Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Anti-Business US Government Puts a Stop to Intrade Making US Customers Happy / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Reports have been swirling around about the death of another business at the hands of a US government agency. While those reports weren't totally true, as usual, the US Government has squashed any attempt by unfree US citizens to do what they want. Intrade is still alive and kicking (although it probably wouldn't be if it was based in the US), minus its US customers...for now anyway. As of December 23, 2012, all US accounts with Intrade will be suspended thanks to the meddling of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Why is the U.S. Middle Class Shrinking? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Mike_Shedlock
President Obama says there is a "skills gap". A quick search says that many misguided souls believe the president.
For example Forbes writer Rich Karlgaard says The Skills Gap Exists.
Karlgaard believes the "gap is sure to grow as the population ages and industries from health care to manufacturing are altered by technology. Outsourcing to China won’t be the answer, either. Its population is aging the fastest of all the major economies."
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Ron Paul on How to End the Gaza Tragedy / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
As of late Friday the ceasefire in Gaza seems to be holding, if tentatively. While we should be pleased that this round of fighting appears temporarily on hold, we must realize that without changes in US foreign policy it is only a matter of time before the killing begins again.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
What “Free Trade” Actually Means, The Trans-Pacific Partnership / Politics / Protectionism
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
To discuss “free trade agreements” or the “free market,” we must first identify the theoretical versus the functional definitions of these terms – because theoretical definitions look at what those terms should mean, whereas functional definitions look at what the terms mean actually.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
David Cameron Wimping Along in Europe / Politics / European Union
By: Mike_Shedlock
I frequently disagree with Financial Times writer Wolfgang Münchau, especially on keeping the eurozone and EU intact.
Today, I largely agree (but sometimes for opposite reasons) with Münchau's take in Britain’s bluster serves the eurozone well.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Britain Adds More Drama to the EU Crisis / Politics / European Union
By: PhilStockWorld
Courtesy of Daniel Sckolnik: “When you are thwarted, it is your own attitude that is out of order.” — Meister Eckhart
While the U.S. equity market was having something of a party over the course of the holiday-shortened week, the European Union (EU) was entrenched in yet another series of issues that would seem to indicate just how tenuous the region’s alliance might be.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Who Is Mark Carney, Surprise New Bank of England Governor? / Politics / Central Banks
By: DK_Matai
In a surprise move, Sir Mervyn King's successor at the Bank of England has been named as Mark Carney, present Governor of the Bank of Canada. He beat the present Bank of England deputy Paul Tucker to the role, as well as other distinguished candidates including Santander bank's UK chairman Lord (Terence) Burns, Sir John Vickers -- a former Bank of England economist who put his name to the UK government’s review on banking reform -- and Lord (Adair) Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
UK Government Recruits Canadian Mark Carney To Rescue Britain from Bank of England Incompetence! / Politics / Central Banks
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The UK government blinked by throwing out the favorite Paul Tucker and appointing Mark Carney with near universal mainstream press approval, the first foreigner in the Bank of England's 318 year history to replace Mervyn King as the next Governor of the BoE, whose term office in virtually every respect has been a complete and utter failure, be it failure to regulate Britain's banking sector that continues to be a drain on UK tax payers, failure in terms of UK economic performance and not forgetting the failure of the BoE's primary remit of keeping CPI Inflation at 2%, instead we have seen inflation soar to over 5% despite economic depression.
Monday, November 26, 2012
France: The U.M.P Crisis Lurches On / Politics / France
By: Andrew_McKillop
AND ON
The actors in this now long-running, seemingly complex farce took another major change in the week ending 25 November. The week ended with a one-day mediation attempt, by The Providential Leader also known as Alain Juppe. Juppe was hailed in the private media as The Man. TV stations like BFM Tele and iTele regurgitated newsreel Juppe footage dating back to 1970 to comfort the middle class masses. The fuzzy images flashed by private TV stations told average couched-potato French that Juppe, who got an 18-month suspended jail term in January 2004, is a natural leader, totally above suspicion and respected by all - The One Man who can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Planet Earth Under Chemical Attack from ChemTrails / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Patrick Lynch writes: For almost two decades now the planet has been in the grip of a chemical and biological attack from the air. These weapons of mass destruction can actually be seen and there is a mountain of evidence that these methods of weaponry actually exist.
The chemical trails, the aerial spraying by unmarked aircraft, are so horrendous on certain days the sky resembles a ‘noughts and crosses’ board. The relevant ‘authorities’ that one might expect to deal with any external threats to a sovereign country’s airspace have had the exact science sent to them and most evidence has been passed to them. Yet the public’s concerns are uniformly met with silence, denial, ridicule and worse.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Germany's Energiewende And The End Of Nuclear Power / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Andrew_McKillop
NUCLEAR SHOCK TREATMENT
For Ukraine and Japan, learning to do without nuclear power needed shock treatment: the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, and the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The combined economic cost and losses due to these "unforseen nuclear accidents" will probably exceed $500 billion over the years and the decades. Nuclear accidents are in a class apart, for long term damage capability. Above all, certainly since Fukushima they cannot be kept away from and out of public debate.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
UK Floods, Worst Flooding Since 2007, Extreme Weather Global Weirding? / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The UK looks set to experience its worst series of floods since at least the great floods of 2007 when areas that had never flooded in living memory experienced what would turn out to be their worst floods in over 150 years.
The latest of a series of heavy rain fall induced flooding is being experienced by the south and south west areas of England and Wales, with over 500 flood warnings in place nation wide, as one of the wettest summers on record had left the ground saturated, unable to soak up additional heavy rain fall that is resulting in the failure of drainage systems.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Benghazi Affair - Petraeus, Weaponry, Murder, Lies, Sex / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
As a sex scandal the General David Petraeus episode hardly rates a two-star: Youngish, married hotty likes toying with the Big Man on Base when it pleases her and not much liking competition in the role. Big Man ends up playing the fool for all to see.No gory details at all are supplied. Those will be in a book or two fairly soon. Keep watching for the crazed passions of the most overhyped general in the history of the US.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Truckin’ to Treason: The Hot Air of Secession / Politics / US Politics
By: Walter_Brasch
A white Ford F-250 pick-up rumbled through town, a Confederate rebel flag on a pole behind the cab; on the rear bumper were a pro-life and three Anti-Obama stickers, two of which could not be revealed in a family newspaper.
It wasn’t a lone wolf protest; several cars, trucks, and homes in the area sport similar flags and messages. During the summer, when a 4-wheel Jamboree and a Monster Truck rally are held at the local fairgrounds, attracting thousands from a multi-state area, many trucks fly rebel flags, insignia, and political statements. During the annual eight-day fair at the end of September, vendors sell all kinds of items with the Confederate battle flag, most of them made overseas.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Gaza Is The World’s Largest Open Prison’ / Politics / Middle East
By: Patrick_Henningsen
21st Century Wire news analyst Patrick Henningsen appears live on RT to discuss Israel’s current herding and slaughter of the region’s indigenous Palestinian people, a grave situation which has been allowed to continue – and even promoted by governments in Washington DC and London – all under the false guise of Israeli ‘defense’. They also discuss how the western public opinion is beginning to shift away from Israel’s outdated cruel apartheid policy and in favour of the Palestinian’s own “right to exist”…
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Saturday, November 24, 2012
China Busy Redrawing Territorial Waters Map Sowing Seeds of Conflict With Neighbours / Politics / China
By: DK_Matai
As China's military and economic influence has grown throughout the world, Beijing appears to have become more bold, brash and brazen in its claim to territories believed to be rich with oil and natural gas across the Asia-Pacific. The latest attempt to achieve just that is the watermark on China's new e-passports depicting its map, which has ended up insulting and offending most of its sovereign neighbours.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
When Propaganda Masquarades as News / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Global_Research
Prof. James F. Tracy writes: The week-long Israeli onslaught against largely defenseless Palestinians in Gaza that began on November 14 provides a basis for assessing how Western corporate media whitewash the war crimes of America’s foremost ally in the Middle East. There are three often intertwined techniques consciously applied to such news coverage—historical context, sourcing, and objectification of the enemy to be targeted. Such practices can readily transform journalism into propaganda that acts to abet such crimes while at the same time allowing journalistic institutions to still claim the mantle of “objectivity.”
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Middle East Crises, Paying For Oil - Twice Over / Politics / Middle East
By: Andrew_McKillop
November 22 - Recent days have given all the proof needed that enthusiastic oil traders never miss a trick, for talking up prices, whenever the Middle East Crisis button is hit a couple of times. Even the first announcement of the Egyptian brokered truce deal between Hamas and Israel was not enough. Traders pumped up prices a little more on the basis that "we can't be sure the truce deal will hold". When or if the Hamas-Israel hostilities completely stop, oil traders can beat a retreat to Syrian war musing and Iran bombing scenarios, whenever they fear that oil prices are getting soft. A little later on, by about Spring 2013, we can have Arab Spring-2 or Spring-3 fears and rumours rolled out, as a handy lever to talk up prices.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Is Middle East Peace a Mirage? / Politics / Middle East
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: With the truce in the week-long Gaza war, Barack Obama is being prompted by right and left to re-engage and renew U.S. efforts to solve the core question of Middle East peace.
Before he gets reinvolved in peacemaking, our once-burned president should ask himself some hard questions.
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Friday, November 23, 2012
Nobody Won the Last U.S. Presidential Election / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Phil Maymin writes: One guy beat another guy in vote totals this month, but they both lost, even in their combined total, to None of the Above. For the fourth Presidential election cycle in a row, and the 27th time out of the past 30, most eligible voters opted not to vote.
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