Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Why Brampton Manor Academy State School 41 Oxbridge Offers is Nothing to Celebrate! / Politics / Education
By: N_Walayat
The mainstream press has been busy today focused on how one London State school, Brampton Manor Academy has managed to achieve 41 offers of places at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, as though it is something to celebrate when the exact opposite is true! What about the hundreds of thousands of students from all of the other state schools? All this shows is how Oxbridge admissions are highly skewed towards those who know how to play the admissions system so as to engineer places into the Universities. Which is pretty much what the likes of the private schools have been doing for decades.
So, NO Brampton academy achieving 41 offers at Oxbridge is NOTHING CELEBRATE! The exact opposite is true! For it shows how little of Britain's state school talent actually makes it into Britain's top Universities which means they will not tend to churn out the best of Britain.
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Saturday, January 19, 2019
REMAIN Parliament Prepares to Subvert BrExit with Peoples Vote FIXED 2nd EU Referendum / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
This week Britain's inept Prime Minister Theresa May who stubbornly refused to do the right thing by resigning and thus further lost what little power she had left by means of two House of Common Votes, first on her EU Exit deal on which Parliament delivered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday, losing by 230 votes (432 to 202) the largest defeat of a Government in Parliamentary history which was then followed Wednesday's vote of confidence in her Government that only just managed to survive with the aid of 10 DUP MP's resulting in 325 to 306.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2019
US Border Barrier Solution / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Rational discourse has been the overriding casualty of the border war. The break down in language is more than semantics. It has elevated into a divergence of culture that no longer shares a common value system or a cherished dream. The camps of discontent reside in separate and distinct jurisdictions. Government has failed at every level. People have become so polarized that trust in a community of citizens has been discarded for the purity of totalitarian globalism. The continued controversy over a border barrier differentiates more than a line between two countries.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Theresa May to Lose by Over 200 Votes as Remain MP's Plot Subverting Brexit / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Parliament looks set to deliver Theresa May an humiliating defeat in today's vote in the House of Commons on her dogs dinner "EU Withdrawal Act" at around 6pm. Theresa May requires 320 MP's to vote for her deal to get it through the House of Commons, with the mainstream media consensus pointing towards Theresa May only being able to secure support from between 190 to 200 MP's.
However, don't be under any illusion that May's deal is anything other than complete GARBAGE, which gives the EU £39 billion for NOTHING In return! And then there is the 'backstop' or more accurately the 'backstab', a means to ensure that the UK can NEVER LEAVE the EU without the EU's permission! And where Northern Ireland is concerned it's simple, the EU gives the NI £380mln per year, whilst the UK government gives Northern Ireland a £11 billion block grant per year, so it does not take a genius to figure out on which side the bread is buttered!
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Monday, January 14, 2019
Europe is Burning / Politics / European Union
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There will be elections for the European Parliament on May 23-26 2019. They will likely change the face of Europe more than anything has done since the EU was founded. That is not some wild prediction. Many European countries have held elections since the last European elections in 2014, and just about all had outcomes that shook up domestic political ratios.
In most cases, countries went from traditional parties to newly founded ones. France erased the Socialists and center-right in 2017, and the final round of the presidential elections was between Marine Le Pen’s Front National and Emmanuel Macron’s brand-new En Marche. Macron won sort of by default, because France as a country would never have voted for Le Pen.
In Italy, M5S and Lega have taken over. In Germany, Merkel’s CDU/CSU coalition lost bigly though it remained the biggest party, but Angela lost her ‘socialist’ SPD partner which gave up so much it didn’t want to be in government anymore. In Spain, Mariano Rajoy’s center right lost enough to cede power to the Socialists who came up tops because they played a smart game, not because the Spanish wanted it to rule.
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Saturday, January 12, 2019
Trump's Impeachment? Watch the Stock Market / Politics / US Politics
By: EWI
Will Negative Social Mood Oust Trump? Watch the Stock Market
Special Q&A With Alan Hall on Elections and Impeachment
At the end of this article you'll have the opportunity to hear Alan discuss his impeachment research with ETV Correspondent Dana Weeks.
You cannot afford to miss Alan's insightful political analysis. Please login to view the interview after reading the article.
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Friday, January 11, 2019
Jaguar Land Rover Exporting 3000 British Jobs to Slovakia / Politics / Auto Sector
By: N_Walayat
Thursday, Jaguar Land Rover announced 4,500 job losses most of which will take place in the UK that comes on the back of last years announcement to cut 1500 jobs with the car manufacturer putting the blame on a slowdown in China, a slump in demand for diesel vehicles as the trend towards electric cars gathers pace and of course BrExit uncertainty.
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Thursday, January 10, 2019
America's New Africa Strategy / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Dan_Steinbock
Recently, the White House released its new U.S. Africa strategy, which seeks militarization and portrays China as a threat. Both are misguided. Africa can greatly benefit from Chinese and U.S. economic development.
On December 13, 2018, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton gave a speech in the conservative Heritage Foundation about the Trump administration’s new “Africa strategy,” based on Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy doctrine.
In the United States, the media focus was on Bolton’s attack against U.S. adversaries and American aid. Specifically, Boston accused Russia and China of “predatory practices” in Africa.
Tuesday, January 08, 2019
Here’s Why Trump Could Soon Turn on Europe / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
2018’s Buenos Aires G20 summit was a chance for world leaders to forge common ground on important global issues.
That’s not exactly what happened. But President Trump’s trade discussion with Chinese president Xi Jinping looked initially like a bright spot.
They agreed to stop making things worse for a few months, at least. Markets were more skeptical after digesting the news. And rightly so.
Sunday, January 06, 2019
The Fed IS the Ugly Truth / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Raul_I_Meijer
This Fed thing just keeps going on, and it needs to stop. There is nothing in the discussion about the Federal Reserve these days that has any value other than it provides even more proof that the Fed has killed off the most essential elements of what once made the US economy function. All markets, stocks, bonds, housing markets, all price discovery, all murdered. No heartbeat. Pining for the fjords.
And instead of addressing that, and I’m not even talking about addressing fixing what is wrong, all I see is neverending stuff about Jay Powell using, or not using, terms such as “patient” or “accommodative”. Like any of it means anything coming from him and his ilk. Other than for making ‘investors’ a quick buck. Like a quick buck could ever trump the survival of entire market systems.
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Thursday, January 03, 2019
Will Technology Save Baby Boomers? / Politics / Demographics
By: Patrick_Watson
Baby Boomers get blamed for all kinds of problems.Much of the blame is unfair. But there is no doubt the first postwar generation brought a lot of changes—culturally, economically, and otherwise.
Last month, I helped John Mauldin write his Pyramids of Crisis letter. As a result of decisions made decades ago, there’s a rapidly growing proportion of older people in the US.
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Tuesday, January 01, 2019
2019 From A Fourth Turning Perspective / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
“An impasse over the federal budget reaches a stalemate. The president and Congress both refuse to back down, triggering a near-total government shutdown. The president declares emergency powers. Congress rescinds his authority. Dollar and bond prices plummet. The president threatens to stop Social Security checks. Congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling. Default looms. Wall Street panics.” – The Fourth Turning – Strauss & Howe
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Monday, December 31, 2018
How to Fund Trumps Border Wall While Saving Lives / Politics / US Politics
By: Steve_H_Hanke
President Trump and Congressional Democrats have decided to enliven the Christmas season with a game of chicken over President Trump’s proposed “border wall.” As a result, the federal government is partly shut down until the issue is resolved.
The President wants $5 billion to start building the wall. Democrats have offered just $1.6 billion. If the problem truly is money and not that the Democrats oppose a wall under any circumstances, there is a place in the federal budget to find all the money the President wants while saving thousands of lives a year in the process.
More than 700,000 Americans are afflicted with kidney failure. Of those, almost 30 percent live with transplant kidneys with the remaining 70 percent on dialysis. Under a 1972 law, the federal government pays for kidney dialysis for every American whose private insurance does not cover treatment. In 2016, the latest year for which data are available, Medicare spent $35.4 billion on patients with kidney failure (read: end stage renal disease).
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Saturday, December 29, 2018
Universal Basic Income Is Easier Than It Looks / Politics / Benefits
By: Ellen_Brown
Calls for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) have been increasing, most recently as part of the “Green New Deal” introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and supported in the last month by at least 40 members of Congress. A UBI is a monthly payment to all adults with no strings attached, similar to Social Security. Critics say the Green New Deal asks too much of the rich and upper-middle-class taxpayers who will have to pay for it, but taxing the rich is not what the resolution proposes. It says funding would primarily come from the federal government, “using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks,” among other vehicles.
Monday, December 24, 2018
Trump Derangement International / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Dirk Kurbjuweit, deputy editor-in-chief of Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine for the past 4 years, unwittingly put his foot a mile deep in his mouth this week when he reacted to a letter written by US Ambassador to Berlin Richard Grenell. His reaction presents perhaps the most perfect example of the downfall of news, journalism, the media in general, that we’ve seen so far. Most perfect among very stiff competition.
After Der Spiegel itself this week ‘outed’ its award-winning star reporter, Claas Relotius, as someone who had made up many of his lauded articles from scratch, Grenell suggested the magazine, and especially its editorial staff, shouldn’t think they can get away with putting all the blame on just this one guy. He tweeted:
Read full article... Read full article...We value policy criticism. We love a free press. But @Spiegel literally fabricated stories saying people (Americans) were racist & xenophobic. They made up events, details, & lies – and no editor checked the stories. Every real journalist should be outraged by this.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
President Trump's Trade Rubbish / Politics / Protectionism
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The U.S. trade war rages on. With each passing day, there is news about a flare up, primarily on the front where the United States and China are confronting each other. While these flare ups rattle the markets, they don’t seem to rattle President Xi or President Trump. Indeed, neither Xi nor Trump seem inclined to give ground. For his part, Trump has recently tasked Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative, to lead the U.S. in trade negotiations with China. And, Lightizer, having a long ultra-protectionist record, has a reputation for taking no prisoners in trade battles.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
FT Shows How British Establishment Will Ensure REMAIN Wins a Second EU Referendum / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Calls for a so called "Peoples Vote" are reaching a crescendo in the mainstream press, as grid locked chaos in the Westminister counts down to the BrExit deadline of 29th March 2019, that is resulting cabinet ministers downwards claiming that a Second EU Referendum is necessary so that the people can decide on the terms of exiting from the European Union, a deal or no deal exit, or even for the UK to REMAIN within the European Union.
Unfortunately, the whole "Peoples Vote" exercise is a means by which the Britain's establishment will ensure that REMAIN would WIN a second EU referendum by the way the referendum questions would be worded as illustrated by the Financial Times (FT) latest video titled "BrExit: how to hold a second referendum" :
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Wednesday, December 19, 2018
2018 Chaos, 2019 Mayhem / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It took me a while to decide which word(s) best define the past year and the next one, but I think this is pretty much it. 2018 was chaotic more than anything else, and that chaos will give rise to mayhem in 2019.
What I think is striking is that this is true across the board, in all walks of life so to speak. In finance, in politics, in energy markets, in ecological matters, and perhaps most of all in the ways all these topics are being covered by what once were trusted media.
I’m going to have to come back to all these topics separately, so it’s promising to be a very busy holiday season, but it’s also good to try and put them together in one place, if only to show how interconnected everything is. And how futile it is to look at the economy without seeing its connection to energy flows and ecosystems. And vice versa.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Political Theater Goes into Overdrive as US Government Shutdown Looms / Politics / US Politics
By: MoneyMetals
The Democratic party will be moving back into the control room in the House of Representatives.
Congress may commemorate the return to split government with a partial shutdown. The feud over construction of a border wall looks like it will not be resolved in time. It could be the first of many political dramas in 2019.
The debate over funding for the wall is theater, make no mistake.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
With Weaker Climate Consensus, Expect Elevated Climate Change / Politics / Climate Change
By: Dan_Steinbock
As the UN climate conference concluded with the expected dissension, efforts to contain global climate change are weakening at the worst historical moment. Emerging and developing countries will pay much of the bill. As representatives from more than 100 countries debated climate change in the COP24 - the 24th UN climate change conference – held in Katowice, Poland, the outcome could only be divisive.
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