Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
America's Next War is with Iran / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Richard Becker writes: U.S. policy towards Iran is not based on 'intelligence,' faulty or otherwise; it is based on the desire to dominate a geo-strategic region.
"There is a large body of evidence including some of America’s most highly classified intelligence assessments, suggesting that the United States could be in danger of repeating a mistake similar to the one made with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq eight years ago–allowing anxieties about the policies of a tyrannical regime to distort our estimations of the state’s military capacities and intentions."
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Sunday, June 12, 2011
The Rich Are Destroying the Economy / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
Ever since the Great Recession shook the foundations of the U.S. economy, President Obama has been promising recovery. Evidence of this recovery, we were told, was manifested in the massive post-bailout profits corporations made. Soon enough, the President assured us, these corporations would tire of hoarding mountains of cash and start a hiring bonanza, followed by raising wages and benefits. It was either wishful thinking or conscious deception. The recent stock market meltdown has squashed any hope of a corporate-led recovery.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
That Speeding Freight Train You Hear is the Next Financial Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Gary_North
The mainstream financial media are running stories on the next financial crisis. This is unheard of two years into a so-called economic recovery. So weak is this recovery that the old pre-2008 confidence has not returned.
The first sign that "this time, it's different," was Treasury Secretary Geithner's statement, which received widespread coverage, that there will be another crisis.
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Friday, June 10, 2011
Welcome to Police State Amerika / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
I just had a conversation with constitutional lawyer and monetary expert Dr. Edwin Vieira. I first became acquainted with Dr. Vieira, who holds four degrees from Harvard and has extensive experience arguing cases before the Supreme Court, at our recent Casey Research Summit in Boca Raton, where he spoke on how far off the constitutional rails the nation has traveled. Here is a summary of what he told me…
Friday, June 10, 2011
America in Dire of a Mental Paradigm Shift Towards a Simpler Life - “A New Mission” / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
A sabbatical is usually a good thing as it gives a nice opportunity to take a step back, assess, reassess, and potentially relax. I’ve enjoyed the past few months away as I took time to do the above and also to try to impart a little common sense and perhaps some wisdom on the up and coming generation regarding economics, the study thereof, and more importantly, the dire consequences of failing to recognize and follow basic economic laws.
Friday, June 10, 2011
U.S. Politicians Engaged in Ongoing Sabotage Of Financial Reform / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Danny_Schechter
Some years back Thomas Franck nailed it in his book, “The Wrecking Crew.” It was subtitled “How Conservatives Rule” and showed how narrow self-interest and well practiced cynicism in the service of partisan warfare has crippled our political system resulting in a deep paralysis despite the threat of a collapse.
I call it sabotage, a tactic that goes way back and involves deliberate effort to insure that reforms are effectively undermined.
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Thursday, June 09, 2011
U.S. - Venezuelan Relations - Just 'Frozen' or Beyond Repair? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: OilPrice_Com
According to the U.S. Energy Administration, two months ago the United States total crude oil imports averaged 9,033 thousand barrels per day (tbpd), with the top five exporting countries being Canada (2,666 tbpd), Mexico (1,319 tbpd), Saudi Arabia (1,107 tbpd), Venezuela (930 tbpd) and Nigeria (918 tbpd.)
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Thursday, June 09, 2011
Is the White House Up for Grabs? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Barack Obama figured his reelection was in the bag. All he had to do was throw the progressive wing of his party a bone by pulling a few thousand troops out of Afghanistan, and then wait for the economy to gradually get stronger. What could be easier? 2012 would be a romp. He never thought that his chief economic advisor, Lawrence Summers, might have misjudged the severity of the downturn or that all those pesky "lefty" economists (Stiglitz, Baker, Reich, Thoma, Krugman etc) were right in pushing for more fiscal stimulus. After all, what did they know? Most of them would have supported another W.P.A. if they were given half a chance. Good luck slipping that by the deficit hawks in congress! Besides Wall Street wants "austerity"; so austerity it is. You don't get reelected by rocking the boat.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Financial Reform Follies: JPMorgan's Dimon Shows Why Washington Does Not Get it / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: By upstaging U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta on Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon drove home a crucial point: The U.S. version of "financial reform" just doesn't work.
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Thursday, June 09, 2011
The State's Foundations Are Collapsing / Politics / US Politics
By: Butler_Shaffer
Whenever justice is uncertain and police spying and terror are at work, human beings fall into isolation, which, of course, is the aim and purpose of the dictator state, since it is based on the greatest accumulation of depotentiated social units. ~ Carl Jung
Thursday, June 09, 2011
The Soros Effect: The Market’s Clear Rejection of Authority / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
George Soros has broken central banks, built a billion dollar fortune, and awarded himself fans around the world who adore his no-nonsense speculative approach. While he was once a kingpin of the financial markets, he took a backseat years ago to step away from his Quantum fund, only to return to an audience that has long gone.
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Thursday, June 09, 2011
Third World America 2011, We've Arrived / Politics / Social Issues
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Last summer I wrote about Arianna Huffington's latest book, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream and talked about the Great Recession, the Great Bailout, and the Great Cover-Up of financial crimes.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Fraudulent Fractional Reserve Banking Operations Means That There are No Safe Banks / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Gary_North
Occasionally, we see an official attempt at a serious discussion of what Federal Reserve System economists would like the public to believe is safe banking. This means safe fractional reserve banking. This means fraudulent safe banking. This means fantasy banking.
All fractional reserve banking rests on a legal promise: you can get your money out at any time. Yet the money that you deposit is loaned out by the bank. This means that your money is gone. Then how can you withdraw it at any time? Only if (1) the money is loaned out on a "repay instantly on demand" basis, or (2) hardly anyone will demand withdrawal at the same time. The bank will pay you out of its tiny slush fund for withdrawals. The first option assumes that the debtor is always in a position to repay at any time, which is of course ludicrous for most corporate and business borrowers. They will not agree to such terms. The second option is equally ludicrous during a banking crisis.
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Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Bernanke's Self-Serving Bold-Faced Lies / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
Inquiring minds are reading Bernanke's blatantly self-serving speech including some bold lies regarding the U.S. Economic Outlook.
I can condense Bernanke's speech down to a single paragraph. An interesting set of word cloud images follows this summation.
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Tuesday, June 07, 2011
The Republicrats One-Party Police State / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
Many years ago I listened to a detailed discussion by Ralph Nader and his team of legal advisors at a Book Fair on C-Span about why they had no chance of winning a presidential election. Simply put, they could not legally get on the ballots in enough states even with their immense teams of lawyers because the Republicans and Democrats had cooperated in passing a mass of complex, variable laws that created endless loopholes and obstructions at the state levels to make sure that no outsider like Ross Perot, even with billions of dollars, could ever again get on enough state ballots to win at the presidential level. I already knew that in general, but it was good to have such insider experience confirming my findings over the years.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Will Washington Foment War Between China and India? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
What is Washington’s solution for the rising power of China?
The answer might be to involve China in a nuclear war with India.
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Monday, June 06, 2011
Personal Secession – The Moral Way to Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Certain people and groups in California want to ban male circumcision, and they are getting measures placed on local ballots for voting.
In Louisiana, there is some sort of law about the teaching of the creation of man in the public schools that has people who dislike that law all riled up and seeking repeal.
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Monday, June 06, 2011
College for Dummies, How to Escape Debt Bondage and Actually Learn Something / Politics / Student Finances
By: Gary_North
This week, I spoke to a group of about 150 high school and college students. Most of them were products of home schooling. This is the ideal audience for my presentation on the way to beat the collegiate rip-off: a B.A. from an accredited university or college for $11,000 to $15,000, total.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
War is Good For Wall Street / Politics / US Politics
By: Washingtons_Blog
I've repeatedly pointed out that Wall Street executives are incentivized to lie, cheat and steal. So - of course - they will continue to lie, cheat and steal.
I've repeatedly noted that Wall Street owns the politicians:
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Sunday, June 05, 2011
Europe Replacing Economic Democracy with Financial Oligarchy / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Michael_Hudson
Soon after the Socialist Party won Greece’s national elections in autumn 2009, it became apparent that the government’s finances were in a shambles. In May 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead in rounding up €120bn ($180 billion) from European governments to subsidize Greece’s unprogressive tax system that had led its government into debt – which Wall Street banks had helped conceal with Enron-style accounting.