. I supported his actions and even called him another "Paul Revere" (of sorts), a "hero"; but I also suspected his political philosophy would shape an outcome altogether undemocratic and oligarchic. Having voted for an unidentified 3rd party candidate in 2008; Ron Paul in 2012; and is now supporting Rand Paul, Snowden is promoting capitalistic/libertarian movements. Such movements, often wrapped in the flag of the "Republic", singing anthems to "Liberty" and demonizing central government, are enterprises - including those created around Snowden (e.g., Glenn Greenwald) - that exploit anti-government sentiments while whitewashing, even omitting the dangers neoliberalism poses; denouncing government surveillance but silent about the corporate side of the totalitarian state.
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Saturday, May 23, 2015
Is Greece Still A Country If Someone Else Owns Its Assets? / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Rubino
This story isn’t actually about Greece, but it begins there.
After the country went functionally bankrupt a few years ago, the solutions proposed by its creditors (mostly European banks and governments) included the impoverishment of its current citizens through cutbacks in wages and pensions, the impoverishment of its future citizens through the borrowing of even more money from the IMF and European Central Bank, and the sale of major state-owned assets to foreign companies to raise cash with which to make upcoming loan payments.
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Friday, May 22, 2015
Time To Get Real About China / Politics / China
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The present Chinese leadership appears to be trying to gain (regain?) more -if not full- control over the country’s economic system, while at the same time (re-)boosting the growth it has lost in recent years.
President Xi Jinping, prime minister Li Keqiang and all of their subservient leaders – there are 1000′s of those in a 1.4 million citizens country- apparently think this can be done. Yours truly doubts it.
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Friday, May 22, 2015
The Great Un-Participation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ―George S. Patton, Jr.
“Without any censorship, in the West, fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally, your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day.”
―Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Friday, May 22, 2015
UK Immigration Crisis Could Prompt BREXIT, Propelling Britain Out of EU Despite German Factor / Politics / Immigration
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest immigration statistics once more bring home the stark reality that the UK has no control over its borders, where rather than annual net immigration in the tens of thousands as David Cameron promised at the start of his 2010 Premiership, instead it has once more soared by 50% to 318,000 for 2014, which makes a mockery of every promise and pledge that the Conservatives have made for the past 5 years of not just controlling immigration but on public services and housing, for none of the promises will be fulfilled if the nations population is being artificially inflated by over 300,000 per year which is in addition to the 250,000 natural growth (births-deaths).
Thursday, May 21, 2015
America Superpower 2016 / Politics / US Military
By: John_Mauldin
Ian Bremmer’s new book on the future of the US and geopolitics, Superpower, just hit the streets yesterday, and it’s already creating quite a buzz. It draws on Bremmer’s remarkable understanding of politics, America, and the world. I first ran into Ian at a conference about four years ago, where he was the after-dinner keynote speaker. It was one of those dinners where I had to go (I had spoken earlier), and I confess I had no knowledge of Ian other than his official bio. A professor of geopolitics. From New Yawk. So this Texas boy settled in while Ian walked on stage … and in three seconds I realized that this was an uber-nerd. Total geek. Seriously, when Hollywood wants to type cast a brilliant super-nerd, they should use Ian as the model. He hit all my stereotype buttons, and I of all people should know better.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Russia-West Rivalry in the Balkans / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Russia, Turkey and the West all share one rival in the Balkans: political instability. Located at the confluence of three historic empires, the strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea has long been the focus of competition among global powers. Now it is just one arena in the standoff between Russia and the West. Yet, with both sides attempting to buy influence with investments and energy projects, and with Turkey struggling to keep pace, internal political challenges threaten to undermine outside efforts to develop and shape the region. As major powers use their financial and political clout to gain influence in the Balkans, weak local governments will continue to balance among competing nations.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Countdown to Global Financial Collapse / Politics / Credit Crisis 2015
By: Submissions
Raymond Matison writes: It is a well established practice of market and economic observers to either predict the direction of a company, financial market or the economy, or the expected timing of an event –but not both. The reason for this is that past experience has made such prognosticators humble in attempting to predict both. However, since many experienced observers have already predicted a continued decline in our economy, the likely collapse of our currency and banking system, and a consequent global depression, what remains is only to answer the question of timing. No longer are we required to forecast both events; we can now concentrate on predicting just the timing of this event. Famous economists and market commentators have valuable reputations to shield, and so they are not likely to forecast the window in time when the likely rapid collapse is to begin. This can only be risked by others.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Greece Debt Crisis - Obama Has A Big Fat Greek Finger / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Will this Greek stuff ever stop? Probably, but don’t hold your breath. I was reading up on China, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. A friend just sent me a Sputnik story -they’re a Russian news channel, so they can’t be trusted, right?!- that adds more juice to the Syriza vs troika tale. And whaddaya know, the king of Greece leaks, Paul Mason at Channel 4, is involved once again.
Let’s do Mason first. He’s in Athens and, wait for it, he scored another leak. But not a direct leak to Mason; this one concerns a European Commission document leaked to Greek newspaper To Vima. There are some useful numbers here. Mason:
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Tuesday, May 19, 2015
The Patriot Act is now USA Freedom Act / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: BATR
How many times has the mainstream media mentioned the USA Freedom Act? Well, if you did hear of this legislation, you must have been watching C-SPAN or a foreign press channel. Read a report from NPR, that government funded broadcast, which never fails to present a known editorial viewpoint.
Monday, May 18, 2015
The IMF Leaks Greece, Institutions Forcing a Debt Default / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Whenever secret or confidential information or documents are leaked to the press, the first question should always be who leaked it and why. That’s often more important than the contents of what has been leaked. And since there’s been a lot of hullabaloo about a leaked document the past two days, here’s a closer look. Spoiler alert: the document(s) don’t reveal much of anything new, despite the hullabaloo.
Monday, May 18, 2015
New U.S. Military Spending Bill Expands American Empire But Forbids Debate on War / Politics / US Military
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
On Friday the House passed a massive National Defense Authorization for 2016 that will guarantee US involvement in more wars and overseas interventions for years to come. The Republican majority resorted to trickery to evade the meager spending limitations imposed by the 2011 budget control act - limitations that did not, as often reported, cut military spending but only slowed its growth.
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Sunday, May 17, 2015
UK Election Result Strikes Another Blow Against EU / Politics / European Union
By: MISES
Ryan W. McMaken writes: With the victory of the Conservatives in last week’s British election, the future of both the European Union and the United Kingdom looks more doubtful. Newly re-elected Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, in order to please anti-EU constituents who were essential to his re-election, promised a referendum on EU membership by 2017, although it could come sooner than that.
At the same time, the promised referendum is again inflaming secessionist sentiment among Scottish nationalists and separatists who wish to remain a part of the EU.
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Friday, May 15, 2015
A Novel Way to Kill Jobs and Tax Employers / Politics / Government Intervention
By: MISES
Christopher J. O'Connell writes: The state of Connecticut may be embarking on new territory as they seem to be pushing a rather creative way to extract revenue from for-profit businesses. The state legislature of Connecticut has proposed what’s commonly referred to as SB1044. Muddled in the labyrinth known as legal terminology, we find this gem of a sentence in the bill itself:
Friday, May 15, 2015
Why Not Tell Greece How To Run A Democracy? / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I know I’ve talked about this before, but it just keeps coming and it keeps being crzay.Bloomberg ‘reports’ that the ‘German Finance Ministry’, let me get this right, “is supporting the idea of a vote by Greek citizens to either accept the economic reforms being sought by creditors to receive a payout from the country’s bailout program or ultimately opt to leave the euro.” And that’s it.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Extorting Low-Income Individuals to Help "the Poor" / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Gary Galles writes: Many policies are supposedly justified because they would “take from the rich and give to the poor.” While that fits with the view that theft “for a good purpose” makes one a philanthropist, from the perspective of self-ownership, it is an assertion that the majority’s might makes their coercion right.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Obamacare Caused The Gas Tax Cut To Go Up In Flames / Politics / Natural Gas
By: Michael_Pento
Wall Street analysts unanimously cheered last fall when the price of oil fell from nearly $100 a barrel in June of 2014, to almost $45 a barrel by the end of January 2015. The theory was that the average American family, paying less at the pump, would plow this savings into other goods and services, giving GDP a much needed boost.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
UK Election 2015 Results Repercussions for America / Politics / UK General Election
By: John_Browne
The British General Election, on May 7th, was an epic in two respects. First, in spite of polls forecasting a hung parliament, David Cameron's Conservative Party was given unexpectedly large support, winning 331 seats, or 51 % for an overall majority of four,and showing once again the failure of left wing parties to make traction in Europe. Second, Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish Nationalists Party (SNP) swept the Labour Party aside in Scotland to achieve an unexpected landslide and rekindle Scottish pressure for independence and, with it, a threat to the continued cohesion of the United Kingdom. Likely there will be important long-term repercussions for the United States.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Is It Illegal To Not Pay Taxes? / Politics / Taxes
By: Jeff_Berwick
Human beings have a major cognitive dissonance problem when it comes to taxes. For some reason they don't see it as an armed extortion racket. Some even think it is "voluntary"... but as we'll show, it is far from voluntary.
Some people may fail to file taxes for numerous reasons, like personal or business problems, feelings of hopelessness or fear due to the burdensome tax process, anti-theft sentiments, or beliefs that the penalty won’t be worse than the expense and trouble of filing.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2015
China-Japan Before China-Taiwan / Politics / China
By: EconMatters
Some long time readers probably know I occasionally write about Asian geopolitics related to China and Taiwan. Since Taiwan typically goes under the radar of major news media, I usually google browse both Chinese and English news about Taiwan. Over the weekend, I came across one disturbing piece of article by Hugh White who's a professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University in Canberra. Excerpt below: