Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
More Money Printing, More Problems / Politics / Quantitative Easing
By: MISES
CJ Maloney writes: The recent decision by the Federal Reserve to keep its balance sheet stuffed to bursting with whatever the Wall Street banks decide to throw onto it came as no surprise and crushed any hope that the Fed would tone down its policy of quantitative easing (QE) — or credit easing (CE), as Mr. Bernanke prefers to call it. With the US economy stalled despite the trillions of "stimulus" funds larded out to the politically connected, the people who helm the Federal Reserve likely felt they had no other choice. This was too easy to predict; for the past few decades the response of US monetary authorities to any crisis has been the same — print more money.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Food Crisis Doomsday Scenario as Prices to Shoot Through the Roof / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Pravda
The worst weather on record coupled with the practice of speculation in the commodities markets are set to send food prices skyrocketing, bringing misery and starvation to large swathes of the world’s population. Are we set to see food riots this winter?
In the USA, Walmart has already announced a price hike of 5.8% on average for a 31-item basic basket for this Autumn. The long-term rise, however, is far more frightening, with the UNO predicting an increase of 60 per cent by 2030.
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A Culture of Fear Basis for American Foreign and Domestic Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: J_M_Finegold_Catalan
Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, Soviet foreign spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov warned the United States, "We have done the most terrible thing to you that we could possibly have done. We have deprived you of an enemy."
For nearly half a century, the elusive threat posed by the Soviet Union formed the basis of American foreign and domestic policy. Much of the United States' political and economic development was in fact a product of the government's exploitation of a supposed Soviet menace. Gerasimov recognized that the fall of communist Russia denied the American government the ability to exploit the fear of Marxism to its own benefit. It was as if the American government had lost its reason for being.
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Iraq War End or Escalation? / Politics / Iraq War
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Amid much fanfare last week, the last supposed "combat" troops left Iraq as the administration touted the beginning of the end of the Iraq War and a change in the role of the United States in that country. Considering the continued public frustration with the war effort, and with the growing laundry list of broken promises, this was merely another one of the administration's operations in political maneuvering and semantics in order to convince an increasingly war-weary public that the Iraq War is at last ending. However, military officials confirm that we are committed to intervention in that country for years to come, and our operations have in fact, changed minimally, if really at all.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
Rumors of the China Central Bank Chief's Defection on U.S. Treasury Bond Losses / Politics / Central Banks
By: STRATFOR
Rumors have circulated in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based news agency, saying that because of an approximately $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, the Chinese government may punish some individuals within PBC, including Zhou.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
An Unofficial Translation of Bernanke's Jackson Hole Speech, Part 2 / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Here we get to where the rubber meets the road.
In the remainder of my remarks I will discuss the policies the Federal Reserve is currently using to support economic recovery and price stability. I will also discuss some additional policy options that we could consider, especially if the economic outlook were to deteriorate further.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
The Poor Have No Chance of Joining the Rich, the Game is Rigged / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
THE AGE OF MAMMON
"Financiers - like bank robbers - do not create wealth. They merely distribute it. While the mob may idolize holdup men in good times, in the bad times it lynches them. What they will do to the new money men when their blood is up, we wait eagerly to find out." - Mobs, Messiahs and Markets
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Monday, August 30, 2010
Mainstream Media Complicity in Financial Crimes / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Danny_Schechter
Q: Why are media outlets doing such a bad job covering Wall Street?
A: Could it be, because they are owned by Wall Street?
When you connect the dots in your writing or look for deeper explanations behind the decisions of policymakers, market makers and media-makers, it’s easy to be dismissed as a conspiracy nut.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
Cycling in a Depression, "Guys like me who built America are no longer needed / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Mele writes: You want to know who I am? First, I'll tell you who I was.
I joined the Marines when I was 18, went to Vietnam when I was 19, was an 0331 machine gunner, survived a tour of duty in heat and humidity in the mountains of northern South Vietnam near the DMZ. My rear base, the Rockpile, was the most remote base in Vietnam at that time, or so we were told. I survived that war and when I got home I used the GI Bill to get into the Boston Architectural Center, a night school of Architecture. I worked days a few years as a construction laborer and then as an office boy in an architectural office. I got married, was accepted to the University of Oregon and got my BA in architecture in '77, worked, moved a few times (due to recessions), had two beautiful daughters, raised my family, etc.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Breaking News: Bernanke Can’t Get It Up / Politics / Central Banks
By: Andrew_Butter
The worry that many people had this time last year (or gleeful anticipation (for those who held gold)), was that with all the QE and the bailouts, not to forget the stimulus, hyper-inflation would become ignited in USA and that would signal the final death-rattle of Evil Fiat currencies.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Debt is Main Threat to U.S. National Security ... Pentagon Must Cut Spending / Politics / US Debt
By: Washingtons_Blog
War and The Economic Crisis: Mullen - In February 2009, the head of U.S. intelligence - Dennis Blair - said that the global financial crisis was the largest threat to America's national security. All of America's intelligence agencies apparently agreed.
The same month, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Admiral Mullen - also agreed.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
BRIC Set for Name Change as it Prepares to Welcome New Members / Politics / Emerging Markets
By: Pravda
BRIC - the organization that unites Brazil, Russia, India and China - may soon change its name as it prepares to welcome another member - the South African Republic, the most developed country on the African continent. The organization has accepted the bid from South Africa's President Jacob Zuma; most likely, the answer will be positive.
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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Gold, Tea Party, Glenn Beck and Covert Operations / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Stathis
Subscribers to the AVA Investment Analytics newsletter might recall a few months ago I criticized a nonpartisan think tank for its sudden departure from meaningful discussions related to America's insidious trade policy. Incidentally, abandonment of the organization's position on the detrimental effects of unfair trade coincided with the appointment of its head figure to a top advisory position in Washington.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Pakistan Crippled by Staggering Foreign Debt, Hit by Environmental and Humanitarian Disaster / Politics / Pakistan
By: Global_Research
Damien Millet writes: Because of torrential rains lasting several days Pakistan is facing one of the worst predicaments in human and material terms for the last 80 years. The damage inflicted is stunning. About 22 million people are affected by the floods. Many infrastructures have been unable to withstand the onslaught of rain. Roads and harbours can no longer be used. Millions of people have had to leave their houses, and the UN estimates that there are 5 million left homeless. Makeshift refugee camps have been set up, and some 1 million people already live there in disgraceful sanitary conditions. The south of the country, and more particularly the province of Sindh, has been badly shaken by this catastrophe. Economic losses amount to billions with the farming industry severely hit, large tracts of farmland having been destroyed.
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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Waxman, Waters and Iran, Connect the Dots / Politics / US Politics
By: Katherine_Smith
- July 25 - WikiLeaks of tens of thousands of Army documents related to the war in Afghanistan
- Jul 28 - An out of character vote, by Henry Waxman, an apologist for Bush's wars against the 2010 emergency funding for the Afghanistan
- August 2 - the House Ethics Committee formally brought a case against Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of America’s most enduring liberal and fierce Anti War politicians
Friday, August 27, 2010
What You're Not Supposed to Know about War / Politics / Government Spending
By: Thomas_J_DiLorenzo
It is a testament to the power of government propaganda that several generations of self-described conservatives have held as their core belief that war and militarism are consistent with limited, constitutional government. These conservatives think they are "defending freedom" by supporting every military adventure that the state concocts. They are not.
Friday, August 27, 2010
In Defence of Alan Greenspan: The Age of Turbulence Re-visited / Politics / Central Banks
By: Andrew_Butter
Plenty of people have been laying into Alan Greenspan since the full horror of the financial catastrophe that threatened to destroy America (and it still might), was laid bare:
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Age of Gas to Result in Oil and Natural Gas Price Collapse / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
Major new energy issues are about to transform still further the strategic balance of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with foreseeable consequences for the global energy market over the coming decade. Soon-to-be-evident new wealth in the Red Sea/Horn of Africa region will transform the intensity of conflict there, which in turn will affect not only the region, but the world’s most important trading route: the Red Sea/Suez sea line of communication (SLOC).Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 27, 2010
Nobody Gave Us The Bomb - The Reality Of Nuclear Proliferation / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Many Internet sites, the press and media, and political leaders in some leading countries seek to
maintain the myth of "atom secrets" held by a very select few countries and principally the 5
permanent members of the UN Security Council, which by no coincidence are also the 5 earliest
countries to have developed, tested and used (in the case of the USA) atomic weapons, before
moving on to their industrial production. These "declared nuclear powers", in their rush to firstly
develop the fission or atomic bomb, then the fusion or hydrogen bomb, themselves repeatedly made
use of so-called "atom spies". Today however they seek to maintain the myth that spies, organized
crime syndicates, rogue governments, greedy industrialists and evil scientists are working to spread
and use the "atom secrets" that only they invented and still own.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Third World America: 'Fast-Tracking to Anarchy' / Politics / Social Issues
By: Janet_Tavakoli
My last post about Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream talked about the Great Recession, the Great Bailout, and the Great Cover-Up of financial crimes.
Among the future consequences of not fixing our national problems will likely be an increase in social unrest and an increase in crime. A look at Chicago's problems may serve as a call to action for America's middle class. Chicago's city budget is in dire straits. That's also true of the state of Illinois, California, New York and other areas. In Chicago, the same mismanagement that deepened our fiscal crisis has caused a crisis in essential city services.
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