Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Obamacare Hidden Taxes Will Cost You More Than You Think / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
The bill for Obamacare is on its way, and guess what? It's addressed to you.
You see, all those great benefits included in the Affordable Care Act don't come cheap, which is why the new healthcare law includes a barrage of new "Obamacare taxes."
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Monday, August 06, 2012
U.S. China Conflict, We're Not Saber Rattling, We're Simply Connecting the Dots / Politics / New Cold War
By: Money_Morning
William Patalon III writes:
I love it when our readers take the time to drop us a note. It's tells me they're not only reading but actually care enough to be engaged.
A Money Morning subscriber named Peter M. is one of those folks.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
U.S. Says Iran Violates International Obligations, What Are International Obligations? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
What are “international obligations? Does the United States have to uphold them along with other counties? Does Washington even know they are defined as “obligations owed by states to the international community as a whole, intended to protect and promote the basic values and common interests of all.” By this very definition, no one state can decide what’s best for all.
When the United States stepped up its sanctions on Iran last past week, it cited Iran’s failure to adhere to its “international obligations.” There was, of course, no reference to domestic politics where President Obama, under attack from adversary Mitt Romney, criticized his failure to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
The Political Significance of Gore Vidal / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The Gore Vidal legacy encompasses his numerous novels, literary writings, plays and essays. Few 20th century authors can match the volume of his compositions and consistency in the quality of his thoughts. If one can ignore his anti-religious beliefs and get past his complex sexuality, one can justly focus on the significance within his political viewpoints. Not since Oscar Wilde, has there been a man of letter with comparable wit and ridicule, that capsulated the age of his lifetime. Based upon a keen command of history and a flare for original insights, Vidal was the master political polemicist.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Fallacies of Pearlstein's WaPo op-ed on Glass-Steagall / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: ECB_Watch
While not an expert on banking legislation, I've come across sufficiently visible fallacies in rejecting the notion that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a factor of crisis, I felt confident enough to write a post describing them (jump to 'Also see'). The Washington Post now publishes an article by Steven Pearlstein repeating the same fallacies: 'Let's shatter the myth on Glass Steagall' (WP). Both Sorkin and Pearlstein are recipient of prestigious awards (Gerald Loeb and Pulitzer).
Monday, August 06, 2012
GDP Growth Statistical Nonsense, The Unseen Hand / Politics / Economic Statistics
By: Alasdair_Macleod
The assessment of economic growth based on Gross Domestic Product is a fallacy, because GDP is merely a measure of the amount of money in an economy. The one thing it does not measure, which is central to economic progress (note progress, not growth), is the level of entrepreneurial activity. This has important implications for the efficacy of government interventions and solutions to the current economic crisis.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
Firearms A Virus in the Lifeblood of America / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Several weeks ago on a Friday, Americans were shocked awake by a mass massacre in Aurora, Colorado. Two weeks after, on a Sunday, Americans awoke to a sequel played-out at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin. These are dubbed "mass murders" by law enforcement, the politicians and media. The Sikh massacre on the fifth of August was quickly labeled of a "domestic terrorism-type", with no supporting evidence given by the FBI. One comment left by a poster at Reuters pointed out that while this rampage occurred and received media-wide coverage, five murders were committed in Chicago that very morning and received little media coverage. Anyone who lives in or near an urban center in America knows the truth about underreported murders.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Who do You Trust? President? Congress? Treasury Secretary? Federal Reserve? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” ― J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan
"The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." – Lord Acton
Who do you trust? Do you trust the President? Do you trust Congress? Do you trust the Treasury Secretary? Do you trust the Federal Reserve? Do you trust the Supreme Court? Do you trust the Military Industrial Complex? Do you trust Wall Street bankers? Do you trust the SEC? Do you trust any government agency or regulator? Do you trust the corporate mainstream media? Do you trust Washington think tanks? Do you trust Madison Avenue PR maggots? Do you trust PACs? Do you trust lobbyists?
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Sunday, August 05, 2012
India’s Secret Nuclear Weapons Program / Politics / India
By: Global_Research
Marya Mufty writes: If there was any arms race in the region, India has won it, at whatever the cost may be. But the claims to have good neighbourly relations, with MFN-status, no-war pact or no-first-use nuclear arsenal are just a dream seemingly never to come true.
In April this year India yanked open the door of the exclusive ICBM (International Ballistic Missile) club with the first test of Agni-V. Now, if DRDO is to be believed, India has quietly gate-crashed into an even more exclusive club of nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The most ironic part of this achievement on part of India is that New Delhi had been able to successfully keep it as a secret ‘black project’.
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Sunday, August 05, 2012
U.S. Jobs Report: More Lies From “our” Big Brother / Politics / Economic Statistics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
In his report on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs and unemployment report, statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) writes: “The July employment and unemployment numbers published today, August 3rd, were worthless and likely misleading. . . . Suspecting at one time that the jobs numbers were being rigged against him by his own Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), President Richard M. Nixon proposed a new approach to reporting the numbers. Although the proposed changes never were implemented, several decades later the BLS adopted reporting methods that were somewhat parallel to the late president’s thinking.”
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Saturday, August 04, 2012
ECB Bazooka Economics / Politics / Central Banks
By: Stephen_Lendman
Did he or didn't he? ECB president Mario Draghi promised "whatever it takes." Great expectations arose. August 2 was D-Day.
Fizzle followed sizzle. Bazooka plans stalled. More on Draghi's pronouncement below and what it means.
Europe's economy is broken. Monetary intervention solved nothing. Core problems fester and grow. Contagion spreads everywhere. Effective solutions are absent.
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Friday, August 03, 2012
The Economic Austerity Hoax / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: Stephen_Lendman
Since 2008, Western nations have force-fed their people austerity poison. Decline replaces prosperity. Millions suffer. Living standards deteriorate. Societies become no longer fit to live in.
Neoliberal and imperial priorities let essential public needs go begging. How much more people will take before erupting remains to be seen.
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Friday, August 03, 2012
Central Banks Have Now Been Revealed to be Impotent! / Politics / Central Banks
By: Sy_Harding
This week central banks and euro-zone officials showed us that is the predicament they’re in.
In the U.S. the Federal Reserve, repeatedly threatened by a stumbling economic recovery, has fired off rounds of quantitative easing each time, accompanied by considerable hullabaloo. The effect was limited, the menace soon returning. And it’s become debatable whether firing off the quantitative easing was itself helpful, or if the temporary reprieve each time was just due to the hope raised by the accompanying rhetoric.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Corporatist Coup d'Etat Led By Think Tanks, Democracy Sold to the Highest Bidder / Politics / US Politics
By: Jesse
“The mess we’re in now did not begin on Wall Street. Long before the financial collapse, the dismantlement of government regulation was well under way. All the consequences are the result of a brilliantly executed coup. This is the story of the biggest heist in American history.”
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Thursday, August 02, 2012
Angela Merkel Will NOT Lose Germany’s AAA Status Before Her Re-election / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
Here’s a story you might not have heard… In some areas of Germany, you can once again use Deutsche Marks as legal tender:
Who Needs the Euro When You Can Pay With Deutsche Marks?
Shopping for pain reliever here on a recent sunny morning, Ulrike Berger giddily counted her coins and approached the pharmacy counter. She had just enough to make the purchase: 31.09 deutsche marks.
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Thursday, August 02, 2012
Obama Tells Entrepreneurs "You Didn't Build That" / Politics / US Politics
By: MISES
Gary Galles writes: President Obama's "you didn't build that" statement to successful business owners has created a serious backlash. In rebuttal, his defenders point to his more complete statement for "clarification":
Read full article... Read full article...If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Geithner Calls on Europe and Congress to Spur Economic Growth / Politics / Economic Stimulus
By: Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG TV EXCLUSIVE: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke with Bloomberg Television's Peter Cook from Los Angeles last night, where he discussed the European debt crisis and the U.S. economy.
Geithner said that European leaders must take steps including "bring down interest rates in the countries that are reforming and making sure those banking systems can provide the credit those economies need." He also said that "they are committed to doing what's necessary to hold the European Union together" and "I absolutely believe they have the means to do it."
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Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Escape From Economics / Politics / Economic Theory
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Readers ask me from time to time to recommend a book from which they can learn about economics.
The problem with reading a book to learn economics that is taught in the universities and practiced in Washington is that economics is now a highly formalized subject based on abstract models and assumptions and has been mathematized. It is not that the subject is totally useless and without any applicability to real world problems. Rather, the problem is that the discipline both lags an ever-changing world and got some things wrong at the beginning. Consequently, learning economics places one inside a box where some of the tools and understanding provided are outdated and incorrect.
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Wednesday, August 01, 2012
The Record of Olympic Economics / Politics / Government Spending
By: BATR
As the world economy plunges and the financial markets debate the future of EU, the London Olympics provide a pretext to take a holiday and party all night. The latest example of excess and self-absorbed haughtiness, promotes an agenda of internationalism. The spirit of the games is less about sportsmanship than promotion of indoctrination. The cost to produce such an extravaganza approaches sums that necessitate a bailout from the IMF. The article, Winner's curse? The economics of hosting the Olympic Games, illustrates a disturbing cost for hosting the Games.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Justice Roberts is Right: Obama Healthcare Plan Won't Work / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Now that the Supreme Court has given its narrow blessing to the Affordable Care Act, the big question is whether it will deliver the benefits that its proponents promise. Unfortunately, as it is now constructed, the plan will backfire causing fewer healthy people to buy insurance, raise premiums for those who do, destroy employment opportunities, cripple the health insurance industry, and weaken the economy.