Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, May 04, 2015
Big Banks Profit While Main Street Suffers / Politics / Banksters
By: Submissions
Antonius Aquinas writes: If anyone doubts that the Western world’s monetary order is rigged to enrich the banking system, the first quarter financial reports of America’s top banks should disabuse any unbelievers.
The Financial Times reported that four of the five big U.S. trading banks had a combined revenue of $19.4 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Goldman Sachs had a 14.7 percent* return on its equity in the first quarter while J.P. Morgan, the nation’s largest bank, earned $5.91 billion or $1.45 a share, up 3.6% from a year earlier.** Revenues for J.P. Morgan grew 4% to $24.8 billion.
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Monday, May 04, 2015
Ron Paul Warns USA FREEDOM Act: Just Another Word for Lost Liberty / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Apologists for the National Security Agency (NSA) point to the arrest of David Coleman Headley as an example of how warrantless mass surveillance is necessary to catch terrorists. Headley played a major role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 people.
While few would argue that bringing someone like Headley to justice is not a good thing, Headley's case in no way justifies mass surveillance. For one thing, there is no "terrorist" exception in the Fourth Amendment. Saying a good end (capturing terrorists) justifies a bad means (mass surveillance) gives the government a blank check to violate our liberties.
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Saturday, May 02, 2015
Kate Gives Birth to Coalition Government / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Kate goes into Labour but gives birth to Conservative led Coalition. Britain's broadcast media has been full of irrelevant mind numbing continuous drivel coverage of the birth of the latest Royal, literally all day focused on the doors of St Mary's Hospital waiting for Will and Kate to emerge with their new baby daughter as the BBC, Sky and the rest deemed that of being infinitely more importance to Britains slave population than the impending too close to call general election of which public school boy will be next to dance to the bankster's tune.
Saturday, May 02, 2015
U.S.A. Caught In Enormous Policy Vise - ZIRP & QE Destructive Influence / Politics / US Politics
By: Jim_Willie_CB
Today is May Day, the international day of workers celebrated by most communist and deeply socialist nations. To be sure, Obama should come out of the closet with admission of not only his Muslim roots but his Marxist roots. By now, he could have easily promoted the holiday and had it moved from its longstanding September location to the May month. In honor of the holiday, the Jackass will outline the profound damage to the USEconomy, its recent destructive pressures, and the newest dynamics which assure a systemic breakdown. The outcome is being seen in widespread job loss, business shutdowns, a new war waged each year, and civil disorder prompted by a strange phenomenon hardly ever discussed.
Saturday, May 02, 2015
The U.S. Government: Adding Illiquidity to Insolvency / Politics / US Debt
By: Jeff_Berwick
[The following post is by Managing Director of Windrock Wealth Management Christopher P. Casey, CFA]
Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of these interest payments. It is obvious that sooner or later all these debts will be liquidated in some way or other, but certainly not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract.
- Ludwig von Mises, Human Action (1949)
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Friday, May 01, 2015
Baltimore Inflation Riots / Politics / Inflation
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
The following is a compilation, first published at Zero Hedge, of statements made by The Baltimore Orioles Vice President, John Angelos. It struck me as fascinating on two basic levels. First off, the stunner is that a prominent elitist has spoken a bit of truth that would ordinarily be almost unutterable among such circles. The second thing is how he ultimately gets it wrong
Friday, May 01, 2015
Baltimore Riots Whose Fault? / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
I’ve seen the liberal lying MSM pondering how WE could allow the riots, looting, burning and lawlessness to happen, as if it is our collective fault. Obama stands before his teleprompter and pontificates about the need for us to end the poverty that supposedly led to Purge Night in Charm City. That term cracks me up. The city has so much charm, its football team once snuck out of town overnight and headed to Indianapolis. It has so much charm its baseball team was forced to play a game with no fans in the stands.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
The Real Reason Why Obama Wants to Lift Sanctions on Iran / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Mike_Whitney
“It is essential to recognize that Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapons program, nor does it possess a nuclear weapon. On February 26, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Ayatollah Khomenei, the supreme leader of Iran, ended his country’s nuclear weapons program in 2003 and “as far as we know, he’s not made the decision to go for a nuclear weapon.” This repeats the “high-confidence” judgement of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) that was first made in November 2007.”
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Immigration Crisis Drives a Deep Wedge Between E.U. States / Politics / Immigration
By: STRATFOR
The European Union is once again struggling to come up with a coherent asylum strategy for its 28 members. In recent years, the rising number of asylum seekers entering the European Union through countries such as Italy and Greece has generated friction among member states, fueled criticism of the Schengen Agreement and contributed to the growing popularity of nationalist parties.
However, the European Union will not reform its asylum policies in any significant way. Member states will provide more financial assistance to Mediterranean countries, but they will refuse to accept quotas of immigrants over the coming months and years. Anti-immigration sentiments will persist across the Continent, putting substantial pressure on one of the European Union's founding principles: the free movement of people.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Cash Payments - Prove You’re Not a Terrorist / Politics / Credit Crisis 2015
By: Casey_Research
Jeff Thomas writes: Recently, France decided to crack down on those people who make cash payments and withdrawals and who hold small bank accounts. The reason given was, not surprisingly, to “fight terrorism,” the handy catchall justification for any new restriction governments wish to impose on their citizens. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin stated at the time, “[T]errorism feeds on fraud, money laundering, and petty trafficking.”
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
The Banksters War on Cash / Politics / Banksters
By: BATR
Once upon a time, the famous criminal Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, and his response was simple, eloquent, and humorous: “Because that’s where the money is.” Well, soon that adage may be proven untrue. What exactly is the meaning of legal tender? In order to place money in its proper perspective, examine what the U.S. Treasury says.
“The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."
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Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Prelude to a Japanese Revival / Politics / Japan Economy
By: STRATFOR
John Minnich writes: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived in Washington, the third stop on his maiden voyage to the United States since assuming office in 2012. Over the next two days, he will hold a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama on U.S.-Japanese defense and trade cooperation, attend a state dinner in his honor and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. In his speech before Congress, Abe will reaffirm Japan's commitment to promoting peace and security in East Asia and extol the virtues of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country free trade agreement that spans the Pacific Ocean Basin and pointedly excludes China.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
CIA Prefab State Terror for Human Bondage / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: BATR
The shadow cabal that exerts raw power over the public controls and dictates the mindset that passes as the popular culture. Keeping people in fear, real or manufactured is essential to keep the police state omnipresent. Both foreign and domestic operations are conducted to divide and rule, not only other nations, but the indigenous populations that are targets of the next clandestine mission. Since the end of WWII, the intelligence community has lead the way to overturn our constitutional republic and put into place a controlled social environment that is docile and obedient to the masters of the Amerika Empire.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
What Makes Brussels More Equal Than Others / Politics / Social Issues
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad ran a little article recently that we’re surprised no other news organization picked up. It concerned a proposal in the European Parliament in which the parliamentarians got to vote on raising their own paycheck (always a good idea). The best thing about the story is that not everyone voted in favor.
Most did though. It much amused me to see that apparently it was Angela Merkel’s party, the German Christian Democrats, which was behind the proposal. Initially, they had even wanted double what they actually got. Here’s some numbers and details – and please forgive me for not being a math wizard -.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Iceland Monetary Reform Half-Right / Politics / Credit Crisis 2015
By: MISES
Patrick Barron writes: The prime minister of Iceland recently commissioned a report by Frosti Sigurjonsson to recommend a better money and banking system for Iceland. The recently released report recaps Iceland's sorry history of money and banking disasters and lays the majority of the blame for the 2008 collapse on the institution of fractional reserve banking, which caused an out-of-control increase in the money supply. Sigurjonsson recommends the abolition of fractional reserve banking, a separation of deposit and loan banking, and an end to deposit insurance.
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Monday, April 27, 2015
The Real War on The Middle Class / Politics / Social Issues
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
One of the great ironies of American politics is that most politicians who talk about helping the middle class support policies that, by expanding the welfare-warfare state, are harmful to middle-class Americans. Eliminating the welfare-warfare state would benefit middle-class Americans by freeing them from exorbitant federal taxes, including the Federal Reserve's inflation tax.
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Monday, April 27, 2015
Society's Leaders Have Been Digging a Bottomless Economic Pit / Politics / Global Debt Crisis 2015
By: Brian_Bloom
A friend sent me the link below, which seems extraordinarily relevant in context of the fact that I once calculated the value of the Chinese ghost cities at around $6.5 trillion. The article discusses the downward pressures on China’s economy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-24/china-could-face-sharp-rise-capital-outflows-if-stocks-economy-lose-momentum
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Sunday, April 26, 2015
Migrant Crisis - Europe Has Completely Lost It / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
After the high-level EU summit on the migrant issue, hastily convened after close to a thousand people drowned last weekend off the Lybian coast, Dutch PM Mark Rutte was quoted by ‘his’ domestic press as saying ‘Our first priority is saving human lives’. That sounds commendable, and it also sounds just like what everybody knows everybody else wants to hear. One can be forgiven, therefore, for thinking that it’s somewhat unfortunate that the one person tasked by Brussels with executing the noble ‘saving lives’ strategy, doesn’t seem to entirely agree with Rutte:
Saturday, April 25, 2015
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Death of the Republic / Politics / US Politics
By: Ellen_Brown
A republican form of government is one in which power resides in elected officials representing the citizens, and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. In The Federalist Papers, James Madison defined a republic as “a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people . . . .”
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Friday, April 24, 2015
Europe Migrant Crisis - For a Few Dollars More / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Tom_Naysburn
The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean is symptomatic of the wider malaise afflicting Europe, the new Wild West. As Sergio Leone put it " where life has no value, death, sometimes, had its price. That's why the bounty hunters appeared". Today, after the Euribor finally went negative, it seems quite plausible and legitimate to update the phase to "where Euros have little less value, death, sometimes, has its price, that's why the people traffickers appeared". When banks and governments are being paid to borrow Euros you have to ask the question: has this inverted perversion of classical economic theory hastened the beginning of the end for the Euro experiment?
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