Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, April 07, 2018
Why is US Healthcare So Costly? / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Harry_Dent
One of the Baby Boomers biggest concerns about retirement is the cost of healthcare.It’s a big problem.
I have a concierge doctor, who I pay a fixed annual fee. This gets me free visits and discounts on blood tests and other things I need. On top of that, I have a high–deductible insurance policy that only covers unexpected costs over $6,000, like if I have a heart attack or something.
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Thursday, April 05, 2018
Trump Anti-Gun, Pro War, Big Government, Attacks Private Enterprise / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Donald Trump has declared war on the free market, taking to Twitter again to bash Amazon for doing what he infamously and righteously did for decades: avoid paying extortion.
It seems Darth Hater is hellbent on forcing the wildly-successful e-retailer to fork up their profits because they used the notoriously inefficient and bankrupt Post Office to deliver goods to their millions of customers.
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Wednesday, April 04, 2018
Trade War - Trump Makes Emperor Xi Happy / Politics / Protectionism
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Dr. D: Since tariffs are in the news again, let’s run down the topic , first in micro, then in macro.
Read full article... Read full article...“Trump said this week he’ll slap 25% tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion in Chinese exports to the U.S., including aerospace, information and communication technology, and machinery. The move is aimed at countering Chinese cyber and intellectual property theft of U.S. technology . It also tries to push back against China’s demands for technology transfers from U.S. companies in return for access to China’s market.
The Chinese government, in turn, said it would hit U.S. shipments to China with $3 billion in tariffs, affecting goods such as pork, aluminum pipes, steel and wine.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Location, Location and Nerve Agents - The Skripals Poisening Saga / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
I am gullible. Very. I betcha I am more gullible than you. And that tells you something, because you know how gullible you are. Or so you think. Still, as bad as I got it, something physically snapped in the back of my head this morning, I could hear it snap, when I saw this Guardian headline:
Skripals Poisoned From Front Door Of Salisbury Home, Police Say
Read full article... Read full article...Detectives investigating the attempted murders of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal have said they believe the pair were poisoned with a nerve agent at the front door of his Salisbury home. Specialists investigating the poisoning of the the Skripals have found the highest concentration of the nerve agent on the front door at the address, police said. Counter-terrorism detectives will continue to focus their inquiries on the home address for the coming weeks, and possibly months…
Monday, March 26, 2018
The Future Is Uncertain And The End Is Always Near / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Spending a week driving around a western state 1,700 miles from my stomping grounds in Pennsylvania provides a different perspective on the level of economic, social and political degradation impacting the country. With a daily commute along the crumbling, crummy, gridlocked deathtrap roadways into West Philadelphia, the squalor and decomposition of our civilization is self-evident.
I live in a corrupt state with the highest gasoline taxes, highest tolls, massively underfunded government pension liability, failing government run public schools, suburban sprawl dotted with ghost malls, vacant industrial parks, and urban ghetto shitholes plagued by drugs, murder, welfare mentality, excessive taxes, and left wing politicians.
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Sunday, March 25, 2018
China Invades Saudi Oil Realm: PetroDollar Kill / Politics / Saudi Arabia
By: Jim_Willie_CB
China is working a strategy with the Saudis. Since the last months of 2017, the Jackass has been firm that the ARAMCO deal for IPO stock introduction might never occur. And if it did, then Hong Kong might be the only location for the IPO launch. It seems that disclosure and transparency is non-existent to this Arab kingdom. Now the stock listing might be in Riyadh and nowhere else. Imagine the risk to brokerage houses if the truth comes out, that the Saudi oil reserves are only 20% to 40% of the disclosed amount, a grand lie and deep fraud. Such will not stop China from investing privately in ARAMCO, since it would serve two purposes. It would enable huge diverse participation in the Saudi Economy, which contains a second treasure trove of minerals. It would enable the Chinese to purchase Saudi oil in RMB terms for payment. In the last month, the Russians confirmed an equally sized investment stake in ARAMCO. If the Chinese sit on the ARAMCO board of directors, they will surely convince the Saudis to alter the payment method in approval. It could be a primary part of the deal.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
TRADE WAR / Politics / Protectionism
By: Gary_Tanashian
It has in the past been “the financial crisis”, “the Euro crisis”, “Greek debt”, “Italian banks”, “the fiscal cliff”, “Brexit” and so on. Every one of those events an extension of Keynesianism and its debt-leveraged monetary magic tricks. But now the buzz phrase is “trade war”, a different kind of animal.
The brewing trade war with China is different. With every damn one of the events noted above we here in the anti-hype environs of nftrh.com (and before it, biiwii.com) have tried to maintain perspective about why it was occurring (Thing 1, which we had anticipated in essence if not in the exact way it played out) or why they would not prove long-term bearish or bring on the end of the world (Things 2-6).
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Friday, March 23, 2018
US Trade Tariffs - Trading Barbs Down To The Wire / Politics / Protectionism
By: Brady_Willett
The opening salvos have been fired and the body count could soon start piling up. No, I am not talking about the steel and aluminum tariffs announced by Trump a couple of weeks ago (which seemed to be more of a ploy to try and encourage favorable NAFTA/trade negotiations rather than a real act of ‘war’). Rather, the sides doing battle now are the world’s two biggest economic guns – the U.S. and China!
Trump slaps China with about $60 billion in tariffs CNBC Memorandum
China responds to Trump tariffs with proposed list of 128 US products to target CNBC
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Trump Builds Economy and War Machine / Politics / US Military
By: Richard_Mills
Si vis pacem, para bellum – From the Latin, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
On March 1 Donald Trump announced that his Administration would implement a 25% tariff on all steel imports and a 10% duty on aluminum. President Trump initially said the tariffs would apply to all steel and aluminum exporters but a week later, facing pressure from Republican free-traders, temporarily excluded Mexico and Canada while NAFTA talks continue.
The tariffs were needed for national security reasons, argued Trump, based upon an investigation by the US Commerce Department which found in January that cheap foreign steel was indeed a threat to America:
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Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Time To Eliminate Your Wall Street Tax? / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Rudy_Avizius
As we get older, and hopefully wiser, we generally start to become more discerning on how we view the world and the problems we face. Many of us who seek to make the world a better place try to look at the problems, analyze them, and do what we can to correct them. However, because there are so many different problems facing us, this approach often overwhelms us and can instill a sense of hopelessness in our ability to create positive change.
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Trade Tariff Schizophrenia / Politics / Protectionism
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Dr. D: The schizophrenia surrounding the tariff plan is really startling. But then I could just say, “the level of insanity everywhere is startling.”
Self-avowed schmartz-guys are all “doesn’t the U.S. know their empire is failing and everybody is cutting them off? What are they thinking starting trade wars with allies and raising prices???” Stop. So your argument is the U.S. is losing its influence, other nations are about to cut it off and end the trade deficit, and thereby basically halt imports? While the U.S. has no internal manufacturing? And your argument here is that, not if but when the world cuts us off we a) would like to have some steel and aluminum to build factories, washing machines and tanks or b) do NOT want to have access to the basic raw materials of society? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
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Saturday, March 17, 2018
The War on the Post Office / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
The U.S. banking establishment has been at war with the post office since at least 1910, when the Postal Savings Bank Act established a public savings alternative to a private banking system that had crashed the economy in the Bank Panic of 1907. The American Bankers Association was quick to respond, forming a Special Committee on Postal Savings Legislation to block any extension of the new service. According to a September 2017 article in The Journal of Social History titled “ ‘Banks of the People’: The Life and Death of the U.S. Postal Savings System,” the banking fraternity would maintain its enmity toward the government savings bank for the next 50 years.
Friday, March 16, 2018
Nationalism, Not the Russians, got Trump Elected / Politics / US Politics
By: Richard_Mills
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
Nationalism. Populism. Nativism. All of these words have been used to describe the reason for Donald Trump's unlikely rise to power, and while each is defined a bit differently, they all share the same over-arching principle: that Trump tapped into an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with status quo politics, of excessive liberalism, of pandering to minorities, of Washington insiders doing the bidding of high-paid lobbyists, and most importantly, a sense that Americans were losing their country to elites who no longer represented the majority.
In early February, 13 Russians and three Russian companies were charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election, adding fodder to the theory, often espoused by the left, that Russian intelligence agencies conspired to change the outcome of the election because they favored Trump over Hillary Clinton. The indictment said that Russians created bogus Internet postings, posed as American political activists, and bought advertisements, all with the intent to “sow discord in the US political system.”
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Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Trade Tariffs Defeat Globalists and Return Prosperity / Politics / Protectionism
By: BATR
The corporate media lapdogs are economic illiterates. Their continuous preaching on imaginary virtues of 'FREE TRADE', which is a non sequitur used to rationalize corporatist globalism, has destroyed America's indigenous prosperity. These fraudulent pundits or fake news presenters are presstitutes for the transnational cartels that relish the de-industrialization of domestic enterprises. Collecting a pay check does not qualify as coherent analysis, much less achieving the real world experience of actually owning and running a business. Academics who compile graphs and statistics would find making a payroll for any venture where their own money is at stake, is lacking compared to a lowly business owner who pays themselves last. The correct history of tariffs are ignored and distorted to keep people economically dumb.
Monday, March 12, 2018
China Police Crackdown Following Xi Jinping Vote for Dictator Emperor for Life / Politics / China
By: Submissions
Rongxian Mu writes: China is a one person one vote nation, and that one vote is by Xi Jinping as no one else's vote matters. And so Xi Jinping today voted for himself to become the new Dictator / Emperor for life of the Jinping Republic of China. Meanwhile a heavy police crackdown is underway across major cities of China such as Zunyi as the police crack down hard on the out breaks of unrest in the run up today's vote for himself by Xi Jinping. The people of China are not going to stand for this and thus a growing resistance movement against the rule of the communist dictatorship is taking place and spreading right across China, none of which is being reported on by the official Chinese state controlled media.
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Friday, March 09, 2018
Best 7 Worst U.S. Population Change / Politics / Demographics
By: Harry_Dent
The Dems shut down government because of the ongoing immigration impasse.Only for a couple of days, sure.
But it’s THAT big of an issue across the political spectrum right now.
Trump wants a wall.
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Friday, March 09, 2018
The Middle Class Might Nearly Disappear in the Next Decade / Politics / Demographics
By: John_Mauldin
Patrick Watson: At the Strategic Investment Conference 2018, Karen Harris from Bain & Company gave a thought-provoking keynote titled, “Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation, and Inequality.”
She sees a big economic shift that began in the 1980s. Driven by demographics and automation, the world is gradually moving from a supply-constrained to a demand-constrained economy.
Harris said the combination of a demographically shrinking workforce and increasingly cost-effective automation will aggravate inequality, curb demand, and put a cap on economic growth.
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Wednesday, March 07, 2018
Trump Plays with Trade Fire / Politics / Protectionism
By: Peter_Schiff
With his announcement last week of broad tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, President Trump launched what could be the first salvo of an all-out global trade war. Seemingly itching for a fight, he gleefully tweeted that "Trade wars are good, and easy to win." It seems like Trump thinks the conflict will play out much like Ronald Reagan's 1983 week-long invasion of Grenada rather than the more telling quagmires that unfolded in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. He's wrong.
Apart from overestimating America's bargaining position, Trump and his supporters grossly misunderstand the nature of international trade and how Americans have benefited from a system that has allowed us to continually consume foreign goods on credit. While this "benefit" has also placed a cost on domestic industries, I don't believe that Trump has any idea how a trade war can reduce current American living standards.
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Tuesday, March 06, 2018
Jeff Sessions the Mr. Magoo Buffoon / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Pick your poison for the Trump administration's biggest failure. Russian demonization by the State Department, movement of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem or adopting the threat of an aggressive use of nuclear weapons are all high on the list. All of these topics deal with foreign policy. However, the country ignores or dismisses such concerns because the bombs are not yet hitting our shores.
What does impact every inhabitant is that the rule of law has become an utter joke, especially under the regimes of the last three Attorney Generals. Sadly President Trump got snookered by former Senator Jeff Sessions when he was picked to lead the Department of Justice, better described as UNJUSTICE by anyone who has half a brain left to admit the true condition of the top cops, head attorneys or government pseudo magistrates.
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Monday, March 05, 2018
Trump to Declare War on Fed Central Bank / Politics / Central Banks
By: Michael_Pento
We are only a little over one year into the Donald’s Presidency and what we know most for sure is that our new President loves debt. Not only did debt and deficits get the cold shoulder in the recent State of the Union, Trump played “Let’s Make a Deal” with the Lords of the Swamp Mitch and Chuck to increase government spending by 13% over current levels. We also know that he prefers a weaker dollar, which he hopes will engender balanced trade—along with trade tariffs it now seems. But most of all, he loves as a rising stock market that he views as a report card for the administration and his success.