Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Silly U.S. Debt Ceiling / Default Debate Drama / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
Of all the over-dramatized nonexistent threats, the silly worry of the day is the US is at risk of default if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.
Earlier today, I saw a couple of articles outlining how and why a US default could happen. Well, it won't, and there is no need for all the surrounding drama either.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Colours of Sound and Light: Energy, Frequency and Vibration / Politics / Science
By: DK_Matai
One of history's greatest engineers Nikola Tesla, who invented the means to transfer and to distribute electricity over long distances, once said, "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." The same holds true for the world in which we live, our interactions with each other, and indeed our interactions within.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Is Fractional Reserve Banking The Source of All Evil? / Politics / Central Banks
By: Paul_Tustain
I'm getting very suspicious of anything which regulators think is "safe" collateral...
Fractional Reserve Banking is not responsible for the bad practice of 'creating money', writes Paul Tustain, founder and CEO of BullionVault.
It is a speed limit on money creation, put in place by a Central Bank to stop banks doing too much of what comes naturally to them.
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Saturday, January 12, 2013
A Trillion Dollar Coin for Your Thoughts? / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Andy_Sutton
The one consolation for insanity is that it usually tends to come full circle and deposit an appropriate amount of egg on the face(s) of the most outspoken proponents. It is no different when the discussion of our broken monetary system comes up. Although I must say, the latest stunt is bold and daring and might very well threaten the one thing that underpins the global monetary system itself, and that is confidence, mixed with a good deal of ambivalence.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Insights into U.S. Cultural Shifts from a Visit to a Hardware Store / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
Pete Kofod writes: "So this is what it looks like when a society is starting to collapse," the man standing behind the counter at the hardware store said matter-of-factly. The remark had been directed at no one in particular, but generally at anyone standing nearby. As I was among that audience, I looked at him inquisitively, eliciting in return a look indicating that his observation should be intuitively obvious to even the casual observer.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Obama's Third Term? / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Jim Karger writes: This piece started with a note:
"Karger, they want to make Obama the King (officially) by rescinding the 22nd Amendment. Sounds like a legal issue to me. You want to take it on? — Berwick"
Not really, I thought.
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Friday, January 11, 2013
Keynesian Inflation Propaganda Exposed / Politics / Inflation
By: Peter_Schiff
Economists who hold the popular view that expanding the money supply will provide the best medicine for our ailing economy dismiss the inflationary concerns of monetary hawks, like me, by pointing to the supposedly low inflation that has occurred during the current period of rampant Fed activism. In a recent blog post aimed specifically at me, Paul Krugman noted that the sub 2.5% increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past few years are all that is needed to prove me wrong. In fact, Krugman and others have even suggested that the CPI itself overstates inflation and that the Fed would be better able to help the economy if less strict methodologies were used. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the CPI is essentially meaningless as it woefully under reports rising prices.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Robin Hood is Dying, The Assassination Of Chavez / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
On one hand a cruise through business news media like Bloomberg will tell you that the probable near-term disappearance of Hugo Chavez has put at least $7 billion-worth of oil and gas projects in jeopardy, in Venezuela. On the other hand the left-wing and conspiracy-theme media says that the Venezuelan president's previous track record of escaping kidnap and assassination attempts may or may not work another time. He might have received, like Yasser Arafat, a large dose of Polonium 230 or some other beta emitter toxic heavy metal such as radioactive lead, cobalt, cesium, thorium or uranium which are found in the effluent streams and waste ponds of nearly all uranium mines. Supply is no problem!
Friday, January 11, 2013
U.S. $1 Trillion Coin Isn’t the Right Answer to Our Debt Ceiling Crisis / Politics / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
Ben Gersten writes: There's increasing support for the idea of minting a $1 trillion coin to help the United States avoid hitting the debt ceiling.
Even those supporting the idea - including The New York Times' Paul Krugman - admit it sounds "silly," but say it deserves consideration in that it could help solve one of our country's biggest economic issues.
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Thursday, January 10, 2013
Krugman's $1 Trillion Platinum Coin / Politics / US Debt
By: Jesse
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Thursday, January 10, 2013
Is American Justice Dead? / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Galland
Every nation-state has a body of laws woven into the fabric of society. As Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has commented on extensively, the stronger the rule of law, the stronger the economy.
And by "stronger" laws, I mean laws that are impervious to tampering for personal or political gains. The connection between a sound judiciary and economic health is readily comprehensible, except maybe to a politician… businesses and individuals are far more likely to invest capital in a country with understandable laws that are impartially and universally enforced than if the opposite condition exists.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Now the Government Wants to Track and Tax Your Mileage / Politics / Taxes
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
I love Oregon so much I gladly put up with its hypocritical governor, its out of control budget, its quirky liberal tendencies, its high personal income taxes, its hopelessly anti-business environment, and its progressive health care system.
But here's where I have to put my foot down: Oregon officials are now proposing a special per- mile tax on "gas-sipping" drivers.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013
The Rich and Poor Divide Isn’t Good for America / Politics / Social Issues
By: InvestmentContrarian
George Leong writes: There is a crisis in America, relative to the widening income gaps between the rich, the middle class, and the poor. This ultimately impacts consumer spending.
In the fiscal cliff talks, President Obama decided to compromise on the Bush-era tax cuts after raising income taxes on those individuals earning in excess of $400,000 annually and over $450,000 for married couples. These groups account for roughly the top one percent of income earners, according to the Tax Policy Center. (Source: “Fiscal Cliff Deal Will Raise Taxes On 77 Percent Of Americans: Tax Policy Center Analysis,” Huffington Post via Associated Press, January 2, 2013.)
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013
America, You're Being Punked / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
We've sort of run out of ways to describe the skewed perceptions and/or skewed realities of the politico-financial world we inhabit. Metaphors like Bizarro World, Kabuki theater and Theater of the Absurd have come and long gone and are now used only by those who missed out first time around.
But that doesn't mean it's all become less weird; if anything, one gets the feeling the media in general are becoming more complacent if not complicit painting a picture for the general public that's at best make believe and in all other cases border on Orwell. There's a veneer an inch thick (and getting thicker fast) that makes things look sort of normal, just check the economy, and below that there's an increasingly nasty brew boiling and a-festering.
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Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Fiscal Cliff Averted, but the Massive Debt Will Limit Government Flexibility / Politics / US Debt
By: InvestmentContrarian
George Leong writes: Well, the doom and gloom of the fiscal cliff was averted in the nick of time, which in turn, pleased Wall Street and gave stocks a boost to begin the new year.
While the deal was a nice compromise between the two parties on the tax issues, there is a lot of work ahead for President Obama, as the statutory national debt limit of $16.4 trillion nears. As of this morning, the national debt balance used for the limit stood at a superlative $16.39 trillion. The headline national debt of $16.43 trillion is actually already above the limit, but don’t worry, the Treasury Department said it will be able to pay its debt payments and bills. Of course, we know this will also hold until the extended deadline on March 1.
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Tuesday, January 08, 2013
The Crisis of the American Middle Class, The Long-Term Threat to U.S. Power / Politics / Social Issues
By: STRATFOR
Last week I wrote about the crisis of unemployment in Europe. I received a great deal of feedback, with Europeans agreeing that this is the core problem and Americans arguing that the United States has the same problem, asserting that U.S. unemployment is twice as high as the government's official unemployment rate. My counterargument is that unemployment in the United States is not a problem in the same sense that it is in Europe because it does not pose a geopolitical threat. The United States does not face political disintegration from unemployment, whatever the number is. Europe might.
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Public Schools - Crooked Teachers and Lying Principals / Politics / Educating Children
By: LewRockwell
Walter E. Williams writes: Nearly two years ago, U.S. News & World Report came out with a story titled "Educators Implicated in Atlanta Cheating Scandal." It reported that "for 10 years, hundreds of Atlanta public school teachers and principals changed answers on state tests in one of the largest cheating scandals in U.S. history." More than three-quarters of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated had cheated on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, sometimes called the national report card.
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Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Successful, But Looking For An Escape Hatch from America / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
[Editor’s Note: The following post is by TDV legal correspondent, Jim Karger]
Jerry Loftus is laid back, inquisitive, and easy to talk to. He is also a successful US businessman, co-owner of a masonry and concrete repair and restoration company in Chicago, Illinois, and an avid TDV reader. He and his charming wife, Gina, spent 10 days with us in our San Miguel de Allende compound. Jerry is 53 years old, never been in trouble with the law, but like so many of our TDV visitors, is considering leaving the United States. I interviewed him on our rooftop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, sharing margaritas on a typical cloudless 70 degree afternoon.
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Monday, January 07, 2013
Why The Fiscal Cliff "Deal" is Spelled P-O-R-K / Politics / Government Spending
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
After narrowly missing the fiscal cliff, the President went out of his way to thank the Senate and Congress for getting things done.
Granted, it wasn't an Academy Award speech, but it could have been given the performance he delivered as he congratulated everybody from his "extraordinary" Vice President Joe Biden to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and even Speaker Boehner.
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Monday, January 07, 2013
Statist Philosophy the Scourge of Christianity / Politics / Religion
By: BATR
The normal condition of man ruling over men resorts to the practice of coercive force. Statism so aptly reflects this system of compliance. When you strip away all the rhetoric and institutional validation, what is left is a doctrine of kingship. Governments are fashioned to exert control over people. Contemplate the intrinsic contradiction of this structure of dominance with the message of the Golden Rule.