Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Eleven Offshore Banks On The US Radar: What Happens Next To Swiss-Based Private Banking? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: DK_Matai
1. Credit Suisse (including Clariden Leu)
2. HSBC Holdings
3. Basler Kantonalbank
4. Wegelin & Co
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Sunday, February 12, 2012
Unemployment, Foreclosures, Rising Debts and Despair: AMERICA'S SOCIAL CRISIS / Politics / Social Issues
By: Bob_Chapman
2012 is going to be a difficult year, but not as dreadful as anticipated. The neutralization process, as usual, we covered over by the availability of money and credit. We have already seen that via Fed $1 trillion loans to the ECB and the admission by the Fed that QE 3 is on the way. In Europe banks have borrowed $3.2 trillion and they find they will need $1 trillion more. These borrowings are more than troubling and indicate that there are 523 banks in Europe in serious trouble.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Europe's Energy Suicide Pact / Politics / Energy Resources
By: Andrew_McKillop
ENERGY FEAR
US media is warning gasoline consumers they are threatened with a possible mega price hike. If the long drawn out Iran crisis moved to war action like closing the Hormuz Straits this could spike barrel prices to $200, nearly doubling average US forecourt gasoline prices to $6 a gallon.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Student Loan 'Debt Time Bomb'; Obama's Misguided Proposal and My Two-Point Alternative / Politics / Student Finances
By: Mike_Shedlock
It's interesting to watch some of the terms bandied about in headline news. For example, the LA Times headline reads S&P says student loan debt could be next financial bubble.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Don't Be A Domesticated Extremist / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
There are countless reasons why leaving the country that purports to own you has advantages. For one, whenever I return to my personal home country of Canada - never for pleasure, only for business - I will usually run across a typically socialist Canadian who will take great offence to my worldview and will tell me, "If you don't like it, leave!"
Nothing makes me happier than to tell them, "I did... and I'm so much happier now."
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Friday, February 10, 2012
24 Signs That We Are Getting Dangerously Close to a Major War in the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: LewRockwell
End of the American Dream writes: Is 2012 the year when we will see a major war in the Middle East? For years we have heard about rising tensions in the Middle East, and for years we have heard politicians express concerns about Iran's nuclear program, but now things really do seem to be reaching a boiling point. In just the past few days, the U.S. government has imposed tough new sanctions on Iran and has totally shut down the U.S. embassy in Syria. The truth is that we are getting dangerously close to a major war in the Middle East. So will Israel strike Iran at some point in the next few months? Will the U.S. military intervene in the rapidly escalating conflict inside of Syria? If a major war does erupt, it could send the price of oil skyrocketing and there is the potential that the war could broaden very quickly. Hezbollah has already indicated that it will side with Syria, and there is always the potential that Hamas could as well. Russia and China have both stated that they are completely opposed to military action by the United States against Iran and Syria, and they have even hinted that they would possibly even help defend those countries. As the nations of the world take sides, there is even the potential that we could see World War III develop. Let us hope that it never comes to that, but with the world as unstable as it is right now, you never know what may happen.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Will U.S, NATO Atrack Iran? / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Washington has made tremendous preparations for a military assault on Iran. There is speculation that Washington has called off its two longest running wars – Iraq and Afghanistan – in order to deploy forces against Iran. Two of Washington’s fleets have been assigned to the Persian Gulf along with NATO warships. Missiles have been spread amongst Washington’s Oil Emirate and Middle Eastern puppet states. US troops have been deployed in Israel and Kuwait.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Russia Behind Bulgarian Natural Gas Anti-Fracking Protests? / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
Pity the poor Eastern Europeans. Fifty years under the domination of their massive Soviet eastern neighbor then the collapse of Communism there two decades ago offered undreamed of opportunities to join both the European Union and NATO.
But they still remain dependent on the Russian Federation for the majority of their oil and gas needs, and the new capitalists in Moscow do not hesitate to charge the highest prices possible.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Bring Down the New World Order with Free Market Education / Politics / Education
By: Gary_North
In my report, "The Crucial Pillar of the New World Order," I argued that education is the key to the modern New World Order, or Superclass, as David Rothkopf calls it. The system of about 20 elite universities, plus a handful of exclusive four-year private colleges, is the crucial institutional means of screening entry into the inner ring of power.
I argued that a great shift has been in progress since 1960. The best universities began to screen by means of a specific kind of intellect, namely, the ability to take written examinations. I described this as the Prussian system. It is a system based on merit, but a peculiar form of merit: performance on exams. Writing well also counts. As these formal criteria have been made the barriers to entry, legacy sons from the Old World Order have not gained entry.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Banking, U.S. Housing Market and Mortgages / Politics / US Housing
By: BATR
The primary players that caused the housing bubble are:
Read full article... Read full article...1) The banking institutions that bundled and sold very risky mortgages
2) The Wall Street firms that bought these instruments and hedged for a default hazard by booking speculative derivative insurance that could never pay off on massive defaults
3) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provided government backing, of last resort, on bad mortgages
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
U.S. War With Iran? / Politics / Iran
By: Danny_Schechter
The TV series House of Lies is about business but it could as easily be about government and foreign policy.
In a recent episode, one of the management consultants pitches a company about the need to launch a new product. She recounts the story of the Polaroid Company known as the Apple of its day, widely admired for the cool design of its instant cameras.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Jim Grant and the GOP Joining Forces to Bring Back the Gold Standard / Politics / Gold and Silver 2012
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
With two GOP presidential candidates saying they'd add legendary Wall Street pundit Jim Grant to their administrations, bringing back the gold standard clearly has moved up on the Republican agenda.
Ron Paul, for whom returning to the gold standard has been a decades-long crusade, has said he would name Grant chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. In his case, that would be a compromise - Paul has often called for the Fed to be abolished altogether.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Financial Crisis American Gridlock, Why The “Left” And The “Right” Are Both Wrong / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: John_Mauldin
Today we dive into Part 2 of Woody Brock’s notes from his new book, American Gridlock ( www.amazon.com/gridlock). He looks at what we can do in the future to prevent another crisis like we had in 2008, why we need to change, how we bargain with China (will be very controversial, in China at least!), what capitalism really is, and then he addresses the thorny issue of what it means to distribute wealth fairly. What can be said to those concerned with the top 1% of the population owning a grossly disproportionate share of the nation’s wealth?
Monday, February 06, 2012
Washington Heading for War on Syria / Politics / Middle East
By: Stephen_Lendman
Washington's longstanding policy is regime change in Iran and Syria. At issue is replacing independent regimes with client ones and securing unchallenged control of valued Middle East resources.
On February 4, Russia and China vetoed a largely one-sided anti-Assad resolution. A previous article called him more victim than villain. Yet he's falsely blamed for months of externally generated violence.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Bankers Committed Fraud to Get Bigger Bonuses / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: In case you didn't catch the article titled "Guilty Pleas Hit the 'Mark'" in the Wall Street Journal, I'm here to make sure you don't miss it.
This is too good.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
U.S. Fraudulent Election Year Unemployment Data, Lies, Lies, More and Bigger Lies / Politics / Economic Statistics
By: LewRockwell
Economic Collapse writes: On Friday, the entire financial world celebrated when it was announced that the unemployment rate in the United States had fallen to 8.3 percent. That is the lowest it has been since February 2009, and it came as an unexpected surprise for financial markets that are hungry for some good news. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm payrolls jumped by 243,000 during the month of January. You can read the full employment report right here.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Double Liability for Bank Shareholders, Officers and Directors / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Chris_Kitze
Most people don't realize that for about 75 years after Civil War, in the United States, a bank's officers, directors and shareholders had personal liability in excess of the value of their shares. If a bank were to be declared insolvent by the regulator, they were required to make up the shortfall in an insolvency with their personal assets. This tends to focus the attention of the bankers to be more responsible in terms of their lending and other business practices and provides an automatic way to self-regulate. When you have no personal responsibility, other than maybe not getting a bonus next year, why not take big chance for a bigger personal payout? There is no downside for bankers with today's limited liability and the public is now stuck with these losses because the bankers have shifted their responsibility to the public.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
U.S. Home Foreclosures and Shadow Banking: Why All the "Robo-signing"? / Politics / US Housing
By: Ellen_Brown
A foreclosure settlement between five major banks guilty of robo-signing and the attorneys general of the 50 states is pending for Monday, February 6th; but it is still not clear if all the AGs will sign. California was to get over half of the $25 billion in settlement money, and California AG Kamala Harris has withstood pressure to settle.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
U.S. Employment Report Masks Depth of U.S. Jobs Crisis / Politics / Employment
By: Barry_Grey
President Barack Obama on Friday hailed the Labor Department’s January employment report, calling it “good news.” Speaking in Arlington, Virginia, he declared that the economy is “growing stronger” and “the recovery is speeding up.”
This supposedly “good news” will be used to justify doing nothing to seriously address the jobs crisis and proceed after the November elections with the imposition of unprecedented austerity measures that will further shred social programs for working and poor people.
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Saturday, February 04, 2012
The Doomsday Machine / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Andrew_McKillop
1950s VANITY TECH
With a terrifying sting in its tail and for more than 60 years, nuclear power has been sold as something for nothing, delivering electricity that will be cheap, clean and safe. Nuclear shills always said that, and still say that - and they have always been wrong. When a disaster happens that is so big it can't be talked down and yanked out of the media after a couple days, the nuclear shills go into quiet mode - but they always come back, like politicians saying this time things are going to change. You have to believe.