Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Italy in Crisis: The Decline of the Roman Democracy and Rise of the ‘Super Mario’ Technocracy / Politics / Italy
By: Andrew_G_Marshall
The European debt crisis continues into its third year, with four government bailouts – of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain – and having imposed harsh austerity measures upon the people of Europe, forcing them to pay – through reduced standards of living and increased poverty – for the excesses of their political and financial rulers. Italy, as Europe’s third largest economy, with one of the largest debt-to-GDP ratios, plays a central role in the unfolding debt crisis across Europe. Part 1 of this excerpt from a chapter on the economic crisis in my upcoming book covers the “suspension” of democracy in Italy and the imposition of a ‘Technocracy’ – an unelected government led by academics and bankers – with a mandate to punish the people, facilitate the financial elite, and serve the interests of the supranational, unelected, technocratic European Union. Power centralized, power globalizes, power plunders and profits on the punishment and impoverishment of people everywhere. This is the story of Italy’s debt crisis.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Free Markets, Libertarians, Trade Deficits,Economic Decline: Joseph Cotto Interviews Ian Fletcher / Politics / Economic Theory
By: Ian_Fletcher
Journalist Joseph Cotto interviewed me recently. Our conversation is below.
Q: Today, many people tend to confuse the concepts of free markets, free trade, and fair trade with one another. How would you describe each?
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Sunday, July 01, 2012
NO - A Profound Exercise of Freedom / Politics / Financial Markets 2012
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
From Dictionary.com, the word ‘no’ means ‘a negative used to express dissent, denial, or refusal, as in response to a question’. It seems to be such a simple word. But, the power of ‘no’ is lost on modern society. The ability to exercise the word ‘no’ is a profound exercise of freedom. If we can’t say ‘no’, then we have no freedom. Slaves cannot exercise the word ‘no’.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
British Parliament: the Mother of all Deceptions / Politics / UK Politics
By: William_Bowles
There -- it sickens one to have to wade through this grimy sea of opportunism. What a spectacle of shuffling, lies, vacillation and imbecility does this Game Political offer to us? I cannot conclude without an earnest appeal to those Socialists, of whatever section, who may be drawn towards the vortex of Parliamentarism, to think better of it while there is yet time. If we ally ourselves to any of the presen[t] parties they will only use us as a cat's-paw; and on the other hand, if by any chance a Socialist slips through into Parliament, he will do so at the expense of leaving his principles behind him; he will certainly not be returned as a Socialist, but as something else; what else is hard to say. As I have written before in these columns, Parliament is going just the way we would have it go. Our masters are feeling very uncomfortable under the awkward burden of GOVERNMENT, and do not know what to do, since their sole aim is to govern from above. Do not let us help them by taking part in their game. Whatever concessions may be necessary to the progress of the Revolution can be wrung out of them at least as easily by extra-Parliamentary pressure, which can be exercised without losing one particle of those principles which are the treasure and hope of Revolutionary Socialists. -- William Morris, the Commonweal, Volume 1, Number 10, November 1885, p. 93.[1]
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Mainstream Economics is a Cult / Politics / Economic Theory
By: Washingtons_Blog
Neoclassical Economics Is Based on Myth
Neoclassical economics is a cult which ignores reality in favor of shared myths.
Economics professor Michael Hudson writes:
Read full article... Read full article...[One Nobel prize winning economist stated,] “In pointing out the consequences of a set of abstract assumptions, one need not be committed unduly as to the relation between reality and these assumptions.”
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Global Debt Trap, Come on People, Wake Up! / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2012
By: Joseph_Russo
The never-ending D-Days of the 21st Century are getting extremely dangerous.
The revolving 'D's are all disgustingly circular, establishing a vile state, destabilizing in its nature, which entrenches a widespread destructive status-quo paralysis throughout the fabric and core of all societies subject to them.
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Saturday, June 30, 2012
U.S. Healthcare Legal Gimmickry Rescues Obamacare / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
Despite the celebrations among Democrats, yesterday a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that the Constitution does not allow the government to force Americans to buy health insurance. However in providing the swing vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) Chief Justice John Roberts broke with the four other justices who shared that view by declaring that the methods chosen to get individuals to buy insurance were not penalties but taxes. He declared that the government wasn't legislating behavior, but simply taxing it. In reaching this tortured decision he erred by declaring the penalties to be taxes and then compounded the mistake by classifying them as "indirect taxes" that are not imposed on individuals. Apparently Roberts feels that these two wrongs will make a right. But his mistake will cost this country dearly.
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.
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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:
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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.
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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.'
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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.
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