Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, November 13, 2017
The Increasingly Unstable Middle East Must Be On Every Investor’s Radar / Politics / Middle East
By: John_Mauldin
While we here in the US were focused on President Trump’s visit to Asia, a powerful drama with vast geopolitical implications played out in Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad bin Salman, the king’s son, is the de facto ruler of the country and has been making increasingly aggressive moves in an attempt to shift Saudi Arabia from its status as an ultraconservative, oil-producing nation to a 21st-century manufacturing superpower.
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Monday, November 13, 2017
What President Trump and the West Can Learn from China / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Instead of a demonstration of its overwhelming military might intended to intimidate tiny North Korea and pressure China to lean on its defiant communist neighbor, President Trump and the West should try to learn a few things from China.
The President’s trip to the Far East came on the heels of the completion of China’s 19th National Congress where the current president, Xi Jinping, has cunningly positioned himself as China’s unchallenged leader. In an address at the opening of the Congress, Xi cautioned that the country faced “challenges” that are “extremely grim” yet, despite these, the nation’s future is “extremely bright.”*
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Sunday, November 12, 2017
Is Hillary Just the “Fall Guy” for the Intel Agencies and their Moneybags Bosses? / Politics / US Presidential Election 2016
By: Mike_Whitney
For nearly a year, Hillary Clinton failed to admit that her campaign and the Democratic National Committee had provided funding for the notorious dossier that alleged Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. Then, two weeks ago, the Washington Post published a blockbuster article that proved that Clinton had been misleading the public about her Campaign’s role in producing the report. Here’s a snippet from the article in the Post:
Read full article... Read full article...“The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said.”
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Finally, The Fall Of The House Of Saud / Politics / Saudi Arabia
By: Jim_Willie_CB
*** COLLAPSE OF THE KINGDOM ***
The Saudi Kingdom will fall, a longstanding Jackass forecast, an inevitable event
The Saudi Kingdom will fall alongside the ruined collapsing Petro-Dollar
The Saudi foundation has been the primary element to entire Petro-Dollar system
This Saudi situation is loaded with intrigue, corruption, cunning, collusion, criminality
The Saudi region will erupt in chaos ruin decay and gross destabilization
The entire Saudi situation is a grand mixture of deep corruption and wreckage
The Saudi Royals will scatter and escape with stolen wealth, an absolute guarantee
Friday, November 10, 2017
What Can Pot Teach Us About Economics and Government? / Politics / Cannabis
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
Whether for it or against it, we can all learn something from marijuana, or pot.
Specifically, we can see how government interferes with and impedes both the will of the citizens and the heart of economics - capitalism.
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Thursday, November 09, 2017
Turkey Faces An Economic Dilemma That Will Have Global Implications / Politics / Turkey
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND XANDER SNYDER : A country’s decision to borrow money is not always strictly economic. Take Turkey, whose ratio of gross external debt (all public and private sector debt) to GDP has jumped from 39% in 2012 to 52% today.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pushing to increase available credit to spur economic activity. This is a political goal, though one motivated by economic objectives.
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Tuesday, November 07, 2017
When Civil Liberties are Violated by Government / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Behold, who really cares about civil liberties in a society that puts government as the final arbitrator of authority? Well, sadly the prospects for a rebirth in recognizing that individual liberties are the basis for a civilized union are more remote now than at any time in the last half century. Most people view civil liberties as defined by protecting the personage. Notwithstanding, constitutional freedom has an important component is maintaining a just and functioning government regime. Sinking into a despotic authoritarianism is the expected risk when governments go amok. However, inadequate attention is given to the discussion and study of what constitutes a responsible state power.
Monday, November 06, 2017
Donald Trump tells me our best days are ahead. Once his tax cut plan is passed... / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
Donald Trump tells me our best days are ahead. Once his tax cut plan is passed, the future will be so bright I’ll have to wear shades.
Sometimes a single chart reveals the truth being obscured by the Deep State propaganda machine, working overtime selling their economic recovery narrative. The economy most certainly is booming for Wall Streeters and D.C. parasites sucking on the teet of Federal government largess. But for the average working deplorable, this supposed recovery has passed them by.
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Saturday, November 04, 2017
Preparing For EU Collapse / Politics / European Union
By: Raul_I_Meijer
If there is one thing the Spain vs Catalonia conflict reminds us of, it has got to be Turkey. And that is a much bigger problem for the EU than it realizes. First of all, Brussels can no longer insist that this is an internal, domestic, Spanish issue, since Catalan president Puidgemont is in…Brussels. So are 4 members of his government.
That moves decisions to be made about his situation from the Spanish legal system to its Belgian counterpart. And the two are not identical twins. Even if both countries are EU members. This may expose a very large European problem: the lack of equality among justice systems. Citizens of EU member countries are free to move and work across the Union, but they are subject to different laws and constitutions.
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Friday, November 03, 2017
Here’s Why Catalonia Has Put The EU In Danger / Politics / European Union
By: John_Mauldin
BY JACOB L. SHAPIRO : Catalonia is vying to become Europe’s newest nation-state, but this is a battle Catalonia ultimately can’t win.
Only 51.8% of members in the Catalan parliament supported the independence declaration. That means even Catalans themselves are divided over whether Catalonia should secede from Spain.
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Friday, November 03, 2017
Charts Showing Extreme Social Fragmentation in the US / Politics / US Politics
By: John_Mauldin
I’m going to show you three graphs that sum up the study discerning political polarization that has been conducted since 1994.
These three charts look at the years 1994, 2004, and 2017. Even as late as 2004, notice the broad crossover between the median Democrat and median Republican. And then notice how wide the divide is today.
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Thursday, November 02, 2017
Regulation Is Killing Community Banks - Public Banks Can Revive Them / Politics / Banking Stocks
By: Ellen_Brown
At his confirmation hearing in January 2017, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said, "regulation is killing community banks." If the process is not reversed, he warned, we could "end up in a world where we have four big banks in this country." That would be bad for both jobs and the economy. "I think that we all appreciate the engine of growth is with small and medium-sized businesses," said Mnuchin. "We're losing the ability for small and medium-sized banks to make good loans to small and medium-sized businesses in the community, where they understand those credit risks better than anybody else."
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
500 Years of a Protestant Reformation / Politics / Religion
By: BATR
The evolution of the Christendom since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has been marked with contention and disputes among different factions of believers. From the offset, the banning of the agnostic gospels from accepted church tenets to the East–West Schism of 1054 and the wars of religion that overwhelmed Europe following the Protestant Reformation, illustrates that a heated conflict has always existed among Christians. No doubt disputes over doctrine motivated many to break with their brothers and sisters in Christ. However, the underlying catalyst for a clash in congregations stems from an objection to the authority structure that surrounds the Vatican and the Holy Sea. Church jurisdiction and the demand that the dominion of the Church of Rome, which rests upon Pontiff Supremacy, has been at the core of many differences throughout history.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Fragmenting Countries, Part 1: Catalonia Is Just The Beginning / Politics / European Union
By: John_Rubino
Picture a life where you do most of your shopping through Amazon.com and the local farmers’ market, most of your communicating through Facebook and Instagram, much of your travel via Uber, and much of your saving and transacting with bitcoin, gold and silver.
Do you really need an immense, distant, and rapacious central government? Maybe not. Perhaps your region or ethnic group would be better off forming its own independent country.
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Saturday, October 28, 2017
CIA and FBI Prevent Trump Releasing JFK Assassination Smoking Gun Files / Politics / US Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Despite much fanfare and great expectations, President Trump barely released 10% of the files that were supposed to have been released on the JFK assassination after the FBI and CIA arm twisted Trump into withholding the full release of some 28,000 files under the excuse of impacting on National Security, protecting long dead sources, despite the fact that by law ALL of the files should have been released.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Volatility on Steroids / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s been a while since we last heard from longtime friend of the Automatic Earth Dr. Nelson Lebo III, New Englander living in Wanganui, New Zealand. Nelson has written a fine collection of articles on this site through the years.
Of course I thought, when I first saw this piece in my mailbox, that he would have written about New Zealand’s new prime minister, Labour’s 37-year-young Jacinda Ardern, whose first action in her new job will be to prevent foreigners from buying existing homes in her country. It’ll be interesting to see how she intends to do so while remaining inside the Trans Pacific Partnership -TPP- agreement.
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Friday, October 27, 2017
Catalonia Declares Independence, Commits Suicide, New Spanish Civil War Imminent / Politics / Spain
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Calm Before the Storm -The Spain / Catalonia crisis has continued to worsen with each passing day with growing bitterness as each side has sought to up the anti with the Catalans threatening to declare Independence whilst the Madrid regime threatening direct rule and imprisonment of subversives has today come to a head following the Catalan Parliament voting to unilaterally declare Independence from Spain. This prompted the Spanish parliament in Madrid to vote for direct rule over Catalonia, taking control over the regions police, financial institutions and broadcast media that sows the seeds for new Spanish civil war.
Friday, October 27, 2017
China’s 2017-22 Leaders, Grand Strategy and Policies / Politics / China
By: Dan_Steinbock
After the 19th Congress, Xi’s China is preparing for a new roadmap domestically and internationally. This is Dr. Dan Steinbock’s in-depth analysis of China’s critical changes that will shape the world economy until 2022 - and beyond.As the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) opened in Beijing, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a report about “building a moderately prosperous society” for a new era. In his speech, Xi offered a blueprint for China’s development for the next 5-15 years.
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Thursday, October 26, 2017
Trump’s Indecision about North Korea May Cost Him Allies in Asia Pacific / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND JACOB L. SHAPIRO : China’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party is getting a lot of attention right now. In the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping heralded the beginning of a new era in China. Surprisingly, he was also very honest about the inadequacy of his first term.
Although the congress will continue into this week, most of the major events have already taken place.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
CIA Funding of Tech Companies / Politics / AI
By: BATR
Government funding of companies provides a steady stream of support for tech developing innovations. One vehicle for facilitating this relationship can be found in an entity called, In-Q-Tel. IQT describes their function as: “In-Q-Tel is the independent, not-for-profit organization created to bridge the gap between the technology needs of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and emerging commercial innovation. We invest in venture-backed startups developing technologies that provide ready-soon innovation (within 36 months) vital to the IC mission. These technology startups are traditionally outside the reach of the IC; in fact, more than 70 percent of our portfolio companies have never before done business with the government.”