Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, March 12, 2012
With Putin in Power It's Laughable Russia is One of the BRIC Economies / Politics / Russia
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
The re-election of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin last week means even more crony capitalism in Russia.
With Putin in power nothing will change.
In fact, it's laughable that Russia is still even considered among the group of the world's most glamorous emerging markets - otherwise known as the "BRICs."
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Monday, March 12, 2012
The Collapse of American Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
One week ago, US Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a speech asserting the right of the president to secretly order the assassination of American citizens. Citing the so-called “war on terror,” he claimed that this never-before-asserted authority was lawful under the president’s war-making powers and was not subject to judicial review.
Monday, March 12, 2012
America's Afghanistan Legacy / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Stephen_Lendman
In his book titled, "Freedom Next Time: Resisting the Empire," John Pilger discussed Afghanistan, saying:
"Through all the humanitarian crises in living memory, no country has been abused and suffered more, and none has been helped less than Afghanistan."
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Monday, March 12, 2012
The Global Financial Crisis is a Global Human Rights Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Danny_Schechter
Journalists for the most part report what they know and hope that someone pays attention. With so many media outlets, brands, bloggers and sloggers out there, it is rare for challenging ideas to touch a larger nerve or get visibility beyond fragmented followings.
The idea of winning global attention is a far off dream unless you break the biggest exclusive or win the first interview with, say, Jesus on his return to earth. (And that could be ignored if your name isn’t Oprah, etc.)
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Sunday, March 11, 2012
United States, Land of the Mega-rich, No Jobs For Americans / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that 227,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs were created by the economy during February. Is the government’s claim true?
No. Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that 44,000 of these jobs or 19% consist of an add-on factor derived from the BLS’s estimate that 44,000 more unreported jobs from new business start-ups were created than were lost by unreported business failures. The BLS’s estimate comes from the bureau’s “birth-death model,” which works better during normal times, but delivers erroneous results during troubled times such as the economy has been experiencing during the past four years.
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Sunday, March 11, 2012
Western Collapse Slow Motion Suicide Moves To Fast Mode / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
WESTERN CIVILIZATION DECLINE - OR FALL ?
This was a great refreshing read, written by Niall Ferguson, making the point that civilizations tend to decline very fast at their end, like the value of a put/call option as it nears expiry. It is easy to agree with Niall Ferguson but its also easy to disagree, especially as we get down inside his article in MO:
Friday, March 09, 2012
How to Ruin Your Economy / Politics / US Debt
By: Bill_Bonner
We can learn a lot from the Argentines. When it comes to messing up an economy, they’re Numero Uno. They’re Olympians of financial legerdemain and masters of the old false shuffle.
In 2001, the country was deeply in debt. The government was out of money. And the currency was losing value fast. What did the Argentines do?
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Friday, March 09, 2012
The Real Situation in Iraq / Politics / Iraq War
By: OilPrice_Com
A delegation from the International Energy Agency spent two days in Baghdad speaking with high-ranking officials in preparation for an end-of-year report on the country's oil sector. By some estimates, Iraq could hold some of the largest oil reserves in the world and an international auction for oil and natural gas blocks is planned for May. Without a hydrocarbon law, and considering the fractured political system, the IEA's report may be more about political obstacles than oil potential, however.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Gold, Silver and the Crisis of the Fractional Banking System / Politics / Gold and Silver 2012
By: Bob_Chapman
The Pan Asia Gold Exchange (PAGE) – was to represent real price discovery and that is yet to happen. The first move to smother the exchange was by an increase of holdings in the endeavor. This move was to stop them from constructing their own platform rather than buying an existing platform. Due to that move shareholders rose from 10% to 25%. That brought in additional directors whose job it obviously was to stop the fully allocated spot contract. One of these directors was a US banker who has worked for the Federal Trade Commission, the Sloan Foundation at MIT and whose wife is a member of the CFR, the Council on Foreign Relations. Thus, nothing is going to happen to this venture until next year for a variety of reasons. Fortunately a new exchange is on the way to replace PAGE, which we will fill you in on in a few months.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
How the Government Lies About the Real Inflation Rate / Politics / Inflation
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
More experts are saying what most Americans have suspected for years - the real inflation rate is much higher than the government is willing to admit.
Officially, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the inflation rate, or Consumer Price Index (CPI), for 2011 was 3%.
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Thursday, March 08, 2012
Facts on the Horrific U.S. Long-Term Economic Decline / Politics / US Economy
By: LewRockwell
End of the American Dream writes: Most Americans know that things used to be much better in the United States, but they don't have the facts and the figures to back that belief up. Well, after reading the shocking statistics in this article nobody should be left with any doubt that things have gotten worse in America. There are less jobs, incomes are down, home values have plummeted, poverty is up, consumer debt is way up, dependence of the government has skyrocketed and government debt is totally out of control. Sadly, it hasn't really mattered which political party has had control over the White House. Things have gotten worse under Obama, they got worse under Bush, and they got worse under Clinton. We are in the midst of a horrific long-term economic decline and the American people desperately need to wake up.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Empty Fort Knox Gold and Loaded Guns / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
All guns are loaded. Never forget this.
I never knew my great uncle Gerald. That's because he was killed in an accident. His son shot him.
Uncle Gerald was a hunter in Oregon. He had taught his son to regard every gun as loaded. He always was careful to unload his gun whenever he came in from hunting. But one day he forgot. His son, knowing that his father was meticulous about such things, for some reason pulled the trigger.
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Eurocrats and Their Vassals / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Fred_Sheehan
On February 29, 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) lent €529 to European banks, most of it, in three-year loans. This was the second such operation, launched with another mind-numbing acronym: LTRO (long-term financing operation). In the first LTRO (December 2011), €489 was lent to European banks. In the February 29, 2012, operation, 800 banks borrowed. According to the Financial Times, "broader collateral rules drew in smaller banks."
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012
U.S. Fed Flying Blind / Politics / Central Banks
By: Axel_Merk
In assessing whether to make tough decisions, policy makers tend to weigh the cost of action versus inaction. As critical as we are of our dear policy makers, when push comes to shove, they may rise to the occasion. But what if they are not told when it's time to act, when it's time to stop printing and spending trillions? In our assessment, the voice of reason has been silenced, posing potential risks to economic stability, as well as the U.S. dollar. That voice of reason is no other than the market itself. Let us explain.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
The Mainstream Media Still Doesn’t Get the ECB Greek Debt Swap / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
First off, the details of the swap are as follows: the ECB simply exchanged 50€ billion worth of old Greek sovereign bonds (which were soon to be worth much less if not be outright worthless) for 50€ billion worth of new Greek sovereign bonds which would not be exposed to default risk or any kind of debt restructuring (unlike those bonds held by private Greek bond holders).
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
The Debt Deleveraging Big Lie / Politics / US Debt
By: James_Quinn
Cause, Effect & The Fallacy Of Return To Normalcy
“Thousands upon thousands are yearly brought into a state of real poverty by their great anxiety not to be thought of as poor.” - Robert Mallett
I hear the term de-leveraging relentlessly from the mainstream media. The storyline that the American consumer has been denying themselves and paying down debt is completely 100% false. The proliferation of this Big Lie has been spread by Wall Street and their mouthpieces in the corporate media. The purpose is to convince the ignorant masses they have deprived themselves long enough and deserve to start spending again. The propaganda being spouted by those who depend on Americans to go further into debt is relentless. The “fantastic” automaker recovery is being driven by 0% financing for seven years peddled to subprime (aka deadbeats) borrowers for mammoth SUVs and pickup trucks that get 15 mpg as gas prices surge past $4.00 a gallon. What could possibly go wrong in that scenario? Furniture merchants are offering no interest, no payment deals for four years on their product lines. Of course, the interest rate from your friends at GE Capital reverts retroactively to 29.99% at the end of four years after the average dolt forgot to save enough to pay off the balance. I’m again receiving two to three credit card offers per day in the mail. According to the Wall Street vampire squids that continue to suck the life blood from what’s left of the American economy, this is a return to normalcy.
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Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Assessing China's Strategy / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Simply put, China has three core strategic interests.
Paramount among them is the maintenance of domestic security. Historically, when China involves itself in global trade, as it did in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the coastal region prospers, while the interior of China -- which begins about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the coast and runs about 1,600 kilometers to the west -- languishes. Roughly 80 percent of all Chinese citizens currently have household incomes lower than the average household income in Bolivia. Most of China's poor are located west of the richer coastal region. This disparity of wealth time and again has exposed tensions between the interests of the coast and those of the interior. After a failed rising in Shanghai in 1927, Mao Zedong exploited these tensions by undertaking the Long March into the interior, raising a peasant army and ultimately conquering the coastal region. He shut China off from the international trading system, leaving China more united and equal, but extremely poor.
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Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Catch 22 for Western Democracies / Politics / Global Economy
By: Mario_Innecco
The Catch-22 , not only for the P.I.I.G.S., but for the whole of the Western democracies is the size of government and the need to cut the size of government. The equation for calculating G.D.P. is G.D.P. = C + I + G + (X-M) which stands for Private Consumption + Gross Investment + Government Spending + (Exports - Imports).
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Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Western Civilisation Slow Decline or Fast Fall? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
I had my nose in Niall Ferguson's newest book, Civilization: The West and the Rest, at every possible moment during my recent trip to Hong Kong and Singapore. It's powerful and very, very timely, and I strongly recommend it. To help get the word out, I asked Niall for a short, somewhat personal piece on the thinking behind the book – in other words, what moved him to write it?
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Sweet Home Chicago: G8 Meeting Moved But Protests Will Continue / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Who called whom first?
Did the Obama alumni Association in Chicago---David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, and Bill Daley---get nervous and call the White House, or was it Barack himself, having disposed/co-opted one threat by the name of Netanyahu, who recognized he had a more serious problem the horizon.
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