Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Ron Paul on CISPA is the New SOPA / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Earlier this year, strong public opposition led by several prominent websites forced Congressional leaders to cancel votes on two bills known in Washington as "SOPA" and "PIPA." Both of these bills threatened search engines and websites with possible shutdowns if the Justice Department deemed them insufficiently cooperative with our phony "war on terror," or if they were merely accused of copyright infringement. Fortunately the American public flooded Capitol Hill with phone calls and Congressional leaders dropped both bills.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
America's Epic Jobs Failure / Politics / Employment
By: James_Quinn
“Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.” – Edmund Burke
No wonder one third of Americans are obese. The crap we are shoveling into our bodies is on par with the misinformation, propaganda and lies that are being programmed into our minds by government bureaucrats, corrupt politicians, corporate media gurus, and central banker puppets. Chief Clinton propaganda mouthpiece, James Carville, famously remarked during the 1992 presidential campaign that, “It’s the economy, stupid”. Clinton was able to successfully convince the American voters that George Bush’s handling of the economy caused the 1991 recession. In retrospect, it was revealed the economy had been recovering for months prior to the election. No one could ever accuse the American people of being perceptive, realistic or critical thinking when it comes to economics, math, history or distinguishing between truth or lies. Our government controlled public school system has successfully dumbed down the populace to a level where they enjoy their slavery and prefer conscious ignorance to critical thought.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Dutch Government on Verge of Collapse After Economic Austerity Torpedoed / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Mike_Shedlock
... Caretaker Government and New Elections Coming Up
The Netherlands has been one of the staunchest proponents of forced austerity on Greece. However, now that Brussels has demanded the Netherlands hit its fiscal targets, Dutch politicians can't get the task done and the government is poised to collapse. New elections are coming up.
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Sun Solar Maximum Ramps Up Earth Cataclysms / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: T_Anthony_Michael
How is the SUN triggering many earth changes?
More than any other major co-factor, the unprecedented, meteoric and relentless changes taking place throughout Planet Earth are the direct result of exceedingly powerful influences emanating from the presiding star of our solar system. The sun, and especially its recent and extraordinary activity, is at the very heart of every major geophysical and meteorological event taking place around the globe today.
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Did Bernanke Prevent Another Great Depression? / Politics / US Economy
By: Frank_Shostak
In a lecture given at George Washington University on March 27, 2012, the chairman of the Fed said that the US central bank's aggressive response to the 2007–2009 financial crisis and recession helped prevent a worldwide catastrophe. Various economic indicators were showing ominous signs at the time. After closing at 3.1 percent in September 2007, the yearly rate of growth of industrial production fell to minus 14.8 percent by June 2009. The yearly rate of growth of housing starts fell from 20.5 percent in January 2005 to minus 54.8 percent in January 2009.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
More Americans Are Sneaking Out of the Subprime State / Politics / US Debt
By: Bill_Bonner
Memories take time. Like history. Or wine. Or cement.
At first, they are loose, fluid…and watery. Then, over time, they dry up…and develop more body…more shape…more substance.
Our recollections from our trip to Argentina are still congealing…setting up like a stone wall. We’ll show it to you in the days ahead.
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Government Bonds and Debt Bondage / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2012
By: Gary_North
The phrase "his word is his bond" is not heard as much these days as it was in my youth, back when Eisenhower was President. The phrase relied on a concept of "bond" that meant reliability. This reliability was based on predictability.
The other use of the word refers to bondage. The person who is in bonds is tied up. That also relates to the ides of a bond. A person is restricted by whatever it was that he promised to do. He is therefore predictable. The essence of "bond" is predictability.
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
U.S. Economic Recovery Debate, Still on the Fence? / Politics / Economic Recovery
By: Andy_Sutton
Lost among never-ending talk in the mainstream media about the ‘modest recovery’ being experienced in America have been some rather poignant headlines that are telling a completely different story. I’ve used up many weeks to outline the flaws regarding how our economic growth is measured and suggest more responsible alternatives. I don’t expect Washington to change, however. Those suggestions are for ‘We the People’ as we navigate our own individual situations and seek to do the things necessary in order that we are better prepared to deal with the undeniable consequences of gross mismanagement by our government.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Fiat Currency, Nixon, Gold and Crude Oil / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Richard_Mills
In July 1944, delegates from 44 nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire - the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference - and agreed to "peg" their currencies to the U.S. dollar, the only currency strong enough to meet the rising demands for international currency transactions.
Member nations were required to establish a parity of their national currencies in terms of the US dollar, the "peg", and to maintain exchange rates within plus or minus one percent of parity, the "band."
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
The JOBS Act: Washington Takes One Step Back Toward Capitalism / Politics / US Politics
By: Ron_Holland
I know my editorial credibility and reader confidence will suddenly collapse when this goes to print but I have some good news out of Washington and Congress. Yes, I know what you are getting ready to do but don't hit the delete button just yet!
The JOBS Act is actually good news for start-up and private company investors that will provide more liquidity, create an IPO boom and may be the beginning of a trend by Washington away from more regulatory and bureaucratic solutions holding down a nation and economy that simply can't compete with the rest of the world.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
What President Obama Doesn't Understand About Crude Oil Price Manipulation / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
If you think gasoline prices are volatile now, stay tuned. President Obama's plan to clamp down on oil speculators is going to make things worse.
I'm sure you've seen the news by now.
The president wants to clamp down on so-called "oil price manipulation" and has proposed a $52 billion plan to increase federal supervision of oil markets.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
LME Considering Settling Metals Contracts in Renminbi / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
According to a report last week in the Financial Times, the London Metals Exchange or LME is currently considering allowing members to settle their contracts in Chinese renminbi.
In a survey of its members aimed at aiding the design of a new clearing house, the metals exchange reportedly asked if they would like to include the renminbi among its current roster of other currencies for the settling and clearing of trades, and if dropping the pound sterling would be problematic.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Unplugging Americans From The Matrix / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Americans, the British, and Western Europeans are accustomed to thinking of themselves as the representatives of freedom, democracy, and morality in the world. The West passes judgment on the rest of the world as if the West is God and the rest of the world are barbarians in need of chastisement, invasion, and occupation. As readers know, from time to time I raise questions about the validity of the West’s extreme hubris. (See for example, the following articles: Washington’s Insouciance Has No Rival and Is Western Democracy Real or a Facade? ). China is often a country about which Washington’s moralists get on their high horse. However, China’s “authoritarian” government is actually more responsive to its people than America’s “elected democratic” government. Moreover, however incomplete on paper the civil liberties of China’s people, the Chinese government has not declared that it can violate with impunity whatever rights Chinese citizens have. And it is not China that is running torture prisons all over the globe.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Top Individual Income Tax Rates and the GDP Growth: Exposing the Lies of Rush Limbaugh and Right-Wing Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Jas_Jain
I am sick and tired of propagandist Rush Limbaugh claim, almost on a daily basis, that lower taxes, and he means the rate on the top individual income tax bracket, or marginal tax rate, leads to higher growth. Most right-wing Republicans believe in his lies and never bother to check the facts with the benefit of the hindsight. There is no subject related to the economy in America that has more propaganda than taxes because over time trillions are at stake.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Lagarde says IMF Would Be There 'For All Members' In Debt Crisis / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Bloomberg
Bloomberg Exclusive: IMF managing director Christine Lagarde spoke with Bloomberg Television's Margaret Brennan and said that she expects more contributions on top of the $320 billion raised and "I look at this pot of money as an umbrella...there are clouds on the horizon." In reference to Spain, Lagarde said that, "if there's a need, the IMF has to be there for all members."
Lagarde also said that the U.S. must address housing issues "forcefully" to help the American economy and that whatever can be done to help households "is going to be of help to the entire U.S. economy."
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Currency Wars: Gambling With Other Peoples’ Money / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2012
By: Axel_Merk
If running out of your own money wasn’t bad enough, policy makers are increasingly spending other peoples’ money to bail their country out. At the upcoming G-20 meeting, finance ministers from around the world will contemplate an increase to the resources of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At stake for politicians is whether they can continue to do what they know best – to play politics. In contrast, at stake for investors may be whether currencies will retain their function as a store of value.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
How Goldman Sachs Captured Europe / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Ellen_Brown
The Goldman Sachs coup that failed in America has nearly succeeded in Europe—a permanent, irrevocable, unchallengeable bailout for the banks underwritten by the taxpayers. In September 2008, Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, managed to extort a $700 billion bank bailout from Congress. But to pull it off, he had to fall on his knees and threaten the collapse of the entire global financial system and the imposition of martial law; and the bailout was a one-time affair. Paulson’s plea for a permanent bailout fund—the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP—was opposed by Congress and ultimately rejected.
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
European Stability Mechanism Needs Direct Access to Europe's Banks / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Bloomberg
Jose Vinals, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department, spoke with Bloomberg Television's Margaret Brennan today and said that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) should be able to put capital into banks without going through national governments to "de-link the sovereign and banking risk at the national level."
Vinals also warned against getting "caught into a wave of pessimism by recent market data" even if the "situation is uncertain" in countries like Spain and Italy.
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Fearful, Anti-Social Cash Hoarding / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Adrian_Ash
How much longer will companies be allowed to run themselves for cash...?
HOARDING stuff until your home is a health hazard and your family and neighbors hate you isn't only a TV "reality". Perhaps 1 million US citizens are prey to the hoarding compulsion on one estimate, fighting the urge to let everything just keep piling up.
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Spain, the Land of Magical Financial Realism / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
These days when I read about Spain I'm wondering more and more how and why it is that the country has any access at all left to international finance markets. The bond auction this week was even sort of bearable, even as yields rose. I'm guessing that either investors have a hard time reading the news or they're going double or nothing in a risk-on bet that Germany and the IMF (China?!) will come to the rescue.
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