Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Bank of England, FSA and Politicians Try to Insulate themselves from Bankster Fraud Fallout / Politics / UK Banking
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Bank of England, FSA and politicians of all parties have been busy all week putting up multiple screens of smoke and mirrors to try and separate themselves from their bankster brethren despite the facts of close relationships between all parties that amounts to negligence to regulate and hold bankster's to account where the fundamental fact remains that despite all of the continuing crimes amounting to an ongoing risk of actual bankruptcy of Britain i.e. continuing to inflict far more financial damage than the likes of Al-Qeeda could ever have hoped to have imagined to achieve, NO bankster criminal has gone to prison! The only consequence so far has been to lose a bonus for a year or two, let alone face the sack.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Angela Merkel is Playing You For Fools / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Oh come on, leave the girl alone already. First off, all those people talking about a solution for the eurozone need to finally understand there ain't no such thing. And whatever slim chance of a solution the most optimistic - delusional - among them may be so desperate to cling on to, at least they should recognize that Angela doesn't hold the keys to the city. She herself knows it: she's just another gal knocking at the gates, even if she's dressed as the empress.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Don't Expect the Obamacare Ruling to Calm the Markets / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Even before the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare was handed down yesterday the markets were selling off hard.
They were tanking on news that the latest European summit was unlikely to be a game-changer, that U.S. gross domestic product was a paltry 1.9% in the first quarter, and a New York Times story that JPMorgan Chase's derivatives loss could top $9 billion.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, June 29, 2012
Washington Neo-cons are Leading the World to Destruction / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
When President Reagan nominated me as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, he told me that we had to restore the US economy, to rescue it from stagflation, in order to bring the full weight of a powerful economy to bear on the Soviet leadership, in order to convince them to negotiate the end of the cold war. Reagan said that there was no reason to live any longer under the threat of nuclear war.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Obama versus the Hedge Fund Industry / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Clif_Droke
Most investors are aware that the 4-year cycle peak comes into play this year. What few realize is how both Washington and Wall Street are using this cycle as a fulcrum for gaining political as well as economic advantage. In this commentary we’ll look at how the hedge fund industry is manipulating certain key markets for political ends as much as financial gain, and how even the president has been forced to respond. It will quickly become apparent how the puerile and self-serving actions of the top hedge fund managers serves to create friction for everyone concerned. Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Day The U.S. Constitution Died / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits: Michael Connelly writes: It is June 28, 2012 and on this day in history five Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court joined with President Obama and members of Congress to declare the U.S. Constitution and our free Republic dead. The justices accomplished all of this by issuing a bizarre opinion on the Constitutionality of the “Affordable Health Care Act” commonly known as Obamacare.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Barclays LIBOR Market Manipulation Fraud To Boost Profits and Mask Insolvency, RBS, HSBC and Lloyds to Follow / Politics / Banksters
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The FSA has belatedly acted on the blatant and obvious to all market participants manipulation of the LIBOR reference rates for various markets including interest rate derivatives. Most market participants had concluded that the LIBOR rate as published by the BBA cannot be accurate and to on occasion an extreme extent at several points during the past 5 years of the financial crisis. The FSA action that amounts to a £290million fine is of little consequences to Barclays because the Bank of England in collusion with the UK Treasury have been busy stuffing every orifice of all of the banks with free cash under the constant threat that if tax payers did not provide unlimited cover for liabilities then the banks would trigger Financial Armageddon which ironically did not stop RBS from exploding last week, freezing millions of account holders in what amounts to a 2 week bank holiday.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The EU Has Already Broken Up… They Just Haven’t Formalized Yet / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
I’ve often been labeled as “Gloom and Doom” in the past, but the situation in Europe today is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. It is highly likely that the EU will not exist in their current form by the end of the year
I realize some of this may sound overly dramatic. But the following should give you an idea of how serious things are getting:
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, June 28, 2012
European Political Leaders Play With Fire / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Browne
The world economy today stands at the doorstep of great change. A gathering crisis looms in Europe, splitting the Continent into two competing blocs. While leaders there face off against one another in a high stakes game of chicken, the rest of the world powerlessly watches the train wreck slowly unfold. Political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic fail to grasp the fragility of the current world order and do not understand the forces they are unleashing. A parallel here can be drawn with the political situation that existed on the eve of the First World War. For the most part European leaders were not bent upon death and destruction. However these largely ordinary men were held captive by national delusions and a complex system of alliances and treaties that had not been thought through to their logical conclusions. This resulted in a situation where a single assassination was enough to plunge the Continent into a bloodbath.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Whatever Happened To Climate Change Crisis? / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
Back in 2009, the failed Copenhagen “climate summit” was with retrospect a founding event for the climate change industry: in many ways it never recovered from this massive hit from what are called "climate sceptics". Since that time, the small but powerful group of OECD country political leaders, corporate elites, and mainstream press and media barons who promoted the image of climate catastrophe with the straightest of faces, seemingly believing every word of the doom-eager rantings of James Lovelock, James Hansen, Al Gore and others, have backed off and edged away from their failing and shrinking monster.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Nouriel Roubini: Germany to Eurozone - You Lost Your Virginity, Can't Commit to Marriage Today / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Bloomberg
Nouriel Roubini and Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group appeared on "Bloomberg Surveillance" with Tom Keene, Sara Eisen and Ken Prewitt today to discuss Europe's debt crisis.
On Germany bailing out other euro zone countries, Roubini said, "The Germans say, 'you lost your virginity. Now you sign a contract. You say, 'I'm a born again virgin.' Be abstinent for the next two years. Show me your soul and two years from now, we're going to get married. But today, I commit to marriage today? Forget it.'
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The United States of Europe has Arrived! / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Axel_Merk
A fiscal union, a banking union, a United States of Europe has arrived! Don’t believe it? Just like many newborns, this one has its shares of wrinkles, but what you see is what you get. We discuss a tough love approach to move forward in Europe, as well as implications for currencies.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The American War Racket, the No1 Zombie Industry / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
Normandy, France – One of the advantages of moving overseas is that you see home more clearly. We came to France last week. Already, America comes into clearer focus.
The French press seems fascinated by the relationship between Francois Hollande’s two mistresses. The former – a candidate for president herself – dumped him when he took up with the latter. The former is also the mother of Hollande’s 4 children, which complicates things further.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Grotesque Casino Of Corporate Fascism, Who Destroyed The Middle Class Part 3 / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
This is the 3rd and final chapter of my series about the destruction of the middle class. In Part 1 of this series I addressed where and how the net worth of the middle class was stolen. In Part 2, I focused on the culprits in this grand theft and in Part 3, I will try to figure out why they stole your net worth and what would be required to restore sanity to this world.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Forget the PIIGS, The Whole of Europe Is Insolvent / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
Europe is heading into a full-scale disaster.
You see, the debt problems in Europe are not simply related to Greece. They are SYSTEMIC. The below chart shows the official Debt to GDP ratios for the major players in Europe.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
South Africa’s Political Wars Begin To Resemble Our Own / Politics / Africa
By: Danny_Schechter
Cape Town, South Africa: When I came to South Africa, I thought I was escaping the way our news programs are totally dominated by political coverage even though the election is months away and everyone knows none of this polling and hyped-up speculation matters until October.
The fight between the Democrats and Republicans is an obscenely costly affair which none of our political pundits care to investigate in terms of why so much is being invested and what the likely payoffs will be, and to whom.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Germany's Finance Minister Lectures Obama On Debt and Defends Euro / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Shedlock
President Barack Obama should focus on cutting America's own budget deficit before advising Europe on how to tackle its debt problems says German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble in the Spiegel article in Germany Rejects Obama's Criticism in Euro Crisis
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble rebuffed recent criticism of Germany's handling of the euro crisis from Barack Obama, telling the US president to get his own house in order before giving advice.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, June 25, 2012
George Soros: Merkel Leading Europe in the Wrong Direction, German Bond Bubble / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Bloomberg
BLOOMBERG EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire investor George Soros spoke to Bloomberg TV's Francine Lacqua, calling on Europe to start a fund to buy Italian and Spanish bonds.
Soros said, "There is a disagreement on the fiscal side...unless that is resolved in the next three days, then I am afraid the summit could turn out to be a fiasco. That could actually be fatal."
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, June 25, 2012
Ron Paul, U.S. Government is Already Too Involved in Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week the Supreme Court is expected to issue its long-awaited decision regarding the constitutionality of the "Obamacare" law. I recently discussed absurd legal arguments by Obamacare advocates that Congress can compel the purchase of health insurance, and the dismal record of federal courts applying so-called "judicial review" in protecting liberty. It is obvious that Obamacare's legal apologists either are wholly ignorant of constitutional principles, or wholly lawless in their blatant disregard for those principles.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, June 25, 2012
Why Democracy Is Dangerous, the Enemy of Freedom / Politics / Social Issues
By: LewRockwell
Karel Beckman writes: People around the world are fighting autocratic regimes in the name of freedom and democracy. They are right to fight for freedom, but wrong to fight for democracy. Libertarians should try to make it clear to them that the democratic path will not lead to freedom, but to slavery.