Category: Social Issues
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Global Commodities 2011 / Commodities / Social Issues
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Ceapach Donald writes: Metals, food and fuel beat stocks, bonds and the US dollar for a third straight month- the longest winning streak since June 2008. Price rises fundamentally driven by short supplies lifted all soft commodities like the grains, vegetable oils, sugar, cotton and rubber, intensified by investor speculation that violence in the Arab and Muslim world will curb oil supplies…
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Global Financial System is One Gargantuan Ponzi Scheme... / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Hon. Paul Hellyer writes: An Address to the International UFO Congress, Fort McDowell Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona, Saturday, February 26, 2011 by Hon. Paul Hellyer, P.C. Former Canadian Minister of National Defence
The world financial system is a total fraud. It is one gargantuan Ponzi scheme, no better than the one Bernie Madoff used to swindle his friends and neighbors, and thousands of times worse if you add up the total number of victims it has ripped off over countless generations.
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
How to Win an Election / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
In his superb analysis of democracy, Hans-Hermann Hoppe observes that "prime ministers and presidents are selected for their proven efficiency as morally uninhibited demagogues. Thus, democracy virtually assures that only bad and dangerous men will ever rise to the top of government."[1] Those who seek political office appear to be eager to break the moral code that most of us are willing to follow. The greater the power of the political office that a candidate is seeking, the more likely it is that that individual has no sense of right and wrong.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Facebook Nation, Facebook World / Politics / Social Issues
By: Ron_Holland
I’m using the term "Facebook Nation" to describe the growing power of individuals incorporating the internet and social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to effect political change.
I believe Mubarak’s fall from power and tyranny is just the first of many victories which will be credited to freedom-loving people using the internet and social media to defeat corrupt, dictatorial and unrepresentative governments. This is individual human action at its best as described by Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises.
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Monday, February 07, 2011
The Student Loan Swindle / Politics / Social Issues
By: Mike_Whitney
An interview with Professor Alan Nasser
MW--Is it possible to "walk away" from a student loan and declare bankruptcy?
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Friday, February 04, 2011
Falling Prices and The End of the Nation State / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
We are living in the greatest era of falling prices in the history of man. Our lives are being transformed by this phenomenon year by year, yet most of us take the change for granted. We barely notice it. Yet we would wonder what is wrong if it ceased.
Falling prices, you say? What falling prices? Where is there any sign of this.
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Tuesday, February 01, 2011
A People's Uprising Against the Empire / Politics / Social Issues
By: LewRockwell
Those of the young generation, people too young to remember the collapse of Soviet bloc and other socialist states in 1989 and 1990, are fortunate to be living through another thrilling example of a seemingly impenetrable state edifice reduced to impotence when faced with crowds demanding freedom, peace, and justice.
There is surely no greater event than this. To see it instills in us a sense of hope that the longing for freedom that beats in the heart of every human being can be realized in our time.
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Friday, January 28, 2011
Riots in Egypt over Food Prices and Unemployment, Blood on Bernanke's Hands / Politics / Social Issues
By: Mike_Shedlock
Violence in Egypt continues unabated in spite of President Hosni Mubarak's plea for calm. Demonstrators threw firebombs and chanted "Down with Hosni Mubarak, down with the tyrant." Police responded with teargas and bullets.
Protesters are angry over poverty, rising food prices, state food subsidies, unemployment, and social conditions.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Myth of a Middle Class / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Cristian Gherasim writes: Almost a year ago, during the State of the Union address, President Obama came up with another plan to ease the economic burden on middle-class families. No news here. In fact, he gave that same do-or-die case for big government we have heard over and over: "The middle class has been under assault for a long time. … We've just come through what was one of the most difficult decades the middle class has ever faced."
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Bourgeoisie's Favorite Forms of Socialism / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
The mindset of the middle class is off-putting — to the heterodox, to the sovereign, and to the individualist. The mindset is a dull recital on the virtues of moderation and proscription: don't stay up too late; don't drink too much; don't exercise too hard; don't risk too much; don't challenge authority; don't question orthodoxy. By all means exist, just do so on an even, bovine keel.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Highly Efficient Systems and Agonizing Death / Politics / Social Issues
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
"Not one has shown an iota of fear of death. They want to end this agony." - Jack Kevorkian
Perhaps what we need as a society is a better understanding of "efficiency", since it is such a key aspect of all complex systems. Take the human body, for example, which is perhaps the most complex life form that has evolved on Earth. After increasing specialization and inter-connection of various bodily components through millions of years of evolution, the systems of the human body have become extremely efficient at their specific functions. The arteries, veins and capillaries of the cardiovascular system have evolved an intricate fractal design that competently delivers oxygen and nutrients to all of the body's cells as necessary.
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Thursday, January 06, 2011
Public Education Is Going Down / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
I am working with a young man who turned 18 in December. You know what he got for his birthday? A B.A. degree from an accredited college. His parents paid for tuition: under $15,000. The college awarded him his degree for work performed. He did the whole thing at home.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
I Like Ebeneezer Scrooge, A Revisionist Look at Dickens / Politics / Social Issues
By: Butler_Shaffer
My interest in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol began one Christmas eve when, as a small child, my parents turned on network radio to listen to what, even then, had become a classic Christmas eve festivity: Lionel Barrymore’s presentation of the Dickens story.
Radio was a medium that required the imagination to paint scenes far more colorful, and to concoct monsters far scarier, than anything motion pictures or television have ever been able to present. With radio, the listener was the stage designer, costumer, and location director.
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Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Economic Lessons of Bethlehem and Christmas / Politics / Social Issues
By: LewRockwell
At the heart of the Christmas story rests some important lessons concerning free enterprise, government, and the role of wealth in society.
Let's begin with one of the most famous phrases: "There's no room at the inn." This phrase is often invoked as if it were a cruel and heartless dismissal of the tired travelers Joseph and Mary. Many renditions of the story conjure up images of the couple going from inn to inn only to have the owner barking at them to go away and slamming the door.
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Thursday, December 23, 2010
Mistletoe – Proof That Miracles Do Happen in Free Markets / Politics / Social Issues
By: LewRockwell
Mark Roberts writes: Happy holidays, solstice and new year! Today, I witnessed a miracle of free markets in progress. It made me feel great to witness it, and I want to share the account with all who would like to feel great, too.
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Monday, November 22, 2010
How and Why the State Destroys Society / Politics / Social Issues
By: Frank_Chodorov
It is not incumbent on a diagnostician to prescribe a remedy, and it would be quackery for him to do so when he has misgivings as to its curative value. It may be that the struggle between Society and the State is inevitable; it may be in the nature of things for the struggle to continue until mutual destruction clears the ground for the emergence of a new Society, to which a new political establishment attaches itself to effect a new doom.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
How Many Grad Students Do We Need? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Daniel_Coleman
The recent fad of text-to-speech videos has placed its crosshairs on the unfortunate case of many young Americans who — facing a much higher unemployment rate than the nation as a whole — have turned to graduate school in record numbers. They typically do so to improve their job prospects, fulfill their intellectual fantasies, or simply escape the harsh reality of a depressed economy for another few years. It is clear that this trend cannot end happily for a large number of these students.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Hunger in America / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: Some 15 percent of US households, 17.4 million families or about 50 million people, were too poor to buy adequate food last year, according to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). More than a third of these households, with as many as one million children, were missing meals on a regular basis, the study found.
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Mobile Cell Phone Radiation The Health Hazards / Politics / Social Issues
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
It is now inconceivable that our world could function without the 5 billion cell phones used globally. The new book by Devra Davis “Disconnect” deserves your attention. Indeed, if you use a cell phone a lot it should be mandatory reading.
It also seems inconceivable that the trillion dollar cell phone industry and governments worldwide could have pushed this technology without ever having solid research results proving the safety of cell phones. If true that would be deadly frightening. But that is exactly the reality.
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Saturday, October 30, 2010
Economic Law Dooms The Police State / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
I am perceived by many readers as a pessimist. I am not a pessimist. I am an optimist beyond your wildest imagination. I am an eschatological postmillennialist. There are not many of us. I am also a believer in the free market social order – not just in its superiority in theory, but in its inevitable triumph in history. I believe that Leonard E. Read's book title is correct: Then Truth Will Out.