Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
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.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Global Food Prices Panic? / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Pravda
Growing demand, falling production, a market based upon speculation. Global food prices have increased for the 8th consecutive month. Most commodity groups have risen. The ones who are going to pay the invoice are the world's poor, as per the humanitarian catastrophe looming in Somalia. The world can no longer feed itself under this model.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Libya Crisis. What the Mainstream Media is Hiding / Politics / Middle East
By: Pravda
Two weeks have elapsed since the first demonstrations in Benghazi and Tripoli. The disinformation campaign about Libya has sown confusion in the world. First a certainty: the analogies with events in Tunisia and Egypt are misplaced. These rebellions contributed obviously to depoliticize street protests in both neighboring countries, but the peculiar Libyan process has characteristics inseparable from the conspiring strategy of imperialism and what can be defined as the metamorphosis of a leader.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
The Class War, March Madness Time in the USA / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
“The worst things get, the harder it is for people to agree on what to do.”
The term class war has been extricated from the archives of another era, while divisions over the future of the economy have become a battleground in which the adversaries yell at each other, but rarely engage in any discourse with each other in a shared language.
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Saturday, March 05, 2011
Enemies of the Middle Class / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gary_North
With less than one quarter of 2011 gone, we have seen the spread of three revolutions. The first is literal. It is happening in North Africa. The second is intellectual: the acceptance by large numbers of voters of a shutdown of the United States government, which is deemed to be out of control. The third is political: the willingness of state legislatures in the rust belt to remove the 70-year government subsidies to public employees' unions.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Doug Casey on Labor Unions / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
(Interviewed by Louis James, Conversations with Casey)
Contrarian investor and free-market thinker Doug Casey doesn't mince his words. That's why he is a sought-after speaker at investment conferences - not only for his spot-on investment advice but for his no-holds-barred views of the markets, economy, and politics. In light of the recent events in Wisconsin, here are his musings on labor unions.
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