Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Washington Obsesses Over Syria Whilst Mexico Burns / Politics / Mexico
By: STRATFOR
While the foreign policy elite in Washington focuses on the 8,000 deaths in a conflict in Syria -- half a world away from the United States -- more than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2006 in Mexico. A deeply troubled state as well as a demographic and economic giant on the United States' southern border, Mexico will affect America's destiny in coming decades more than any state or combination of states in the Middle East. Indeed, Mexico may constitute the world's seventh-largest economy in the near future.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Death of the Entertainment Industry / Politics / Sector Analysis
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
There are things that many people in the developed world take for granted, especially in the states and Western Europe. Jobs, health benefits, social safety nets, affordable credit for homes/cars/etc. and cheap energy certainly rank among the most vital expectations, but even those things have been called into question within the mainstream consciousness, if for no other reason than the fact that they have simply evaporated in many locations. What hasn't really disappeared, though, are the [mindless] entertainment industries - i.e. sports, movies and video games.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
From Obamacare to Taxes: 5 Hot Topics Politicians Love to Lie About / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
Political lies are as old as the Republic, but that doesn't make the practice any less of an insult to the American people.
Whether they are about Obamacare or taxes, political lies are a special kind of deception.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Explaining Central Banking to the Publicly Educated / Politics / Central Banks
By: Jeff_Berwick
Don't understand economics? And the thought of even trying makes your eyes cross?
That's what they want. Government, which is an artificial, unnecessary construct has made a concerted effort to make economics sound as difficult as possible for decades. The reason? They can use your programmed ignorance as the publicly "educated" to confuse you about how they manipulate the economy for their benefit.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The United States in Korea: A Strategy of Inertia / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
After U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone on March 25 during his trip to South Korea for a nuclear security summit, he made the obligatory presidential remarks warning North Korea against continued provocations. He also praised the strength of U.S.-South Korean relations and commended the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there. Obama's visit itself is of little importance, but it is an opportunity to ask just what Washington's strategy is in Korea and how the countries around North Korea (China, Russia, South Korea and Japan) view the region. As always, any understanding of current strategy requires a consideration of the history of that strategy.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
HUGE Changes Coming To Planet Earth, 2012 is HERE! / Politics / Social Issues
By: T_Anthony_Michael
Cosmic Convergence Accelerates Epochal Change On Planet Earth
What happens when an unparalleled Solar Maximium occurs while Pluto is cruising through Capricorn, seismic activity and vulcanism (both undersea and on land) have already seen a dramatic uptick, technospheric breakdown has greatly accelerated, entire species have vacated the planet as whole ecosystems are irreparably destroyed, global climate change appears as global warming, cooling, drought or deluge, and the worldwide financial system is on the verge of collapse, as in a total and complete, irreversible monetary meltdown? Believe it or not, these actual occurrences and various eventualities are the very least of our problems.
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
As the U.S. Constitution Burns, we sleep...then wake! / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Are Americans willing to surrender their constitutional protections in order to fight “terrorism”? Attorney General Erik Holder and President Obama believe they are willing, and continue to pave the way for dismantling our rights in the name of national defense.
From the Patriot Act to HR347 (acts of terrorism against Americans and the Constitution by this and past administrations), the American people have remained numb, dumb and compliant. When the Constitution, the legal foundation of law itself, is compromised and violated by the very branches of government to whom it is entrusted, all law is violated, and lawlessness prevails in its stead.
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Will Holland Escape the Eurozone Debt Crisis by Exiting the European Union? / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Mauldin
For your Outside the Box today I treat you to another big, juicy slab of Grant Williams' Things That Make You Go Hmmm… I don't want to be all Grant all the time, but this is just so good I couldn't resist. This week, Grant is digging deep into the history and mystery of the European Union, taking us all the way back to the first inter-country treaty in April 1951 and then following the rather tortuous bureaucratic proceedings that led, by hook and by crook, to today's increasingly problematic eurozone.
Monday, March 26, 2012
New-Build Nuclear Power: A High-Risk Gamble / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Submissions
Dr Gerry Wolff writes: New report says there are five major areas of risk in putting money into new nuclear plants
According to a new report from the Energy Fair group (PDF, bit.ly/zGgbHF), anyone considering investing in new nuclear plants faces five major areas of risk: market risk, cost risk, subsidy risk, political risk and construction risk.
Monday, March 26, 2012
A Fistful of Euros / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week, my congressional committee will hold a hearing to examine how the Federal Reserve bails out European banks, propping up spendthrift European governments in the process. Unfortunately this bailout comes at the expense of American citizens, in the form of higher prices and diminished savings down the road.
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Monday, March 26, 2012
Bank Lobby's Onslaught Shifts Debate on Volcker Rule / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG TV EXCLUSIVE: Bloomberg Television's economics editor Michael McKee spoke to Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser from the Banque de France in Paris. Plosser said that he sees no need for more stimulus as the U.S. economy recovers, and he has "cautious optimism" for economic improvement.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Why Printing Money is Immoral, Value Subjectivism and Monetary Instability / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Ron_Hera
Subjectivism is the philosophy that reality is what we perceive to be real and that no underlying, true reality exists independent of human perception. In other words, the nature of reality for an individual person is dependent on that individual's own consciousness. It follows that each person experiences their own reality that is not shared with others. What is true and what seems moral to one person may not be true or moral for another person, i.e., truth and morality are relative. In contrast, objectivism is the philosophy that reality exists independent of human consciousness; that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception; and that objective knowledge of reality can be obtained through perception, evidence and logic, e.g., through scientific methods.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Bernanke, Mister In-Between is 100% Sure / Politics / Inflation
By: Fred_Sheehan
This isn't right. This isn't even wrong" ~ Wolfgang Pauli, Cambridge University physicist, attempting to read a colleague's paper.
60 MINUTES: "Can you act quickly enough to prevent inflation from getting out of control?"
BERNANKE: "We could raise interest rates in 15 minutes if we have to. So, there really is no problem with raising rates, tightening monetary policy, slowing the economy, reducing inflation, at the appropriate time. Now, that time is not now."
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Monday, March 26, 2012
Will Helicopter Bernanke Become 'Hurricane Ben'? / Politics / Quantitative Easing
By: Gary_North
This report will deal with quantitative easing (QE). To prepare you for this report, I ask you to watch a short video. It is under 3 minutes. This video is the best thing I have seen on quantitative easing. I wish Bernanke would be this forthright, but I suppose this will never happen.
I will assume from this point on that you have seen the video. If you deal with colleagues who have been confused about what QE really means, forward it to them.
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Monday, March 26, 2012
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS: The Very Real Possibility of A Global Nuclear Catastrophe / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Washingtons_Blog
The Government Spends Trillions On Unlikely Threats … But Won’t Spend a Billion Dollars to Prevent the Very Real Possibility of Global Nuclear Catastrophe
We’re Spending Money Combating the Wrong Dangers
Studies show that people are worry about the wrong things.
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
U.S. Government War on Cash / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Joseph_T_Salerno
Under cover of its multiplicity of fabricated wars on drugs, terror, tax evasion, and organized crime, the US government has long been waging a hidden war on cash. One symptom of the war is that the largest denomination of US currency is the $100 note, whose ever-eroding purchasing power is far below the purchasing power of the €500 note. US currency used to be issued in denominations running up to $10,000 (including also $500; $1,000; $5,000 notes). There was even a $100,000 note issued for transactions among Federal Reserve banks.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saudi Arabia: House of Saud, Falling House of Cards / Politics / Middle East
By: Washingtons_Blog
Saudi rulers are struggling to contain a new wave of public protests that has erupted across the Arabian kingdom as security forces open fire on unarmed civilians.
The big question: is the House of Saud finally beginning to collapse like the fragile house of cards that this creaking, ruling monarchy represents?
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Big Banks Continue to "Suck at the Government" With Never-Ending Stealth Bailouts / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Washingtons_Blog
Open-Ended Bailouts Are Continuing
We’ve previously documented the fact that bailouts of the big banks are continued in stealth mode up to the present day.
True, the banks claim they’ve repaid the Tarp bailout funds … but nearly half of the banks “repaid” such bailout funds by borrowing from other government bailout funds (and the rest could only repay money by fudging their accounting and using stealth bailouts which are are a little harder to detect).
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
MF Global Financial Collapse is Obama's Hurricane Katrina / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Jesse
Bill Black is interviewed on the Capital Accounts Show on RT.
I would be glad to show a video of Bill Black discussing important financial matters such as this on a mainstream US video program but there don't seem to be any.
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Becoming the Bank / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
Both the mainstream and alternative media spend a good amount of time reporting on the excesses of Wall Street, which range from extremely disproportionate levels of compensation to blatantly criminal practices. Whether we are talking about Goldman Sachs defrauding and front-running clients or former New Jersey governor and MF Global CEO Jon Corzine illegally transferring client funds to JP Morgan, there is a certain air of "so whatness" to the entire discussion. How extensive are these occurrences and why should we care?
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