Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
U.S. Healthcare Blues, Our Medical Bills Are Killing Us / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: John_Mauldin
It has been some time since we peeked into my worry closet. A few questions this weekend prompted me to think about things I am paying attention to but have not written about, and one thing that I am not worried about at all, despite the apparent media hysteria.
But first, a quick note. My tenth annual Strategic Investment Conference (May 1-3 in Carlsbad, California) seems to be filling up nicely. The speaker lineup is exceptional: Kyle Bass; Ian Bremmer; Mohamed El-Erian; Niall Ferguson and his wife, Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Lacy Hunt; Charles and Louis Gave; Jeff Gundlach; Anatole Kaletsky; David Rosenberg; Nouriel Roubini; and Gary Shilling.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Vampire Squid Reform And The Demise Of The Technocrats / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Andrew_McKillop
VAMPIRE SQUID TO DAMP SQUIB
When Mario Monti resigned in December 2012 saying he "would not seek a second term" as Italy's prime minister the technocratic, reform-minded, former Goldman Sachs adviser was of course lying. He stood for election - after his first and only unelected stint as prime minister - and lost. Goldman Sachs, nicknamed "The Vampire Squid" along Wall Street, lost another key pawn in its Eurozone power play.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Inflation and Taxes…More and More Coming / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Ed Bugos writes: “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” — Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book, 1964)
I don’t think anyone can truly understand the idea of freedom without understanding why a shrinking group of Americans cherish their 2nd amendment rights so passionately. Obama says that the voices of dead children compel change, by which he means to disarm Americans at a faster pace.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Italian Election Farce and Not So Super Mario / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Andrew_McKillop
SUPER MARIO BOMBS
As of February 25, exit polls and analysts' reviews of voter trends showed a total collapse in support for Mario Monti, called "Super Mario" for a while by government-friendly media. The 'technocrat' parachuted in by Europe's elite to apply a classic austerity programme as Italy's Brussels-approved unelected Prime Minister from late 2011, scored around 7% to 9% of votes cast. He is finished.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Split Italian Elections Votes is "Worst-Case" Result for Eurozone / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: If preliminary results prove accurate, the Italian elections will result in a "hung" parliament, meaning no party will have enough seats to form a government.
The lack of a definitive result could temporarily paralyze the Eurozone's third-largest economy and revive fears that Italian voters will ultimately reject austerity and the euro itself.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
America's Middle Class Caught in a Vice / Politics / Social Issues
By: Money_Morning
Shah Gilani writes: This is a chicken and egg kind of discussion about what caused the housing crash.
It's not that there's a right answer (but I am right) or a wrong answer, it's about looking at what happened to determine whether it's going to happen again. It is.
I'm always right.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
China Tests Japanese and U.S. Patience / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned Beijing that Tokyo is losing patience with China's assertive maritime behavior in the East and South China seas, suggesting China consider the economic and military consequences of its actions. His warning followed similar statements from Washington that its patience with China is wearing thin, in this case over continued Chinese cyberespionage and the likelihood that Beijing is developing and testing cybersabotage and cyberwarfare capabilities. Together, the warnings are meant to signal to China that the thus-far relatively passive response to China's military actions may be nearing an end.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Machine Gun Economics / Politics / US Politics
By: Investment_U
Andrew Snyder writes: The soldier’s hands never moved from the butt of the machine gun as his patrol slowly passed by. And yet nobody in the camo-clad group would make eye contact with me. It was a sign their duty was symbolic – true killers wouldn’t mind the life behind a person’s eyes; they only see a target.
But the patrol did its job. As the soldiers drove off into the dusty Mexican countryside, I was intimidated. I knew the government controlled the streets. And somebody was willing to kill to keep it that way.
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Osborne Cornered as Sterling Slides / Politics / UK Economy
By: Alasdair_Macleod
On 20 March George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor, will present his budget. So far he has made a valiant attempt to cap public sector spending, particularly when compared with other finance ministers who were slow to adopt austerity. He has reduced public sector spending from what it would otherwise be, but has not managed to cut the total figure. His strategy now for controlling the budget deficit increasingly depends on higher tax revenues from a combination of forecast economic growth and more aggressive tax collection.
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Monday, February 25, 2013
How the Fed Could Fix the Economy—and Why It Hasn’t / Politics / Central Banks
By: Ellen_Brown
Quantitative easing (QE) is supposed to stimulate the economy by adding money to the money supply, increasing demand. But so far, it hasn’t been working. Why not? Because as practiced for the last two decades, QE does not actually increase the circulating money supply. It merely cleans up the toxic balance sheets of banks. A real “helicopter drop” that puts money into the pockets of consumers and businesses has not yet been tried. Why not? Another good question . . . .
Monday, February 25, 2013
Ron Paul on U.S. Tyranny for the Good of its Victims / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
When They Came for the Raw Milk Drinkers...
While I oppose most gun control proposals, there is one group of Americans I do believe should be disarmed: federal agents. The use of force by federal agents to enforce unjust and unconstitutional laws is one of the major, albeit overlooked, threats to liberty. Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy.
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty Wins Oscar For Best Propaganda Picture / Politics / Propaganda
By: Patrick_Henningsen
One of the most pervasive trends in 21st century western culture has become somewhat of an obsession in America. It’s called “Hollywood history”, where the corporate studio machines in Los Angeles spend hundreds of millions of dollars in order to craft and precisely tailor historical events to suit the prevailing political paradigm.
‘Hollywood history’ is very much in fashion these days. From Linclon to Dubya, and from Blackhawk Down to The Iron Lady, they constitute a significant portion of today’s major releases. There’s only one problem, however, with tailoring a story to fit neatly into a prevailing political paradigm… and over the last 100 years, the Germans and the Soviets did this too – with devastating effect, but back then we just called it propaganda.
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Leaders? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Leaders / Politics / Social Issues
By: Bill_Bonner
Leaders – you're better off without them!
The problem with the Fed-fueled stock market rally is that you can't trust it. It's not based on anything solid. Investors are not really investing in solid companies that are expected to produce solid growth and profits in the years ahead. They're speculating that the Fed's EZ money will boost share prices.
Maybe it will. And maybe it won't.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Zen And The Decline Of Innovation / Politics / Social Issues
By: Andrew_McKillop
BOEING DREAMLINER
The Dreamliner is grounded but Boeing CEO Jim McNerney says that redesign of its faulty lithium-ion batteries is moving ahead in a bid to satisfy regulators’ safety concerns and the jet can get back into the air "within weeks". The Boeing battery crisis is however just a part of Boeing's corporate troubles, and critics of Boeing attack its record on innovation - from both sides, for and against innovation.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Lords of Finance: The Backroom World of Central Banking / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dan_OConnor
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World • Liaquat Ahamed • Penguin Books, 2009
The Pulitzer Prize-winning book Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World reveals the destructive, surreptitious, incestuous, and highly corrupt nature of central banking. Although the author, Liaquat Ahamed, exposes the current financial system for all of its evils, this book is by no means a critique of central banking. Ahamed’s views are very much representative of status-quo economists of the past 100 years. He references John Maynard Keynes frequently without mentioning Nobel Prize-winner F.A. Hayek once, even though Hayek was Keynes’s greatest intellectual opponent during this period. Despite its mainstream focus the book is interesting and well-written. One of the jewels here is the rare look into the lives of the powerful men, the “lords of finance,” who were behind the solidification of modern central banking in the US and Europe during the years 1910 to 1935.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
U.S. and Saudi Terror Network Seeks to Destroy Pakistan Nation State / Politics / Pakistan
By: Global_Research
Tony Cartalucci writes: Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people. According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a “Sunni extremist group,” it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Murderers Decorated With Medals / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Laurence M. Vance writes: "Murder decorated with a ribbon is still murder." ~ Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
In my previous article ("Hero or Murderer?") I said that a soldier from a country thousands of miles away who travels to the United States and kills Americans is a murderer. But I also said that American soldiers who do the same thing are not heroes but murderers. I said that foreign soldiers should not be excused no matter who told them to go or why they went. But I also said that American soldiers should not be excused either.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Children Save Yourself From State Education, Get Expelled! / Politics / Educating Children
By: Jeff_Berwick
Justin O’Connell writes: Hi Kids,
Do you find yourself locked down at your local dangerous public school between the hours of 7am and 3pm five days a week (six if you have Saturday school) for nine months a year (ten if you have Summer school)? Do you find it a waste of time? Well, there’s no need to worry anymore, because The Dollar Vigilante is here to give you the lowdown on how to handle your plight. Be sure to share this information with a friend in the same situation!
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Will Obama Confiscate Guns and Gold? / Politics / Gold and Silver 2013
By: Jeff_Berwick
Wendy McElroy writes: Barack Obama often compares himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt. When he does, gold owners reach for a gun, of which they usually have several. Gold and guns are becoming politically entangled, and a connecting word is often “confiscation.”
The prospect of gun confiscation is fueling discussion of FDR's 1933 nationalization of gold ownership, which resembled Hugo Chavez's nationalization of Venezuelan gold mines in 2011. FDR did so by executive order; Chavez did so by decree. If guns in America are also 'nationalized', then the 1933 gold grab may have insights on how the state could proceed and how American public may react.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
If Europe Were a House… It’d Be Condemned…. / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Graham_Summers
One of the primary focal points of our writing is the corruption that has become endemic to the political and financial elites of the world. When we refer to corruption we are referring to insider deals, cronyism, lies and fraud. Since the Great Crisis began in 2008, these have become the four pillars of the financial system replacing the pillars of trust, transparency, truth and reality that are the true foundation of capitalism and wealth generation.