Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, December 05, 2014
The UK Smoke And Mirrors Economic Miracle / Politics / UK Economy
By: Andrew_McKillop
Abenomics Comes (Back) to Britain
We can easily argue that the UK has outdone Japan in financializing and destroying its economy using “pure Keynesian logic”. Its degutted empty-shell economy is fated to grow debt faster than the UK's real economy, and then implode - well suited to its pseudo multicultural, pseudo meritocratic society. Keynes, who was English, bisexual and a paid-in member of its degenerate elite said that central bank QE and debt growth are a lovely idea, but expecting the real economy to react and respond only to money printing and a debt binge is like a man who wants to become fat thinking the best way is to buy a large sized belt for his trousers! Fatuous hope is all.
Friday, December 05, 2014
U.S. Police Badge a License To Kill / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Another goon thug gratuitous murderer has been let off by a grand jury and a prosecutor. Read the condolences offered by NY mayor Bill de Blasio, officer Pantaleo and the Obama Puppet. They are so sorry about the collateral damage of protecting the public from criminals and terrorists. But our society would collapse if people are allowed to sell on the street untaxed individual cigarettes out of a pack. Without the death of innocents, none of us would be safe. Our safety depended on the NYPD murder of Eric Garner, a father of six who was a threat to no one.
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Friday, December 05, 2014
Yet Another Washington “Watchdog” Is Nothing But a Beltway Pussycat / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: In Monday’s Wall Street Insights & Indictments column “What Happens When There’s Nowhere Left to Run,” I detailed the dangers posed by the scary move the U.S. Treasury bond market made back on Oct. 15.
My cautionary tale was totally justified.
Indeed, in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the lead article in the Global Finance portion of the “Money & Investing” section was “Watchdog Warns of Risk in Markets.”
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Thursday, December 04, 2014
Europe: When the Unthinkable Becomes Possible / Politics / European Union
By: STRATFOR
Europe's economic crisis is slowly but steadily eroding the political systems of many countries on the Continent. New actors are emerging and threatening the supremacy of the traditional players. Alliances and events that seemed impossible only a few years ago are now being openly discussed across Europe. On Dec. 3, for example, Sweden announced it would hold early elections, partially because of political moves from the far right. In Spain, the ruling center-right party is openly discussing the possibility of entering an alliance with its traditional center-left rivals to prevent a protest party from taking over. Key members of the European Union, including Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom and possibly Greece, will hold elections in 2015. In most cases, these countries will see outcomes nobody would have thought possible in 2008.
Thursday, December 04, 2014
The Beautiful Death of CNN, Mainstream New Media / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Jeff_Berwick
I grew up behind the iron curtain in the 1970s in communist northern Canada with a black and white TV that you actually had to get up to change the channel on the knob. The knob had theoretically 13 channels but only 4 of them actually had anything on them.
One was the government propaganda channel, CBC, the other was CTV and then there was some sort of local channel and there was also something on channel 13, if memory serves, but it mostly looked like a snowstorm through the rabbit ears.
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Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Judge This Country by Its Enemies / Politics / Taxes
By: Casey_Research
By Nick Giambruno
Pop quiz: can you name this free-market jurisdiction in the Western hemisphere?
Here are some of its attributes:
- Personal income tax: NONE
- Corporate income tax: NONE
- Capital gains tax: NONE
- Taxation of dividends: NONE
Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Princes of the Yen: Central Banks and the Transformation of an Economy / Politics / Central Banks
By: Jesse
"Central banks have the power to create economic, political and social change. This is how they do it."
While I cringed at some of the early parts of the film and the mid-century American attitudes towards the Japanese, even if it was in the aftermath of a long and viciously fought war, I think this documentary provides some valuable insights into the evolution of the modern economy that is Japan. I direct your attention to the things that we are often saying about different peoples today.
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Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Spain Podemos Populist Economic Manifesto Revolution / Politics / Spain
By: Mike_Shedlock
As noted last week, Spain's top-polling political party, Podemos, released an "Economic Manifesto" that called for "Debt Restructuring" and for Spain to "Abandon the Euro Trap".
The manifesto is 600 pages long and I did not dig into the detailsany further.
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Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Countering Terrorism And Fundamentalism With The Ancient Indian Wisdom: ‘Sanadhana Dharma’ / Politics / Religion
By: Dr_R_M_Mathew
Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism have emerged as the greatest threat to the humanity in the twenty first century. The international community and the world religions like Islam, Buddhism and Christianity and their leaders, including Pope Francis, do not have much solution or answer for this growing cancer of the mankind, for it is based on the misguided faith and knowledge. The ancient Indian wisdom, originated at the Indus Valley Civilization, gives a lot of insight in tackling the current problems of the humanity.
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Russia's Sergey Lavrov on the Clash of Civilizations / Politics / Russia
By: BATR
"NATO is going beyond all borders. We are really disturbed over this barbaric action. We are outraged...and we call and demand an immediate investigation." - Sergey Lavrov
Since the Western Press has directed their wrath at Vladimir Putin as their latest villain, while his approval rate soars to 88% in Russia, most Americans are not familiar with Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov, much less know his public statements. Lavrov is a thoughtful contrast to the rigid and contemptuous foreign policy spokesmen's from the Soviet era. It is well worth the time to investigate the actual sentiments that Lavrov has expressed throughout his diplomatic career. An insight of the mindset that underpins his thinking is revealed over two years ago, in the Voltaire Network, which published Sergey Lavrov's account, On the Right Side of History and provided the following assessment.
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Tuesday, December 02, 2014
New Banking Rules: Cyprus-style Bail-ins to Take Deposits and Pensions / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Ellen_Brown
On the weekend of November 16th, the G20 leaders whisked into Brisbane, posed for their photo ops, approved some proposals, made a show of roundly disapproving of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and whisked out again. It was all so fast, they may not have known what they were endorsing when they rubber-stamped the Financial Stability Board's "Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution," which completely changes the rules of banking.
Monday, December 01, 2014
Ukraine War Driven by Gas-Dollar Link - Defending Dollar Imperialism / Politics / Ukraine Civil War
By: Mike_Whitney
If there was a way the United States could achieve its long-term strategic objectives and, at the same time, avoid a war with Russia, it would do so. Unfortunately, that is not an option, which is why there’s going to be a clash between the two nuclear-armed adversaries sometime in the near future.
Let me explain: The Obama administration is trying to rebalance US policy in a way that shifts the focus of attention from the Middle East to Asia, which is expected to be the fastest growing region in the coming century. This policy-change is called the “pivot” to Asia. In order to benefit from Asia’s surge of growth, the US plans to beef up its presence on the continent, expand its military bases, strengthen bilateral alliances and trade agreements, and assume the role of regional security kingpin. The not-so-secret purpose of the policy is China “containment”, that is, Washington wants to preserve its position as the world’s only superpower by controlling China’s explosive growth. (The US wants a weak, divided China that will do what it’s told.)
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Monday, December 01, 2014
US Exceptionalism And White Supremacy / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
Obama Fumbles and the World Burns
An excellent summary and analysis of why the Obama White House has been overwhelmed by what we can call “legacy policy”, and has become the most paranoid US administration in decades – far surpassing rven Georfe W Bush – is given by professor Joel Migdal in his latest book (' Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East ). Migdal traces the basic problem to US exceptionalism – the cornerstone of foreign policy since Roosevelt and Truman – being totally unsuited to a “multipolar world” in which the US has to engage with and against a shifting set of allies and enemies on constantly changing issues, where today's friend is tomorrow's rival and vice versa. Like others (including Kissinger and Brzezinski!) he divides the post-1945 world into the period ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-90, and what happened after a 10-year “reflexion and incubation period” ending in 2001.
Monday, December 01, 2014
U.S. Federal Reserve - The Birth of a Monster / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: David_Howden
The Federal Reserve’s doors have been open for “business” for one hundred years. In explaining the creation of this money-making machine (pun intended — the Fed remits nearly $100 bn. in profits each year to Congress) most people fall into one of two camps.
Those inclined to view the Fed as a helpful institution, fostering financial stability in a world of error-prone capitalists, explain the creation of the Fed as a natural and healthy outgrowth of the troubled National Banking System. How helpful the Fed has been is questionable at best, and in a recent book edited by Joe Salerno and me — The Fed at One Hundred — various contributors outline many (though by no means all) of the Fed’s shortcomings over the past century.
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Monday, December 01, 2014
Who Wants to be U.S. Defense Secretary? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It seems nobody wants to be Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration. The president's first two Defense Secretaries, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, both complained bitterly this month about their time in the administration. The president's National Security Council staff micro-managed the Pentagon, they said at a forum last week.
Former Secretary Gates revealed that while he was running the Defense Department, the White House established a line of communication to the Joint Special Operations Command to discuss matters of strategy and tactics, cutting the Defense Secretary out of the loop. His successor at the Pentagon, Leon Panetta, made similar complaints.
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Sunday, November 30, 2014
Egypt's Military Dicatarship Adding Insult to Injury / Politics / Egypt
By: Stephen_Lendman
Egypt's military dictatorship holds absolute power. Has no legitimacy whatever.
Rules by decree. Controls the media. Ignores fundamental international laws, norms and standards. Its own constitutional law.
Prohibits dissent. Tolerates no opposition. Killed at least 3,000 Muslim Brotherhood members. Imprisoned tens of thousands more. Brutally tortures many.
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Saturday, November 29, 2014
Ferguson Reexamined - Do the Police Recruit Psychopaths? / Politics / Social Issues
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
Few, if any, of the correct questions were asked in the grand jury hearing to decide whether policeman Darren Wilson would be indicted for killing Michael Brown.
The most important unexamined question is whether police are trained to use force immediately as a first resort before they assess a situation or determine if they are at the correct address. Are the police trained that the lives of police officers are so much more valuable than the lives of possible suspects, or a houseful of people into whose residence a heavily armed SWAT team enters, that police officers must not accept the risk of judicious behavior when encountering citizens? If this is the case as all evidence indicates that it is, then the police when they gratuitously murder members of the public are merely doing what they have been trained to do. As police are trained to use violence as a first resort, the police cannot be held accountable when they do.
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Saturday, November 29, 2014
Will Iran Commit Nuclear Hara-Kiri? / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: LewRockwell
Eric Margolis writes: To no surprise, nuclear talks between Iran and major world powers have become stalemated.
Iran will not sink “to its knees” to win a nuclear deal with the great powers, said its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the failure of six months of talks in Vienna.
However, the talks will continue until at least next March. Pity the poor negotiators: besides being excruciatingly boring, dealing with the tough, savvy Iranians is like pulling teeth. The only nationality I ever saw get the better of Iranians in negotiations were Armenians.
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Friday, November 28, 2014
Britain's Immigration Catastrophe Continues, David Cameron's Impotent Speech on Stopping In Work Benefits / Politics / Immigration
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The latest immigration statistics out of the ONS reveal the truth of what amounts to continuing out of control immigration of the last Labour governments disastrous policy of importing several million new Labour voters into Britain. Meanwhile all that David Cameron can do is to make impotent speeches in a desperate attempt to fight off the UKIP threat ahead of the next general election, promises of withholding in work benefits to migrant workers for upto 4 years. However virtually all of his proposals CANNOT be implemented and were immediately rejected by European Union bureaucrats as being illegal if implemented.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Perceptions of Reality — And a Failure to Indict / Politics / Social Issues
By: Walter_Brasch
She quietly walked into the classroom and stood there, just inside the door, against a wall.
The professor, his back to her, continued his lecture, unaware of her presence until his students’ eyes began focusing upon her rather than him.
“Yes?” he asked, turning to her. Just “Yes.” Nothing more.
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