Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Investors Misled by Credit Ratings Agency / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: InvestmentContrarian
Sasha Cekerevac writes: In what will most likely be a landmark ruling, Australia’s federal court has ruled that one of the world’s leading credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s (S&P) misled investors by issuing a AAA rating, its safest rating, to securities that were extremely complex and risky, and that ultimately lost most of their value.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Right America, "Post-Democracy", and the US Troika / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
In many states, November 6 was a good day for blue and identity politics, but said nothing about big national issues of war vs. peace; Wall Street vs. Main Street; Constitutional rights vs. restrictions; Democracy vs. Oligarchy. It said nothing because nothing was said about these issues by either candidate for President or by the media. The debate was over degrees of pain to inflict through austerity, to inflict on other nations through expanding wars, on how to insure future funding of the military machine unleashed abroad and soon, no doubt, to be used at home. Your Street, Your Constitution, Your Civil Liberties, Your Democracy are not subjects for debate any longer - or for mentioning.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Obama Four More Years, A Dangerous World Begins / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
There have been many competing analyses of the results of the election last Tuesday. I am still trying to absorb the longer-term implications. One of the more thought-provoking pieces I read was from my friends at GaveKal. Four of their writers give us their initial thoughts, and not surprisingly (for them!) they don’t agree. But the piece does give us a broader take on the ramifications. And I love the first line in the lead paragraph (different dreams, indeed):
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Obama To Continue Extend and Pretend, Going Over the Fiscal Cliff is Good for America / Politics / US Debt
By: Peter_Schiff
Now that President Obama has been re-elected, the media is finally free to focus on something besides the clueless undecided voters in Ohio, Florida, and Colorado. The brightest and shiniest object that has attracted its attention is the "fiscal cliff" that we are expected to drive over at the end of the year unless Congress and the President can agree to turn the wheel or apply the brakes.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Ash Dieback Disease, Britain's Tree Holocaust, 90% Could be Wiped Out / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: N_Walayat
Britain faces an unprecedented holocaust as waves of wind borne plagues threaten to annihilate as much as 90% of Britain's tree population.
The last great plague was that of the 1970's Dutch Elm disease which killed 90% of Britain's ancient elm trees that numbered around 30 million (10% of Britain's trees).
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Friday, November 09, 2012
Will President Obama Be Able to Stand Up To China? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
While U.S. Presidential headlines dominate the airwaves this week, there is another "election" under way thousands of miles from our own shores that may be even more important when it comes to your money.
The 18th National Party Congress is now underway in Beijing. Attendees are girding for a week of symbolic posturing and speeches, the culmination of which will be a new set of Chinese leaders and a new Chinese President for the next 10 years.
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Friday, November 09, 2012
Hurricane Sandy Disaster, Another Reason to Leave the U.S. / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Alice Liberte writes: New York City is many things, but it is not the place you live if you want to build savings, live freely, or have a sense of physical security. The city is synonymous with cosmopolitan, modern, metropolitan, efficient, cutting edge, on the pulse, high-tech, see and be seen—bright lights, plethora of opportunities, trendy cafes, fabulous shopping, fast-paced lifestyle, a must-visit destination, drawing tourists from all over the world and those who want to start a new life, with the hope and dream of success. Anyone who's lived here long enough know that that's mostly hype.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Europe's Dirty Diesel Car Fleets / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
The World Health Organization's cancer research institute (the IARC based in Lyon, France) issued its strongest-ever warning on the almost totally certain causal linkage between ingesting and inhaling diesel fuel residues from diesel fulled cars and vehicles, and cancer of the lungs, stomach and intestines in July 2012. This news was given a two-day whirl on government and business-friendly media before being dumped. The subject is "too sensitive".
Friday, November 09, 2012
The Long View / Politics / US Politics
By: Fred_Sheehan
"Communications" ended with the long view advocated by a nine-year old. An adult may slot the family of Henry VIII as a model for modern dysfunctionality; while a child, unburdened by classification and definition, may see to the heart of the matter. Human tendencies echo across time under somewhat similar circumstances. "Somewhat" is where art and concentration must divine the applicable (or not).
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Can Iran Save the World? / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: LewRockwell
Thomas H. Naylor writes: As Secretary-General of the fifty year old Non-Aligned Movement, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be in a unique position to inject new life into the moribund 120-member organization by positioning it to confront the American Empire and its principal apologists – Israel, England, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and NATO.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama 4 More Years, Get ready for real trouble / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Andrew P. Napolitano writes: Only in America can a president who inherits a deep recession and whose policies have actually made the effects of that recession worse get re-elected. Only in America can a president who wants the bureaucrats who can't run the Post Office to micromanage the administration of every American's health care get re-elected. Only in America can a president who kills Americans overseas who have never been charged or convicted of a crime get re-elected. And only in America can a president who borrowed and spent more than $5 trillion in fewer than four years, plans to repay none of it and promises to borrow another $5 trillion in his second term get re-elected.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama Won, Now What Will You Do? / Politics / US Presidential Election 2012
By: Gary_North
If your answer is “not much,” then the election was peripheral. It really did not matter.
My suggestion: never take seriously the pre-election hype in any future election. Don’t watch the polls; watch Intrade betting. Don’t post comments on Facebook except to show your amusement at all the hype.
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Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama Trumps Romney But Bernanke Is The Ace To The Hole / Politics / US Politics
By: Brady_Willett
President Obama won another 4-years thanks to a convincing 303-206 electoral college tally (Florida is still not finalized). Mr. Romney was slow to concede but when he did he was gracious. The same cannot be said about billionaire Donald Trump (Twitter):
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Obama Wins, But the People Can Still Lose / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
New York, New York: A year into his presidency, Barack Obama began to plan his reelection bid. Having assessed the lessons of 2008, it was clear that grass roots mobilizations would be essential to assuring a turnout the next time around.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
America Say Hello to Your Same as the Old Murder In Chief / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
As I write I am flying through the air at 600mph in a reclining chair on my way to Santiago, Chile. At the same time I am watching a documentary on one of, if not the most, prolific advancers of human knowledge and quality of life in history, Nikola Tesla.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Why Mitt Romney Lost the U.S. Presidential Election / Politics / US Presidential Election 2012
By: Ian_Fletcher
If Romney had won, I'd be saying it was because Americans have a long, long history of booting incumbents who preside over high unemployment and economic weakness.
This much is true. In fact, I think Romney counted on it all too much. In the end, his case against Obama came down to “Your economy sucks.”
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012
U.S. Elections, Gridlock and Foreign Policy / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
The United States held elections last night, and nothing changed. Barack Obama remains president. The Democrats remain in control of the Senate with a non-filibuster-proof majority. The Republicans remain in control of the House of Representatives.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
RIP America, Born 1776, Died 2012 / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
Craig Maus Submits:
Dear Patriots,
Tonight, this Country’s Special Interest Groups, by a narrow margin, decided that their own self- interests were more important than that of the Country’s and in so stating said: to hell with the Country as long as the Feds and Obama provide me with more continued Free-Bee’s.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Lunacy of FEMA Hurricane Insurance Subsidy / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
One of the most ludicrous fantasies of the self-indulgent is that a property owner has an entitlement of subsidized government flood insurance. The inherent risk of building along the ocean shoreline is self-evident. The benefits that enhance the pleasure of proximity to the seaside seem unending. However, when the forces of nature thrust her fury and a wall of water inundates pristine dwellings, the first question asked after the storm usually involves rebuilding. The cost of repairs and renovated construction, once paid by private insurance, now normally requires a federal guaranty.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
The Lull Before the Civil Unrest Storm / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jack_D_Douglas
Vast social revolutions and wars are often preceded by periods of giving up on reforms, despairing withdrawal from public life by the best and brightest, and even peacefulness which seems to have become the normal condition in spite of deep conflicts and growing crises beneath the surfaces of public life. Often, earlier periods of intense conflicts and crises have been overcome and resolved, so it comes to look like that is the normal in life. This lulls most people into assuming their worse fears cannot happen, but this leads them to lowering their guards against growing conflicts and crises, so small ones can more easily cascade down into massive ones. If people expected they could become vast wars or revolutions or implosions, they would take more precautions to prevent that. But when lulled in expecting the worst cannot happen, the worst than they could ever imagine often explodes suddenly.