Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Subject Banks to the Free Market or Turn Them into Utilities / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes:
Let's face it. Banking is a protected industry. It's a government-coddled industry.
The problem with that is, banks really aren't subject to free market forces that would naturally eliminate insolvent and inefficient institutions. The result is more bad banking.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
Did Ron Paul Slay The Gold Bull? / Politics / Gold and Silver 2011
By: Brady_Willett
The price of gold was off by nearly 5% yesterday, with comex gold losing over $97 an ounce on an intraday basis. This price collapse is comparable, in percentage terms, to the carnage seen in other precious metals, but well beyond the damage seen in other ‘risk’ areas of the marketplace (i.e. commodities and equities). Accordingly, the question deserves to be asked: why is gold outpacing the recent decline in other ‘risk’ areas of the marketplace?
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
Higgs Boson God Particle Mass for the Inflationary Universe Explained, Economic Implications / Politics / Technology
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Higgs Boson so called "God" particle has been purported to have been discovered just prior to the Christmas holidays by scientists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It might seem rather odd that scientists have introduced 'god' into the equation, however given by the media coverage that was never apparent during the discovery of the other elementary particles, the "God" particle has proved a useful media marketing tool to promote the discovery to the mainstream media and the ordinary masses.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The Higgs Boson, Global Warming And Green Energy / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
Coinciding with the failed climate talks in Durban, mainly due to the European Union's bizarre and kamikaze negotiating stance, another European marvel of government spending - CERN - announced its research teams could or might have glimpsed the Higgs boson. They say it might well exist. Only might exist, note it well. Most people neither know or care what a Higgs boson might be but it should have a partner thing out there in the Universe, called the graviton. The boson would "explain" mass while the graviton would "explain" gravity, in the same way other government-paid scientists and the politicians who pay them say that CO2 "explains" climate change, which exists, but their explanation needs global warming - which might not exist.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
U.S. Wastes $3.5 Trillion on Iraq War, Prepares for War Against Iran / Politics / Iraq War
By: Global_Research
Bill Van Auken writes: The White House has used the imminent withdrawal of all but a handful of US troops from Iraq to promote Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. The president’s strategists are conducting a cynical propaganda operation aimed at simultaneously identifying him with the military and pushing the claim that the pullout is a fulfillment of his 2008 campaign promises.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Legislating Tyranny in America, Orwell and Beyond / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Obama won't prosecute CIA torturers, Wall Street crooks, other corporate criminals, lawless war profiteers, or other venal high-level civilian or government officials.
Instead, expect him to sign into law (or at least tacitly approve) indefinite military detentions of US citizens allegedly associated with terrorist groups, with or without corroborating evidence.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
Euro Crisis: David Cameron, Britain’s Financial Arsonist Returns to the Scene of the Crime / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Finian_Cunningham
The incendiary finance capitalism unleashed by Britain 25 years ago is at the heart of Europe’s raging debt woes
You either have to admire British Prime Minister David Cameron’s brass neck, or wince at his arrogant stupidity. The smart money is probably on the latter option.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
The ESM Financial Insolvency and the Bailout of Europe's Mega Banks / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Bob_Chapman
After watching Europe’s performance last week the only thing they really were after was an ESM, European Stabilization Mechanism, to tie down all EU nations to a tighter regional set up. As it turns out England and others did not agree. Britain obviously does not want to become part of a new treaty that deprives them of their sovereignty. This regional government concept appeared in the early 1960s and is now going to be pushed in Europe with the US to follow. Our question, is England just trying to protect the advantages of the “City of London,” or is the disagreement deeper than that? A new treaty will take two years for ratification, but in the meantime an agreement will hold forth on what can be called a handshake. Evidence is still out on whether this is an attempt by Germany to break up the euro zone and the EU or a genuine effort to set up a platform for world government. We know that since WWII that the internationalists have been setting up Europe as the foundation for world government. On the other hand we know that 65% to 70% of the German people want no part of it from any standpoint.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Those "New" E.U. Fiscal Rules Aren't So New / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: Very soon we will see if the old market adage "Buy the rumor, sell the news" is true.
While rumors of Europe's impending demise were momentarily shot down by an array of silver bullets, the actual news out of Brussels of a grand bargain wasn't... exactly... honest.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The US Becomes Just Another Military Dictatorship / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Scott Lazarowitz writes: Within days after my article on due process and presumption of innocence, the U.S. Senate voted to empower the U.S. military to apprehend and detain indefinitely anyone in America, based on the whim of the soldier or military commander, and it will probably eventually include any armed agent of government including local police. As Jacob Hornberger noted, this new provision will codify the U.S. as just another one of many dictatorships throughout world history.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
More Reasons to Say 'Thanks' Before Waving Good-Bye to the United States / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
This joyous holiday season, those still living in the US should give thanks for one thing: that it's not 2012 yet. If you haven't begun the countdown, now's the time. And there's not a whole lot left of it before it's too late.
You see, the overlords in DC have a host of new disciplinary and capital-control legislation ready to be unleashed upon the populace starting in less than a month.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Markets of Shame Before The Collapse: Crisis, Crisis, Everywhere / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Danny_Schechter
Earlier this week, Stephen Colbert announced dramatically that there were important developments underway in Europe that we should know about.
True to form, Colbert’s Repor didn’t talk about the big problem. His story, ha ha ha, was about a butter shortage in Norway. Talk about going from the obscure to the ridiculous.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Europe's Ride To Hell In A Handcart / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Andrew_McKillop
In a recent article 'Smokescreen Europe' I underlined one of the scariest, most laughable new realities of the European ride to oblivion. Nothing comes out of the endless ballet of special crisis summits where heads of state predictably pose and preen. The crisis deepens.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Out of Answers, Federal Reserve Can Only Offer Empty Rhetoric / Politics / Central Banks
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to issue a statement at 2:15 pm. today (Tuesday), but don't expect anything other than more empty rhetoric.
Indeed, with few options remaining, the Fed is expected to produce little more than a statement designed to reassure the markets following today's meeting.
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Monday, December 12, 2011
Falsification of Greek public finance data : EU regulatory bodies' (absence of) response / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: ECB_Watch
This is a follow up to the blog entry Deceptive tactics were used to thrust a head the nomination of the new ECB President. Here, we look into the broader issue of the falsification of Greece's public finance data: Eurostat audits, Jean Claude Trichet's willful hindrance against the release of ECB records, Goldman Sachs' communication, and whether the EU Parliament (Sharon Bowles), the Commission (Olli Rehn) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (Verena Ross) were proactive enough.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Fraud "Blind Spot", Wealthy Patriots Wage Class War / Politics / US Politics
By: Janet_Tavakoli
A strange thing happened in Chicago on Thursday, December 8. An audience of well-heeled professionals, a mixture of Democrats and Republicans, packed a room at the Drake Hotel to hear Robert Shiller, a Yale professor, give a presentation on the housing market. A few members of the audience were in the top 1%, and the balance of the audience was probably in the top 2%-5%. At the end of the presentation, there was a bi-partisan revolt.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Durban : The Climate Deal That Wasn't / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
After two weeks of confabulation (defined as a memory disorder characterized by verbal statements or actions unrelated to either the past, present, or likely future), the approximate 10 000 delegates and visitors, including the regulation issue but dwindling band of climate crazies with paint on their faces, football style, finally broke up with a supposed "face saving deal". To do this, the estimated 1200 official limousines, 140 private planes, and additional regular airline flights needed to rush the CCC (Climate Concerned Crowd) to their 17th be-in since the 1997 Kyoto meeting of course spewed very impressive quantities of the "deadly gas" called CO2.
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Lunacy of Soviet Communist Central Planning / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
This 1992 documentary, The Engineers' Plot, is a history of Soviet central economic planning. Central planning did not work. This is a planned society that modeled its premier showcase city after Gary, Indiana. The video is a fine demonstration of the truth of Ludwig von Mises' 1920 essay, "Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth." Mises argued that the socialist system is irrational, because it cannot price anything rationally. You will especially enjoy the parade of marching working women in white dresses. This is a Busby Berkeley extravananza, Soviet style.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Euro-zone Doomed to Fail, Wrecking Europe's Monetary System to Fix It / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Stephen_Lendman
From its inception, the Eurozone monetary union was an idea doomed to fail. Nonetheless, it was engineered fraudulently to look workable.
In 1979, Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) was introduced as part of the European Monetary System (EMS) to propel the continent to one European currency unit (ECU).
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
Is Oil Fueling the Rise in Political Partisanship? / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Submissions
Tom Therramus submits: In 2009 I published a chart in an article at Oil-Price.net that showed volatility in the price of oil had risen and fallen in a series of seven spikes during the prior decade. The turbulent year of 2008, when oil jumped to over $140 a barrel, was part of this series. But what was unexpected was just how early in the 2000s the signature of spiking volatility in oil price had gotten under way.