Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Use the Dollar or Else / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: LewRockwell
Look up the phrase "a unique form of domestic terrorism" on a search engine and you will turn up a story about a man whom the US government is trying to cage from now until the time of his death.
And his crime? His unique form of terrorism? He minted silver and copper coins and sold them. In other words, he did what innumerable entrepreneurs from the beginning of time have done. He attempted to provide consumers with a store of value. No one was forced to buy. He met a market demand, and that’s it.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Obama's Empty Gas Tank / Politics / Crude Oil
By: OilPrice_Com
There is a piece of doggerel which goes:They said it couldn't be done.
So I went right to it -- that thing they said
Couldn't be done.
And I couldn't do it.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Wealth Through Decentralization is What Made America Great / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
The main reason why I have been able to make a lot of money, as well as crank out 50 volumes of books and so many articles that I cannot count them, is that no one told me to do it.
Simple, isn't it? It's called laissez-faire: let us alone.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Hyped U.S. Unemployment Numbers Despicable Lies, Delusional Economic Recovery / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
The US government lies. Sure looks like most Americans gobble up false and misleading information that is nothing less than political propaganda. Take the highly hyped unemployment number for March, 2011 of 8.8 percent that moved like a tornado through the media and was praised by Democrat politicians and the White House. As if that number is accurate, as if it fairly describes unemployment. It does not. What is called by experts, such as Leo Hindery, as the real unemployment number was actually 17.7 percent, which is remarkably higher. To appreciate that much higher number is to throw a large bucket of cold water on all the political spin on the economic recovery.
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Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Why Public Support for Free Trade Will Collapse Soon / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
For once, some good news: public support for free trade will almost certainly collapse over the next few years. On this issue, the public is way ahead of the political class in the quality of its thinking., and the average hardware store owner in Nebraska understands the real economics involved better than the average U.S. Senator.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Reasons Why Obama is Worse Than Bush / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Kitze
Activist Post writes: George W. Bush was clearly a mentally-challenged puppet of the military/banking/oil elite. The policies put it in place at breakneck speed after 9/11 were provably predetermined by think tanks well in advance. Not that other presidents were any less controlled by this hidden agenda, but there was a noticeable in-your-face quickening of corporate-government tyranny under Bush.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Why Are People So Forgiving of Government Failure? / Politics / Government Spending
By: Christopher_Westley
Once upon a time, I developed a theory that we have much lower expectations for public-sector performance than we do for private-sector performance.[1] We saw this in accounting standards that — when applied to Enron — resulted in market forces shutting that firm down, while the Department of Defense loses billions of dollars annually. The difference in terms of waste between the two sectors is exponential, but while Enron is held accountable for its ethics, the government gets a pass.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Greenspan Pandering for More Money / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has once again received space on the editorial pages of the Financial Times. He does not deserve, so shall not receive, a rebuttal. But, it is probably still worth a moment to remind readers of the interests he continues to serve.
His intention, in "How Dodd-Frank Fails to Meet the Test of Our Times" (March 30, 2001), is to kill the Dodd-Frank Act's application to the banking industry. Greenspan, of course, was more circumspect, but he is not receiving the courtesy of careful interpretation here.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Republican Budget Plan Targets Medicare With $4 Trillion in Total Spending Cuts / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: Money_Morning
Kerri Shannon writes:
House Republicans will release their 2012 budget plan today (Tuesday), proposing more than $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade and trimming billions of dollars from Medicare expenses.
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-WI, prepared the spending outline for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
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Tuesday, April 05, 2011
U.S. Wars of Humanitarianism / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
There are wars in pursuit of interest. In these wars, nations pursue economic or strategic ends to protect the nation or expand its power. There are also wars of ideology, designed to spread some idea of “the good,” whether this good is religious or secular. The two obviously can be intertwined, such that a war designed to spread an ideology also strengthens the interests of the nation spreading the ideology.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Fed Lending Increases Bank Failures as 111 Banks Fail, FDIC is Fraudulent / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Mike_Shedlock
Via emergency lending mechanisms recently released data shows that 111 banks the fed tried to keep alive via emergency lending procedures ultimately failed.
Monday, April 04, 2011
San Francisco Rainwater Radiation 181 Times Above US Drinking Water Standard / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: DK_Matai
Radiation from Japan rained on Berkeley, California, during recent storms at levels that exceeded drinking water standards by 181 times. A rooftop water monitoring program managed by the University of California at Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering detected substantial spikes in rain-borne iodine-131 during those torrential downpours. The levels exceeded federal drinking water thresholds, known as Maximum Contaminant Levels -- or MCLs -- by as much as 181 times or 18,100%. Iodine-131 is one of the most cancer-causing toxic radioactive isotopes spewed when nuclear power plants are in meltdown. It is being ingested by cows, which have begun passing it through into their milk and radioactivity has been detected. [Multiple Sources]
Monday, April 04, 2011
U.S. Jobs Report, Take This Job And Shove It / Politics / Employment
By: James_Quinn
Barack Obama and his minions were out in force on Friday declaring that the 216,000 jobs added in February are proof of a recovering economy. The unemployment rate fell to 8.8%, down from 9.8% in April 2010. All it took was 2.8 million Americans to leave the labor force to achieve this fabulous reduction in the unemployment rate. The percentage of Americans in the labor force of 64.2% is the lowest since 1983. The employment to population ratio of 58.5% is also the lowest since 1983. These atrocious figures are after a supposed economic recovery that has been underway for the last 18 months.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Speculators, Cartels and Myths of Scarcity: How War Pushes up the Price of Oil / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Global_Research
Dean Henderson writes: Last week, as if to justify his Libyan crusade, President Obama echoed the prevailing “peak oil” myth, stating that “we must accept the new reality that from here on out, demand for oil will always exceed supply”. It was music to the ears of the Rockefeller/Rothschild energy cartel and tax-dodger oil traders in Zug, Switzerland alike. Both know full well that oil companies pay around $18/barrel to get crude out of the ground.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Fixed Interest Rate Savings Bonds At 13 Month High / Politics / Savings Accounts
By: MoneyFacts
High demand for savers’ money and expectations of a rise in bank base rate in the near future has pushed short term fixed bond rates to their highest level in more than a year.
The average rate on one year bonds fell to an all time low of 2.52% in August 2010, but has steadily risen since then.
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Sunday, April 03, 2011
Nuclear Scandal in Japan, The Disgraceful Role of the U.S. Embassy / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers writes: "…Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so…" – Bertrand Russell
Things have calmed down quite a bit concerning the nuclear accident at the Fukushima reactors. While it is going to take more time to completely control the situation, things are not getting worse, and they are much more stable than they were two weeks ago.
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Saturday, April 02, 2011
Class Warfare Scoreboard : Guess Who's Winning? / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
This has gotta be a joke. According to a new report by the BEA, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased by $69 billion (7 percent), while personal income rose by only $38 billion (3 percent) in February.
So consumers are back to their old ways again, spending more than they earn?
Friday, April 01, 2011
Fukushima Fallout Reaches U.S.A, Radiation Found in Rainwater from California to Massachusetts / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Mike_Whitney
Three of the six nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have partially melted down and highly toxic plutonium is seeping into the soil outside. Plutonium is less volatile than other radioactive elements like iodine or cesium, but it's also more deadly. According to Businessweek, "When plutonium decays, it emits what is known as an alpha particle, a relatively big particle that carries a lot of energy. When an alpha particle hits body tissue, it can damage the DNA of a cell and lead to a cancer-causing mutation." If plutonium leaches into groundwater or pristine aquifers, the threat to public health and the environment will be extreme. This is an excerpt from an article in the Guardian:
Friday, April 01, 2011
Libya, Another Unconstitutional, Undeclared Illegal Killerthon / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Statement on Libya – Defining U.S. National Security Interests, Before the Foreign Affairs Committee, US House of Representatives, 31 March 2011
The American people have once again been suckered into an unconstitutional, undeclared, illegal, and unwise war. This is not a war in response to an attack on the United States. This is not a war against a regime that has threatened the United States. This is a preventative war. The president never claimed that any large-scale slaughter of civilians was taking place in Libya. Rather, the president has spent close to a billion dollars – so far – bombing a country because its government might at some point harm its civilians.
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Friday, April 01, 2011
The Birth of New Colonialism in Libya / Politics / New World Order
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
What we are observing in Libya is the rebirth of colonialism. Only this time it is not individual European governments competing for empires and resources. The new colonialism operates under the cover of "the world community," which means NATO and those countries that cooperate with it. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was once a defense alliance against a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Today NATO provides European troops in behalf of American hegemony.