Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Was There A Plan to Blow Up The U.S. Economy? / Politics / US Economy
By: Mike_Whitney
Many people now believe that the financial crisis was not an accident. They think that the Bush administration and the Fed knew what Wall Street was up to and provided their support. This isn't as far fetched as it sounds. As we will show, it's clear that Bush, Greenspan and many other high-ranking officials understood the problem with subprime mortgages and knew that a huge asset bubble was emerging that threatened the economy. But while the housing bubble was more than just an innocent mistake, it doesn't rise to the level of "conspiracy" which Webster defines as "a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act." It's actually worse than that, because bubblemaking is the dominant policy, and it's used to overcome the structural problems in capitalism itself, mainly stagnation.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Congress Freezes Its Own Pay / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Congress did something fiscally responsible. It's not very often I can say that. Granted, it was small in the grand scheme of things, but I was glad to be an original cosponsor, along with Congressman Harry Mitchell of Arizona, of a bill to block the automatic pay raise that Congress otherwise receives every year. Every Member of Congress gets this raise unless it is expressly voted down. For the second year in a row Congress has voted to freeze its own pay, which, in a time of skyrocketing deficits and high unemployment, is the very least Congress can do.
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Monday, May 03, 2010
Matt Taibbi: The Feds v Goldman Sachs / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Trader_Mark
From the man who coined Goldman Sachs (GS) the "vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity" ... we have Matt Taibbi's latest take via Rolling Stone. Again, let it be said that some of the best work on our financial oligarchy is being done by a guy in a music magazine. That tells you what a farce corporate media has become. Then again, when almost all outlets are funding the same lobbyist groups (or mirror images) as those funded by the banking cartel... is is surprising?
Monday, May 03, 2010
Hedge Funds and Equity Firms Using Micro Finance to Profit from India's Poor / Politics / India
By: Global_Research
Kavaljit Singh writes: The massive investments by private equity firms coupled with an initial public offer (IPO) by SKS Microfinance has ignited a debate about the ethics and objectives of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Secretive Fed Hiding Counterfeiting Operation, Audit the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Retiring Senator Chris Dodd's financial reform bill is now open for debate in the U.S. Senate. For the next few weeks, the public will be treated to media sound-bite snippets of Senatorial debate on various aspects of the Senate version of the reform bill. The bill is supposedly designed to prevent a replay of the 2008 crisis, in which 75 years of Federal financial reform laws proved utterly useless in preventing the crisis.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Did Lehman's Dick Fuld Lie Under Oath About Compensation? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Trader_Mark
A quite fascinating piece in Bloomberg for those interested in the subject matter, that being executive compensation, how it is hidden by abusing the "spirit of the law", board of director cronyism, and the myth that the CEOs of failed companies actually felt any real pain. We have created a heads we win, tails we still win [Sep 27, 2008: Heads We Win, Tails We Win] executive compensation culture - which is leading to asymmetric outcomes.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Down with 'Too Big to Fail': Angry Americans march on Wall Street / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Submissions
The largest anti-Wall Street rally since the credit crunch has taken place in New York. Thousands of workers and trade union leaders marched in anger over lost jobs and ruined lives, demanding answers from the source of the trouble - the banks.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
More Bonus Plus Less Lending Equals The March on Wall Street / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Static_Chaos
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data, the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid made or refinanced 23% less in new loans in February, the latest available data, than in October, the month the Treasury kicked off the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). (Chart 1)
Friday, April 30, 2010
Russian Hackers Threaten the World / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Pravda
According to Symantec, the number of cyber crimes last year has increased twofold and continues to grow, while the number of hacker attacks has increased by 71%. Within the last year nearly 3 million viruses were registered. Russia shot significantly ahead and made it to seventh place among top ten countries producing the most cyber threats.
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Goldman Slaps The S.E.C. and the Senate Subcommittee Down To Size / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Andrew_Butter
Leading-up to the hearing on the 28th in front of Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Goldman were…“going-to-get-roasted like-a-Louisiana-Catfish”.
The Media and the Blogs were full of it, we even had “a famous New-York lawyer…with connections in the SEC” handing out FREE legal opinions.
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Goldman's "How much of that shitty deal did you sell to your clients?" / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Mike_Whitney
Tuesday's hearings of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations laid the groundwork for future criminal prosecutions of Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and his chief lieutenants whose reckless and self-serving actions helped to precipitate the financial crisis. Committee chairman Senator Carl Levin adroitly managed the proceedings in a way that narrowed their scope and focused on four main areas of concern. Through persistent questioning, which bordered on hectoring, Levin was able to prove his central thesis:
Friday, April 30, 2010
Barofsky Threatens Criminal Charges in AIG Coverup, Goldman Sachs Abacus Deal / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Mike_Shedlock
The day that Tim Geithner lands in jail will be a day of celebration. Don't count on it soon or ever, but Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), is now threatening criminal charges.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Goldman's Fraud, But What About John Paulson’s Other $13 Billion? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Graham_Summers
Disaster has been good to John Paulson.
The hedge fund manager rose from relative obscurity to legend within the span of 12 months when his bets against the subprime mortgage market netted him and his investors billions. The returns on invested capital were absolutely absurd: one of his funds returned 590 in 2007, another returned 353 percent. By the time the smoke cleared, Paulson had made $3.7 billion for himself, and another $10+ billion for his investors.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Peter Schiff, "I Think I Have a Real Chance of Winning a Senate Seat" / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
When I first announced my candidacy for the United States Senate I really had no idea how well my message would resonate in the Nutmeg State. Well we’re six-months in, and my campaign is really gaining momentum. I am very encouraged with the progress we have made. I am well received at the Republican Town Committee meetings with several towns having already voting to endorse me. I have more volunteers and more donors then any other candidate in the race and reporters statewide agree that I won the only televised debate, which explains why neither of my opponents will agree to another.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bankster and Corporate Donations to Presidential Campaigns / Politics / US Politics
By: Graham_Summers
I Wish I Were Stupid
It sure sucks to be a bear right now.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Unemployment, Who Would Want to Inherit This? / Politics / US Politics
By: Graham_Summers
They were wearing all black.
She had a ring in her lip. His earrings were glints of metal amongst his oily and badly dyed hair. They couldn’t have been older than 18 and looked like they’d fit in outside a Hot Topic at the mall.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tax Payer Bailed Out Banks Shorting U.S. States and Cities / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Washingtons_Blog
Americans bailed out the giant banks. So how do the too big to fails re-pay the American taxpayers?
By betting that American states and cities will fail.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bring Down Goldman Sachs and Expose the Financial Coup / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: David_DeGraw
Not only did Goldman Sachs profit on betting against CDOs they designed to fail; more importantly, they insured them through AIG which led to a $182 billion taxpayer bailout.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Human Revolution - It WILL Occur! / Politics / Social Issues
By: Michael_T_Bucci
"Austerity" (poverty) for the people; profit for the few. This is the anthem of free-marketers, speculators and governments held hostage by them. The "Greek fire" is a monetary ruse used by centralized financiers to further their encircling despotism using capital as an instrument of power; ipso facto requiring the subjugation of workers (the many) to lives of imminent hopelessness and desperation, and governments to subservient powerlessness. It is a grand but deadly game that isn't about money, per se. It is about power.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Greece Requires Conservatorship / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Axel_Merk
In our assessment, Greece should be placed into conservatorship by the European Commission. Greece’s liquidity issues have morphed into a solvency crisis. Greece’s challenges are fiscal, which requires a political solution. Therefore, Greece’s problems cannot be resolved by the European Central Bank (ECB), although ECB policy can affect the dynamics as this crisis evolves.
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