Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, December 13, 2010
U.S. Politicians Engaged in Grand Compromise or Great Conspiracy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Martin_D_Weiss
When Americans went to the polls last month, many thought they were voting for a return of fiscal sanity in Washington. And with fiscal sanity, we’d have far better assurance of bond-market stability.
Instead, three houses of ill repute — two on Capitol Hill and one on Pennsylvania Avenue — are joining to deliver one of the most wanton, deficit-busting, bond-wrecking bills of all time.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
The Fed Vastly Expands Moral Hazard, Wrecking the American Economy / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
This definition of moral hazard from Wikipedia is quite satisfactory: "Moral Hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk behaves differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.
"Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions. For example, a person with insurance against automobile theft may be less cautious about locking his or her car, because the negative consequences of vehicle theft are (partially) the responsibility of the insurance company."
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Monday, December 13, 2010
The Political Economy and Silver Price Manipulation / Politics / US Politics
By: Howard_Katz
The science which today is called economics was originally called political economy, meaning that it was a combination of politics and economics. This has always seemed a little strange to me. Economics is the science of creating wealth. We cannot say that politics is the science of destroying wealth (although sometimes it seems that way). However, we can say that improper politics is the science of destroying or stealing wealth and proper politics is the science of safeguarding the right of property.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Western Civilization and Classical Economics: The Immorality of Austerity / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: John_Kozy
When a civilization abandons its morality, no rationalization can be devised to justify its continued existence. It is likely that many reasons can be given for this abandonment in the Western world, although I am convinced that one predominates—the expansion of law. Law once governed various kinds of behavior. It has now encroached upon various kinds of speech and is even being applied to the realm of belief. When someone is accused of having done something wrong, the reply offered usually is something like, "What was done complied with all legal requirements." But "right" has never been defined as "conforms to law," because thoughtful people have long noticed that the law itself can be a great crime, and the worst criminals in a culture can be its lawgivers, as the people of Ireland, Portugal, France, Spain, Greece, and Great Britain are now finding out. Americans will soon find it out too.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Obamanation, Time that Americans Took Back Their Nation from the Criminals / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Stathis
Back in early 2007, very few pundits gave Obama a chance in the 2008 Democratic presidential race. At the time, Hilary Clinton and others were front runners. But things would soon change.
Prior to the 2004 presidential campaign, George Soros & Co. were working to position Obama as a serious contender in 2008. They put together a propaganda book based on some episodes of Obama’s life, filled with the inspiration and glory often seen in fiction novels.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Obama Must Rally Democrats to Seal Tax Cuts Deal With Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes: President Barack Obama on Monday struck a deal with Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and federal unemployment insurance as well as a host of other tax breaks, but now he faces an uphill battle to convince reluctant members of his own party to go along.
Ignoring Democratic opposition, President Obama agreed to the compromise package, which cuts taxes on businesses in an effort to help the economy recover.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Wikileaks: A Big U.S. Government Con Job / Politics / US Politics
By: F_William_Engdahl
The story on the surface makes for a script for a new Oliver Stone Hollywood thriller. A 39-year old Australian hacker holds the President of the United States and his State Department hostage to a gigantic cyber “leak,” unless the President leaves Julian Assange and his Wikileaks free to release hundreds of thousands of pages of sensitive US Government memos. A closer look at the details, so far carefully leaked by the most ultra-establishment of international media such as the New York Times, reveals a clear agenda. That agenda coincidentally serves to buttress the agenda of US geopolitics around the world from Iran to Russia to North Korea. The Wikileaks is a big and dangerous US intelligence Con Job which will likely be used to police the Internet.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Ben Bernanke Digits Juggler about to Drop / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
At a circus, there is always a juggler. If he is dressed as a clown, he is not a great juggler. If he is in a sequin-covered tight suit, he is the real thing. He is there to impress us.
The juggler I most remember was a young man who was juggling a bunch of hoops. He was really good . . . until he dropped all of them in his grand finale. They came down in disarray. He picked them up and walked out of the ring. What else could he do? The finale was not so grand.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Washington Orders Another Free Lunch by Extending Bush Tax Cuts / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
This week Washington displayed the kind of "bipartisanship" that will bankrupt our country and wreck our currency. Coming at a time when both parties say they want to address our long-term fiscal imbalances, the compromise extension of the Bush era tax cuts should be a wake-up call to anyone who somehow expected the American leadership to ever have an "adult conversation" about the country's long term economic health.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
C-Span Interviews Janet Tavakoli about her presentation to the FHFA / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Janet Tavakoli describes the government’s role in regulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and how that role may change in the face of proposed legislation. Washington, DC
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wikileaks: Corrupted Oracle or a Counter Intelligence Program Asset of the Establishment? / Politics / US Politics
By: Patrick_Henningsen
You can judge a tree by its fruit. In the case of Wikileaks, its low-hanging fruit.
There is only one thing more dangerous than a fundamentalist Neo-conservative, and that’s a naive liberal. In the wake of the demolition of the modern, somewhat mythological illusory icon Barrack Obama, people who identify themselves as liberal watchdogs have been left wanting for a new hero.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
The Mainstream Financial Media Wants to Brainwash and Bankrupt You / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: DailyWealth
Dan Ferris writes: The financial news media is conspiring to blow up your brokerage account and flush your retirement savings down Ben Bernanke's new commode.
I'm not saying the editors of top financial newspapers and magazines sat down together and hashed out a plan to brainwash you and bankrupt you. No, I really don't think they did that. It only looks like they did it...
Thursday, December 09, 2010
WikiLeaks Exposes NATO Plans for Full Scale War Against Russia / Politics / New Cold War
By: Global_Research
Bill Van Auken writes: US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks have unveiled secret NATO plans for a US-led war against Russia over the Baltic states.
The cables, first reported by the Guardian newspaper Tuesday and posted on the WikiLeaks site, underscore the growing geo-strategic tensions between the US and Russia even as the Obama administration has emphasized a “reset” in relations that was supposed to overcome the conflicts left over from the Bush administration.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Korean Conflict Spiralling Out of Control into Risk of New Korean War / Politics / North Korea
By: Global_Research
Gregory Elich writes: An artillery duel between North and South Korean forces on November 23 has set in motion a series of events which threaten to spiral out of control.
On November 22, South Korea began its annual military exercise, involving including 70,000 troops, dozens of South Korean and U.S. warships and some 500 aircraft. The following day, South Korean artillery stationed on Yeonpyeong Island began a live ammunition drill, firing shells into the surrounding sea.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Rising Inequality in America: Go, Wall Street, Go! Never mind the rise in unemployment and foreclosures... / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
Go, Wall Street, Go!
Never mind the rise in unemployment and foreclosures. Never mind the folks waiting to know if they will get the benefits they need before they are cut off. Never mind the growing gap between rich and poor, and the continuing spread of poverty.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
China and its Double-edged Cyber War and Espionage Sword / Politics / China
By: STRATFOR
A recent batch of WikiLeaks cables led Der Spiegel and The New York Times to print front-page stories on China’s cyber-espionage capabilities Dec. 4 and 5. While China’s offensive capabilities on the Internet are widely recognized, the country is discovering the other edge of the sword.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Founder Jailed in London on Bogus Charges / Politics / UK Politics
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police Tuesday morning, denied bail by a London magistrate and then jailed. Assange faces a hearing December 14 on an extradition request by Swedish authorities, who issued a warrant last week on fabricated charges of sexual misconduct.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
The Korean War 2 / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
The Obama administration is moving closer to a war with North Korea. Propaganda fliers have been spread across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), some of them reaching as far north as Pyongyang. According to the Korea JoongAng Daily an official from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said "the South is prepared to broadcast propaganda along the DMZ and that the ministry is “weighing the timing.”...Loudspeakers are already installed in 11 areas along the DMZ for further propaganda attacks." ("Propaganda war escalates; use of loudspeakers mulled", Korea JoongAng Daily)
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Bernanke Caught Out in Massive Lie on Money Printing / Politics / Central Banks
By: Mike_Shedlock
Leave it to the Daily Show to express in a humorous way the blatant lies of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about "Printing Money". The amazing thing is Bernanke exposed himself, in his own words.
The clip notes an interesting discrepancy with what Ben Bernanke told 60 Minutes in his first infomercial on 60 Minutes in March of 2009 and what he said Sunday December 5, 2010.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Free Trade Doesn't Work: Interview With Economist Ian Fletcher / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
Michael Hughes Interviews Ian Fletcher - Free trade doesn't work, the global economy is a myth and the U.S. has been duped during trade negotiations for the past 40 years according to Ian Fletcher, an adjunct fellow with the U.S. Business and Industry Council and author of Free Trade Doesn't Work: What Should Replace It and Why, who relayed these concepts to me in an exclusive interview.