Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict / Politics / Iraq War
By: Submissions
In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion. Five years later, the cost of Iraq war operations is over 10 times that figure. So what's behind the ballooning dollar signs? Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilme's exhaustedly researched book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict," breaks down the price tag, from current debts to the unseen costs we'll pay for years to come. In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Big Government Socialist Beast and The Plague of Self-Delusion / Politics / US Politics
By: Tim_Case
"It has been proved, by indisputable evidence, that power is not the grand principle of union among the parts of a very extensive empire; and that when this principle is pushed beyond the degree necessary for rendering justice between man and man, it debases the character of individuals, and renders them less secure in their persons and property…" ~ James Winthrop, Antifederalist No. 11
I doubt there are many who have thought about the transitive verb, secure, used by James Winthrop in the quote above. Noah Webster’s, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, says secure is to make certain; to put beyond hazard, then addresses secure in this context: "Liberty and fixed laws secure to every citizen due protection of person and property…"
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
When the Revolution Comes, Wear Your Dog Tags / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
Wednesday morning the 25th at 9:45 a.m. meant a visit to Dr. Nick, the ophthalmologist. The office was peopled predominantly by seniors who looked near 80. Two in conversation admitted to being 78 and 79. I felt young. Still, that’s your future and not too far off. Make the most of your remaining time, I thought.
A sign was placed prominently on the desk in front of the receptionist:
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Friday, November 27, 2009
Fiat Currency Money Printing Leading to Decentralization and Operational Secession / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." ~ George Orwell
We are seeing the beginning of a social revolution. This revolution will spread to politics. It is happening under our noses.
A revolution involves five crucial elements: (1) a new view of sovereignty; (2) a new view of authority; (3) a new view of law; (4) a new view of sanctions; (5) a new view of the future. Any revolution that does not involve all five is more of a coup than a revolution: a substitution of new rulers for old, not a change in the system.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Are Ukraine Black Death Cases Result of IMF Loans? / Politics / Global Pandemic
By: F_William_Engdahl
The Ukraine Government has declared a state of emergency and medical examiners describe results of autopsies on dead patients in chilling terms that recall the Black Death descriptions from the Fourteenth Century in Venice. While everyone is calling it “Swine Flu” and the WHO using it to spread their panic and untested vaccines, there is strong evidence that the deaths—almost all from pulmonary conditions—are from a rising incidence of Tuberculosis (TB). Now a Cambridge University study shows that there is a close correlation between rise in TB and the severe austerity measures that go with IMF loans. Are the Ukraine ‘Black Death’ cases the result of Ukraine’s IMF loans?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Gold, Freedom, and the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
By: LewRockwell
Jacob G. Hornberger writes: The following is a non-verbatim transcript of a speech I delivered on November 23, 2009, at the End the Fed rally in Philadelphia.
With the possible exception of the Internal Revenue Service, the federal agency that is the greatest threat to the financial well-being and freedom of the American people is the Federal Reserve. This is the agency that has the power to wipe you out. It can destroy all your savings and the value of your income. Worst of all, it can do all this secretly and surreptitiously.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Deepening Economic Crisis, Financing War at the Expense of Job Creation / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Washingtons_Blog
America is in the most severe unemployment crisis since - and perhaps including - the Great Depression.
And yet Obama, like Bush, has done virtually nothing to create more jobs. Instead, they both gave trillions to the biggest banks (who are not loaning it out to the little guy) and for waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
American Casino, An Edgy, Fast-paced Documentary on the Financial Meltdown / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Whitney
Andrew and Leslie Cockburn have produced the best movie of the year. American Casino tells the story of the financial crisis, which started with the meltdown in subprime lending and ended up triggering the deepest slump since the Great Depression.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Will Christmas Shopping Save the Economic Recovery as Black Friday Nears? / Politics / Economic Recovery
By: Danny_Schechter
Funny how, back in 1929, we had black Thursday and then Black Friday as the market crashed, plunging the country into a depression. Now we have every retailer in every mall in America on their knees praying for a prosperous black Friday this week.
Here’s the scenario as Thanksgiving rolls around.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Federal Reserve's Silver Lining / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
The central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve, is under intense scrutiny for its unprecedented actions following the 2008 financial crisis. Amidst the carnage of the financial crisis and real estate crash, Congress has taken a fresh look at the actions of the Federal Reserve on the economy.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Banking Sector Bailouts the Biggest Tax Payer Rip-off of All Time / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Martin_D_Weiss
In the scenario I’m about to paint for you, the dialog is fictional, but all the facts and figures are real.
The time: 1 AM, November 23, 2011, exactly two years from now.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Former Soviet States Battleground For Global Domination / Politics / New World Order
By: Rick_Rozoff
A Europe united under the EU and especially NATO is to be strong enough to contain, isolate and increasingly confront Russia as the central component of U.S. plans for control of Eurasia and the world, but cannot be allowed to conduct an independent foreign policy, particularly in regard to Russia and the Middle East. European NATO allies are to assist Washington in preventing the emergence of "the most dangerous scenario...a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran" such as has been adumbrated since in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Iran Sanctions and Strategy / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The Iranian government has rejected, at least for the moment, a proposal from the P-5+1 to ship the majority of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment. The group is now considering the next step in the roadmap that it laid out last April. The next step was a new round of sanctions, this time meant to be crippling. The only crippling sanction available is to cut off the supply of gasoline, since Iran imports 35 percent of its refined gasoline products. That would theoretically cripple the Iranian economy and compel the Iranians to comply with U.S. demands over the nuclear issue.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Audit the Fed Attached as an Amendment / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
I was pleased last week when we won a vote in the Financial Services Committee to include language from the Audit the Fed bill HR1207 in the upcoming financial regulatory reform bill. As it stands now, if HR 3996 passes, because of this action, the Federal Reserve's entire balance sheet will be opened up to a GAO audit. We will at last have a chance to find out what happened to the trillions of dollars the Fed has been giving out.
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Monday, November 23, 2009
From Zombie Banks to Corporations to All of America / Politics / US Debt
By: James_Quinn
The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Global Warming Religious Crusade / Politics / Climate Change
By: Mike_Shedlock
I received a lot of emails in response to Beware The Ice Age Cometh: Hackers Prove Global Warming Is A Scam
Many were from religious zealots of global warming theory, and as you might surmise they were not printable.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Healthcare Under Capitalism / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Colin_Leys
Leo Panitch and Colin Leys have just brought out the 2010 annual volume of the Socialist Register, Morbid Symptoms: Health Under Capitalism, published by Merlin Press in London, Monthly Review Press in the U.S. and Fernwood Books in Canada. The book provides a path-breaking assessment of health under capitalism, providing a systematic account of the antagonistic relationship between capitalism and human bodies, of how modern healthcare has been deeply penetrated by neoliberal capitalism, and the ways in which healthcare workers, activists and socialists are struggling and pursuing alternative paths of solidarity in human health.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Global Warming Scam Exposed, Climagate / Politics / Climate Change
By: LewRockwell
James Delingpole writes: If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Evidence that Global Warming Is a Scam / Politics / Climate Change
By: Mike_Shedlock
It's now official. Much of the hype about global warming is nothing but a complete scam.
Thanks to hackers (or an insider) who broke into The University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and downloaded 156 megaybytes of data including extremely damaging emails, we now know that data supporting the global warming thesis was completely fabricated.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Pending Financial, Economic, Political and Social Collapse Of The United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Timothy V. Gatto writes: The truth that most people realize but can’t openly talk about is that America has seen better days and that the system of capitalism has long outlived its usefulness. The last part of that sentence, that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, is thoroughly the fault of the capitalists themselves.