Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
American Manufacturing Slowly Rotting Away: How Industries Die / Politics / US Politics
By: Ian_Fletcher
I wrote in a previous article about why America's manufacturing sector, despite record output, is actually in very deep trouble: record output doesn't prove the sector healthy when we are running a huge trade deficit in manufactured goods, i.e. consuming more goods than we produce and plugging the gap with asset sales and debt.
Monday, February 21, 2011
CNBC Presenter Gets Slapped as Chip Stocks Race Higher / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Investment_U
Steve McDonald writes: Have you seen the movement of chip stocks recently?
The sector is on the march, with stocks like Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) blasting 60% higher over the past three months.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Libya Red Alert: Unrest and the Libyan Military / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has ordered the Libyan air force to fire on military installations in Libya, according to what the BBC has characterized as a reliable source. Al Jazeera has suggested that air force fighters have opened fire on crowds of protesters.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Real Crisis That Will Soon Hit the U.S. / Politics / Food Crisis
By: Chris_Kitze
Phoenix Capital Research writes: Forget stocks, the real crisis is coming… and it’s coming fast.
Indeed, it first hit in 2008 though it was almost entirely off the radar of the American public. While all eyes were glued to the carnage in the stock market and brokerage account balances, a far more serious crisis began to unfold rocking 30 countries around the globe.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Wall Street Capitalism: A Love Affair / Politics / US Politics
By: Submissions
BATR writes: What once was a mercantile world has become a global playpen for moving hot money to squeeze out the highest return on investment. Replacing nation states with international capital is now sport. Undermining the sovereignty of countries by an elite club of financial manipulators is the purpose for the grand game.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Fed New Accounting Change Means its Impossible for the Fed to go Bankrupt! / Politics / Central Banks
By: Robert_Murphy
Back in early January, the Federal Reserve made an obscure announcement in its weekly report. It appeared to be an inconsequential accounting change in the treatment of earnings, and was sold as a step toward greater transparency.
The change was buried in such jargon that it took weeks for the financial bloggers to fully digest what had happened — the new move made it effectively impossible for the Fed to go bankrupt! In this article I'll explain the rule change and speculate on the Fed's motives.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Bahrain State’s Lethal Crackdown Backfires on the Regime / Politics / Middle East
By: Finian_Cunningham
There was an uneasy calm in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, last night following nearly a week of lethal repression by state security forces which has left eight civilians dead and hundreds injured.
But the appalling violence inflicted by state forces seems to have now galvanized the protest movement and radicalizing its calls for the entire regime to go.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Libya Red Alert: Clashes in Tripoli / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
Emerging reports early Feb. 21 indicate the unrest in Libya is spreading from eastern Libya to the capital of Tripoli. According to initial reports, heavy gunfire was heard in central Tripoli and in other districts with Al Jazeera reporting 61 people killed in Tripoli on Feb. 21. Other unconfirmed reports say protesters attacked the headquarters of Al-Jamahiriya Two television and Al-Shababia as well as other government buildings in Tripoli overnight.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, February 21, 2011
Madoff Talk Excuses From Crimes, Says Banks Didn’t Want to Know About His Ponzi Schemes / Politics / Scams
By: Danny_Schechter
Thank you Bernie for breaking your silence, even if you are still clinging to that cover-up mode you adopted since your guilty plea took all the blame for your crimes on yourself.
What is clear is that ripping off the rich is punished far more severely than ripping off the poor. The lengthy sentence you were given has spared who knows how many other greedsters and goniffs from facing the music, what music there is.
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Saif Gadaffi's TV Speech Full Text as Libyan Regime Collapses / Politics / Middle East
By: Submissions
SultanAlQassemi writes: I saw that I had to speak to you. Many Libyans asked me to speak. I don't have a paper or a document to read from.I will not speak in classical Arabic, I will speak in Libyan, I don't have any papers, this is a talk from the heart & mind. We all know that the region is passing through an earthquake, a hurricane or change. If this change does not come from the govts it will come from the people, we have seen this in other Arab countries. Today I will tell you only truth only. We know that there are opposition figures living abroad who have support in Libya. There people try to use Facebook for a revolution to copy Egypt. These people want to bring Libya to what happened in Egypt & Tunisia.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Oil Revolution, Iran's Answer to the West / Politics / Middle East
By: Pravda
The riots spread to the oil-rich Arab countries. During the clashes with police in Bahrain on February14-15, at least two protesters were killed. What is the cause of such instability in Bahrain? It would seem that one of the richest "oil cats" of the Persian Gulf cannot be threatened in principle.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Did US-backed NGOs Help to Topple Mubarak / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
Mike Whitney----Do we know whether foreign agents or US-backed NGOs participated in the demonstrations in Tahrir Square? Could they have played a part in toppling Mubarak?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Google's Revolution Factory 2.0 / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Tony Cartalucci writes: In 2008, the Alliance of Youth Movements held its inaugural summit in New York City. Attending this summit was a combination of State Department staff, Council on Foreign Relations members, former National Security staff, Department of Homeland Security advisers, and a myriad of representatives from American corporations and mass media organizations including AT&T, Google, Facebook, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and MTV.
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Sunday, February 20, 2011
Revolution Handbook for Americans / Politics / US Politics
By: Joel_S_Hirschhorn
As recently presented, there is global respect for and use of the classic and brilliant work by Gene Sharp “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” It is credited for empowering many actions around the world to overthrow dictatorships, including recent actions in the Mideast . My thesis is that his ideas, strategies and tactics, a handbook for revolution, can and should be applied to the US where there is a form of corporate dictatorship operating.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Palestinians plan 'Day of Rage' to protest U.S. veto on UN settlement resolution / Politics / Middle East
By: Submissions
Haaretz Service writes: Palestinians are planning their own "Day of Rage" to protest the American veto on a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements, Ma'an News Agency reported a top Fatah official as saying on Saturday.
"They are liars who pretend to support democracy and peace. Far from it," Fatah official and former Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi, referring to the U.S., told the news agency.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Logic of Outsourcing / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Recently, I wrote an article on why every business that has an in-house staff of video production specialists should shut down the department. I argued that it would be far better to encourage the staffers to create their own video production company. Then the business can let the newly created company bid on projects.
There is no question that this would be better for the business. But would it be better for the now-unemployed staffers? If they are talented, yes. If they are not, yes.
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Saturday, February 19, 2011
U.S. National Debt, Pump It Up / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Down in the pleasure centre,
hell bent or heaven sent,
listen to the propaganda,
listen to the latest slander.
There's nothing underhand
that she wouldn't understand.
Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
Friday, February 18, 2011
Social Security is Not an “Entitlement” Program / Politics / US Politics
By: Chris_Kitze
Marti Oakley writes: A long coveted cut to Social Security and Medicare is going to happen. This will occur for reasons none of the politicians in the District of Criminals will ever speak about publicly. There is far more at stake here than what the District terms an “unfunded liability”. When you hear those in the District speak about this liability, you need to understand what they are really saying. This is an intra-governmental debt, meaning; a debt accrued within the government. It is a liability to the federal government because it is owed to “you” and they have no way of paying it back without taxing you more heavily. You are the “full faith and credit” of the United States corporation. That means government runs up the bills and we pay it.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Gerontocracy, Workers are the Economic Slaves of Pensioners / Politics / Demographics
By: MISES
Jan Iwanik writes: I suspect that funded retirement plans like American 401(k)s British private pensions, or Polish open pension plans (OFE) cannot survive in a centralized democracy. The only alternatives are unfunded schemes such as American social security, British state pensions, or the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS).
Friday, February 18, 2011
Bahrain Revolt Against Another US Ally / Politics / Middle East
By: Finian_Cunningham
“Have you ever seen an island with no beaches?” The question posed by the young Bahraini taxi man standing among thousands of chanting anti-government protesters seemed at first to be a bit off the wall. But his explanation soon got to the heart of the grievances that have brought tens of thousands of Bahrainis on to the streets over the past week – protests which have seen at least seven civilians killed amid scenes of excessive violence by state security forces. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher.