Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Toward Sensible Monetary Policy / Politics / US Interest Rates
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week the 112th Congress was sworn in. I am pleased that I will be chairing the Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee, which has oversight of the Federal Reserve. Obviously, this position will facilitate my efforts to ensure the Fed provides the American people with more information about what they have been doing with and to our money. Not surprisingly, since my chairmanship was announced, apologists for the Fed have been recycling the old canard about how increased transparency threatens the Fed's so-called political independence.
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Monday, January 10, 2011
The Student Loan Debt Bubble, Curse of the First "Austerity Generation" / Politics / Student Finances
By: Global_Research
Alan Nasser writes: It was announced last summer that total student loan debt, at $830 billion, now exceeds total US credit card debt, itself bloated to the bubble level of $827 billion. And student loan debt is growing at the rate of $90 billion a year.
There are far fewer students than there are credit card holders. Could there be a student debt bubble at a time when college graduates’ jobs and earnings prospects are as gloomy as they have been at any time since the Great Depression?
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Global Effects of the Economic Crisis: A European Strategy for the Left / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Michael_Hudson
The global effects of the crisis have been made even worse by what is happening in Europe. For thirty years the contradictions of capitalism have been overcome with the help of an enormous accumulation of phantom rights to surplus value. The crisis has threatened to destroy them. The bourgeois governments have decided to preserve them claiming that we have to save the banks. They have taken on the banks' debts and asked for virtually nothing in return. Yet it would have been possible to make this rescue conditional on some assurances. They could have banned speculative financial instruments and closed the tax loopholes. They could even have insisted that they take responsibility for some of the public debt that this rescue increased so dramatically.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Spinning Unemployment Figures in a Collapsing U.S. Empire / Politics / Economic Statistics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December--not enough to keep up with population growth--but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.
Monday, January 10, 2011
V For VENDETTA Has Arrived In 2011 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
Monday, January 10, 2011
The World Goes Crazy / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Bill_Bonner
“…with all the thought and good intentions that we provided…we achieved absolutely nothing. Nothing that I did and very little that old Ben [Strong, head of the US Federal Reserve] did…produced any good effect…or any effect at all. Except that we collected a lot of money from a lot of poor devils and gave it over to the four winds.”
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Monday, January 10, 2011
Palin In the Crosshairs Following Arizona Shooting / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Sarah Palin, "the most dangerous person in America", is a free agent. In Arizona, nineteen people have been shot, six of them dead. There is no excuse for wanton murder. And there are no excuses for those who instigate it. There are no excuses for Palin and Company, Rupert Murdoch, FOXNews demagogues, paranoid-stricken conspiracy theorists, Gold standard fanatics or anti-social neoliberal street-corner market analysts cheering the elimination of private and government workers.
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Sunday, January 09, 2011
Collapse of the Welfare State / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Rock a bye baby in the treetop,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Highly Efficient Systems and Agonizing Death / Politics / Social Issues
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
"Not one has shown an iota of fear of death. They want to end this agony." - Jack Kevorkian
Perhaps what we need as a society is a better understanding of "efficiency", since it is such a key aspect of all complex systems. Take the human body, for example, which is perhaps the most complex life form that has evolved on Earth. After increasing specialization and inter-connection of various bodily components through millions of years of evolution, the systems of the human body have become extremely efficient at their specific functions. The arteries, veins and capillaries of the cardiovascular system have evolved an intricate fractal design that competently delivers oxygen and nutrients to all of the body's cells as necessary.
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Friday, January 07, 2011
The Next Decade: Where We've Been... And Where We're Going / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
This book is about the relation between empire, republic, and the exercise of power in the next ten years. It is a more personal book than The Next 100 Years because I am addressing my greatest concern, which is that the power of the United States in the world will undermine the republic. I am not someone who shuns power. I understand that without power there can be no republic. But the question I raise is how the United States should behave in the world while exercising its power, and preserve the republic at the same time.
Friday, January 07, 2011
The United States Stuck in 2011 Catch 22 / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
As I began to think about what might happen in 2011, the classic Joseph Heller novel Catch 22 kept entering my mind. Am I sane for thinking such a thing, or am I so insane that asking this question proves that I'm too rational to even think such a thing? In the novel, the "Catch 22" is that "anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy". Hence, pilots who request a fitness evaluation are sane, and therefore must fly in combat. At the same time, if an evaluation is not requested by the pilot, he will never receive one (i.e. they can never be found "insane"), meaning he must also fly in combat. Therefore, Catch-22 ensures that no pilot can ever be grounded for being insane - even if he were. The absurdity is captured in this passage:
Thursday, January 06, 2011
On the Brink of Catastrophic Economic Collapse / Politics / US Politics
By: Mac_Slavo
We’ve been told a lot of things since the global economic crisis first became apparent in 2007. In March of that year Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, “the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the sub-prime markets seems likely to be contained.” Clearly, Mr. Bernanke’s assessment was incorrect and the sub-prime real estate issues were only part of a broader, systemic issue.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Public Education Is Going Down / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
I am working with a young man who turned 18 in December. You know what he got for his birthday? A B.A. degree from an accredited college. His parents paid for tuition: under $15,000. The college awarded him his degree for work performed. He did the whole thing at home.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Putin Prepares For War / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
Vladimir Putin is the most popular leader in the world today. His personal approval ratings are in the stratosphere, usually well-above 80 percent. He is admired for his quiet, confident manner and for having restored Russia to its former greatness following the chaotic breakup of the Soviet Union. The Russian people love Putin. Parents name their children after him, vodka and caviar producers use his name to boost sales, and his face appears on the tee-shirts of students and young people. It's unthinkable that he would step down after his term as prime minister is over a year from today. The Russian people want him to stay on and run for a third term as president, and that's probably what he'll do.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Republican's Play Chicken with the U.S. Debt Ceiling / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
President Obama is very concerned that Republicans might "Play Chicken" with the debt ceiling. The president is so concerned his aids are sending out dire warnings about dollar defaults and "catastrophic impacts" to the economy.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2011
The Hands of Freedom Slight Return / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
This article is an expansion of an article that I wrote years ago for my newsletter, Barry’s Bulls. I thought it to be an appropriate reprise as we end the year and reflect upon our circumstances. At the end of the day, we humans should value one blessing above all else - freedom. Freedom to think. Freedom to write. Freedom to communicate. Freedom to move about. Freedom to choose. Freedom to worship. Freedom to direct our own lives. What grants us this freedom?
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
U.S. Propaganda Ministers Pumping Out Jobs Recovery Propaganda / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
The storyline being sold to the American public by the White House and the corporate mainstream media is that the economy is growing, jobs are being created, corporations are generating record profits, consumers are spending and all will be well in 2011. The 2% payroll tax cut, stolen from future generations to be spent in 2011, will jumpstart a sound economic recovery. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Khodorkovsky's trip to the slammer, Justice Has Prevailed / Politics / Russia
By: Mike_Whitney
Vladimir Putin summed it up best when he said, "A thief should sit in jail." Right on. It doesn't matter if he is the richest man in the country or not. If he's done the crime, he's got to do the time. It's that simple.
On Wednesday, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil was sentenced to 14 years in prison for embezzling and money laundering. Heads of state, human rights organisations, business leaders, and the entire western media have all protested on Khodorkovsky's behalf, but to no avail. Khodorkovsky will stay in prison where he belongs. Justice has prevailed.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010
Britain's Swine Flu Epidemic Feeds on Coalition Government Spending Cuts / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The long dreaded swine flu epidemic is starting to sweep across Britain resulting in NHS critical care hospital beds filling up and some 40 deaths to date of which 36 are as a consequence of H1N1 Swine Flu. The coalition government had cut Labours Swine flu prevention advertising campaign as well as other measures that were directly aimed at preventing a swine flu epidemic.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010
The Truth is We’re Freakin’ Finished / Politics / US Politics
By: Mac_Slavo
While Bob from Drinking With Bob may be a little bit emotionally driven he does a pretty good job of getting his point across. In the following video Bob rants about the failing public services sector in New York and points out what many of us already know: