Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Day of Gold-Plated Public Sector Pensions are Numbered / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Arnold_Bock
Public sector employees, the workforce ‘elite’ led by state and municipal workers, are now storming legislative chambers to preserve their special status. Wisconsin is the current case study in what happens when the government, a monopoly service provider, confronts the fact that the taxpayer is tapped out and can’t take it anymore – when there simply isn’t enough money. Those realities are going to result in major adjustments in worker incomes, future pensions and benefits and their overall standard of living. Let me explain.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Why So Many Americans Hate Obama / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
I can explain why so many Americans are angry about President Obama and dislike or hate him with passion, and why it has little to do with his actions and policies. But first I must examine the confluence of two historical inflection points that explains so much resentment and opposition to Obama.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Libya Food Aid and the Global Food Crisis / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Andrew_McKillop
The Libyan food and refugee crisis is a dramatic reminder, and part of the world food crisis that is specially powerful and deep-rooted in the Arab world. Simply because of this, events are driven further and faster than many persons appreciate at first glance, and underline that world attention to the fundamental importance of food shortage must and will grow.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Banks Cheap Money is Economic Poison / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Chris_Kitze
Ron Robins writes: Developed world bankers continue to proclaim that enforced low interest rates—cheap money—will lead their countries back to economic prosperity. But didn’t the same policies a few years ago help bring us to the precipice of financial and economic collapse? Do they still not understand that cheap easy money led to many large US and European banks becoming gambling institutions, eventually failing and bailed out at taxpayers’ expense?
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fox News BUSTED For Manipulating Footage of Wisconsin Worker Protests (Video) / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Chris_Kitze
As teachers and students protested for three weeks in the state capitol of Wisconsin in a fight to let state workers keep their collective bargaining right, Fox News created facts that were far from the truth to push across their political agenda, fabricating poll results, broadcasting fake video, and spinning stories about reporter abuse. RT's Anastasia Churkina reports.
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
FREEDOM, Ideas Can Overthrow Regimes / Politics / Social Issues
By: Robert_Murphy
The political upheaval in the Middle East underscores one of the most profound aspects of Ludwig von Mises's worldview: all governments ultimately rely on the consent of the governed.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Fed's Credit Report; No Light in the Tunnel / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Mike_Whitney
On Monday, the Federal Reserve released its Consumer Credit Report which showed that consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 2.5% in January. That might sound impressive, but things are not what they seem. Non-revolving credit increased at a rate of 7% per anum, while revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 6.5%. So, people are taking out more loans, but keeping their credit cards tucked away in their wallets. But there's more to this story than meets the eye, and it's important, because economists monitor credit expansion closely to see how the economy is doing. You see, when wages stagnate--as they have for the last 30 years---the only way that working people can increase their spending is by borrowing. And since consumer spending is roughly 70% of GDP, if consumers don't borrow, then the economy doesn't grow.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Stealing from Social Security to Pay for Wars and Bailouts / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The American Empire is failing. A number of its puppet rulers are being overthrown by popular protests, and the almighty dollar will not even buy one Swiss franc, one Canadian dollar, or one Australian dollar. Despite the sovereign debt problem that threatens EU members Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, it requires $1.38 dollars to buy one euro, a new currency that was issued at parity with the US dollar.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Protectionism of the Future vs. Protectionism of the Past / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
Protectionism is frequently tarred as a backward-looking policy which merely preserves yesterday’s jobs at the expense of tomorrow’s. This is a snappy-sounding canard, but it has nothing to do with the contemporary critique of free trade. It does, however, have something to do with some of the cruder protectionist impulses that have sometimes surfaced in the past. As a result, it’s worth distinguishing between forward-looking protectionism (the good kind) and backward-looking protectionism (the bad kind.)
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
Central Banks Lying About Everything, Global Economy Scam Goes Critical / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Andrew_McKillop
Quote: The US Federal Reserve tells us we need inflation to overcome the overhang created by debt and inflation. This inflation does not create jobs – it just distorts prices upward. We are told by the head of the Fed, Mr. Bernanke, that he can end inflation whenever he thinks it is necessary. That is not true, because if inflation ends deflation takes command and the economy collapses. There is no finely honed instrument for turning these two opposite effects on and off (March 5, Bob Chapman's International Forecaster Weekly)
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
How the Fed Can Be Abolished / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
Things are not always as complicated as they seem. With respect to the Federal Reserve System, it is a deliberate mystery. It was deliberately designed in 1910 to deceive the public, who were opposed the idea of a central bank. The conspirators who met on Jekyll Island in November 1910 knew this. They did good work from their point of view. They concealed the beast.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
How Cameron’s SAS and MI6 Secret Op Bungled in Benghazi, Libya / Politics / UK Politics
By: Patrick_Henningsen
As far as paperback novels and heroic British failures go, few can top events in Libya this week. Eight British men – including six SAS soldiers and a James Bond-style MI6 agent, dropped by helicopter in Benghazi under the cover of night, only to be surrounded and captured by local farmers-*****-rebels, according to major news reports.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
U.S. And NATO Prepare For War With Libya / Politics / Middle East
By: Rick_Rozoff
March 7 was a pivotal moment in plans by Western powers to launch military operations against Libya.
After meeting with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Washington, President Barack Obama stated "we've got NATO, as we speak, consulting in Brussels around a wide range of potential options, including potential military options, in response to the violence that continues to take place inside of Libya."
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
U.S. Government Deliberate Lies That Shift Attention Away From The Economy / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Kitze
Rick Gedeon writes: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a blatant admission during a U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities committee meeting by arguing that the State Department needs more money because the US military-industrial complex is losing the information war to the likes of Russia Today and Al Jazeera. This loss of course is due to the US corporate media having completely abandoned real news.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
The Wisconsin Labor Dispute, More for Me Does Not Mean Better for Us / Politics / Employment
By: MISES
In the Wisconsin labor dispute, now increasingly spreading nationwide, I have lost count of the times union defenders have justified their position based on little more than the assertion that some union benefitted them or some member of their family — followed by the conclusion that all Americans must therefore gain. Unfortunately, that "logic" is invalid. A policy that gives me more does not mean the result is better for us. And the primary effect of unions and union-backed policies is to harm the vast majority of Americans.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Bahrain and the Battle Between Iran and Saudi Arabia / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
The world’s attention is focused on Libya, which is now in a state of civil war with the winner far from clear. While crucial for the Libyan people and of some significance to the world’s oil markets, in our view, Libya is not the most important event in the Arab world at the moment. The demonstrations in Bahrain are, in my view, far more significant in their implications for the region and potentially for the world. To understand this, we must place it in a strategic context.
Monday, March 07, 2011
U.S. Buying Friends Creates More Enemies / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and I had the opportunity to raise some of my concerns regarding US foreign policy and the costs of our interventionism around the world.
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Monday, March 07, 2011
Stunning Lack of Economic Understanding at the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
By: Peter_Schiff
As the world confronts one of the most critical periods of economic upheaval that it has ever seen, it is clear that our most influential economic stewards have absolutely no idea what they are doing. But, like kids with a new chemistry set, they are nevertheless unwilling to let that stand in the way of their experimental fun. As they pour an ever-growing number of volatile ingredients into their test tubes, we can either hope that they magically stumble on the secret formula to cure the world's ills, or more pragmatically, we can try to prepare for the explosion that is likely to result.
Monday, March 07, 2011
The Social Snobbery of Free Trade / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
Skepticism about free trade is often stigmatized with ad hominem attacks. These mostly come down to variations on the following:“Protectionists are dummies, losers, incompetents, hippies, rednecks, dinosaurs, closet socialists, or crypto-fascists.”
Thomas Friedman’s version in The World is Flat (the Das Kapital of Globalism) runs thus:
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Sunday, March 06, 2011
The Support For Slavery in the United States as Public Unions Bankrupt Cities and States / Politics / Social Issues
By: Mike_Shedlock
A large number of people have recently come out in support of extortion, bribery, coercion, and even slavery. They don't realize it, but I can make a rock-solid case.
Here is a partial list of prominent names willing to support or ignore slavery for political reasons.