Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, December 16, 2011
U.S. Exposure to Europe - Unknowns Unknowns / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Fred_Sheehan
"[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - there are things we do not know we don't know." - Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, February 12, 2002
There were reasons to criticize Donald Rumsfeld's turn as Defense Secretary but this was not one of them, even though the media quoted and re-quoted this most sensible approach to uncertainty as proof of a retarded intellect.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 16, 2011
The New Left - Neoliberal Climate Alliance / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
CHOMSKY WRONG AGAIN
Strange causes throw together strange bedfellows with even stranger offspring. Naom Chomsky, always sure to place himself with the angriest-seeming part of the New Left crowd, has no problem ranging himself alongside the Climate Crazies despite them receiving yet another big setback, in Durban. Packing their suntan lotions and picking up their air tickets somebody else paid for, the overfed bureaucrats and overpaid lobbyists who profit from climate craziness failed in their quest to suck more subsidies and garner more public cash for their Great Cause, once again. The strange band of New Left climate radicals is breaking up, as its upstream cause fed by one-liner slogans and Rentacrowd Science fails to amuse, beguile, fool or provoke like it used to. Climate change is a big yawn.
Friday, December 16, 2011
French Central Bank Attacks British Economy As Eurozone Rescue Plan Starts to Disintegrate / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Nadeem_Walayat
French President Sarkozy let his attack dogs loose on Britain as illustrated by comments form the head of the French central bank, Christian Noyer attacking the British economy following threats of Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency downgrade of French Government debt as a consequence of the French banks exposure to bankrupting PIIGS debt.
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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?
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.
Read full article... Read full article...
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.