Category: Social Issues
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Atomised Americans / Politics / Social Issues
By: Christopher_Quigley
“This shift from customary conformity to decision making by some other power, in its final stages, results in the dualism of almost totalitarian imperialism and an amorphous mass culture of atomised individuals.
The fundamental all pervasive cause of World instability today is the destruction of communities by the commercialization of all human relationships and the resulting neurosis and psychosis.
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Friday, October 08, 2010
America’s Third World Economy / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the “New Economy.” The “New Economy” consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.
This economy was taking the place of the old “dirty fingernail” economy of industry and manufacturing. Education would retrain the workforce, and we would move on to a higher level of prosperity.
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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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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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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Western Civilization Lies Dying / Politics / Social Issues
By: John_Kozy
The Western commercial system exists to extract more from consumers than it supplies in products and services. Its goal is profit and has never been to improve the human condition but to exploit it. When governments institutionalize this system, they place their nations on suicidal paths, because as Jefferson recognized, "Merchants have no country." It is not terrorism that threatens the security of the Western World, it is the Western World's commercial system.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Fahrenheit 451, Those Who Don’t Build Must Burn / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
"Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries of more. School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies about after work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?” – Captain Beatty in Fahrenheit 451Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, September 20, 2010
World's Highest Salaries are Paid in Zurich, Switzerland / Politics / Social Issues
By: Pravda
Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, has published an annual research called "Prices and Earnings," which compared world's largest cities on their costs of living, earnings, and internal purchasing capacities. Moscow was ranked 44th, 42nd and 39th among 73 other cities. The highest prices were registered in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Salaries are the highest in Zurich, where the purchasing capacity is also on a similar level.
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
One in Seven Americans Now Living in Poverty / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Patrick Martin writes: Census figures for 2009, to be released Thursday, are expected to show that the poverty rate soared last year to nearly 15 percent. One out of every seven Americans is now living below the official poverty level, the highest proportion since the 1960s. One in five American children is living in poverty.
Monday, September 13, 2010
The New U.S. Ghost Towns / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jennifer_Barry
When you think of ghost towns, you probably imagine a mining settlement abandoned once the resource was depleted, like Bannock, Montana or Kolmanskop, Namibia. You may think of tumbleweeds blowing down vacant streets, or sand dunes covering vacant shops.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Patriotism as a Threat to Capitalism / Politics / Social Issues
By: Kel_Kelly
[From The Case for Legalizing Capitalism] - Having learned that the government acts in ways detrimental to its citizens economically, and by causing wars, we should ask exactly why we support our politicians, why we support most of our military operations, and why we support our very national identity. In short, we should ask ourselves why we are patriotic.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Soaring Corporate Profits As US Worker Pay for Productivity Hits Record Lows / Economics / Social Issues
By: Jesse
Two sets of charts tell the story.
The problem is that when workers are pressed to the wall on pay they lose the ability to consume without taking on debt. And at some point the debt leverage mechanism for consumption breaks down.
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Thursday, September 09, 2010
Socialism as a Reaction to State Corruption / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Anders Mikkelsen writes: Ambrose Bierce defined politics as a "strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." In the past many famous thinkers have noticed contemporary and historical examples of state corruption matching this definition, and these examples in turn were the inspiration for many a socialist thought.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
The Poor and Socialism vs Capitalism / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Kel Kelly writes: Socialists commonly cite the existence of the poor as a reason for socialism, and they claim that their concern for the poor shows compassion and morality. Since the topic of poverty is a key battleground in the war of socialism versus capitalism, it is relevant to examine what poverty is, how much of it exists in the United States, and how we can truly eliminate it.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Labour Day 2010, Economic Austerity, Public Services and the Labour Movement / Politics / Social Issues
By: Global_Research
Greg Albo and Bryan Evans write: This Labour Day, like the last two, is dominated by the ongoing global economic crisis. Since 2008 Canada's workers, working families, and the communities in which we make our lives, have endured a period of deep economic insecurity the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression. The crisis began in the financial sector, amongst bankers, brokers, lawyers, and financial engineers of all sorts when the credit bubbles supporting the casino economy of derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps and other financial instruments began to deflate.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Dynamics of Poverty, the Destitute Index / Politics / Social Issues
By: Mike_Shedlock
In response to Reflections on the "Recovery" reader "Thomas" has an interesting question regarding U6 unemployment that I would like to share.
Thomas writes ...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Third World America: 'Fast-Tracking to Anarchy' / Politics / Social Issues
By: Janet_Tavakoli
My last post about Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream talked about the Great Recession, the Great Bailout, and the Great Cover-Up of financial crimes.
Among the future consequences of not fixing our national problems will likely be an increase in social unrest and an increase in crime. A look at Chicago's problems may serve as a call to action for America's middle class. Chicago's city budget is in dire straits. That's also true of the state of Illinois, California, New York and other areas. In Chicago, the same mismanagement that deepened our fiscal crisis has caused a crisis in essential city services.
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Social Insecurity / Politics / Social Issues
By: MISES
Paul Cwik writes: Oh joy, oh joy! It has finally arrived! You wouldn't believe how excited I was to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration. In the letter, they dutifully showed me how much taxable income I have ever made. (Is it me, or is there something really creepy about that?) They showed me how much I have paid in taxes and how much my employer also "paid." Then they showed me how much my payment would be if I retire at full retirement (67 years old — not 62 or 65 like you may have heard) and if I delay "collecting" until I turn 70.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
A Stinging Critique Of a Worker Bee / Politics / Social Issues
By: Graham_Summers
A little while back, a Fed Economist by the name of Kartik Athreya, wrote a piece urging the public to only listen to economists who have PhDs from top level universities when searching for economic insights. Regarding other sources of macro-economic analysis, specifically bloggers, Mr. Athreya writes, “it is exceedingly unlikely that these authors have anything interesting to say about economic policy.”
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
2010: Humanity’s Choice As Foreseen by Rudolf Steiner / Politics / Social Issues
By: Richard_C_Cook
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was an Austrian philosopher and esotericist and founder of one of the key modern spiritual movements in the West. He is best known for his books and lectures before and after World War I, when he founded the Anthroposophical Society with its present-day headquarters in Dornach, Switzerland. After World War I, Steiner and his work were criticized viciously by right-wing nationalists in Germany, which caused him to give up his residence in Berlin. Among the critics was Adolf Hitler, who attacked him in print as a traitor to Germany for his efforts to promote peace. Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Money is the Root of All Evil / Politics / Social Issues
By: Viresh_Amin
I just recently over heard the one line solution to all our problems: "Money is the root of all evil".
The way this sort of person talks, we should get rid of money all together. If that person picked up a book or two and started to read a little more he would properly state, "government money is the root of all evil".
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