Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Beyond Zero Emissions: What's Wrong with Big Green Tech / Politics / Renewable Energy
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
Ilargi: The following is a guest post by friend of TAE (and our kind present host) John Isaacs-Young, who is active in Transition Sunshine Coast, a region located about halfway up the eastern coast of Australia. There's a lot more wrong with Big Green Tech - and the Beyond Zero Emissions movement - than the specific points John addresses here (and he knows that too), but that's a story for another day.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Obama’s Veil Of Tears / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Merrill
Has a new leader of a great nation ever held such unlimited potential for his country and for the world?
The celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night after the 2008 campaign was by far the highest milestone in the magical Barack Obama movement so far, full of hope and equality, across all boundaries of people, all aimed at ending the special interest blockades in Washington that have stopped effective solutions for far too long. It seemed the nation was united in a rolling tide this young family man had somehow created from pure passion and intellect. Barack Obama had crushed the Republicans and even the Clintons. He was the peace candidate for the world.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Bundesbank in Hot Water… Will It Take the Heat or Throw the ECB Under the Bus? / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
Yesterday we discussed the political fall-out for German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding revelations that the Bundesbank has in fact put Germany on the hook for over €2 trillion via various back-door deals.
Today we need to consider how those same revelations will impact the Bundesbank itself. Already we’re seeing its head Jens Weidmann (also a policymaker at the ECB) taking a hard-liner approach to dealing
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
EuroSpeak for "Starve the Beast" The Meaning of “Austerity Measures” / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Whitney
The eurozone is slipping into a recession that could have been avoided. Had policymakers provided fiscal support for stricken countries in the South and guarantees on their government bonds, (as the USG does for US Treasuries) then their economies could have continued to grow while the necessary reforms were put in place. But the Troika (The IMF, the ECB, and the European Commission) decided to make the bailouts conditional on member states’ acceptance of harsh austerity measures which forced leaders to slash government payrolls, services and programs. The result was entirely predictable; economic activity began to sputter as one country after another succumbed to a vicious slump.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
U.S. Military Drones Reported Operating Across the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: It’s easy to understand why Presidents, politicians and the military love robots. They don’t talk back. They follow orders. You press a button and they do what they are told. They are considered so efficient, and so lethal.
These modern killing machines represent science fiction reborn as science ‘faction.’
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Saturday, April 28, 2012
China’s Land Bridge to Turkey Creates New Eurasian Geopolitical Potentials / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: F_William_Engdahl
The prospect of an unparalleled Eurasian economic boom lasting into the next Century and beyond is at hand. The first steps binding the vast economic space are being constructed with a number of little-publicized rail links connecting China, Russia, Kazakhstan and parts of Western Europe. It is becoming clear to more people in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Eurasia including China and Russia that their natural tendency to build these markets faces only one major obstacle: NATO and the US Pentagon’s Full Spectrum Dominance obsession. Rail infrastructure is a major key to building vast new economic markets across Eurasia.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
A Return To Real Money / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Richard_Mills
On the night of November 22, 1910 a delegation of the nation's leading financiers, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, left New Jersey for a very secret ten day meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia.
After the Jekyll Island visit the National Monetary Commission wrote the Aldrich Plan which formed the basis for the Federal Reserve system.
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Zero Population Growth No Longer A Shameful Doctrine / Politics / Demographics
By: Andrew_McKillop
The government-friendly environment and development aid NGOs avoid this one like the plague: saying the world is massively overpopulated is only for a few privileged speakers - like Obama's chief science adviser John P. Holdren. Within the Club of Madrid and WorldShift Network, however, there is almost total support for the Zero Population Growth (ZPG) stance of Holdren, Paul Ehlirch and a growing number of influential voices.
Friday, April 27, 2012
The New World Order’s Money Scam / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Gary_North
It is not easy for the average person to make much sense out of the current international monetary system. It works something like a poker game. Everyone at the table has some chips. The green ones are supposed to be exchangeable at a ratio of 35 to one with the yellow chips. About half way into the game, the other players notice that the host has a machine at his feet that keeps popping out green chips every few minutes. Apparently the yellow chips can’t be cranked out this way, but the green ones can. So the host keeps on betting on every hand – deuces, fives, anything – and he keeps offering green chips to pay for staying in the game.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
IEAs Crazy Energy Futures Conference, We Need $5 Trillion / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Andrew_McKillop
In a bizarre presentation at the April 25 London conference of the IEA the agency held fast to the now heavily shopsoiled doctrine of catastrophic global warming, and used that as its main plank to put out the begging bowl for $5 trillion. This is the IEA's estimate of what is needed for its unreal mix and mingle of energy gimmicks and real energy solutions, that it calls Clean Energy Progress.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mencken Was Right, American's Should be Skeptical of all Institutions / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant." - H.L. Mencken
H.L. Mencken was a renowned newspaper columnist for the Baltimore Sun from 1906 until 1948. His biting sarcasm seems to fit perfectly in today’s world. His acerbic satirical writings on government, democracy, politicians and the ignorant masses are as true today as they were then. I believe the reason his words hit home is because he was writing during the last Unraveling and Crisis periods in America. The similarities cannot be denied. There are no journalists of his stature working in the mainstream media today. His acerbic wit is nowhere to be found among the lightweight shills that parrot their corporate masters’ propaganda on a daily basis and unquestioningly report the fabrications spewed by our government. Mencken’s skepticism of all institutions is an unknown quality in the vapid world of present day journalism.
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Common Misconceptions & Making a Living in a Foreign Country / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
It's one of the top questions we get. If I expatriate, how can I make a living in a foreign country? After all, not all of us have sizable amounts of savings that we can nestle upon. In fact, most in the western world don't after they've had most of it siphoned off by the state. And even those who think they do, and have a bank account flush full of green pieces of paper or who receive large government pension cheques backed by those same Federal Reserve Notes will soon find out that their "wealth" was illusionary.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Growing India - China Rivalry / Politics / China
By: STRATFOR
As the world moves into the second decade of the 21st century, a new power rivalry is taking shape between India and China, Asia's two behemoths in terms of territory, population and richness of civilization. India's recent successful launch of a long-range missile able to hit Beijing and Shanghai with nuclear weapons is the latest sign of this development.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Matter of Time for a U.S. VAT Tax / Politics / Taxes
By: BATR
The insatiable thrust for federal spending continues. The will to correct our fiscal black hole is absent. Even the Tea Party Republicans lack the strength of determination and votes to reverse the ship of state. No matter which party wins the next elections, the deficits facing the budget are huge. Until a total reformation of the way the central government functions, no solution is possible to balance the books. There is no way to escape this stark reality. Expect more gimmicks, additional devaluation of the currency and the inevitable imposition of new forms of taxes.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Secret System that Blew Another Hole in the Euro / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
This may sound arcane and boring, but I promise you it's not.
What I've learned will blow yet another hole in the already shaky euro.
It begins with Bernd Schunemann, a law professor at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. He has sued the German Bundesbank over its participation in the Eurozone "Target-2" settlements system.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bernanke's Race Against Time to Delay Economic Catastrophe / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Ben Bernanke's position as Chairman of the Board of Governors will end on January 31, 2014. He is now in a race against time.
(1) Will the American economy fall back into recession before then, thereby negating the tripling of the monetary base under his chairmanship? Will he get out before mass inflation rears its ugly head? (2) Will he be able to pass on the Old Maid of price inflation, the way that Alan Greenspan passed on the Old Maid of the Great Recession to him?
He suffers from a major liability: he is an academic. In the history of the Federal Reserve, only three men who have held the position of Chairman of the Board of Governors have had a PhD in economics.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Cost of Taxes to Freedom and Society / Politics / Taxes
By: Casey_Research
The always-outspoken Doug Casey addresses a broader view of taxation and its costs to both individuals and society in general in this interview with Louis James.
L: Doug, the Taxman cometh, at least for most US citizens who file their annual tax papers on April 15. We get a lot of letters from readers who know about your international lifestyle and wonder about the tax advantages they assume it confers. Is this something you care to talk about?
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Bernanke’s Plan for the Middle Class Fattening Wall Street, Starving Main Street / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Do you want to understand what the Fed is doing, but don’t have time to wade through volumes of tedious economics writing?
Well, now the pros at dshort.com have made all that possible. They’ve reduced 4 years of monetary policy into one chart that illustrates exactly what the Fed is up-to and who benefits from the policy. Here’s the link.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Global Warming Gurus Beat The Retreat / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
Once upon a time, about 2009, it was practically impossible to say you do not believe in so-called "anthropogenic" global warming, or any kind of global warming - and try getting a job in anything that smacks of carbon finance or renewable energy, let alone the upstream of energy policy.
At the time and due to a small band of supposed guru geniuses given instant access to all government-friendly media, backed by showmen allies like Al Gore, there was Only One Possible Theory. The nearest comparison is Trofim Lysenko's delirious genetic theories which Stalin liked and approved - and used as one more prop in his quest for permanent and total power. From 1964 however, Lysenko was dumped by the new Krushchev power elite, and his ridiculous theory went down the drain. Exactly the same is happening to global warming hysteria, today.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Russia's Strategy, Remaking the Union / Politics / Russia
By: STRATFOR
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 reversed a process that had been under way since the Russian Empire's emergence in the 17th century. It was ultimately to incorporate four general elements: Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Siberia. The St. Petersburg-Moscow axis was its core, and Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine were its center of gravity. The borders were always dynamic, mostly expanding but periodically contracting as the international situation warranted. At its farthest extent, from 1945 to 1989, it reached central Germany, dominating the lands it seized in World War II. The Russian Empire was never at peace. As with many empires, there were always parts of it putting up (sometimes violent) resistance and parts that bordering powers coveted -- as well as parts of other nations that Russia coveted.