Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
The Real Price of LNG, Climate Change, Coming Fracking Environmental Disaster / Politics / Climate Change
By: Richard_Mills
“This is a spectacular day for all British Columbians, again not one that happened today, not one that happened yesterday but one that has happened over the past few decades. I can’t tell you how proud and pleased I am to have the opportunity to lead the government to work with all levels of government to make life better for British Columbians. I can’t stop smiling.”
That was John Horgan, the Premier of British Columbia, declaring his support for, what, a plan to tackle unaffordable housing? Ending the fentanyl crisis? A major infrastructure project that will lower the frustration of Lower Mainland commuters?
No, what Premier Horgan was smiling about on October 2nd, was the signing of a final investment decision by LNG Canada. Flanked by industry leaders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Horgan said that despite belching out 3.45 megatonnes of carbon emissions a year, BC would meet its climate change goals of cutting greenhouses gases by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. The Pembina Institute estimates that between LNG Canada and Woodfibre LNG, the other, so far, approved BC liquefied natural gas project, the plants will increase annual carbon pollution by 9.1 megatonnes by 2030 and 10.2MG by 2050. But the targets will be met, somehow. Trust us.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Deep State Mad World / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take When people run in circles it’s a very very Mad world, mad world
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Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Betting Markets Confirm Theresa May Safe From Tory Leadership Challenge this Week / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Last week Theresa May's disastrous BrExit deal with the European Union was released, one of having watered down virtually every British red line to nothing, that set the ball rolling on a Tory party leadership challenge with dozens of public announcements of letters being sent to the Tory 1922 backbenchers committee with 48 needed to trigger a challenge. My analysis at the time concluded with several possible BrExiteer contenders ready to take back control from the European Union with a Clean Brexit rather than the NO Brexit deal as my following video illustrates:
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Tuesday, November 20, 2018
The Giants Are Coming...Giants of The Internet! / Politics / Internet
By: D_Morgan
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Sunday, November 18, 2018
Next Tory Leader, Prime Minister Forecast and Betting Market Odds / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain is counting down to a change of Prime Minister following the release of Theresa May's disastrous 'brexit deal' where nearly every British red line has been watered down towards nothing in what amounts to a 585 page suicide note that triggered Tory MP's to start sending letters to the party's 1922 committee where the requirement is for a minimum of 48 letters to trigger a leadership contest that will likely be announced sometime next week as I have covered at length in the following article and video.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
World Trade Organization At Risk / Politics / Global Economy
By: Dan_Steinbock
In the past two years, the Trump administration has started trade wars against China, its major trade partners, and security allies. In the absence of united opposition by advanced and emerging economies, the next target will be the World Trade Organization.As the White House began to escalate the U.S.-Sino trade war last April, President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro was asked on CNN whether the United States is planning to leave the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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Saturday, November 17, 2018
NO DEAL HARD BrExit Tory Chaos, Theresa May Leadership Challenge / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain is likely counting down to towards the END of Theresa May's premiership who has been a walking disaster since Article 50 was triggered in March 2017, and who has likely DELIBERATELY WASTED the past 18 months in doing an exit deal with the EU Devil that effectively KEEPs the UK within the EU!, a deal where nearly every British red line has been watered down towards nothing in what amounts to a 585 page suicide note, one of virtually delivering Britain on a platter to the European Union Mafia which from the outset had sought to extract a heavy price from Britain such a Euro 50 billion divorce bill, free movement of people, Northern Ireland effectively split from the rest of the UK and over 500 pages more of similar poison, all in exchange for Britain to remain within a customs union for a few more years.
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Friday, November 16, 2018
Will The Fed Sacrifice Retirement Portfolio Values For The "Common Good"? / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Dan_Amerman
Martin Feldstein, who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan and is currently a Harvard professor, wrote an extraordinary editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which he strongly advocated that the Federal Reserve pursue policies that would: 1) continue to raise interest rates; and 2) thereby pop asset bubbles in the stock and commercial real estate markets; 3) which would cause an estimated $9+ trillion in investor losses; 4) possibly lead to another recession and the accompanying major job losses; and 5) would be followed by forcing interest rates down again to near historic lows.
Now, the eminently respectable Professor Feldstein and other mainstream economists are not intentionally trying to hurt investors, that is not the reason to raise rates. Quite the reverse, this is all supposed to be for our own good, and the intentions are to over the long term help economic growth and create healthier investment markets.
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Friday, November 16, 2018
BrExit War - Tory Party About to Replace Theresa May for NO DEAL BrExit / Politics / BrExit
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain is possibly counting down to towards the END of Theresa May's premiership who has been a walking disaster since Article 50 was triggered in March 2017, and who has likely DELIBERATELY WASTED the past 18 months in doing an exit deal with the EU Devil that effectively KEEPs the UK within the EU!, a deal where nearly every British red line has been watered down towards nothing in what amounts to a 585 page suicide note, one of virtually delivering Britain on a platter to the European Union Mafia which from the outset had sought to extract a heavy price from Britain such a Euro 50 billion divorce bill, free movement of people, Northern Ireland effectively split from the rest of the UK and over 500 pages more of similar poison, all in exchange for Britain to remain within a customs union for a few more years.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
US Economy Ten Points or Ten Miles to ‘Bridge Out’? / Politics / US Politics
By: Andy_Sutton
In what has already been a very interesting week, we’ve witnessed distractions galore. Allegations of election fraud by pretty much everyone except the people who should be winning some of these elections if Americans truly wanted a different future. We already digress. Cognitive dissonance is fully on display. Just below the surface has been the buzz about DeutscheBank – probably the biggest elephant in the room right now. Well, check that. Make it the second biggest elephant. It’s been propped up for nearly a small dog’s life by powers that know if DB folds, their plans to consolidate more wealth from the small people of the world would be disturbed and they’d have to run Act III. Maybe, like QE, there are many more Acts yet to unfold.
It is a pretty certain bet that absolutely nothing will be done to change America’s destiny for the next two years thanks to a gridlocked government. Not that it had been doing much to change destiny anyway. There are certain ironies here, which are so rich, we’ve been compelled to write them down for perhaps another day, but not this one. Dragging names into this will only cause people to shut down, mentally running into their corner in the biggest binary brain battle ever.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Nationalists and Patriots / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
If and when a former Rothschild banker starts telling us what the words in our respective languages actually mean, beware. Even if he has dozens of professional speech writers and spin doctors to do it for him. And even if the meaning and interpretation of words, though they may seem easily translatable, differ between English, French, German, Russian, Chinese to such an extent that Lost in Translation may appear to be an understatement.
But if you’re that Rothschild banker who became president of France through a process that nobody will ever understand, and you host the 100th commemoration of perhaps the worst war ever in history, to be ‘celebrated’ with ‘leaders’ none of whom have exhibited any memory through their actions of the ‘This must never happen again’ that the war ended with, you can expect to get away with bending both history and language.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Mike Pompeo and John Bolton: Trump’s Tag Team of Death and Destruction! / Politics / US Politics
By: Antonius_Aquinas
With the welcome departure of war mongering UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the Trump Administration’s neocon tag team of death and destruction – Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor (NSA), John Bolton – have enthusiastically taken up where the repellent Haley has left off. It is highly doubtful that the former Ambassador will meekly return from under the rock in which she crawled, but will reappear possibly as a primary challenger to her former boss in 2020, and, most certainly, as a Presidential contender in 2024.
Last week, Messrs Pompeo and Bolton were dutifully carrying forth Haley’s promises of mayhem to anyone opposed to US hegemony even if those “enemies” have never taken hostile action against the US mainland. Of course, threats and attacks against nations which have done nothing to America have never much mattered to the foreign policy establishment!
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Monday, November 12, 2018
What Is the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans? / Politics / US Politics
By: Barry_M_Ferguson
In Minnesota, democrat Keith Ellison had domestic assault charges lodged against him. His accuser filed a police report and exhibited bruising around her face. The accuser’s own adult son verified the assault. The voters of Minnesota elected Mr. Ellison as their attorney general.
In New York’s District 14, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won the unopposed House of Representative seat after republicans withdrew support of their candidate, Anthony Pappas. Why? Mr. Pappas was accused of domestic violence. Apparently ‘believe the women’ only applies to democratic women with an ax to grind against republicans. So, logically, accusations lodged by women are fungible and dependent on political affiliation?
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Sunday, November 11, 2018
The Los Angeles Measure for a City-owned Bank -- A Valiant Effort! / Politics / Banking Stocks
By: Ellen_Brown
I've gotten inquiries on the outcome of the Los Angeles ballot measure to approve a city-owned bank , so thought I would send a quick update. Unfortunately it did not pass, but it did get 42 percent of the vote. It was a remarkable outcome considering that the dynamic young Public Bank LA advocacy group effectively only had a month to educate 4 million voters on what a public bank is and why passing the measure was a good idea. If they had had another month, the bill could well have passed.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2018
The Fourth Turning & War Of The Worlds / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – The Fourth Turning– Strauss & Howe
The paragraph above captures everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen during this Fourth Turning. It was written over two decades ago, but no one can deny its accuracy regarding our present situation. The spark was a financial crash. The response to the financial crash by the financial and governmental entities, along with their Deep State co-conspirators who created the financial collapse due to their greed and malfeasance, led to the incomprehensible election of Donald Trump, as the deplorables in flyover country evoked revenge upon the corrupt establishment.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2018
Trump's War on the Fed / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Ellen_Brown
October was a brutal month for the stock market. After the Federal Reserve’s eighth interest rate hike, on Sept. 26, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 2,000 points, and the NASDAQ had its worst month in nearly 10 years. After the Dow lost more than 800 points on Oct. 10 and the S&P 500 suffered its first weeklong losing streak since Trump’s election, the president said, “I think the Fed is making a mistake. They are so tight. I think the Fed has gone crazy.” In a later interview on Fox News, he called the Fed’s rate hikes “loco.” And in a Wall Street Journal interview published on Oct. 24, Trump said he thought the biggest risk to the economy was the Federal Reserve, because “interest rates are being raised too quickly.” He also criticized the Fed and its chairman in July and August.
Monday, November 05, 2018
Is President Trump Right About the Fed? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Harry_Dent
While Larry Kudlow (Treasury Secretary and Chief Economic Cheerleader) assures us that Trump is NOT interfering with the Fed, our dear president has proclaimed that our Central Bank is “crazy” for raising rates.From his, ahem, unique world view, he believes they’re trying to wreck his new gravy train economy… the one he created with major tax cuts ($1.5 trillion), major repatriations from overseas ($2 trillion), deregulation, and a lot of positive talk about 4% to 5% growth again…
But, with no fear of sounding like a broken record: sustaining growth rates at that level are demographically IMPOSSIBLE!
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Sunday, November 04, 2018
The USMCA Quest for ‘America First' World Trade / Politics / Protectionism
By: Dan_Steinbock
The era of post-1945 multilateralism is fading. After the revised NAFTA, Trump's dream is U.S.-dominated world trade and the ‘America First’ Asian Century, says Dan Steinbock. President Trump seeks to redefine all major free trade agreements on the basis of U.S. economic and geopolitical leverage.
In these efforts, the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) is likely to serve as a blueprint.
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Saturday, November 03, 2018
Saudis Might Embrace A 'Take-The-Money-And-Run' Strategy Post Khashoggi / Politics / Saudi Arabia
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, oil prices have plunged by 11.92%. Just today, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) shed 4.56%. At present, WTI is trading at $66.05/bbl. That’s well below the high for the past year of $76.90. It’s also well below my forecast for the year’s end price of $75/bbl.
To shed some light on what might be driving the crude oil market, let’s use the flickering candle of the economics of production. The economic production rate for oil is determined by the following equation: P - V = MC, where P is the current market price of a barrel of oil, V is the present value of a barrel of reserves, and MC is the marginal recovery cost of a barrel of oil.
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Thursday, November 01, 2018
Trump Is America’s National Piñata / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s been quite a while since I first wrote that I resented the MSM (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC etc etc) for effectively monopolizing the entire discussion about Donald Trump. Don’t remember exactly when I wrote that, do remember Jim Kunstler sent a mail and thanked me for saying it. Because he felt- and feels- the same way.
The 24/7 daily Trump bashing machine that was unleashed in late 2015/early 2016 meant that people like us had a choice of criticizing Trump where he needed to be criticized, but that would put us in the MSM camp, where we don’t want to be. And we don’t want to not criticize him either, because there’s so much that needs scrutiny.
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