Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, April 13, 2009
All the Banks Pass their Stress Tests, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
I can just hear Gomer Pyle crying out “surprise surprise surprise”. All the banks passed their stress test. What remains an open question is just how stressful was the test – a stroll about the park (benign economic growth with very little defaults) or something to get the heart racing. Best guess, based upon the results – a lap around the kitchen table. Another big surprise was Wells Fargo’s earnings report – well above expectations, however little background as to quality of loans/balance sheet and how much bad debt is still hanging around.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Nationwide Tax Payers Revolt is Coming / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Shortly after I posted a Nationwide Tax Revolt Is Coming, Jack Dean at Pension Tsunami replied "My friends at the Orange County Register agree with you about a revolt brewing."
Monday, April 13, 2009
Time To Breakup Goldman Sachs / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
It's time to breakup Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and for that matter any bank or holding company deemed too big to fail. It's not just the "too big to fail" hazard that is troubling, it's also the power these corporations have and the potential to abuse that power that is also troubling.Please consider the article Incredibly Shrinking Market Liquidity as posted on the Zero Hedge blog.
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Monday, April 13, 2009
Can Bernanke's Loose Monetary Policy Save the US Economy? / Politics / Quantitative Easing
As expected a great deal of attention is still being paid to the financial sector and its "toxic assets". And then we have the Dow that now seems -- at least to a great many market players -- to be signalling a recovery despite the fact that unemployment is still rising and looks like reaching the 10 per cent level. Reinforcing the Pollyanna's view of the economy is the emergence of a positive yield curve. In addition, figures from the Institute of Supply Management show that its Performance Manufacturing Index for March was up by 0.5 per cent while new orders were up by 8.1 per cent, production by 0.1 per cent and prices by 2 per cent and employment by 2 per cent.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
U.S. Financial Crisis Could Lead to New World Order / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
In the U.S. about to lose its status as the dominant global superpower? Will the dollar collapse? If so, what would become the new global reserve currency and what would replace U.S. hegemony in a new world order?
American troops are currently stationed in over 150 countries around the world and have been actively engaged in combat since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The pretext for the invasion of Afghanistan was provided by the 9/11 attacks.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Obama's New Financial World Order / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
This article addresses Washington's financial coup d'etat in the context of discussing Michael Hudson's important, very lengthy and detailed one titled: "The Financial War Against Iceland - Being defeated by debt is as deadly as outright military warfare." It reviews its key information in advance of Hudson's April 15 scheduled appearance on The Global Research News Hour to discuss.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bubble Denier Bernanke's Revolution / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Inquiring minds are reading a long and glaringly misguided post by the Washington Post on How Bernanke Staged a Revolution .Bernanke's ability to understand and synthesize the views of his colleagues goes a long way toward explaining how he has revolutionized the Federal Reserve, which under his leadership has deployed trillions of dollars to try to contain the worst economic downturn in 80 years.
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Financial War Against Iceland Part 2 / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Continues from Part1 - Nations that have not paid their debts - Let us draw up a roster of nations that have annulled their debts – or run them up with no intention of paying. The list starts with the world’s largest debtor, the United States. Its government owes $4 trillion to foreign central banks. A moment’s thought will show that there is no way it can pay, even if it wanted to do so. The United States is running a chronic trade deficit, on top of which is a deepening outflow of military spending.
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Financial War Against Iceland, Being Defeated by Debt is as Deadly as Outright Military Warfare / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Prof Michael Hudson writes: Iceland is under attack – not militarily but financially. It owes more than it can pay. This threatens debtors with forfeiture of what remains of their homes and other assets. The government is being told to sell off the nation’s public domain, its natural resources and public enterprises to pay the financial gambling debts run up irresponsibly by a new banking class. This class is seeking to increase its wealth and power despite the fact that its debt-leveraging strategy already has plunged the economy into bankruptcy. On top of this, creditors are seeking to enact permanent taxes and sell off public assets to pay for bailouts to themselves.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Washington Subsiding Failure, Handing out Taxpayer Money to Bankrupt Banks / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Mike Larson writes: Imagine you went to get your driver's license. You studied up on your state's requirements. You learned the rules of the road. You practiced driving in your neighborhood under the watchful eyes of your mom or dad. And then when you went to the DMV, you passed the written and driving tests with flying colors.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Liquidate the Bankrupt Banks, Fire the Executives! / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
On Tuesday, a congressional panel headed by ex-Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren released a report on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's handling of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Warren was appointed to lead the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) in November by Senate majority leader Harry Reid. From the opening paragraph on, the Warren report makes clear that Congress is frustrated with Geithner's so-called "Financial Rescue Plan" and doesn't have the foggiest idea of what he is trying to do. Here are the first few lines of "Assessing Treasury's Strategy: Six Months of TARP":Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 10, 2009
PPIP Financial Crisis Solution Exposed by Game Theory as Fraudulent / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
James Keller writes: Game theory tells us that a risk neutral gambler would pay $50 dollars for a coin flip that paid $0 for Heads and $100 for Tails. Game theorists would call $50 the value of the bet.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Five Hundred Russian Banks to Go Bust in 2009 / Politics / Russia
Professional bankers expect a quick liquidation of hundreds of banks at the end of forthcoming summer. Most of the banks will be closed due to their small capitals and because of the clients that will not be able to pay off their debts.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Economy / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
John Liechty writes: To date I have twice been robbed of lots of money (or what seemed like lots of money). The first theft occurred overseas when I was at a dinner party. Someone must have seen me at the bank withdrawing cash, and followed me home. Later that night the same someone crawled through an unlocked window and headed straight for the bank envelope. The moral was plain (not that I mastered it) – lock your house and don't be an ass. The latest theft occurred in my native country. I learned about it when a piece of paper arrived suggesting that my "investments" were melting like cotton candy in a squall.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 10, 2009
U.S. States Start to Print Their Own Currencies / Politics / Fiat Currency
Many U.S. communities are creating their own currencies now. They try to help consumers and companies to fight the global financial crisis and the recession .Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Free Markets, It’s Time to Wake up America / Politics / US Politics
Free markets don't work, says Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke. Indeed nearly all our government leaders say so; the G-20 too. The economy is a mess, but no worries because we got your back. We'll spend and print our way out of this economic crisis, then slap a whole heap of regulation on the bad guys to make sure they never hurt us again.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
G20 Summit, What Really Happened in London / Politics / Economic Stimulus
Last week's gathering in London of the leaders of the 20 foremost economic countries in the world had been billed as the most important global financial meeting in more than 60 years. The stage had been set for hotly contested economic policies to be hashed out with the intensity of a Cold War arms negotiation. However, for most observers, the results of the G-20 failed to live up to the billing. Other than a masterful display of haute couture by the new American first lady, there are few results that anyone can really call significant.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
First Panic on Wall Street, Then on Main Street / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
Gary North writes: We have not yet seen panic on Main Street. The malls' parking lots are full. Most yuppie restaurant chains are still in business. Their local restaurants may not be as full as they were a year ago, but they are open for business. There are still shoppers at Wal-Mart.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Socialism and Wall Streets Quest to Seperate People from their Money / Politics / Market Manipulation
"History is littered with post-crisis regulations. If there are undue restrictions on the operations of businesses, they may view it to be their job to get around them, and you sow the seeds of the next crisis." – Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment analyst, CharlesSchwab & Co., a leading US provider of investment services. 1Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Global Financial Collapse - Video / Politics / Financial Crash
An Argentine opinion on the Global Financial Crisis, describing the whole Global Financial System as one vast Ponzi Scheme. Like a pyramid, it has four sides and is a predictable model. The four sides are: (1) Artificially control the supply of public State-issued Currency, (2) Artificially impose Banking Money as the primary source of funding in the economy, (3) Promote doing everything by Debt and (4) Erect complex channels that allow privatizing profits when the Model is in expansion mode and socialize losses when the model goes into contraction mode.Read full article... Read full article...