Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Sunday, August 15, 2010
U.S. China Conflict, Moving From War of Words to Talk of War / Politics / GeoPolitics
Relations between the U.S. and China have been steadily deteriorating since the beginning of the year when Washington confirmed the completion of a $6.4 billion arms deal with Taiwan and China suspended military-to-military ties with the U.S. in response.
In January the Chinese Defense Ministry announced the cessation of military exchanges between the two countries and the Foreign Ministry warned of enforcing sanctions against American companies involved with weapons sales to Taiwan.
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
How to Thwart the Assassins of the American Dream / Politics / US Politics
Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, paints a grim picture of the State of the Union:
"Every day, Americans, faced with layoffs and tough economic times, are forced to use their credit cards to pay for essentials such as food, housing, and medical care -- the costs of which continue to escalate. But, as their debt rises, they find it harder to keep up with their payments. When they don't, banks, trying to offset losses in other areas, turn around, hike interest rates, and impose all manner of fees and penalties..." Third World America, (P. 77)
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Fed is Confused / Politics / Central Banks
The Federal Reserve has confused "changing nothing" for "doing nothing." The result? They are still the worst actor on Wall Street.
I was wrong.
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
Will the Pension Time Bomb Set Off a Crime Explosion? / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
When state and local budgets fall short, services are cut. That means critical services like police and fire and transport... and with the pension crisis looming, the unkindest cuts of all still lay ahead.
Diane Cunningham of Colorado Springs, Colo., no longer has a flat-screen television. She decided to sell it... so she could buy a shotgun.
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Saturday, August 14, 2010
NATO Assists In Building New Iraq Middle East Proxy Army / Politics / Middle East
A North Atlantic Treaty Organization website recently posted an article by the commander of the NATO Training Mission – Iraq, American Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, entitled "NATO Training Mission – Iraq: Tactical Size...Strategic Impact" which reflected on the six-year-old but little known role of the Western military bloc in the Middle Eastern nation.
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Social Insecurity / Politics / Social Issues
Paul Cwik writes: Oh joy, oh joy! It has finally arrived! You wouldn't believe how excited I was to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration. In the letter, they dutifully showed me how much taxable income I have ever made. (Is it me, or is there something really creepy about that?) They showed me how much I have paid in taxes and how much my employer also "paid." Then they showed me how much my payment would be if I retire at full retirement (67 years old — not 62 or 65 like you may have heard) and if I delay "collecting" until I turn 70.
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Investing for Mexico’s Social and Economic Collapse / Politics / Mexico
There is a war next door, and our neighbor may be losing. I’m talking about Mexico’s ongoing battle with violent drug gangs. The northern parts of Mexico are becoming lawless, and the drug gangs are taking steps to set themselves up as de facto governments. This could have big implications for Mexico and for its oil production. And Mexico is our number 2 supplier of imported oil.
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Algore's Big Green Climate Change Lies Are Imploding / Politics / Climate Change
Alan Caruba writes: As World War Two wound down, in 1945 Italian partisans found Benito Mussolini and his girlfriend trying to flee to Switzerland. They shot both of them and then hung them by their heels in the Piazza Loreto in Milan. He had led the National Fascist Party and had been the 40th prime minister from 1922 until being deposed, jailed, and rescued by his pal Adolf Hitler.
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Beware Friday the 13th, It's Wealth-looting Day / Politics / Taxes
Welcome to Friday the 13th. You may not know why Friday the 13th is considered such an unlucky day, but it's worth learning about for anyone who's concerned about protecting his assets, especially from high taxes and confiscation.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Unintended Consequences of Iran Trade Sanctions / Politics / Iran
As the Iranian government continues to resist American political pressure to abandon its nuclear program, the United States and her allies have once again turned to economic sanctions as a method of enforcing their will — or, at least, so they intend. On June 9, 2010, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1929, which, among other things, bans the sale of armaments and the provision of military training to the Iranian military, and prohibits travel for certain blacklisted Iranian citizens. Unsatisfied, the United States and the European Union intends to enact even tougher economic sanctions of their own in the near future. Even worse, these are only additions to sanctions that have existed since the Revolution of 1979.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Social Credit and the Tea Party Movement / Politics / US Politics
“The essential objective of Social Credit is to achieve an increase in purchasing power available to the common citizenry so that the resources in a society are more fully distributed in general rather than being controlled by a ruling banking elite which operates through a monopoly of credit.”
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hezbollah, Radical but Rational / Politics / Middle East
When we discuss threats along the U.S./Mexico border with sources and customers, or when we write an analysis on topics such as violence and improvised explosive devices along the border, a certain topic inevitably pops up: Hezbollah.We frequently hear concerns from U.S. and Mexican government sources about the Iranian and Hezbollah network in Latin America. They fear that Iran would use Hezbollah to strike targets in the Western Hemisphere and even inside the United States if the United States or Israel were to conduct a military strike against Tehran’s nuclear program. Such concerns are expressed not only by our sources and are relayed not only to us. Nearly every time tensions increase between the United States and Iran, the media report that the Hezbollah threat to the United States is growing. Iran also has a vested interest in playing up the danger posed by Hezbollah and its other militant proxies as it tries to dissuade the United States and Israel from attacking its nuclear facilities.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Big Things That Matter And The Little Things That Annoy / Politics / US Politics
I write about major problems: the collapsing US economy, wars based on lies and deception, the police state based on “the war on terror” and other fabrications such as those orchestrated by corrupt police and prosecutors, who boost their performance reports by convicting the innocent, and so on. America is a very distressing place. The fact that so many Americans are taken in by the lies told by “their” government makes America all the more depressing.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
US Planning a Coup d'Etat in Venezuela? / Politics / US Politics
It's no fun being on Washington's enemies list. Just ask Hugo Chavez. Last week, the Venezuelan president had to cancel a trip to Cuba after he was told that a coup was underway and his life was in danger. The information came from the same anonymous source who had warned him of the earlier coup in 2002. The letter said: “The execution phase is accelerating..… There is an agreement between Colombia and the US with two objectives: one is Mauricio and the other is the overthrow of the government.… They will hunt down ‘Mauricio’ (and) try to neutralize part of the Armed Forces.” ("Venezuela Pushes for Peace", Coral Wynter, Green Left News)
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Capital Controls, The Real US Border Fence / Politics / US Politics
You probably haven’t heard of capital controls, but they are common around the world. These mechanisms can control the inflows of money into a country or money leaving the nation or both.
Why do countries impose capital controls? Governments may try to limit inflows if they believe their currencies or stock markets are appreciating too fast, or they may slow outflows because they fear crashes like the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-8.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Doomsday Threat Of The "Nuclear Renaissance" / Politics / Energy Resources
Political deciders, corporate elites and mainstream media, almost everywhere, have swung to virtually total support for nuclear power. Major agencies and entities promoting nuclear power, such as the OECD's NEA and the WNA announce the industry's 2010-2020 potential for rivalling its previous highwater mark, in the 1975-1985 period, when it averaged one new reactor on line every 17 days, for 10 years.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Something Stinks About Wikileaks Release of "Secret" Documents / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
Since the dramatic release of a US military film of a US airborne shooting of unarmed journalists in Iraq, Wiki-Leaks has gained global notoreity and credibility as a daring website that releases sensitive material to the public from whistleblowers within various governments. Their latest “coup” involved alleged leak of thousands of pages of supposedly sensitive documents regarding US informers within the Taliban in Afghanistan and their ties to senior people linked to Pakistan’s ISI military intelligence. The evidence suggests however that far from an honest leak, it is a calculated disinformation to the gain of the US and perhaps Israeli and Indian intelligence and a coverup of the US and Western role in drug trafficking out of Afghanistan.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hurrah for Hugo Chavez / Politics / US Politics
It's no fun being on Washington's enemies list. Just ask Hugo Chavez. Last week, the Venezuelan president had to cancel a trip to Cuba after he was told that a coup was underway and his life was in danger. The information came from an anonymous source who had delivered a similar warning prior to the failed coup in 2002. The letter said: “The execution phase is accelerating..… There is an agreement between Colombia and the US with two objectives: one is Mauricio and the other is the overthrow of the government.… They will hunt down ‘Mauricio’ (and) try to neutralize part of the Armed Forces.” ("Venezuela Pushes for Peace", Coral Wynter, Green Left News)
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Monday, August 09, 2010
U.S. and the Cycle of Violence in Afghanistan / Politics / US Politics
Last week the National Bureau of Economic Research published a report on the effect of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq that confirmed what critics of our foreign policy have been saying for years: the killing of civilians, although unintentional, angers other civilians and prompts them to seek revenge. This should be self-evident.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
Are Democrats Plotting Surprise Election Economic Stimulus? / Politics / Economic Stimulus
Jon D. Markman writes: Data last week showed a job market that’s careening down a steep street with no breaks. Yet investors were able to shrug off employment concerns, as the stock market actually ended the week up 1.5% due to that rockin’ Monday on the first day of the month.
That’s because there is growing speculation that the Democrats are plotting a surprise stimulus in the run up to November’s mid-term elections.
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