Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Volatility on Steroids / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s been a while since we last heard from longtime friend of the Automatic Earth Dr. Nelson Lebo III, New Englander living in Wanganui, New Zealand. Nelson has written a fine collection of articles on this site through the years.
Of course I thought, when I first saw this piece in my mailbox, that he would have written about New Zealand’s new prime minister, Labour’s 37-year-young Jacinda Ardern, whose first action in her new job will be to prevent foreigners from buying existing homes in her country. It’ll be interesting to see how she intends to do so while remaining inside the Trans Pacific Partnership -TPP- agreement.
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Friday, October 27, 2017
Catalonia Declares Independence, Commits Suicide, New Spanish Civil War Imminent / Politics / Spain
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Calm Before the Storm -The Spain / Catalonia crisis has continued to worsen with each passing day with growing bitterness as each side has sought to up the anti with the Catalans threatening to declare Independence whilst the Madrid regime threatening direct rule and imprisonment of subversives has today come to a head following the Catalan Parliament voting to unilaterally declare Independence from Spain. This prompted the Spanish parliament in Madrid to vote for direct rule over Catalonia, taking control over the regions police, financial institutions and broadcast media that sows the seeds for new Spanish civil war.
Friday, October 27, 2017
China’s 2017-22 Leaders, Grand Strategy and Policies / Politics / China
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the 19th Congress, Xi’s China is preparing for a new roadmap domestically and internationally. This is Dr. Dan Steinbock’s in-depth analysis of China’s critical changes that will shape the world economy until 2022 - and beyond.As the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) opened in Beijing, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a report about “building a moderately prosperous society” for a new era. In his speech, Xi offered a blueprint for China’s development for the next 5-15 years.
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Thursday, October 26, 2017
Trump’s Indecision about North Korea May Cost Him Allies in Asia Pacific / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND JACOB L. SHAPIRO : China’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party is getting a lot of attention right now. In the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping heralded the beginning of a new era in China. Surprisingly, he was also very honest about the inadequacy of his first term.
Although the congress will continue into this week, most of the major events have already taken place.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
CIA Funding of Tech Companies / Politics / AI
By: BATR
Government funding of companies provides a steady stream of support for tech developing innovations. One vehicle for facilitating this relationship can be found in an entity called, In-Q-Tel. IQT describes their function as: “In-Q-Tel is the independent, not-for-profit organization created to bridge the gap between the technology needs of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and emerging commercial innovation. We invest in venture-backed startups developing technologies that provide ready-soon innovation (within 36 months) vital to the IC mission. These technology startups are traditionally outside the reach of the IC; in fact, more than 70 percent of our portfolio companies have never before done business with the government.”
Sunday, October 22, 2017
The Xi Decade: New Thought for the New Era / Politics / China
By: Dan_Steinbock
In the Xi decade, Chinese transition to the post-industrial society will accelerate, despite the new normal in the world economy.As the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China opened in Beijing, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a report about “building a moderately prosperous society” for a new era.
In his speech, Xi delivered a blueprint for China’s development for the next 5-15 years. In the process, he defined new thought for a new era.
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Wednesday, October 18, 2017
ISIS Is Now Aiming at Africa / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
By: John_Mauldin
As Islamist militant groups attempt to expand their operations into new areas, some have looked to the Sahel region in western and central Africa and seen opportunity.
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Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Surge in UK Race Hate Crimes, Micro-Racism, Sheffield, Millhouses Park, Black on Asian / Politics / Social Issues
By: N_Walayat
The latest police statistics reveal a huge surge in hate crime in the year to March 2017, up 29% to 80,393 which is the largest annual rise since records began that comes in the wake of last years Brexit vote and a string of terror attacks with most of the hate crimes being racially motivated. However the statistics represent the extreme end of the spectrum of reported race crimes for the vast majority lower level hate crimes tend to go unreported. Also the statistics do not cover the further spike in hate crime in the wake of the most recent terror attacks of the past 6 months.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Globalization is Poverty / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Central bankers have never done more damage to the world economy than in the past 10 years. One may argue this is because they never had the power to do that. If their predecessors had had that power, who knows? Still, the global economy has never been more interconnected than it is today, due mostly to the advance of globalism, neoliberalism and perhaps even more, technology.
Ironically, all three of these factors are unremittingly praised as forces for good. But living standards for many millions of people in the west have come down and/or are laden with uncertainty, while millions of Chinese now have higher living standards. People in the west have been told to see this as a positive development; after all, it allows them to buy products cheaper than if they had been made in domestic industries.
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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
China Has a Bargaining Chip Against the US in the North Korea Crisis / Politics / China US Conflict
By: John_Mauldin
By Jacob L. Shapiro : Of all the parties involved in the Korean missile crisis, the most difficult to read is China.
China’s talks about the need for a peaceful resolution do little to reveal what China’s real interests and objectives are. And what they are is multiple and conflicting.
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Friday, October 13, 2017
The Struggle for Bolivia Is About to Begin / Politics / Emerging Markets
By: Dan_Steinbock
While middle class Bolivians are demonstrating against the incumbent president’s bid to extend term limits, the country is thriving after a decade of progress under Evo Morales. Recently, thousands of Bolivians took part in protests in San Francisco square in La Paz demonstrating against President Evo Morales’ bid to extend term limits.
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Thursday, October 12, 2017
Your Pension Is a Lie: There’s $210 Trillion of Liabilities Our Government Can’t Fulfill / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: John_Mauldin
In the US, we have two national programs to care for the elderly. Social Security provides a small pension, and Medicare covers medical expenses. All workers pay taxes that supposedly fund the benefits we may someday receive.
The problem is that's not actually true. Neither of these programs is comprehensive.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Turning Point Nations On The Stage / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
Many are the turning points with individual nations, once firmly in the Western alliance camp, but no longer. They are flipping eastward or in the case of China cutting the major cords. The Shanghai developments are by far the most important in the financial setting. The Petro-Dollar is seeing its last months after a 43-year reign as defacto standard. Its retirement will begin in the East, then spread to the decaying loyal Western nations. The entire geopolitical chessboard is becoming more aligned with the Eurasian Trade Zone, one nation after another. Its cornerstones are Russia, China, and increasingly Iran. It has gathered some Eastern European countries like Turkey, and will gather more. It has pursued the Middle East oil monarchies, and will succeed in lassoing them into the zone corral. Whether they deploy financial connections, or trade ties, or security links, these nations no longer see the United States and British (who walk the American dog with a monetary leash) as the leading global players any longer. The leaders are China with its financial and industrial might and Russia with its energy and commodity strength.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Catalonia Has Already Lost This Battle / Politics / Spain
By: John_Mauldin
By Jacob L. Shapiro : Catalonia held its independence referendum on October 1.
Initial results show that of the 42 percent of Catalan voters who turned out, about 90 percent voted for independence. It’s an impressive figure, but not exactly an overwhelming mandate for Catalonian independence.
No doubt a significant number of Catalans want independence, but we already knew that.
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Monday, October 09, 2017
EU Officials Out Of Step With Reality, Europeans Don’t See What’s Coming at Them / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Imagine the following scenario.
Texas votes to secede from the United States, sparking bitter tension between Austin and Washington. A neo-Nazi party wins seats in the California legislature.
Cook County, home to Chicago, threatens to break away from Illinois to form its own state. Worried about losing such an economically vibrant region, government officials try to prevent the election from taking place.
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Monday, October 09, 2017
Donald Trump: Warmonger-in-Chief! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
If a world conflagration, God forbid, should break out during the Trump Administration, its genesis will not be too hard to discover: the thin-skinned, immature, shallow, doofus which currently resides in the Oval Office!
This past week, the Donald has continued his bellicose talk with both veiled and explicit threats against purported American adversaries throughout the world. In a cryptic exchange with reporters during a dinner with military leaders, he quipped:
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Monday, October 09, 2017
How To Fight Corruption in the Philippines / Politics / Asian Economies
By: Dan_Steinbock
Despite opposition, President Duterte's Anti-Corruption Commission is vital in light of Philippine history and international experience. To be effective, the anti-corruption agency must be independent.
On October 4, President Duterte signed Executive Order 4 creating the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC). The Commission is mandated “to directly assist the President in investigating and/or hearing administrative cases primarily involving graft and or corruption against all presidential appointees.””
Monday, October 09, 2017
DiEM25: Europe Without Nations or Religion / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
A friend sent me a post from the DiEM25 website last week, entitled Critique of DiEM25 policy on immigrants and refugees. DiEM25 is a pan-European political movement of which former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is a co-founder.
I started writing some lines as a response to my friend. Then it became a bit more. Wouldn’t you know… And then it was a whole article. So here’s my comments to it first, and then the original by someone calling themselves ‘dross22′. Now, in case I haven’t made this sufficiently abundantly clear yet, in my view Yanis’ knowledge and intellect is probably far superior to mine, and I’m a fan. But…
I don’t mean to imply that the views in the comment posted at DiEM25 are those of Yanis, but I do think it’s good to point out that these views exist within the movement. Moreover, as I wrote a few days ago, Yanis himself also thinks the EU should become ‘a federal state’. And I don’t agree with that. In fact, I think that’s a sure-fire way to absolute mayhem. Catalonia is only the latest example of why that is. Greece is an obvious other.
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Thursday, October 05, 2017
How to Fund a Universal Basic Income Without Increasing Taxes or Inflation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Ellen_Brown
Studies have shown that it would actually be cheaper to distribute funds to the entire population than to run the welfare services governments engage in now.
The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation? In a panel I was on at the NexusEarth cryptocurrency conference in Aspen September 21-23rd, most participants said no. This is my rebuttal.
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Thursday, October 05, 2017
The Pension Storm Is Coming To Europe—It May Be The End Of Europe As We Know It / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Mauldin
I’ve written a lot about US public pension funds lately. Many of them are underfunded and will never be able to pay workers the promised benefits—at least without dumping a huge and unwelcome bill on taxpayers.
And since taxpayers are generally voters, it’s not at all clear they will pay that bill.
Readers outside the US might have felt safe reading those stories. There go those Americans again… However, if you live outside the US, your country may be more like ours than you think.
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