Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Internet Fascism and the Surveillance State / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: MISES
Ben O'Neill writes: What is the purpose of telecommunication and internet surveillance?
The NSA presents its surveillance operations as being directed toward security issues, claiming that the programs are needed to counter terrorist attacks. Bald assertions of plots foiled are intended to bolster this claim.[1] However, secret NSA documents reveal that their surveillance is used to gather intelligence to achieve political goals for the US government.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, July 15, 2013
The Unspoken Truth: Coup d’etat in America / Politics / US Politics
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The American people have suffered a coup d’etat, but they are hesitant to acknowledge it. The regime ruling in Washington today lacks constitutional and legal legitimacy. Americans are ruled by usurpers who claim that the executive branch is above the law and that the US Constitution is a mere “scrap of paper.”
An unconstitutional government is an illegitimate government. The oath of allegiance requires defense of the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” As the Founding Fathers made clear, the main enemy of the Constitution is the government itself. Power does not like to be bound and tied down and constantly works to free itself from constraints.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Syria, Egypt And The Middle East Oil Price Risk Premium / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Andrew_McKillop
SYRIAN OIL
The role of Syria's disastrous civil war as a “tailwind” helping maintain oil prices at artificially high levels is easy to show. Claims by oil analysts that this civil war “will spillover and deflagrate the entire Middle East” bump up prices. The same applies to Egypt, the Arab world's biggest country now potentially facing the risk of civil war. With imagination, the contagion talk can be extended to Libya, Tunisia, the Yemen, Bahrain, the other Gulf states, and other Mid East and North African countries. The talk helps nudge up day traded prices for Brent or WTI by 50 cents or a dollar, quite regularly, but the risk and fear premium on Arab oil is highly uncertain. When we drill down to strict net export surplus fundamentals – production versus national oil demand - any claims that Syria, Egypt, the Yemen or other countries, except Libya, Algeria, Iraq and the Gulf states, are more than tiny exporters probably moving towards net oil importer status, are very hard to defend. This is a political risk premium.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Cyprus Deposits Theft Bang Moment Implications for All Bank Deposits / Politics / Credit Crisis 2013
By: John_Mauldin
Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time. – Alvin Toffler
What is it about humans that we fail to see a crisis in advance, yet when we look back, its likelihood or inevitability so often seems blindingly obvious? Rather than a flaw, our under-reliance on foresight as opposed to hindsight is perhaps a necessary evolutionary design feature that has allowed us to make rapid progress as a species (especially over the last few thousand years), but in a complex modern society it can really create quite the crisis for individuals. This week we resume our musings about Cyprus, to see what that tiny island can teach us about our own personal need to engage in ongoing critical analysis of our lives and investment portfolios. Cyprus is not Greece or France or Spain or Japan or the US or … (pick a country). I get that. No two situations are the same, but there may be a rhyme or two here that is instructive.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, July 13, 2013
U.S. Arms Egypts Military For Crack Down on Democracy / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Bill Van Auken writes: The Obama administration has announced it will go ahead with the shipment of four F-16 fighter planes to the Egyptian military, signaling its intention to ignore US laws requiring a cutoff of aid to countries that have suffered military coups.
This gesture of support to the so-called interim government, which is dominated by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and its top commander, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, comes as the ruling junta is intensifying its police-state crackdown against supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Everyone Knows that the Federal Reserve Banks Are PRIVATE … Except the American People / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Washingtons_Blog
Most Americans Still Don’t Know that Federal Reserve Banks Are Private Corporations
The country’s most powerful “agency” – the Federal Reserve – is actually no more federal than Federal Express.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, July 13, 2013
China's Great Humiliation / Politics / China
By: Andrew_McKillop
MODERN MYTH'S OF NATIONAL TRIUMPH
Writing in 'Wall Street Journal' and saying China needs “a new national story”, Orville Schlee and John Delury basically claim China has for too long been hobbled and fettered, ideologically, by its modern history of humiliation. This was due to the so-called unequal treaties it was forced to sign with what for Chinese, were the Western Barbarians. These unequal treaties started with the British in 1842.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Confiscation of Retirement Accounts - Another Brick in the Wall / Politics / Banksters
By: Andy_Sutton
For the past few months we have been sounding the alarm both separately and collaboratively regarding the impending (although not necessarily imminent) looting of the Western financial system including bank accounts, public pension funds, and likely private retirement accounts to some extent. With regard to the bail-in doctrine now in place in much of the rest of the world, it appears as though Australia is jumping on board as well - as part of the 2013-2014 government budget no less. Details are still sketchy, but we’ll analyze what we have so far.
We remain absolutely convinced that a minimum of 95% of the people will do absolutely nothing. Most of them will not become familiar with the term ‘bail-in’ until it is already too late. We can’t do a thing about that. What is most depressing is that of the numerous people we have talked to who actually understand what is going on, the vast majority of them have also done nothing. Now is not the time to have that deer in the headlights, over analysis paralysis mindset.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Bernanke Is Losing Control of the Fed and the Markets / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Graham_Summers
Ben Bernanke has lost any last shred of credibility he might have had.
The Fed no longer believes in QE. And for good reason. We’ve seen QE 1,2,3,& 4 and yet we’ve not seen any meaningful uptick in employment or GDP growth. Indeed, since Bernanke took the reins at the Fed we’ve not seen a single year of 3+% GDP growth.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Why’s There So Much Dissension Inside the Fed? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Money_Morning
Gary Gately writes: There's considerable dissension within the ranks at the Federal Reserve, with many of Chairman Ben Bernanke's colleagues saying the Fed's monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds should end by late this year.
"About half" of 19 Fed members "indicated that it likely would be appropriate to end asset purchases later this year," according to minutes of the June Fed policy-making committee meeting, released Wednesday.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Should Larry Summers Replace Bernanke at the Fed? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Money_Morning
Garrett Baldwin writes:Just this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers is "hell-bent" on becoming the next U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman.
The more important issue, however, is whether Americans should want Summers involved in such a prominent role in the global economy.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Snowden and the NSA Scandal, The Ethics of Whistleblowing / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: MISES
Ben O'Neill writes: Recent revelations about the extent and details of the massive NSA surveillance program have been made possible mostly by the actions of a single whistleblower, Edward Snowden, presently in hiding from the wrath of the US government, whose shameful and frightening secrets he has now made public knowledge. Despite repeated denials by its officials, it is now evident that the NSA runs a data-collection and spying network which collects masses of data on the private communications of non-US citizens, and some private communications on US citizens. It does so without requirement for any individual warrants for its targets, and without requirement for any probable cause with respect to any of the individuals whose communications are collected. Instead, the entire program operates under a broad procedure-based warrant system, whereby a special clandestine court hears submissions from the government in secret and then dutifully approves general procedures for mass surveillance, without any adversarial argument being raised by any other party. The warrants allow mass surveillance and storage of data at the discretion of NSA analysts, and these warrants are clearly at odds with the principle of eschewing unreasonable searches.[1]
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Obama's Global Warming Turns To Swarming / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
WE NEED TO ACT
President Obama's June 25 speech at Georgetown University announcing his climate-energy action plan was rich in national and religious symbols. He told the listeners how in 1968 the American astronauts of Apollo 8 did a live broadcast from lunar orbit. Obama said: “They described what they saw, and they read Scripture from the Book of Genesis to the rest of us back here”.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Latest Obama Outrage: More People on Food Stamps Than Working Full Time / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
Frank Marchant writes: This Obama economy has soup lines as far as the eye can see. It also appears that many could easily be standing in two, three or even four lines simultaneously!
There are 103.4 million people currently enrolled in any one of 15 subsidized federal food assistance programs. The most people in our nation's history.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Recent Trends in U.S. Birth Rate Spell Economic Trouble / Politics / Demographics
By: Money_Morning
Tara Clarke writes: A couple weeks ago I came across an interesting article by Lauren Sandler called "The Economic Reason for Having Just One Child."
Many American women who choose to stop at one child experience pressure - and even harsh, negative judgment - from others.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
How the US Uses Democracy as a Weapon / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Patrick J. Buchanan writes: Understandably, the Muslim Brotherhood is enraged.
Having won the presidency of Egypt in free and fair elections after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, President Mohammed Morsi has been ousted in a military coup and placed under house arrest. Brotherhood leaders, convicted of no crimes, are being rounded up.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Black Education Tragedy / Politics / Educating Children
By: LewRockwell
Walter E. Williams write: As if more evidence were needed about the tragedy of black education, Rachel Jeantel, a witness for the prosecution in the George Zimmerman murder trial, put a face on it for the nation to see. Some of that evidence unfolded when Zimmerman’s defense attorney asked 19-year-old Jeantel to read a letter that she allegedly had written to Trayvon Martin’s mother. She responded that she doesn’t read cursive, and that’s in addition to her poor grammar, syntax and communication skills.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
America’s Deep Political Crisis / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
America is in deep political crisis. Although the signs of it are abundant, the crisis is not widely recognized. When Americans finally do recognize the crisis, that is, if they recognize it and its causes, they will have not only to clean house but tear the house down and rebuild it. They will have to institute a new order. It will be best if it’s the old order of private property.
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Egypt Muslim Brotherhood’s Legacy: Controls, Shortages and Inflation / Politics / Middle East
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi never had a credible plan for the Egyptian economy. Indeed, I doubt that the Brotherhood’s leaders know the meaning of the word “plan”. Over the past year, economic conditions in Egypt have gone from bad to worse. And, it seems Morsi’s brief tenure as president will likely be remembered largely for its shameful economic record – one marred by a decline in GDP growth, a reduction in foreign reserves, and a sharp increase in unemployment.
Monday, July 08, 2013
G8 Plan to Invest in Africa Agriculture Smacks of Colonial Land Grab / Politics / Africa
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: A G8 initiative intended to get corporations to invest in Africa with the goal of alleviating hunger on that continent is - surprise, surprise - not working out as planned.
President Barack Obama launched the "New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" in 2012 when the United States held the presidency of the G8 (the Group of Eight, a forum of eight of the world's major economies).
Read full article... Read full article...