Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Tariffs “Trump” Tax Cuts / Politics / Protectionism
By: Michael_Pento
China appears to have more to lose from a trade war with the US simply because the math behind surpluses and deficits renders the Bubble Blowers in Beijing at a big disadvantage. When you get right down to the nuclear option in a trade war, Trump could impose tariffs on all of the $505 billion worth of Chinese exported goods, while Premier Xi can only impose a duty on $129 billion worth of US exported goods--judging by the announcement on July 10thh of additional tariffs on $200 billion more of China’s exports to the US we are well underway towards that end. However, this doesn’t mean China completely runs out of ammunition to fight the battle once it hits that limit.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
The Rise and Fall of Global Trade – Redux / Politics / Protectionism
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Ilargi: Someone linked to this almost 8 year old article from Nicole (July 19 2010), on Twitter. And yes, it’s even more relevant now than it was when she wrote it. So here’s a re-run:
… the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 in the US, which drastically raised tariffs on imports, lead to retaliation by trading partners, and the resulting trade war dropped global trade by 66% between 1929 and 1934.
One more comment from me: Trump may be on to something with some of his tariff actions, but he risks having the US run headfirst into the brittleness of just-in-time supply lines.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Failure of US Supreme Court Opinions / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
Now that Brett Kavanaugh has been selected by President Trump to be the next Supreme Court Justice, the gladiator games of the confirmation process begins. Much of the attention will focus on the bitter hysteria that the Never Trump lunatics exhibit as they regress even further into denial. Those supporters who demand a Living Constitution are in a panic. They see the gains they have made over decades are fading with a court of Originalists and fear that Textualism will become the standard for the Supreme Court. The self-proclaimed enlightened zealots contend they are social justice warriors. In actuality they protect the corrupt institutions, practices and policies that progressives profess they oppose.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
America a Nation Built on Lies / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men — men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” – Ellen G. White
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
A Public Bank for Los Angeles? City Council Puts It to the Voters / Politics / Banking Stocks
By: Ellen_Brown
Voters in Los Angeles will be the first in the country to weigh in on a public banking mandate, after the City Council agreed on June 29th to put a measure on the November ballot that would allow the city to form its own bank. The charter for the nation’s second-largest city currently prohibits the creation of industrial or commercial enterprises by the city without voter approval. The measure, introduced by City Council President Herb Wesson, would allow the city to create a public bank, although state and federal law hurdles would still need to be cleared.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
As Trade Wars Broaden, Europe Is the Key to Future / Politics / Protectionism
By: Dan_Steinbock
As the Trump White House has started the “biggest trade war” in history, diplomatic activity is escalating from the transatlantic axis to China and the EU – America’s next tariff target. After the meeting of China and Central and East European (CEE) countries in Sofia, Bulgaria, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang rushed to the fifth round of intergovernmental consultations between China and Germany.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, July 09, 2018
Brexit Gross Incompetence / Politics / BrExit
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Here’s the lowdown: the EU’s single market mechanism dictates freedom of movement for labor, capital, services and goods. These are not divisible; you cannot have one without the other. Still, that’s precisely what Theresa May, again, is proposing. She basically wants to keep the UK in the single market for goods, and make other arrangements for the rest. The EU will not accept that because it could have 27 other countries coming with their own versions of single market à la carte.
Friday, July 06, 2018
Trump Destroying US Empire in Trade War Against China, Europe and Canada / Politics / China US Conflict
By: Nadeem_Walayat
And so the Trade War begins as Trump delivers on his 'America First' election slogan where at the top of his agenda is for a destructive Trade War against not just China but the whole world, which Trump sees as correcting decades of erroneous US trade policies that saw the Chinese totalitarian state literally handed trillions of dollars to invest in it's civil and military infrastructure, modernising it's third world economy at an unprecedented lightening speed, trillions of dollars coupled with valuable intellectual property stolen from the West that has put China on the fast track towards ultimately threatening US global supremacy with their own Empire that Trump chaotically has tasked himself towards preventing.
Thursday, July 05, 2018
The United States of Terror! / Politics / US Military
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Two recent articles* have again demonstrated that the greatest “terrorist” entity on earth is not the bogymen – Russia, China, Iran, North Korea – so often portrayed by Western presstitudes and the American government, but the United States itself! Ever since World War II, the US has been the most militaristic, far surpassing all of the Communist and dictatorial regimes combined.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Nanny State: A Permit Patty and BBQ Becky In Every Neighborhood / Politics / Social Issues
By: Jeff_Berwick
Who needs paramilitary police with the legal authority to shoot you at will, when you’ve got crazy citizens like Permit Patty?
It seems like a disturbing new trend: the rise of busybody code-enforcers. Or, as I call it, slave-on-slave crime.
It’s also called Stockholm Syndrome. These miserable victims of the state have learned to take pride in reinforcing the matrix of arbitrary rules and regulations that make life more difficult for us all.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Independence From What? / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There’s something wonderfully -though at the same time sadly- ironic in simultaneously contemplating America’s Independence Day and Greece’s NO! (OXI!) vote three years ago that was subsequently defeated by it own prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, at the behest of the European Union’s powers that be.
Where Americans managed to break free of their yoke in 1776, the Greeks did not. Indeed, they were betrayed by their own. There are certainly plenty of similarities with the Declaration of Independence to be made, plenty voices and forces that sought to defeat the Founding Fathers. In the end, the result is simple: the Americans succeeded in breaking free, the Greeks did not.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 03, 2018
Trump Racks Up More Wins – The Rising Deficit Isn’t One of Them / Politics / US Debt
By: MoneyMetals
President Trump is winning on a number of fronts, and American conservatives are feeling better about their prospects than they have for a very long time.
Trump supporters are cheering an imminent shift in the balance at the Supreme Court. The President is expected to nominate a justice who respects the constitution to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy. This legacy promises to endure for decades.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, July 02, 2018
England's Lucky Path to Football World Cup Final at Russia 2018 / Politics / Spread Betting
By: N_Walayat
My following video illustrates why England could be set to reach the Football World Cup Finals in Russia, all curtesy of lady luck that has presented England witht he easiest path to football victory in 50 years! The betting markets have also acknowledged this good fortune with odds greatly tightening, currently putting England at 11/10 against Colombia whilst England are at 7 to 1 to win the World Cup (oddschecker), more in my following video:
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, July 02, 2018
Mexico’s Historical Election and Obrador’s Triumph / Politics / Mexico
By: Dan_Steinbock
For decades, the specter of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has haunted Mexico’s ruling elites. After July 1, his coalition triumph - after years of contested elections - could change the country’s domestic, regional, even international policies.For a year or two, international media touted the neoliberal reforms of President Enrique Peña Nieto. However, as the “reform” narrative has proved hollow, Nieto’s approval rating has plunged from almost 50 percent to barely 10 percent. So the media narrative has been revised it by downplaying Nieto but focusing on the flawed portrayal of Obrador as Mexico’s Chávez who will undermine Mexico’s future.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Climate Change Armageddon / Politics / Climate Change
By: Richard_Mills
In Winnipeg, the hottest day of the year, on average, is nearly 40 degrees Celsius, while in Whitehorse, the mercury blasts past 31.4. A moderating coastal climate means little to Victoria, which averages 33.1 degrees, and Toronto, the most humid city in Canada, becomes even less bearable, with the temperature climbing to a sweltering 38.4.
These are the average hottest temperatures of the year in the new Canada, based on a higher-carbon atmosphere, one of three scenarios put together by The Prairie Climate Centre and graphed by The Globe and Mail in April. For Winnipeg, better known in summer for black flies than sun burns, that’s 4.8 degrees higher than the recent past, 4.5 degrees hotter in Victoria, and 4.9 degrees steamier in Toronto.
If climate change doesn’t stop, Hogtown (Toronto) will see over 100 days of searing-hot weather, according to the University of Winnipeg’s Prairie Climate Institute, which assembled the projected temperatures for Canadian cities as part of an interactive website that allows Canadians to see the likely impact of global warming on where they live. In the graph below, recent past means 1976-2005, while the future, both lower- and higher-carbon, refers to the years 2051-80.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Migration Crisis Boomeranging / Politics / Immigration
By: Raul_I_Meijer
There is no migration crisis, said an article in Toronto’s Globe and Mail a few days ago. French President Emmanuel Macron followed up over the weekend with “there is no migrant crisis”. Really? If this is not a crisis, what is? Yes, numbers of refugees landing in Europe are down from 2015. But it’s not a numbers game. It’s about people.
If Angela Merkel’s political career is forced to a close next week because the EU cannot agree on a unified refugee policy, will they call it a crisis then? Oh wait, both Macron and the G&M agree that there is a crisis, just not a migration one. No, “the crisis is political opportunism”.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Open Borders Nihilism / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
The nihilists that have debased our popular culture are composed of leftist hypocrite's hell bent on destroying our country. Hollywood weird is one of the most perverted lineage examples of tribal interlopers who produced the entertainment industry. No one should be surprised when the privileged rapists of our civilization become the loudest exponents of open borders. While they reside in gated citadels they depend on their feudal serfs to do the manual labor and chores to maintain the fantasy land existence in their virtual reality castles.
Imposing the purity of progressive intolerance upon the deplorables is written into film screenplays, TV series and music videos. The guardians for a utopian sanctuary society have no room to mix with family oriented producing citizens. The goal for the beautiful people is to eradicate the middle class and open the flood dikes to gate-crashers so that the tech obsessed and media elites can strip the nation of its independence and self-determination.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Outrage at What the United States is doing to Children Across the World! / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Yes, you have every right to be outraged at the disgraceful treatment of children on America’s borders. But that does not give you the right to NOT be outraged by what America has done and is today still doing to children in, just to name a few places, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Be outraged, but don’t make it an echo chamber issue. Because if you do, you, too, are in a cage.
So if you see the wives of former presidents speak out about the child separation policies, ask yourself where they get the moral authority to speak out on such issues, after their husbands have bombed the crap out of many countries, killing many many children in the process. And don’t let’s get started about Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Climate Change and Fish Stocks – Burning Oxygen! / Politics / Climate Change
By: Richard_Mills
University of British Columbia students combed through studies of fish in the North Sea. Their results were surprising - some species are getting smaller due to warmer waters. That causes lower oxygen concentrations in the water, resulting in fish burning energy faster. Larger fish species can’t get enough oxygen to keep up with the higher metabolism, meaning they mature at a smaller size, explained Science magazine.
A story in IRIN, a blog about environmental and other crises, describes the “perfect storm” that is occurring in the oceans due to overfishing and climate change. The result could mean a dramatic decline in fish stocks, with the most serious affect being malnutrition in poor countries in tropical climates that depend on fishing as a protein staple.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Trump - See? Now You Did It! / Politics / UK Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
This is something I’ve commented on many times. Like two months ago, when I wrote:
Read full article... Read full article...“As for Donald Trump, as much as we would like to engage in constructive criticism of the man and his government, we find we no longer can. The anti-Trump echo-chamber has turned so deafening that any intelligent debate about his policies is being drowned out amid the never ending flow of fake news and half truths and innuendo and empty smears that US media continue to spout. With a brief lull when the bombs fell on Syria.