Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Securitization The Biggest Rip-off Ever, Financial Deregulation has Opened Up A Pandora's Box / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Mike_Whitney
Is it possible to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profits on securities that are backed by nothing more than cyber-entries into a loan book? It's not only possible; it's been done. And now the scoundrels who cashed in on the swindle have lined up outside the Federal Reserve building to trade their garbage paper for billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded loans.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Mealy Mouthed Caroline Flint Quits Browns Government, Statement / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The reason why voters view MP's as being mealy mouthed, full of self interest with little real interest in doing what is best for those that elected them was made clear by Caroline Flints behaviour (Minister for Europe) and statements over the past 24 hours where comments of support for Gordon Brown a little over 12 hours ago were replaced by a vicious attack on Gordon Browns Premiership after she failed to get her way in terms of promotion within the cabinet.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Making Sense of a U.S. Owned General Motors / Politics / US Auto's
By: Global_Research
Shamus Cooke writes: Now that the United States owns General Motors, many are asking, “What’s in it for taxpayers?” This is an extremely good question, considering that taxpayers may spend up to $100 billion [!] towards a company that’s currently worth around $450 million. (Wall Street Journal, 6/02/09)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Why GM Really went Bankrupt, When They Could Have Been the World's Leading Car Company! / Politics / US Auto's
By: Kevin_Geary
GM is bankrupt, and yet it could have now been the world's leading car company, way ahead of any competition. It had a world-beating, world-leading, unique, battery-operated car called the EV-1. It got 140 miles on a single charge! And yet it deliberately destroyed its own invention!
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Thursday, June 04, 2009
President Obama's Speech in Cairo, Egypt, Transcript and Video / Politics / Middle East
By: Submissions
Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning; and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. And together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I'm grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. And I'm also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: Assalaamu alaykum. (Applause.)
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Labour Ministers Stab Gordon Brown in the Back, MP Email / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest in a line of resigning Labour Government Ministers to stab Gordon Brown the British Prime Minster in the back was the local government Minister, Hazel Blears, who struck a day before the local elections with maximum damaging effect. In her resignation letter, Hazel Blears is clearly pushing for Gordon Brown himself to follow suit and resign:
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The End of the American Century / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Vaughn
Ever had roasted pig cooked slowly over an open pit?
Fun to watch that baby smoke and burn! Pictures of barbeque ribs, fresh pork sausage, and those luscious heavily loaded pork sandwiches. Of course there remains the tea, beans, and home made fresh cut Idaho fries. That’s a real depiction of the American lifestyle, huh? Freedom to stuff our stomachs and enjoy our time off as we please.
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Frankenstein Corporations Avoiding Liability / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Ralph Nader writes: Once upon a time early in the 19th century, corporations came into existence by state legislatures approving charters, which were granted for a limited period of time and for limited purposes. These corporations - producing textiles and other products in New England - raised capital in part because their investors had limited liability. That meant they could not lose any more than their investment if things went wrong.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The Socialist Bailout of Wall Street / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: LewRockwell
Jacob G. Hornberger writes: The massive federal bailout of U.S. financial firms reflects everything that’s wrong with the economic system of welfare and interventionism under which the United States has operated since at least the 1930s. There are critically important lessons in the bailout that the American people ignore at their peril. While most politicians and mainstream pundits are viewing the bailout as a necessary “reform,” it is imperative that we place this “reform” in a much wider and deeper context. In doing so, we need to return to first principles.
Monday, June 01, 2009
The Grand Theft Auto Bankruptcy of General Motors / Politics / US Auto's
By: Global_Research
Greg Palast writes: Screw the autoworkers.
They may be crying about General Motors' bankruptcy today. But dumping 40,000 of the last 60,000 union jobs into a mass grave won't spoil Jamie Dimon's day.
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Monday, June 01, 2009
Goodbye GM / Politics / US Auto's
By: Submissions
Michael Moore writes: I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.
Monday, June 01, 2009
True Story of the Bilderberg Group and What They May Be Planning Now / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Stephen_Lendman
For over 14 years, Daniel Estulin has investigated and researched the Bilderberg Group's far-reaching influence on business and finance, global politics, war and peace, and control of the world's resources and its money.
His book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," was published in 2005 and is now updated in a new 2009 edition. He states that in 1954, "the most powerful men in the world met for the first time" in Oosterbeek, Netherlands, "debated the future of the world," and decided to meet annually in secret. They called themselves the Bilderberg Group with a membership representing a who's who of world power elites, mostly from America, Canada, and Western Europe.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Panarchism, Liberty of the Governed from Government / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Michael S. Rozeff writes: Panarchism is a new political philosophy that builds upon and extends the core concept of consent of the governed, which goes back primarily to John Locke. Consent of the governed is a concept that permeated revolutionary America. It appears in Article 6 of the Virginia Bill of Rights. It appears in the Essex Result. Benjamin Franklin wrote "In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The Declaration of Independence asserts that "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Monday, June 01, 2009
Soaring Debt, Class of 2009: You’re Screwed / Politics / US Debt
By: LewRockwell
Bill Bonner writes: Last weekend, we journeyed to Boston to attend a college graduation. Thousands of callow scholars were on display. Each was handed his papers…and then marched out of the hockey stadium. To the tune of “Pomp & Circumstance,” wearing a long, red robe, he entered the outside world solemnly…like a patsy joining a poker game.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Did Bernanke and Paulson Commit Bank Fraud? / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Global_Research
Thomas R. Eddlem writes: New revelations from the New York State Attorney General’s office have all but proven that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson committed bank fraud crimes in the case of the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America merger that took place last year. New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo revealed that Paulson and Bernanke illegally suppressed adverse financial data on the merger and threatened to replace the Bank of America CEO and board of directors if the company backed out of the Merrill Lynch merger. “Secretary Paulson has informed us that he made the threat at the request of Chairman Bernanke,” Cuomo wrote in an April 23 letter to Congress.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
MP's Non-Existant Mortgage Fraud, Where are the Police? / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
A number of MP's have claimed thousands in tax payer monies for mortgages that do not exist. Whilst virtually all MP's have hidden behind the "within the rules" mantra as to why they defrauded the tax payers "LEGALLY", however claiming monies for non existent mortgages brings the matter into criminal law which supercedes all other law with the only exception being the Queen as the head of state.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Capitalism and the Internet, the Market as Router / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Thomas M. Schmidt wries: The Internet, that glorious interconnection of separate networks, grew out of the ARPAnet, a network designed to remain operable in the case of a nuclear war. Traditional networks maintained a fixed central hub through which traffic might be directed; loss of these central hubs would lead to the collapse of the network. In contrast, internet protocols were designed with the notion of dynamically-built data paths, with specialized machines called routers finding connections to get data from place A to place B. In brief, the Internet was designed to route around failure; if the direct route from New York to Boston were blocked, a router might send data through Chicago and Denver first, with decisions on the route taken being made in a largely decentralized fashion.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Can America be Fixed? / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
John Kozy writes: “Washington tends to enforce a foolish consistency. If you are someone of some prominence whose views are known publicly, then everything you have ever said in the past tends to be projected forward and everything you say today is projected backward. Any discrepancy potentially brings charges of flip-flopping or hypocrisy or selling-out or whatever. Certainly, these charges are valid in many cases, but the simple possibility that circumstances have changed or that experience or new evidence has caused one to change one’s mind seems never to be seriously entertained. The result is to force people to stick with positions they know are wrong because they less fear being foolishly consistent than being attacked for flip-flopping.” (Bruce Barlett),
Friday, May 29, 2009
Obama Should Reject Bailout of California to Prevent Bond Market Crash / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Peter_Schiff
During the height of New York City's financial crisis in the 1970's, President Gerald Ford had the good sense to turn down Mayor Abe Beame's request for a federal bailout. The refusal prompted the famous New York Post headline, "Ford to City: Drop Dead." More than 30 years later, as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a similar plea to Washington, I hope President Obama will show similar restraint. Unfortunately, given Obama's recent string of unwise economic decisions, it's hard to imagine that his judgment will suddenly improve.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Age of Financial Reform or Plunder without End? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
By: Global_Research
Danny Schechter writes: New York, New York: It is almost axiomatic to argue that renewal comes out of chaos. And reform and change are born in crisis.
The financial meltdown of 1907 led to the formation of the Federal Reserve Bank. The Crash of ’29 ushered in the New Deal, the FDIC, the SEC, and The Glass Steagall Act etc. Even the disaster at Enron permitted new statutes requiring more transparency like Sarbanes Oxley. And now this greatest of great recessions is leading to a new wave of financial regulation. The public is already said to believe recovery is just around the next corner.
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