Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, June 10, 2005
How the US Stole Iraq's Oil ! / Politics / Iraq War
By: CarlosM
The UK-based PLATFORM has revealed the strategy to take over Iraq's oil in a new report, "Crude Designs."
According to the authors, it's not quite the ownership of oil reserves that western interests are after, but an arrangement that will allow governments and companies to deny that “privatization” is taking place at all.
The plan, which was developed by the US State Department's Future of Iraq Project, and supported by key figures in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, is to use highly complex contracts known as production sharing agreements (PSA's) , which have existed in the oil industry since the late 1960s.
PSA's are an ingenious arrangement that leaves intact state ownership of the untapped oil, while inverting the flow of payments between the state and companies. Whereas in a concession system, foreign companies have rights to the oil in the ground, and compensate host states for extracting their resources (e.g. via royalties or taxes), under a PSA foreign companies are compensated for their investment in oil production infrastructure and the risks they take in extracting the oil. Under PSA's, the private companies will continue to operate as "contractors" -- a label that is misleading because it gives companies control over oil development and access to extensive profits.
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Monday, April 25, 2005
How the Election will effect the stock market / Politics / UK Stock Market
By: John_York
The impact previous governments following elections on the UK Stock Market
| Party | Dates | % change in FT30 | % change in Retail Prices | % change in FT30 in Real Terms |
| Labour | 31/03/1966 - 18/06/1970 | -3% | 22% | -25% |
| Conservative | 18/06/1970 - 28/02/1974 | 1% | 39% | -38% |
| Labour | 28/02/1974 - 10/10/1974 | -42% | 9% | -51% |
| Labour | 10/10/1974 - 03/05/1979 | 183% | 93% | 90% |
| Conservative | 03/05/1979 - 09/06/1983 | 29% | 56% | -26% |
| Conservative | 09/06/1983 - 11/06/1987 | 143% | 20% | 123% |
| Conservative | 11/06/1987 - 08/04/1992 | 7% | 34% | -28% |
| Conservative | 08/04/1992 - 01/05/1997 | 57% | 14% | 42% |
| Labour | 01/05/1997 - 07/06/2001 | 15% | 11% | 3% |
| Labour | 07/06/2001 - 31/03/2005 | -39% | 8% | -47% |
Friday, February 18, 2005
£700 billion Pensions hole ! / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: John_York
Talk about a pensions black hole !The Public sector pensions bill is estimated at £700 billion pounds which is £300 billion more than the previous published estimate of £380 billion.
To make matters worse, the TUC are organising a series of events across the UK over plans to raise the retirement age of nurses, teachers and other public workers. Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, January 01, 1970
If Nuclear War Doesn’t Exterminate Us The Ebola Virus Might / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
I just heard on National Public Radio two things that have totally destroyed what tiny bit of belief I still had in American leadership. I have concluded that the term “intelligent American” is an oxymoron.
American elites have decided that Americans are not sufficiently threatened by war and economic chaos, so they are bringing the ebola virus to America. National Public Radio reported that two people infected with the ebola virus, which cannot be cured and is usually deadly, are being brought to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Thursday, January 01, 1970
Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Before you raise your voice, please allow me to say that I do indeed know this starts to feel like a set of Russian dolls, and this is a re-run of a re-run. It’s just, I didn’t start it. Got a mail yesterday from the people at OpEdNews.com asking if I would allow them to repost something I wrote over a year ago. And since I’m notoriously bad at remembering anything I wrote even just 24 hours ago, when I read what they wanted to republish, it was almost like a whole new world opened up for me. And I kind of liked it.