Category: Social Issues
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Citizenship as a Weapon: Travel Controls and What You Can Do About It / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno
It’s an extremely potent weapon, yet most are not even aware of its existence.
That is, unless they have been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it.
The weapon I’m referring to is travel controls, also known as people controls. It’s the power any government has to limit the ability of its citizens to travel. They do this by restricting the issuance of travel documents like passports.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Economic Nationalism: Alternative to Globalism / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
Ivory tower economists, corporate business analysts and financial experts routinely trash any discussion that America needs to institute a national economic policy that actually benefits our own country. The mantra of unchallenged doctrine that globalism is the only path for world commerce has been intensively pushed for well over the last half century. How well did the United States fare? An honest evaluation must acknowledge the diminishing middle class has paid the greatest penalty from the corporatist sedition that has destroyed internal independence and productive prosperity.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Solution Space / Politics / Social Issues
By: Nicole_Foss
To use the word ‘solution’ is perhaps misleading, since it could be said to imply that circumstances exist which could allow us to continue business as usual, and this is not, in fact, the case. A crunch period cannot be avoided. We face an intractable predicament, and the consequences of overshoot are going to manifest no matter what we do. However, while we may not be able to prevent this from occurring, we can mitigate the impact and lay the foundation for a fundamentally different and more workable way of being in the world.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Struggling To Make Ends Meet / Politics / Social Issues
By: Rodney_Johnson
I recently wrote about the cost of child care, which got me thinking of my own experience. My wife and I were in our mid-20s when we had our first child. To prep for the expenses, we sold my car. I replaced it with a 10-year old pickup painted in primer. It had an AM radio, vinyl seats, and no air conditioning. I took our son to daycare, so we commuted in the Texas summer heat with 2-by-60 air conditioning. By that, I mean rolling down both windows (by hand) and driving 60 miles per hour.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Blind Alleys and Techno-Fantasies / Politics / Social Issues
By: Nicole_Foss
The majority of proposals made by those who acknowledge limits fail on at least one of the previous criteria, and often several, if not all of them. Solution space is smaller than we typically think. The most common approach is to insist on government policies intended to implement meaningful change by fiat. Even in the best of times, government policy is a blunt instrument which all too often achieves the opposite of its stated intention, and in contractionary times the likelihood of this increases enormously.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 1 / Politics / Social Issues
By: Nicole_Foss
A great deal of intelligence is invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. Saul Bellow, 1976
More and more people (although not nearly enough) are coming to recognise that humanity cannot continue on its current trajectory, as the limits we face become ever more obvious, and their implications starker. There is a growing realisation that the future must be different, and much thought is therefore being applied to devising supposed solutions for that future. These are generally attempts to reconcile our need to make changes with our desire to continue something very much resembling our current industrial-world lifestyle, with a view to making a seamless transition between the now and a comfortably familiar future. The presumption is that it is possible, but this rests on foundational assumptions which vary between the improbable and the outright impossible. It is a presumption grounded in a comprehensive failure to understand the nature and extent of our predicament.
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Thursday, August 06, 2015
Doug Casey on the Real FIFA Scandal / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
Recently, high-ranking officials at FIFA, the world’s governing soccer (aka “football”) body, were charged with corruption and fraud. The US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is deeply involved in the case. Doug Casey weighs in on the real scandal… the one you’re not reading in mass media.
The truth be known, I really don’t give a damn about soccer. Nor do most Americans.
Indeed, until recently, all that most Americans knew about “football” was that Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey, to display a great physique, after she scored the winning goal for the US in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup playoff against China.
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Sunday, August 02, 2015
Power and Compassion / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Time to tackle a topic that’s very hard to get right, and that will get me quite a few pairs of rolling eyes. I want to argue that societies need a social fabric, a social contract, and that without those they must and will fail, descend into chaos. Five months ago, I wrote the following about Europe:
Monday, July 27, 2015
Today's Anti-Capitalists Ignore the Fundamental Problems of Socialism / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Jonathan Newman writes: Anti-market and pro-socialist rhetoric is surging in headlines (see also here, here, and here) and popping up more and more on social media feeds. Much of the time, these opponents of markets can’t tell the difference between state-sponsored organizations like the International Monetary Fund and actual markets. But, that doesn’t matter because the articles and memes are often populist and vaguely worded — intentionally framed in such a way to easily deflect uninformed attacks and honest descriptions of what they are actually saying. In the end, they can all be boiled down to one message: socialism works and is better than capitalism.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Immigrants Aren’t the Only Ones Who Shouldn’t Be Voting / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Ryan McMaken writes: Much of the current immigration debate in the United States centers around the issue of “amnesty,” which is a vague term that may mean anything from “we won’t deport you” to “let’s fast-track you to citizenship and voting rights.”
From a laissez-faire perspective, the deportation aspect of amnesty — an increase in federal inaction — is one thing. The extension of voting privileges, though, is something else entirely.
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Thursday, July 16, 2015
How Socialism Destroyed Puerto Rico, and How Capitalism Can Save It / Politics / Social Issues
By: Peter_Schiff
While Greece is now dominating the debt default stage, the real tragedy is playing out much closer to home, with the downward spiral of Puerto Rico. As in Greece, the Puerto Rican economy has been destroyed by its participation in an unrealistic monetary system that it does not control and the failure of domestic politicians to confront their own insolvency. But the damage done to the Puerto Rican economy by the United States has been far more debilitating than whatever damage the European Union has inflicted on Greece. In fact, the lessons we should be learning in Puerto Rico, most notably how socialistic labor and tax policies can devastate an economy, should serve as a wake up call to those advocating prescribing the same for the mainland.
Monday, July 06, 2015
Why the Greek “No” Vote Was a Good Thing / Politics / Social Issues
By: Investment_U
Alexander Green writes: Well, the Greeks voted “No,” yet markets didn’t crash and the world didn’t end. What should we worry about next?
I don’t mean to make light of the situation. But Greece’s vote to reject the bailout terms of the European and International Monetary Union - and potentially abandon the euro - is actually a plus for world equity markets.
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Monday, July 06, 2015
The Greek Mouse That Roared "OXI". What is the lesson? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Michael_T_Bucci
It is the so-called Arab Spring in 2011 that came to mind when I watched the results of the Greece referendum July 5. I vividly recalled the so-called pro-democracy movement in Cairo to oust corrupt dictator President Hosni Mubarak; the steaming multitude huddled in Tahrir Square stoically waiting for his resignation; the subtle reminder to Mubarak by President Obama "to leave". The "Arab Spring" was hailed by all Western media at the time, and that alone was reason to question it.
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Friday, July 03, 2015
It Takes A Village - Avoid Hungry Dragons! / Politics / Social Issues
By: DeviantInvestor
This is a short story. It has a purpose. Bear with me.
A long time ago and far, far away there was a village that was occasionally raided by outlaws who took food, jewels, and women. The villagers were understandably angry but could do little to protect themselves.
One day a large and fearsome dragon landed in the village square. After negotiating with the Mayor, the dragon agreed to protect the village in return for food.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Corporations vs. Entrepreneurship / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
The corporate culture would have you believe that it is the foremost structure of the economy. That the entrepreneur is a nuisance and is tilting at windmills. Since competition is a dirty word, the innovative venture poses no threat, but might qualify as an acquisition. Only if the business model is such that duplicating the endeavor is too time consuming or difficult will the corporatist take interest. Yet, in the end, the design of the corporate organization is more about brute force than creative invention. So why is it so difficult for the enterpriser to get their project off the ground? And what is the compelling motivation to start your own business?
Saturday, May 30, 2015
A Nation of Millennial Entitlements / Politics / Social Issues
By: Walter_Brasch
A student sued her college because she failed a nursing class. Twice.
She said she suffered psychological problems. Those problems included anxiety, depression, and poor concentration skills.
The college had agreed to allow her to retake the final examination last summer.
Friday, May 29, 2015
How Rich Countries Get Rich - Freedom, Global Poverty, and the Failure of Foreign Aid / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Andrew Syrios writes: Andrew Syrios writes: ity to refer to Honduras as a “modern day libertarian dystopia.” As the author states, “Eliminate all taxes, privatize everything, load a country up with guns and oppose all public expenditures, you end up with Honduras.” A country where “the police ride around in pickup trucks with machine guns, but they aren’t there to protect most people. ... For individual protection there’s an army of private, armed security guards.”
Friday, May 22, 2015
The Great Un-Participation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ―George S. Patton, Jr.
“Without any censorship, in the West, fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally, your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day.”
―Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Extorting Low-Income Individuals to Help "the Poor" / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Gary Galles writes: Many policies are supposedly justified because they would “take from the rich and give to the poor.” While that fits with the view that theft “for a good purpose” makes one a philanthropist, from the perspective of self-ownership, it is an assertion that the majority’s might makes their coercion right.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Bill Gross Promises to Give "Everything" Away / Stock-Markets / Social Issues
By: Bloomberg
Bill Gross of Janus Capital sat down with Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker at his office in Newport Beach, California to discuss his new life, how he defines success and why he's giving away his multi-billion-dollar fortune. On how much he's given away, Gross said: "I think to this point probably $600 million to $700 million."
Gross went on to say "We'll give everything that we have other than our home away to either philanthropic causes that I've talked about, or to the foundation." He said the amount he'll give away "is staggering, even to me."
On why he hasn’t talked more about his philanthropy, Gross said: "I guess Sue and I try and keep it quiet. We're not the--not that there's anything wrong with this,--but we're not the type to attend functions and parties and galas. We like to work underneath so to speak.”