Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Obamacare, Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dysfunctional System Issues / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
The Affordable Care Act is the single most contentious political action of my lifetime since the Vietnam War. It touches everyone in one way or another, and often in profoundly personal ways. Some see it is a godsend and others as an arrow aimed directly at the heart of the American experiment. Some will experience healthcare that is now available for themselves and their families for the first time, while others will experience the loss of a system that had served them well. The story in the Wall Street Journal this week of the cancer survivor Edie Littlefield Sundby, who lost her doctors and affordable care in the middle of a true life-and-death battle, is poignant. It turns out that not only can she not buy insurance that will cross state lines, she cannot buy insurance in California that will cross county lines!
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
It's Bubble Time in Britain, A Tragic Story / Politics / UK Politics
By: BATR
Some things are simply so funny that they can't help showing us hidden truths. As anyone who's ever read Mark Twain or heard Groucho Marx, among many many other voices, will gladly confirm, funny things can make you think, and even reveal tragedy. Not necessarily thigh slapping stuff, just funny things. Fumbling through the Guardian's webpages on Tuesday, I found what I find is a fine example of just that. Plus, in the very same edition, a bunch of articles that provide an equally fine perspective.
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Obama's Climate Change by Executive Order / Politics / Climate Change
By: BATR
President Obama maintains his consistency on pushing the economy to the edge with his latest attempt to remake America. Fox News lays out the facts on Obama uses executive order in sweeping takeover of nation's climate change policies.
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Close Look At Bank Bail-Ins And The Black Hole Of Our Financial System / Politics / Credit Crisis 2013
By: GoldSilverWorlds
The bank bail-in rumble is growing louder. After the events in Cyprus, a small country and potentially meaningless in the eyes of most people, it seems that bail-in idea has spread like a virus across the Western world.
Only in the last week, we saw the following developments:
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Tuesday, November 05, 2013
China Reaching Limits of its Economic, Politician and Social Model, Change is Inevitable / Politics / China
By: STRATFOR
Rodger Baker and John Minnich write: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will convene its Third Plenum meeting Nov. 9. During the three-day session, President Xi Jinping's administration will outline core reforms to guide its policymaking for the next decade. The Chinese government would have the world believe that Xi's will be the most momentous Third Plenary Session since December 1978, when former supreme leader Deng Xiaoping first put China on the path of economic reform and opening.
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
U.S. Unfunded Liabilities The Coming Big Squeeze on Your Wallet / Politics / Government Spending
By: Don_Miller
As the politicos in Washington continue to move the deck chairs around on the Titanic, ignoring the monster iceberg in plain sight, I'm keeping my eyes wide open. Here are a few tidbits from a recently published Social Security Administration factsheet:
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
U.S. Government to Run Budget Deficit Until 2038; How Can Money Printing Stop? / Politics / Government Spending
By: DailyGainsLetter
Mohammad Zulfiqar writes: The stock market is certainly getting all the attention these days, but not a lot is said about other disturbing fundamentals. These fundamentals are troublesome, and if they aren’t fixed, the U.S. economy could end up in a downward spiral in a very short period of time. With these conditions, those who are saving and investing for the long term can face a significant amount of scrutiny.
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Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Top Reasons Why Everyone Needs a Second Passport / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno, Editor, International Man: Doug Casey has said over and over that spreading your political risk beyond one jurisdiction is the single most important thing he can recommend today.
Obtaining a second passport and citizenship in another country is a critical part in heeding Doug's advice.
This is because it's a fundamental step towards minimizing the political risk of being subjected to the whims of any single government.
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Monday, November 04, 2013
Hijacking Your 401(k), The Government Wants to Grab Your Retirement Assets / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Money_Morning
With Washington battling over what to do about its $16.4 trillion debt pile, rumors are swirling that the government will start taking 401(k) money to cure its fiscal ills.
There's plenty to take.
A study published by the Investment Company Institute in 2012 stated that U.S. retirement assets at the mid-point of the year totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $18.5 trillion.
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Monday, November 04, 2013
Ron Paul - What Was Not Said About Iraq / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
October was Iraq's deadliest month since April, 2008. In those five and a half years, not only has there been no improvement in Iraq's security situation, but things have gotten much worse. More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq last month, the vast majority of them civilians. Another 1,600 were wounded, as car bombs, shootings, and other attacks continue to maim and murder.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
How the Fed Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Easy Money / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Joseph_T_Salerno
In this selection from chapter 19 of Reassessing the Presidency (newly available as an ebook from the Mises Store), Joseph Salerno examines one example of how the Federal Reserve and U.S. presidents work together to expand the size and scope of government.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Economic Coup d’Etat: Debt and Deficit as Shock Therapy / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2013
By: Global_Research
Ismael Hossein-zadeh writes: When Naomi Klein published her ground-breaking book The Shock Doctrine (2007), which compellingly demonstrated how neoliberal policy makers take advantage of overwhelming crisis times to privatize public property and carry out austerity programs, most economists and media pundits scoffed at her arguments as overstating her case. Real world economic developments have since strongly reinforced her views.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
The Bank Guarantee That Bankrupted Ireland / Politics / Banksters
By: Ellen_Brown
The Irish have a long history of being tyrannized, exploited, and oppressed—from the forced conversion to Christianity in the Dark Ages, to slave trading of the natives in the 15th and 16th centuries, to the mid-nineteenth century “potato famine” that was really a holocaust. The British got Ireland’s food exports, while at least one million Irish died from starvation and related diseases, and another million or more emigrated.
Today, Ireland is under a different sort of tyranny, one imposed by the banks and the troika—the EU, ECB and IMF. The oppressors have demanded austerity and more austerity, forcing the public to pick up the tab for bills incurred by profligate private bankers.
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Saturday, November 02, 2013
Conspiracy And The Threat To Democracy / Politics / Propaganda
By: Andrew_McKillop
HYPOCRISY DEMOCRACY
The deluge of news, views, opinions, theory and spin about everything from the weather – weather now means climate change – to why the price of gold is low and Facebook shares are high, or the outlook for economic growth in the US, Europe or Japan is what passes for 24/7 democratic open access information. Everybody has a right to too much bent information, but for the BBC's Brian Wheeler, October 26, the dark side of information – conspiracy theories – are destroying democracy. He says:
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Aung San Suu Kyi Burma's Latest Tyrant / Politics / Dictatorship
By: Global_Research
Guy Horton writes: Aung San Suu Kyi is the international face of Burma and a global icon of courage, endurance and moral authority. But as Guy Horton reports from Burma, she is now actively colluding with the Burmese military’s violent campaigns against minority ethnic and religious groups.
One morning in January this year I stood near the front line between the Kachin Independence and Burma armies. The former was defending some of the last remnants of its territory. The latter was inflicting a massive attack consisting of tens of thousands of troops, supported by helicopter gunships and jet fighter bombers under the direction of the Supreme Command.
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Saturday, November 02, 2013
Entire Fiat Money System is Bankrupt: Demise of the Global US Fiat Dollar Reserve Currency / Politics / Fiat Currency
By: Global_Research
Matthias Chang writes: It’s been a while since I last wrote an article on the on-going financial crisis. I don’t write for the sake of writing, as others do because they have to do so, on account of their subscribers who pay hefty subscription fees and demand their money’s worth.
Major issues or trends do not change on a daily or even monthly basis. A trend may take a few years to run its course and unless there is a major factor that may affect the trend, there is hardly any need to comment any further on the trend or outcomes.
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Saturday, November 02, 2013
Israel's Latest Terror Attacks on Syria and Gaza, Netanyahu Dirty Tricks / Politics / Israel
By: Stephen_Lendman
Israel gets away with daily crimes of war, against humanity and slow-motion genocide. It does so with impunity. It does it because world leaders able to act do nothing.
Failure to hold Israel accountable reflects complicity with crimes too great to ignore. They’ve persisted for decades.
They show no signs of ending. On October 30, reports said Israeli warplanes struck Latakia. It’s Syria’s principle port city. Damascus was attacked. An administration official confirmed what happened.
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Saturday, November 02, 2013
Does the U.S. Dollar Have a Future? / Politics / US Dollar
By: Mike_Whitney
“If the dollar does indeed lose its role as leading international currency, the cost to the United States would probably extend beyond the simple loss of seigniorage, narrowly defined. We would lose the privilege of playing banker to the world, accepting short-term deposits at low interest rates in return for long-term investments at high average rates of return. When combined with other political developments, it might even spell the end of economic and political hegemony.”– Economist Menzie Chinn, “Will the Dollar Remain the World’s Reserve Currency in Five Years?”, CounterPunch 2009
Friday, November 01, 2013
Alan Greenspan Played Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, Federal Reserve Mainstream Media Propaganda / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve board (August 1987 – January 31, 2006), recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Greenspan said he didn’t see the financial crisis coming; he thought bankers would be better stewards of their capital. That was meant to be a apologia of sorts for the Fed’s bungling oversight of the banking system. According to Greenspan, banks didn’t understand their risks, and neither the Fed nor the banks can forecast well. He added that people on Wall Street are “screwy.” Greenspan says he always thought “screwiness” would wash out, since people “would act rationally in their long term self-interest.”
Friday, November 01, 2013
Europe's What-Else-Is-New Crisis Agenda / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Andrew_McKillop
ECONOMIC SABOTAGE
Whenever Europe's politicians get bored with the perpetual-crisis agenda, they invent new crises. Recent add-ons feature NSA hacking of Angela Merkel's cellphone, proving she has interesting things to talk about. Why Europe is even further from economic recovery than the USA – in fact a long way – was hopefully one interesting thing she talked about with uninvited American listeners.