Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, July 12, 2016
How Demographics Decided Brexit / Politics / BrExit
Stephen McBride, Garret/Galland ResearchThe June 23 decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union shocked many people. If we take a closer look at voter demographics, however, the reasons behind the Leave victory become much clearer.
Below, we look at the most significant voter patterns to emerge from the referendum.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Here’s How Much Europe Depends on the UK / Politics / BrExit
Euroskeptiscism is on the rise in Europe. Countries like Poland and Hungary have actively sought to limit the EU’s influence and ignore its rules—most recently with regard to refugee policies.
Even the most Euroskeptic governments, however, campaigned against Brexit. While European nations may want to limit the EU’s role and influence at home, both economic and security interests led them to support the UK’s membership in the EU (read our free special report on Brexit implications).
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Brexit Doesn’t Change the Sad Reality of Europe / Politics / European Union
Europe was already in a shambles before the Brexit vote (read Mauldin Economics’ special report on Brexit implications). The UK’s decision may have made a bad situation more volatile. Europe, however, would still be a mess if “Remain” had won.
- If Remain had won, refugees from Africa and the Middle East, many with the UK as their destination, would still be struggling across the Mediterranean or taking land routes into Eastern Europe. The EU would still be desperately trying to stem the tide and to accommodate those whom it can’t stop.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Theresa 'Cersei' May Wins Tory Game of Thrones to Seize Conservative 'Iron Throne' / Politics / BrExit
Home Secretary and master tactician Theresa 'Cersei' May surprised all by succeeding in seizing the Tory 'Iron Throne' some 2 months ahead of schedule, putting David 'Lannister' Cameron on 48 hours notice to quit No 10 Downing Street. The seeds for today's victory were sown a week ago ago as BBC newsnight revealed emerging details of a plan hatched to kill off Andrea Leadsom's building campaign before it gained further momentum.
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Monday, July 11, 2016
Fool's Errand: NATO Pledges Four More Years of War in Afghanistan / Politics / Afghanistan
The longest war in US history just got even longer. As NATO wrapped up its 2016 Warsaw Summit, the organization agreed to continue funding Afghan security forces through the year 2020. Of course with all that funding comes US and NATO troops, and thousands of contractors, trainers, and more.
President Obama said last week that the US must keep 3,000 more troops than planned in Afghanistan. The real reason is obvious: the mission has failed and Washington cannot bear to admit it. But Obama didn't put it that way. He said:
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Saturday, July 09, 2016
China Part 2: Path To Regaining Face, Reclaiming Middle Kingdom Status / Politics / China
Potential War as Agent of Change
Geopolitics in the late 1960s and early 1970s were dominated by considerations of the Cold War. The Soviet Union and The Peoples Republic of China were staunchly communist in their conviction and actions. The United States understood that these two powers when united represented a formidable enemy. Utilizing a brief period of policy difference between Russia and China, President Nixon sought an opportunity to split the interests of these two communist countries, and managed in secret to arrange a meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972, which ultimately led to China’s leaning to the West. , That action was purely based on geopolitical considerations, and no design or underlying concept of trade between the two countries was evident at that time.
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Saturday, July 09, 2016
China’s Long March To Saving Face. Part 1 / Politics / China
It was a little over 800 years ago when the Venetian Marco Polo returned from China to reveal and author his wondrous travel experiences. At that time, the North American continent was still undiscovered. Principalities, nations or even empires could grow in one part of the world without much awareness of it elsewhere. Thus it was that China grew, developed and expanded for over four thousand years largely isolated from the Western World.
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Friday, July 08, 2016
EU Citizens Living in UK BrExit Status Not Secure, Not Guaranteed / Politics / BrExit
Junker, Tusk, Hollande, Merkel and the whole of the heavily UK subsidised Eastern European states have been busy laying down threats of x,y,z happening of what Britain faces in its attempts to negotiate its way out of the European Union. Though it's not hard to see why the EU has adopted such a threatening stance because it's obvious Britain breaking away from the EU threatens a wider breakup and ultimately a collapse of the EU project, hence triggering such an aggressive response. Whilst Eastern Europe does not want it's UK gravy train to end that the region profits from to the tune of £75 billion a year!
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Friday, July 08, 2016
The EU’s Founding Members Are Giving Up / Politics / BrExit
PATRICK WATSON: The Mother of Parliaments just got an earful from the public it ostensibly serves. The UK’s Brexit referendum passed easily.
Now, someone has to make it happen.
It won’t be Prime Minister David Cameron. Having led the losing side, he sensibly—and honorably, I must add—said he would resign.
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Friday, July 08, 2016
Signs the Government Is Planning to Confiscate Your Retirement Funds / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
We’ve warned that bankrupt governments will be eyeing the multi-trillions of dollars in “un-taxed” retirement funds when they get desperate enough.
It is an incredibly common occurrence. It has happened in numerous countries in just recent memory. Poland, Hungary and Bolivia are a few in the last years where retirement funds have been seized.
Total funds currently held in private IRA and 401K accounts in the US are estimated to be in the neighborhood of $10 trillion. That number looks awfully enticing to the US government which is currently indebted to the tune of $19 trillion and holding liabilities of over $100 trillion.
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Wednesday, July 06, 2016
“Incredibly Stupid” Juncker Opens Pandora’s Box / Politics / European Union
Remember the referendum in April in which voters in the Netherlands rejected the EU-Ukraine trade deal? Seems forever ago, doesn’t it? But to date nothing has been done with the outcome of the vote, even though Dutch law requires a government to implement referendum outcomes as swiftly as possible.
PM Mark Rutte told parliament this week that ‘changing’ the deal would be very difficult, and that talks on the topic in the European Council ‘don’t make him happy’. Since one of the things Rutte has demanded from the EU is a pledge that Ukraine will not become an EU member, none of this should be surprising.
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Tuesday, July 05, 2016
Climate Change, Energy, Economy: Pick Two / Politics / Climate Change
We used to have this saying that if someone asks you to do a job good, fast and cheap, you’d say: pick two. You can have it good and cheap, but then it won’t be fast, etc. As our New Zealand correspondent Dr. Nelson Lebo III explains below, when it comes to our societies we face a similar issue with our climate, energy and the economy.
Not the exact same, but similar, just a bit more complicated. You can’t have your climate nice and ‘moderate’, your energy cheap and clean, and your economy humming along just fine all at the same time. You need to make choices. That’s easy to understand.
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Monday, July 04, 2016
On July 4th Demand Freedom, Don't Celebrate The State / Politics / US Politics
As we gather with family and friends to celebrate the July 4th holiday we should remember that we are not celebrating the state, but rather commemorating an act of secession from an oppressive government. We are celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain - a daring move by the Founders inspired by a desire for liberty.
Thomas Jefferson famously said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." That does not only mean that we should be prepared to defend against foreign invaders. Perhaps more importantly it means that we must retain the lessons from the original American revolt and guard against a government that views the people as the enemy.
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Sunday, July 03, 2016
Independence Day Hypocrisy, Not Democracy / Politics / US Politics
On July 4, 1776, America gained independence from Britain. Everything changed but stayed the same under new management - the way the framers planned it.
Today we'd call them a Wall Street crowd - a deplorable bunch, including bankers, merchants, planters, ship owners, lawyers, politicians, judges, slave owners and traders, speculators, smugglers, privateers, and other type wheeler-dealers.
“We the people,” meant them, not us. They created a government of men, not laws. Property owners alone had rights. Ordinary people didn't matter, entirely left out.
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Sunday, July 03, 2016
Anti-Brexiteers Hit London Streets / Politics / EU_Referendum
On June 23, referendum results showed most Brits for Brexit, an anti-neoliberal/pro independence rebellion wanting change.
Union beholden to Brussels sacrifices political sovereignty to a higher offshore authority. Independence may not change much but at least would let Brits chart their own way.
Sovereign independence is sacrosanct, inviolable - the inalienable right of all nations. Union destroys it.
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Saturday, July 02, 2016
Kerry Suggests Maybe No Brexit / Politics / EU_Referendum
Addressing the right-wing Aspen Institute on Wednesday, Kerry said Brexit “(d)idn’t change a thing.”
“This is a very complicated divorce.” David Cameron is loathe to invoke Lisbon Treaty Article 50, legally required to begin a lengthy Brexit process. He feels “powerless” to negotiate what he doesn’t want.
“(A)nd I think this is a fair conclusion - to go out and start negotiating a thing that he doesn’t believe in and has no idea how he would do it.”
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
Michael 'Little Finger' Gove Slays Boris 'Baratheon' Johnson in Game of Thrones for Next Tory PM / Politics / UK Politics
David Cameron's announcement to step down as Prime Minister by early September propelled Brexit Leader Boris Johnson to become the favourite to takeover as Britain's next Tory Leader and Prime Minister. However, the great game for the Tory 'iron throne' was on, as Michael Gove today both discredited Boris Johnson whom he was supposed to be the campaign manager for and then went against EVERYTHING he has stated during the EU Referendum Campaign, in fact against everything he has been saying for the past 4 years by declaring that he himself would now stand for the Tory Leadership, so it looks like Gove, just like 'Little Finger' has apparently been manoeuvring towards the Tory 'iron throne' all along!
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
Brexit & The Precipice / Politics / European Union
With the victory of the "Leave" camp in the June 23rd referendum in the United Kingdom, the world finds itself on the edge of a financial precipice.
Crucially - we are not over the edge, not yet. But it is right in front of us.
This is far more serious than anything that we have seen since 2008. And if we go over that edge then something potentially much worse than 2008 is in front of us. Which is exactly why Alan Greenspan is saying this is the worst financial situation of his lifetime, and why George Soros is now predicting that the disintegration of the EU and the euro is "practically irreversible".
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
14 Signs the World Is on the Verge of Generational Chaos / Politics / Social Issues
It is one of the great ironies of life that each generation believes its experiences are unique. The reality is that we have seen this movie before—with different actors, plot twists, and technological advancements.
The basic plot seems to push along a hauntingly familiar path.
In 1997, Neil Howe and William Strauss introduced the concept of Fourth Turning. They divided the population into four generational archetypes: Hero, Artist, Prophet, and Nomad. (read more about the archetypes and their characteristics here)
Each generation consists of people who were born and came of age at the same period in history. They had similar experiences and thus gravitated toward similar attitudes.
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Thursday, June 30, 2016
Millennials Are Doomed Face Existential Crisis to Define the Rest of Their Lives / Politics / Demographics
Psychologists from Sigmund Freud forward have generally agreed: our core attitudes about life are largely locked in by age five or so. Changing those attitudes requires intense effort.
Neil Howe and William Strauss took this obvious truth and drew an obvious conclusion: if our attitudes form in early childhood, then the point in history at which we live our childhood must play a large part in shaping our attitudes.
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