Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
US Budget - There’s Almost Nothing Left To Cut / Politics / Government Spending
By: John_Mauldin
Every politician in every campaign talks about getting rid of government fraud and waste.
If we could only cut out all of that wasted spending, we would have money either to lower taxes or to spend on something more useful.
Except there is nothing to cut that is of any meaningful consequence.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Why The US Should Introduce VAT And Carbon Taxes Instead / Politics / Taxes
By: John_Mauldin
BY JOHN MAULDIN : Economists of pretty much every stripe will agree that a consumption tax has fewer negative effects than an income tax does. That’s because incentives matter.
If you want more of something, then tax it less; if you want less of something, tax it more. It’s about that simple.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Cutting US Income Taxes Will Blow Out The Budget / Politics / Taxes
By: John_Mauldin
BY JOHN MAULDIN : The cost of health care runs well over $1.1 trillion. Social Security is almost $1 trillion. Defense spending is $620 billion.
Entitlement programs for our nation’s seniors and low-income individuals and families run $550 billion. (That includes food stamps, disability, affordable housing, earned-income tax credits, childcare tax credits, and so on.)
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Here’s Why Interstate Health Insurance Won’t Fix Obamacare / Trumpcare / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : Congress has a new healthcare plan to replace Obamacare. It may go nowhere since many Republicans aren’t happy with it… and the problems it tries to solve will remain.
Worse, anything that gets past the House and Senate may not matter if insurers refuse to play in 2018. The big ones haven’t committed yet.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 23, 2017
China’s Biggest Limitations Determine the Future of East Asia / Politics / China
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : As we wrote about in “China’s Strategy,” East Asia is split into four parts: The Pacific archipelago, the Chinese mainland, the Korean Peninsula, and Indochina. East Asia holds the second and third largest world economies: China and Japan. The relationship between them and the US define modern East Asian geopolitics.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
This is About So Much More Than Trump and Brexit / Politics / Religion
By: Harry_Dent
I’ve been writing a lot about what I see as the mega trend right now… and what will make this economic winter season different from the 1930s.We’re not just seeing a classic debt and financial asset bubble that will unravel into a deflationary depression, as occurred in the 1930s and many times throughout history.
We’re not just seeing a populist revolution, as we saw with Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s and World War II, and as has occurred about every 84 years throughout history.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Return of Sovereign France, Europe’s Changing Landscape / Politics / France
By: Dan_Steinbock
In France, President Hollande’s utter failure to foster broad consensus for structural reforms has paved the way for a contested election. While public debate focuses on Emmanuel Macron as the savior of France, the real story is that Marine Le Pen's agenda has shifted the French political landscape. Before TV debates, the French presidential election featured 3-4 viable candidates, which together accounted for 85-90 percent of the total vote. Until recently, the leader of the Front National, Marine Le Pen, and the centrist Emmanuel Macron, have garnered about 25 percent in the polls, followed by the center-right François Fillon (20%), and the socialist Benoît Hamon (15%).
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
In Japan, Russia and China Find Common Ground / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
For the first time in three years, Russia and Japan have revived an avenue of negotiation that had stalled in the face of enduring tension between the two nations. Foreign and defense ministers from both countries met in Tokyo on Monday to hold 2+2 talks on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. As expected, Japan took the opportunity to question Russia's recent attempts to bolster its defenses on the southern Kuril Islands, to which Tokyo has long laid claim. Russia fired back with its own objections to Japan's desire to build up its ballistic missile defenses as North Korea pushes ahead with its nuclear program.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Trump Watershed Budget / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
You have never seen an attempt to change direction in the Federal juggernaut, as outlined in the Trump budget to revamp discretionary spending. Bob Adelmann of The New American provides an apt appraisal in Trump’s “Blueprint” Budget Is a Policy Statement; Real Budget to Follow. For a full reading of this framework review the White House document. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, has delivered a bold variation from the normal accommodation to the political careerists and influence peddlers.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Obamacare Healthcare Repeal or Obamacare 2.0? / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on a Republican bill that supposedly repeals Obamacare. However, the bill retains Obamacare's most destructive features.
That is not to say this legislation is entirely without merit. For example, the bill expands the amount individuals can contribute to a health savings account (HSA). HSAs allow individuals to save money tax-free to pay for routine medical expenses. By restoring individuals' control over healthcare dollars, HSAs remove the distortions introduced in the healthcare market by government policies encouraging over-reliance on third-party payers.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 20, 2017
Why The Status Quo Is Under Increasing Attack By 'Populist People Power' / Politics / Social Issues
By: Gordon_T_Long
Protecting The Status Quo Is Failing
We need to fully appreciate yet another example of what the mainstream media doesn't yet get! The "People" increasingly don't see the system working for them anymore and have as consequence become much more willing to try something very different, possibly even extreme, depending on how serious their personal blight has become!
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Scotland Independence Referendum 2.0? / Politics / Scotland
By: Stephen_Lendman
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Why the SNP WILL Destroy Scotland, Exit UK Single Market for EU - IndyRef2 / Politics / Scotland
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The SNP have declared that their primary reason for demanding a second Independence referendum barely 2 years on from the last 'once in a lifetime' referendum was as a consequence of the UK intending to LEAVE the European Union including exiting the EU Single Market.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Angela Merkel in Washington / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Friday, March 17, 2017
The Only Article You Need to Read to Understand the Trump Phenomenon / Politics / US Politics
By: Graham_Summers
The following is an attempt to explain the Trump phenomenon. It is NOT a pro-Trump article; it is simply an explanation for how Trump accomplished what he did, and why so few predicted his success and the impact of his economic policies.
There’s a simple reason so few people in the media and in finance understand the economic impacts of a Trump Presidency.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 17, 2017
3 Maps That Explain Why Syria Raqqa Battle Will Drag On / Politics / ISIS Islamic State
By: STRATFOR
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND ERIC CZULEGER : The United States, Turkey, and Russia have deployed forces to fight against the Islamic State in a run-up to the final battle for Raqqa. But no one has made a definitive move.
We’ve touched on Syria before, but this is because the battle for the ISIS heartland is complicated by geography and conflicting interests of regional and international actors.
These three maps show the complexity of this battle and why it will be a marathon rather than a sprint.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Dutch and French Electons - Winners are Losers and Left is Right / Politics / European Union
By: Raul_I_Meijer
The Dutch elections on Wednesday have provided a whole bunch of Orwellian narratives. PM Mark Rutte’s right wing VVD party, actually the ‘business’ -or should we say ‘rent-seekers’ in 2017- party, who lost some 20% of the seats they had obtained in the previous parliamentary election in November 2012, down from 41 to 33 seats, is declared the big winner. While Geert Wilders’ very right wing party, PVV, won 25% more seats -it went from 16 to 20- and is the big loser.
Moreover, Rutte’s coalition partner, labor PvdA, gave up 29 out of 38 seats to end up with just 9. That’s a loss of over 75%. Together, the coalition partners went from 79 seats in the 2012 election to 42 in 2017. That’s an almost 50% less. Not that it could prevent Rutte from proudly declaring: “We want to stick to the course we have – safe and stable and prosperous..” Makes you wonder who the ‘we’ are that he’s talking about.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Red States Have Had Their Say… It’s Now the Blue States’ Turn / Politics / US Politics
By: Harry_Dent
We’ve not seen this level of political polarization since the Civil War. And it’s not unique to the U.S. It’s happening around the world… a backlash against globalization.
The red states scored a massive victory when President Donald Trump won against the odds. Six states switched from borderline blue to borderline red during that election.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Scotland Second Independence Referendum War - SNP Determined to Destroy the UK / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
In the run up to Scotland's September 2014 Independence Referendum, the Scottish Nationalists from Alex Salmond to Nichola Sturgeon down promised that they would abide by the results of the referendum, declaring that it was at least a once in a generation decision if not once in a life time decision. So here's a reminder of why the SNP cannot be trusted who blindly only see Independence as the answer to every question, and thus remain fanatically determined to destroy the United Kingdom at every opportunity.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Trump’s Infrastructure Boondoggle / Politics / Infrastructure
By: Mike_Whitney
Donald Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan is not an infrastructure plan and it won’t put $1 trillion of fiscal stimulus into the economy. It’s basically a scheme for handing over public assets to private corporations that will extract maximum profits via user fees and tolls. Because the plan is essentially a boondoggle, it will not lift the economy out of the doldrums, increase activity or boost growth. Quite the contrary. When the details of how the program is going to be implemented are announced, public confidence in the Trump administration is going to wither and stock prices are going to plunge. This scenario cannot be avoided because the penny-pinching conservatives in the House and Senate have already said that they won’t support any plan that is not “revenue neutral” which means that any real $1 trillion spending package is a dead letter. Thus, it’s only a matter of time before the Trump’s plan is exposed as a fraud and the sh** hits the fan.