Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Financial Warfare and the Failure of US Military Leadership / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Damon Vrabel writes: The "War on Terror" has become the most successful military diversion in history, having lasted twice as long as WWII so far. While the US and other countries are under severe attack by financial powers through the corporate system and the currency and bond markets, the US military is convinced that people living in remote deserts are the threat. So they’re busy killing some of the poorest people in the world while the country is being attacked by the richest. On the one hand, this is a more impressive Machiavellian chess move than the Calais diversion in WWII that opened up the Normandy attack that would seal Germany’s fate. On the other, it’s just embarrassing to see how easily millions of grown adults can be fooled in the face of the obvious.
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Monday, October 04, 2010
Why I Despise Krugman / Politics / Economic Theory
By: LewRockwell
Recently, I wrote a take-down of Paul Krugman. I pointed out how, in some of his recent posts, Krugman was distorting facts in order to score points for his policy prescriptions. I showed how he was pulling sleight-of-hand with the numbers, so as to play on readers’ misconceptions, and thereby make his rather foolish policy prescriptions sound reasonable.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
One Nation Marching on Washington / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
I have been marching on Washington—and covering marches for more years that I can remember. As a kid, I was part of the original March on Washington back in ’63. It was for jobs and freedom.
The jobs part was soon forgotten when the event was reduced to four words, “I Have A Dream” in the historical memory. Dr King’s hope for a non-racial America was not the only message, but it is all we remember as anthemic and iconic. Also forgotten, it was an expression of a grass roots movement from below struggling against violent and racist opposition. It was there to showcase that movement, not make a movie.
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Sunday, October 03, 2010
European Debt Crisis Assimilating Portugal into Spain? / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Pravda
Draconian measures were taken this week in Portugal by the "Socialist" (only in name) Government of José Sócrates, yet another right/centre right Government asking the Portuguese people to make sacrifices, a plea repeated time and again as this long-suffering, hard-working nation slips a few cogs further back into the quagmire of misery.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
The Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor in "Classless" America / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Jack A. Smith writes: The so-called growing rich-poor gap in "classless" America is a euphemism for the existence of an accelerated class struggle against American workers and the poor by a relatively small minority that possesses or has access to great wealth and power.
The Census Bureau reported Sept. 24 that the income differential between rich and poor Americans was greater in 2009 than any time since such records were kept.
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Saturday, October 02, 2010
U.S. Declares Trade War Against China / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Grey
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill giving the executive branch the power to impose punitive duties on exports to the US of any country whose currency is labeled “fundamentally undervalued.” The measure was pushed by the Democratic leadership and supported overwhelmingly by Democratic congressmen, with substantial Republican support.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
U.S. and China Steel Giants Continue To Battle / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
The US recently filed two new cases against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for allegedly violating global trade rules and discriminating against credit card companies and steel makers of the US. While one case challenges China’s imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on a specialty steel product from the US, the other is related to trade barriers in the electronic payment processing market. China refuses to allow the independent functioning of US based credit and debit card companies keen to enter China’s market, and all companies must function through a Chinese entity.
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Friday, October 01, 2010
The Big Secret about U.S. Healthcare / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Stathis
Apparently, the use of scare tactics works well for a population whose minds have been hijacked by the corporate-controlled media establishment. For instance, a few years ago, President Bush and his neo-con clan used the WMD scare tactic in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. More scare tactics were used to pass the unconstitutional Patriot Act. (1) (2)
Friday, October 01, 2010
Russia-Germany Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline Under Way / Politics / Natural Gas
By: Global_Intel_Report
SITUATION: Russia has succeeded in getting funding for the Nord Stream gas pipeline (formerly North European Gas Pipeline, NEGP), which will go under the Baltic Sea to Germany. It obtained environmental approvals from the littoral states concerned rather easily and earlier this year began to lay the pipes undersea.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, October 01, 2010
BMA, NHS GP Doctors Do Not Want Competition, Value for Money or Patient Choice / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The British Medical Association (BMA) representing NHS GP Doctors has belatedly gone on the offensive against the coalition government's plans for reforming the NHS by introducing a market for competing GP consortiums to manage most of the NHS £100 billion budget. NHS GP's do not want competition because it would mean a more commercial health service where patients are able to freely move to the better run GP surgeries which risks putting failing GP surgeries out of business and fellow GP's out of work.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Remedies for Our Ailing Healthcare Policies / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_Elias
What is the importance of $148 and $7,285?
Answer: Both represent the U.S. healthcare expenditures per capita: the former in 1960, the latter in 2007.
In 2007, the United States spent more per capita on healthcare than any nation in the world, excluding Luxembourg, Monaco, and Norway, which spent slightly more. Yet, the mortality parameters suggest otherwise: our worldwide ranking for life expectancy and infant mortality are 50 and 45, respectively.
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Friday, October 01, 2010
House China Tariff Bill Will Take America Down the Wrong Road / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
The U.S. House of Representatives this week overwhelmingly passed a bill that would enable the Obama administration to impose punitive tariffs on almost all Chinese imports into the United States - a controversial move that's intended to punish China for refusing to revalue its currency.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Obama's War Against Pakistanis / Politics / US Politics
By: Jack_D_Douglas
I watched an interview with Bob Woodward about his new book, Obama's War. It was mostly inside-dopsterish Woodward at his worst. But at the end a young anchor asked him what the U.S. attacks in Pakistan were going to produce in the near future. He smiled in his all-knowing and impish way, said he could not really say [of course], but "I think you should strap yourself in!" Translation: you ain't seen nothing yet, so hang on Sloopy and fasten your seatbelt for a wild ride ahead.
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Friday, October 01, 2010
Paul Krugman a Shill for the Corporate State / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: LewRockwell
Murray Sabrin writes: Paul Krugman wears many hats – Princeton University professor, New York Times columnist, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2008), prolific author of scholarly books and journal articles, and now president of the Eastern Economic Association. The EEA is a regional scholarly group which publishes a journal and holds an annual academic conference in New York City every other year. The EEA is housed in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College, where I have taught Corporate Finance and Financial Markets and Institutions for the past 25 years.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Floating Alternative to Nabucco Natural Gas Pipeline Materializes, Stabilizing European Energy Supplies / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: OilPrice_Com
The “floating alternative to the US-sponsored Nabucco” pipeline network to bring Central Asian gas supplies to Europe and the Mediterranean has begun to materialize, further transforming or limiting the prospects for the Nabucco project which has been emerging as an expensive option led by the US strategy to bring Turkey into the European mainstream.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Another Domino Falls: UK’s Leading Scientific Body Retreats on Climate Change / Politics / Climate Change
By: Submissions
Patrick Henningsen writes: The UK’s leading scientific body has decided to rewrite its own definitive guide on climate change, now admitting that it is “not known” how much warmer the planet will become.
The Royal Society has released a new guide which outlines its retreat from its former vanguard stance on the threat of climate change and man-made global warming. The decision to update their scientific guide came after 43 of its members complained that the previous versions failed to take into account the opinion of climate change sceptics.
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Thursday, September 30, 2010
When The Taliban Calls, Should We Answer? / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
There is a saying I may be twisting in the retelling to the effect of what you do unto others will be done onto you. In Karmic terms, it boils down to what goes around cones around. These thoughts come to mind as I wrestle with a dilemma that seems to be worming its way out of the soil of a country at war overseas and with itself.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
America’s China Currency Bashing, A Compendium of Junk Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Hudson
It is traditional for politicians to blame foreigners for problems that their own policies have caused. And in today’s zero-sum economies, it seems that if America is losing leadership position, other nations must be the beneficiaries. Inasmuch as China has avoided the financial overhead that has painted other economies into a corner, nationalistic U.S. politicians and journalists are blaming it for America’s declining economic power. I realize that balance-of-payments accounting and international trade theory are arcane topics, but I promise that by the time you finish this article, you will understand more than 99% of U.S. economists and diplomats striking this self-righteous pose.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
China Cuts off Supply of Rare Earth Metals Hits Pentagon Laser Guided Bombs / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Mike_Shedlock
Last Sunday in Prepare for Currency/Trade Wars; How Might China Respond to US Tariffs? I mentioned the possibility China might shut off exports of rare earth metals used in making glass for solar panels, motors that help propel hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, and laser guided bombs.
Indeed, it was the shutoff of rare earth metals to Japan that caused Japan to "cry uncle" and release a Chinese boat captain detained by the Japanese in disputed waters.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
U.S. Social Inequality Income Gap Hits Record High / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
David Walsh writes: Figures released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau reveal sharply worsening conditions for tens of millions of Americans under the impact of the economic crisis and the accumulation of vast wealth by a relative handful.
Some of the figures, for particular states and regions, are simply staggering. Michigan residents experienced a 6.2 percent decrease in median income in the course of one year, from 2008 to 2009, while Illinois has suffered a 24 percent increase in poverty in the past decade. More than 36 percent of Detroit’s population officially lives in poverty.
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