Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Hillary Clinton - Does the Country Really Need Another Economic Ignoramus? / Politics / US Presidential Election 2016
By: Investment_U
Alexander Green writes: Readers sounded off on my column a couple weeks ago about Hillary Clinton’s plan to nearly double the top tax rate on long-term capital gains to 43.4%.
As this is a column by and for investors, most readers nodded in vigorous agreement with my view that this plan would hurt not just investors but the poor and middle class as well.
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Sunday, August 16, 2015
The Boundaries and Future of Solution Space – Part 1 / Politics / Social Issues
By: Nicole_Foss
A great deal of intelligence is invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. Saul Bellow, 1976
More and more people (although not nearly enough) are coming to recognise that humanity cannot continue on its current trajectory, as the limits we face become ever more obvious, and their implications starker. There is a growing realisation that the future must be different, and much thought is therefore being applied to devising supposed solutions for that future. These are generally attempts to reconcile our need to make changes with our desire to continue something very much resembling our current industrial-world lifestyle, with a view to making a seamless transition between the now and a comfortably familiar future. The presumption is that it is possible, but this rests on foundational assumptions which vary between the improbable and the outright impossible. It is a presumption grounded in a comprehensive failure to understand the nature and extent of our predicament.
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Friday, August 14, 2015
Why It’s Not Always Good to be a Professional / Politics / Employment
By: Walter_Brasch
Decades ago, newspaper reporters had low wages and no bylines.As expected, they were a bit testy about the low wages.
So, publishers figured out that if they gave reporters bylines, it would soothe their savage egos.
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Thursday, August 13, 2015
Why is Russia Destroying Its Food? / Politics / Russia
By: STRATFOR
Forecast
- A Kremlin crackdown on food imports that violate Russian sanctions will continue to draw criticism throughout Russia.
- If the Kremlin continues with its crackdown, protests will expand.
- To limit the backlash, Moscow may opt for sporadic crackdowns rather than systematic enforcement of food sanctions.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Debating the Morality of Hiroshima / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: STRATFOR
Each year at this time — the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima — the world pauses. The pause is less to mourn the dead than to debate a moral question: whether the bombing was justified and, by extension, whether the United States unnecessarily slaughtered tens of thousands of people on Aug. 6, 1945. The debate rarely focuses on a careful analysis of war and morality and is more frequently framed by existing views of the United States. The debate is rarely about Hiroshima or about World War II. It is a debate about the moral character of the United States. This is not an illegitimate subject, and Hiroshima might be a useful point with which to begin the debate. But that isn't possible until after we consider the origins of Hiroshima, which can be found in the evolution of modern warfare.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: BATR
Spending time analyzing the particulars of the agreement misses the point of the Iranian deal. It is not about preventing or even delaying the deployment of the bomb. The true intent of the P5+1 negotiation is to disrupt the unholy alliance between the war party and their Zionist overlords. The overwhelming reality is that U.S. foreign policy is based upon doing the bidding of Israel. What is transpiring is a fundamental push back coming from Barack Hussein Obama II. The Full text: Obama’s news conference on the Iran nuclear deal demonstrates this context.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Real Education Reform Leaves the U.S. Government Behind / Politics / Educating Children
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Among the items awaiting Congress when it returns from its August break is reconciling competing House and Senate bills reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. These bills passed early this spring. Each bill is being marketed as a huge step toward restoring state and local control over education. However, an examination of both bills shows that both provide local schools with only limited relief from a few federal mandates.
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Sunday, August 09, 2015
Japan Gets Ready for More Military Spending / Politics / New Cold War
By: MISES
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pressing for more military spending in Japan, in what critics claim is a violation of Japan’s so-called pacifist constitution. Foreign Policy reports:
Read full article... Read full article...In January, the government of conservative Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe endorsed a defense budget of nearly 5 trillion yen, or $42 billion, continuing a three-year growth trend after nearly a decade of decline. The sum still represents a small portion of Japan’s GDP — it accounts for just one percent of it, according to the World Bank — but because offensive military action is prohibited by Japan’s constitution, even a modest increase is controversial.
Friday, August 07, 2015
Hiroshima, Nagasaki 70 Years On, Damascus Next City to be Nuked to Fulfill Bible Prophecy? / Politics / Nuclear Weapons
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Japan and much of the world this week will be commemorating America's nuking of two Japanese cities in August 1945 that resulted the incineration of over 250,000 people, 90% of whom were innocent civilians. Whilst to much of the world the nuking of these cities was clearly a war crime, to the US and some of its allies was deemed to be a necessary evil so as to bring a speedy end to the War in the Pacific. Though the facts are that Japan at the time was already negotiating its surrender, so the real reason why the bombs were dropped was so as to justify the huge amount of expense that had been incurred which would only be satisfied by such demonstrations.
Thursday, August 06, 2015
Europe’s Greek Tragedy / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Mauldin
In this week’s Outside the Box we have a unique diagnosis of Europe’s ills from … a medical doctor. The author is Dr. Luc De Keyser, who currently serves as the chief medical information officer at Xperthis, the largest provider of hospital information systems solutions in Belgium. He has done pioneering work in multicenter clinical trials, medical ontologies, paleonutrition, and examining human conflict from an evolutionary perspective.
Dr. De Keyser (writing for Stratfor) is not sanguine about Europe’s future. There are times, he reminds us, when a doctor has to make the tough call and conclude that the patient’s case is simply without hope. It's a painful diagnosis and not one that the doctor enjoys sharing with the patient. But at some point the patient must be told.
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Thursday, August 06, 2015
Doug Casey on the Real FIFA Scandal / Politics / Social Issues
By: Casey_Research
Recently, high-ranking officials at FIFA, the world’s governing soccer (aka “football”) body, were charged with corruption and fraud. The US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is deeply involved in the case. Doug Casey weighs in on the real scandal… the one you’re not reading in mass media.
The truth be known, I really don’t give a damn about soccer. Nor do most Americans.
Indeed, until recently, all that most Americans knew about “football” was that Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey, to display a great physique, after she scored the winning goal for the US in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup playoff against China.
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Thursday, August 06, 2015
Bringing Turkey's Border Strategy Into Focus / Politics / Turkey
By: STRATFOR
Summary
Satellite images taken at the Turkey-Syria border corroborate what Stratfor predicted weeks ago: that Turkey, now partnered with the United States, will strike at Islamic State-controlled territory adjacent to the Turkish border. The Turks reportedly began to reinforce their southern border with troops and equipment as early as July 3. But according to these images, which were taken July 26, we now know that that equipment includes Turkish-made main battle tanks and support units poised in a defensive position on the Turkish side of the border.
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Wednesday, August 05, 2015
There’s a Good Chance Your Bank Is Committing a Major Crime Right Now / Politics / Banksters
By: Casey_Research
By Dan Steinhart
On April 10, 2006, Mexican authorities searched through a DC-9 jet at the airport in Ciudad del Carmen. They found more than five tons of cocaine… valued at more than $100 million.
If you’re like many Americans, you’re not surprised by a story like this. Not a year goes by without a few big media stories about Mexican drug cartels.
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Sunday, August 02, 2015
It's a Wonderful Life Without the Federal Reserve Bank / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: ...
MoneyMorning.com
Shah Gilani writes: I have a dream. Well, I had a dream, but maybe it's never coming true, so I'll revel in my real dream.
And what a dream it was…
America had changed overnight. I didn't know what had happened, but everything was different the morning I woke up (while I was, unfortunately, still in my dream).
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Sunday, August 02, 2015
Power and Compassion / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Time to tackle a topic that’s very hard to get right, and that will get me quite a few pairs of rolling eyes. I want to argue that societies need a social fabric, a social contract, and that without those they must and will fail, descend into chaos. Five months ago, I wrote the following about Europe:
Saturday, August 01, 2015
The Greek Coup: Liquidity as a Weapon of Coercion / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Ellen_Brown
“My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract.” — The Godfather (1972)
In the modern global banking system, all banks need a credit line with the central bank in order to be part of the payments system. Choking off that credit line was a form of blackmail the Greek government couldn’t refuse.
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Thursday, July 30, 2015
If Spending Is Our Military Strategy, Our Strategy Is Bankrupt / Politics / US Military
By: MISES
Mark Mateski writes: Even today, few deny the long arm of US military might. After all, the US military exhausted the Soviet Union, crushed Saddam Hussein, and drove Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda into hiding.
To what should we attribute these triumphs? Some would say US planning and foresight. Others would mention the hard work and dedication of US soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Still others would point to the application of superior technology. All would be correct to some degree, but each of these explanations disregards the fact that for more than a lifetime, the United States has wildly outspent its military competitors.
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Thursday, July 30, 2015
The 5 Biggest Myths and Lies about the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: Atlantic_Perspective
The more well informed you think you are about the Middle East, the more likely you are being manipulated by the media. Just because a lie or a semi-truth is repeated millions of times, doesn´t mean it´s true.
Here are the 5 biggest lies and myths about the Middle East today:
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Greece, Diversion, and the New World Order / Politics / New World Order
By: Submissions
Raymond Matison writes:Since 2009, the world has been made acutely aware of Greece’s troubling debt problems. At that time commentators and analysts noted that its debt was too large to be paid off, yet Greece was given a multibillion dollar bailout loan. Soon thereafter another large loan was extended that further increased Greece’s previously acknowledged, unpayable debt level. If Greece was deemed unable to repay its debts of $113 billion in 2009, then six years later with a shriveling economy, capital controls, and the addition of $242 billion in additional debt (or a tripling of its debt), it is clearly even less able to repay such a sum. Even the IMF now suggests that some debt forgiveness has to be considered in order to make its debt repayable. Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Ibuprofen Warning - The Pain Killer that can Kill You! / Politics / Health and Safety
By: Mike_Whitney
In case you missed it: The FDA has just issued a warning on various prescription and non-prescription drugs that Americans ingest by the boatload. As it happens, these seemingly benign pain relievers can kill you even if you scrupulously follow the recommended dosage. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a blurb from the FDA website: