Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Unburnable Carbon Bubbles / Politics / Climate Change
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A report came out in Britain 10 days ago that deserves more attention than it got. If only because it uses the great term "unburnable carbon", great even before it's defined. It makes me ponder the popular and somewhat crazy claims about shale and fracking leading to US energy independence, the holy grail du jour.
It promises much vaunted freedom from outsiders, but what exactly does it consist of? Does it mean the ability to burn ever more carbon-based energy sources without having to buy them abroad? And does "abroad" include Canada, or do we think of this as an "energy Nafta"? Guys, if you would just waste a bit less of the stuff, you'd have been energy independent ages ago without having to inject tons of toxic concoctions into your land. What on earth are you thinking?
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Monday, April 29, 2013
The Strange History Of Global Warming Fear / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
START WITH GLOBAL COOLING FEAR
By the 1830s the science now called "glaciology" was emerging. Swiss and French scientists studying Alpine glacier advance and retreat had pieced together data on historical, meteorological, economic and agricultural changes in the Alpine region and constructed models for glacier advance and retreat that were unsettling to established scientific opinion. In particular the also-emerging science of what is now called "geology" was dominated at the time by the views of the "father of modern geology", the British scientist James Hutton, who was opposed to glaciology from the start.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Proof That Washington Hates America / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: Politics as usual has always been hard on the American people, but with the sequester, Washington has crossed the line this time.
All the sequester craziness has proven that our elected officials are not only inept, selfish, money-squandering bozos - they're also willing to actually inflict harm on the American people for political gain.
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Obama Turns America’s Retirement Dreams into Nightmares / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: If you think the U.S. government will not - or cannot - seize your money the way the government in Cyprus is doing, check out page 18 of the President's Proposed Fiscal Year 2014 Budget of the U.S. Government.
That's exactly what he intends to do.
Not years from now. Not decades from now.
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Ron Paul - Why Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.
These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Economic Recovery - Who Won? The 93% or the 7%? Why? / Politics / Economic Recovery
By: Mike_Shedlock
Economic trends since 2009 show A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy; Declines for the Lower 93%
Read full article... Read full article...During the first two years of the nation's economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Secretary General Ban Boosts Boom In Green Energy / Politics / Renewable Energy
By: Andrew_McKillop
WELCOME TO THE BUBBLE
Lord Stern, chairman of the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute said this month that some 60%-80% of oil, gas and coal reserves and resources owned by the world's major stock exchange listed energy and natural resource firms "need to be left in the ground if the world wants to tackle climate change". To be sure, the market value of these companies could fall by that amount, or more, due to their forward investment spending being based on increasing future output and sales.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Fed Responsible for Grandest Larceny of All Time / Politics / Central Banks
By: Bill_Bonner
Gold seems to be coming back fast. It rose $38 per ounce yesterday.
Of course, the Fed's monetary meddling doesn't work. And it will most likely cause a financial disaster.
But the biggest scandal of today's central bank policy is that it is essentially the grandest larceny of all time.
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
The US Turned India into a Dangerous Nuclear Power / Politics / India
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis: While the United States beats the war drums over North Korea and Iran’s long-ranged nuclear armed missiles –which they don’t even possess – Washington remains curiously silent about the arrival of the world’s newest member of the big nuke club – India.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
U.S. Government Manipulated Economic Statistics / Politics / Economic Statistics
By: Peter_Schiff
Don Draper, Mad Men's master advertiser likes to say "when you don't like what they are saying, change the conversation." When it comes to the current economic weakness, which was confirmed again today by the release of lower than expected GDP data, Washington would love do just that. Fortunately for them, they consistently outdo the master minds of Madison Avenue when it comes to misdirection. If the government doesn't like what people are saying, they don't bother just to change the conversation, they change the meaning of the words.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Old Are Prospering at the Expense of the Youth / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Billionaire financier and Home Depot founder Ken Langone guest-hosted Bloomberg TV's "Market Makers" today and discussed the U.S. economy, the Obama administration, generational theft, along with Wall Street banks and director pay.
On generational theft: "I like to get a bunch of old geezers in the room and say, you're on an island with your grandchild. You have one meal left. One of you is going to starve to death. What are you as a grandfather going to do? Everyone says, I give the food to my grandchild. They are not doing that now. We are not doing that now."
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Friday, April 26, 2013
From Subprime Crisis to QE3 the Federal Reserve has Failed America / Politics / Central Banks
By: Richard_Mills
Alan Greenspan was chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to early 2006. Greenspan used monetary policy to ignite one of the longest economic booms in history. Of course booms can soon turn to bust and nowhere was the boom more evident than in the housing industry - the sub-prime crisis collapsed the housing boom just after Greenspan left the Fed.
Sub-Prime Crisis
"The banking problems of the '80s and '90s came primarily, but not exclusively, from unsound real estate lending." L. William Seidman, former chairman of both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Resolution Trust Corporation
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Friday, April 26, 2013
American Empires Drone Wars Flow On / Politics / War on Terror
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
As far back as May 8, 2009, Tom Englehardt (in an LRC article) mentioned reports that drones in Pakistan had killed "hundreds of bystanders". (I haven't searched for the earliest such reports.) By October, 2012, a 36-page study appeared out of Columbia Law School, and I believe it was not the first. Analysts for quite some time had begun saying that drone strikes created more terrorists than they killed, and that the people being targeted were not "high" terrorist figures. There was also a great deal of criticism of second strikes on funerals for the people killed. But drone policy was Obama's baby, and he favored it.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Global Balance of Power Anarchy and Hegemony / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Robert D. Kaplan writes: Everyone loves equality: equality of races, of ethnic groups, of sexual orientations, and so on. The problem is, however, that in geopolitics equality usually does not work very well. For centuries Europe had a rough equality between major states that is often referred to as the balance-of-power system. And that led to frequent wars. East Asia, by contrast, from the 14th to the early 19th centuries, had its relations ordered by a tribute system in which China was roughly dominant. The result, according to political scientist David C. Kang of the University of Southern California, was a generally more peaceful climate in Asia than in Europe.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Examples of Wasteful U.S. Government Spending: Duplicate Programs Squander Billions / Politics / Government Spending
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: So many federal agencies are duplicating one another's efforts in so many different areas that the billions lost to such wasteful government spending is impossible to calculate.
A recent report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office uncovered 162 areas of duplicate spending, which at minimum wastes tens of billions of dollars every year.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
A Message for America's Middle and Lower Class Slaves / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
Hi Slaveys,
What a month... near economic collapse in Cyprus giving us a taste of what's going to happen to our bank accounts here when things start to really fall apart (Bitcoin, anyone?), people blowing up people with bombs, badly maintained factories (inexplicably built near homes) exploding, Chicago under water, and a government that's 100% unresponsive and useless to anyone who isn't lining their pockets. Time to revisit Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for some tips on how to live the calmest life possible for people who aren't able to leave the States.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
The Misguided Case for Capital Controls / Politics / Credit Crisis 2013
By: Casey_Research
By International Man, Network
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently penned an article in which he comes out in favor of capital controls.
Not surprisingly, his argument follows the near cookie-cutter justification used by governments throughout history to seize more control over their citizens.
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
U.S. Government Set to End tax Free Internet Shopping / Politics / Taxes
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: A controversial Internet sales tax moving through Congress will mostly benefit big corporations and state governments while hurting thousands of small businesses and consumers.
The Marketplace Fairness Act would essentially end tax-free Internet shopping by forcing online retailers with revenue of $1 million or more to collect sales taxes for the states in which their customers reside.
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Farm Supports and Social Welfare / Politics / Food Crisis
By: BATR
The planting season is in full swing as is the transfer of subsidies to big agriculture and social welfare food stamps. Which has more worth, paying the Monsanto and property tax bill or running a public assistance program that allows for the buying of lottery tickets? Well, if you are Congress, both have benefit, but mostly for their political value. Why are food stamps part of the Farm Bill? Nancy Marshall-Genzer makes a shrewd observation.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
From New York to Boston, They Thought They Were Free / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Jorge Gato writes: ‘Twas an uneasy gut feeling that bid me to leave the Land of Milk & Honey several years ago. Something in the air didn’t smell right. The fascist frog pot has been steaming on low flame for a while now, but it is a slow simmer until you reach that exponential boiling point of no return. The recent turn of events has me somewhat startled (with fascination of course, as I shall fear no evil).