Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
How Generations Move History, Into the Fourth Turning / Politics / Demographics
By: Casey_Research
A Casey Research interview with Neil Howe, co-author of The Fourth Turning
The Fourth Turning is an amazingly prescient book Neil Howe wrote with the late William Strauss in 1997. The work, which describes generational archetypes and the cyclical patterns created by these archetypes, has been an eye-opener to anyone able to entertain the notion that history may repeat itself. At the time the book was published, the Boston Globe stated, “If Howe and Strauss are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets.” Read this visionary interview published in The Casey Report, and see for yourself.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Restoring a Viable System of Bank Credit / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Mike_Whitney
Fed chief Ben Bernanke is in a bit of a bind. He's being asked to restore a system for credit expansion which collapsed more than two years ago and has shown no sign of life ever since. During the boom years, securitization accounted for more than 40 percent of the credit flowing into the economy. No more. When two Bear Stearns hedge funds defaulted in July 2007, the system crashed as investors of all stripes backed away from complex, illiquid assets.
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Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Global Warming Scandals / Politics / Climate Change
By: Floy_Lilley
One failed resurrection of the old hockey stick prop, one "scientist" using thin data, and one entire research unit destroying what should have been secured are distasteful scandals that couldn’t have erupted at a worst time for global warming alarmists. Cooling temperatures and collapsed economies have already forced this once hot issue of yesteryear to the bottom of anyone’s list of concerns.
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Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Mainstream Media Failure Compounds The Financial Crisis Failure / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Danny_Schechter
The Press Is Still Missing The Story Of Fraud and Economic Decline Ahead
We know that Wall Street has not learned much from the crash it helped instigate. We know that our government, whatever its stated desire to clean up the markets and reform the financial behemoths, lacks the willingness and perhaps the clout to rein in the real power centers. We are not sure if they have been “captured” by them, or just lack the guts to take on institutions and individuals that helped fund their rise to power.
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Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Congress Bombs and Bribes / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on US soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping? That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks? What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children? And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the US, had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here?
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Monday, October 05, 2009
Secrets Leaked on the Deepening Iran Crisis / Politics / Iran
By: STRATFOR
Two major leaks occurred this weekend over the Iran matter.
In the first, The New York Times published an article reporting that staff at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear oversight group, had produced an unreleased report saying that Iran was much more advanced in its nuclear program than the IAEA had thought previously. According to the report, Iran now has all the data needed to design a nuclear weapon. The New York Times article added that U.S. intelligence was re-examining the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of 2007, which had stated that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.
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Monday, October 05, 2009
How the Feds Imprison the Innocent: New Book Confirms Tyranny of Good Intentions Thesis / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Authors of serious books seldom have cause to celebrate, but Larry Stratton and I have two reasons to open the champagne. Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, has announced a second printing of the second edition of The Tyranny of Good Intentions, and the noted civil libertarian and defense attorney, Harvey Silverglate, has just published a book covering many of the same legal cases and vetting our conclusion that in the United States every American is in grave danger from unscrupulous prosecutors who target the innocent.
Monday, October 05, 2009
NATO's Global Military Roadmap / Politics / New World Order
By: Rick_Rozoff
Not content with expanding from 16 to 28 members over the past decade in a post-Cold War world in which it confronts no military threat from any source, state or non-state, and not sufficiently occupied with its first ground and first Asian war in Afghanistan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – the world’s only military bloc – is eager to take on a plethora of new international missions.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
The U.S. Constitution Never Had a Chance / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Kozy
An eminent North Carolina jurist, with whom I served on a Criminal Code Revision Commission, once told me that the law is what the last court that looks at it says it is and even then, its Justices usually disagree. I told him that there must be something very wrong with such a system. Thinking about this issue and attempting to isolate the arguments in Supreme Court decisions for use in my logic classes over decades, I came to the conclusion that so many things were wrong that even selecting the most egregious would be difficult. Perhaps that is why I have not attempted to write this piece until now.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Understanding the Costs of Healthcare / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: D_W_MacKenzie
Rising costs are the main issue in the debate over healthcare reform. Most everybody thinks of healthcare as expensive, but there is much confusion over these costs. On September 9, President Obama attempted to clarify cost issues concerning the medical industry. The federal government will supposedly reduce costs, curtail abuses, and make healthcare services more affordable.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
How Goldman Sachs Lobbies the Senate / Politics / Market Manipulation
By: Matt_Taibbi
The SEC is holding a public round table Tuesday to explore several issues around securities lending, which has expanded into a big moneymaker for Wall Street firms and pension funds. Regulation hasn’t kept pace, some industry participants contend. Securities lending is central to the practice of short selling, in which investors borrow shares and sell them in a bet that the price will decline. Short sellers later hope to buy back the shares at a lower price and return them to the securities lender, booking a profit. Lending and borrowing also help market makers keep stock trading functioning smoothly.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Mainstream Zombie Media, Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-2009 / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Stephen_Lendman
For 33 years, Sonoma State University's (SSU) Project Censored (PC) has engaged in pioneering research on, and advocacy for, First Amendment issues. Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, it's now headed by Professor Ben Frymer. On July 1, he took over from Professor Peter Phillips who stepped down after 13 years of distinguished service as Director.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Iran Sanctions and the Doomsday Scenario / Politics / Iran
By: John_Mauldin
Recently I had a discussion with a colleague about university athletes. I was previously unaware that NCAA colleges set up guidance programs that develop the well-roundedness of student athletes. 'Life coaches' ensure that these individuals balance their rigorous athletic commitments with personal and academic accomplishments. I'm not judging your ability to run a mile or catch a football, but well-roundedness is an element to being successful - whatever your area may be.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Risk of Less Risk; The "Yeah, But" Syndrome / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Paul_Petillo
As Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman testifies before Congress, we will come to the conclusion that there is risk, we should do something about it and we still have no idea exactly what. Referring to the problem as systemic risk, both in the creation of firms seeking to reach, through acquisition, the "to-big-to-fail" status and the inability of one agency to oversee every player in this complicated, global game of finance, Bernanke admits that we are far from where we need to be but much closer than we think.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Hedge Funds One of the Last Bastions of Capitalism Left in the United States / Politics / Financial Markets 2009
By: Dan_OConnor
We Call Upon the Hedge Funds - The brains and talent of the financial industry have been moving enormous pools of wealth away from the highly regulated commercial and investment banks into the fast-paced, creative, and aggressive hedge funds. This is because, in many ways, the hedge funds represent a more pure capitalist system.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Japanese Politics and the Yen / Politics / Japanese Yen
By: Axel_Merk
The U.S. dollar has been getting a beating from all sides, but its woes may be far from over – recent developments in Japan, China, Germany and the United Kingdom, not to speak of domestic developments in the U.S., are pointing to a rocky road ahead. Today’s focus is on Japan and, more specifically, how a country on a downward economic spiral can have a strong currency.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Dieing Sun Shines on the Tory Party / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Sun, Britains most popular newspaper publically announced its backing of the Conservative party some 6 months ahead of the next General Election. Whilst it is bad news for Labour, however it is not surprising given Labour's low poll rating and the Sun's own highly critical reporting of Gordon Browns government where it had resumed the role of pumping out biased Tory propaganda barely weeks within Gordon Brown taking over from Tony Blair in July 2007.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2009
A Somber G20 / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: John_Browne
As a part-time member of the press corps, I had the good fortune to attend many of the public sessions at last week's G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh. As impressive as it was to closely witness the gathering of countries representing some 85 percent of the world's GDP (along with the governors of the World Bank, the IMF and the European Central Bank), it was equally remarkable to witness the immense security forces deployed to restrain those who feel the gathering harbored the forces most responsible for the world's economic and financial problems.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Russian TV And Me, Michael Moore, And Using Capitalism To Challenge Capitalism: Oh, The Ironies! / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Danny_Schechter
When the CBS suits shuttered WBCN in Boston, the radio station I used to work for, one more institution that at time was known for offering critical and independent news was snuffed out.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Iran, IAEA, Another War in the Works / Politics / Iran
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Does anyone remember all the lies that they were told by President Bush and the "Main Stream Media" about the grave threat to America from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? These lies were repeated endlessly in the print and TV media despite the reports from the weapons inspectors, who had been sent to Iraq, that no such weapons existed.