Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Obama Signs the National Defense Authorization Act, a Bad Week For Freedom / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“We have two American flags always: one for the rich and one for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.”- Henry Miller
With each passing week it seems this country spirals further into the depths of a frightening dystopian fantasy reminiscent of Huxley and Orwell’s dark world of isolation, fear and government brutality portrayed in their masterpieces Brave New World and 1984. I keep speculating whether it’s me that’s crazy and not the things I’m witnessing on a daily basis. The President signs the National Defense Authorization Act, passed by an overwhelming majority of Congress, which allows the government to imprison American citizens indefinitely without charge. And there is barely a squeak from the docile masses as they are soothed by Obama promising to never use that part of the law. I bet you $10,000 a President will invoke that portion of the NDAA in the very near future.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Money Masters Are Living in Fear / Politics / Credit Crisis 2012
By: Rudy_Avizius
“Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce…and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.” – President James Garfield, 2 weeks before his assassination.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve / Politics / Central Banks
By: LewRockwell
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood "The Monster". But to most Americans today, "Federal Reserve" is just a name on the dollar bill. They have no idea of what the central bank does to the economy, or to their own economic lives; of how and why it was founded and operates; or of the sound money and banking that could end the statism, inflation, and business cycles that the Fed generates.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
What You Need to Know About President Obama's 2012 Budget / Politics / Government Spending
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
U.S. President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal will give Republicans and Democrats plenty to fight about.
The $3.8 trillion budget proposal, submitted to Congress, essentially follows the blueprint President Obama outlined in his State of the Union address.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Ron Paul, We've Been Neo-Conned! / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
The modern-day, limited-government movement has been co-opted. The conservatives have failed in their effort to shrink the size of government. There has not been, nor will there soon be, a conservative revolution in Washington. Political party control of the federal government has changed, but the inexorable growth in the size and scope of government has continued unabated. The liberal arguments for limited government in personal affairs and foreign military adventurism were never seriously considered as part of this revolution.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
George Osborne Does Not Care About Bank of England Governor's Letter / Politics / Inflation
By: Mario_Innecco
The governor of the Bank of England is supposed to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (U.K. Finance Minister) explaining why he has not succeeded in maintaining the annual growth in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) within a range between 1% and 3%. The point of maintaining a median CPI around 2% is to safeguard the purchasing power of the currency that Britons use. The Bank of England and H.M. Treasury are supposed to protect the currency of the realm.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Federal Government Spending, Hey, Big Spender? / Politics / Government Spending
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
Some political movement ought to unfurl the “Mission Accomplished” banner with regard to reining in federal government spending. As shown in the chart below, in the 12 months ended January 2012, the cumulative total of federal outlays – defense, non-defense, entitlements, interest on the debt, the whole ball of wax – increased only 1.5% vs. the 12 months ended January 2011. The median growth in 12-month cumulative total federal outlays from January 1954 through January 2012 is 6.6%. Starting with the 12 months ended March 2010, this measure of growth in federal outlays has been below the long-run median.
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Monday, February 13, 2012
Ron Paul on Obamacare Overreach / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Many religious conservatives understandably are upset with the latest Obamacare mandate, which will require religious employers (including Catholic employers) to provide birth control to workers receiving healthcare benefits. This mandate includes certain birth control devices that are considered abortifacients, like IUDs and the "morning after" pill.
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Monday, February 13, 2012
Zombie Workers, Zombie Votes / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
We used to like traveling. Now, it’s a drag.
“No, we don’t want to go through your new x-ray machine,” we told the TSA guard.
“Whassa matter? It’s safe…” she replied.
“How do you know that?”
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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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