Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
U.S. and European Fiscal Ticking Time Bombs, Whose Fuse is Shorter? / Politics / Government Spending
By: Peter_Schiff
With fiscal time bombs ticking in both Europe and the United States, the pertinent question for now seems to be which will explode first. For much of the past few months it looked as if Europe was set to blow. But Angela Merkel's refusal to support a Federal Reserve style bailout of European sovereigns and her recent statement the she had no Hank Paulson style fiscal bazooka in her handbag, has lowered the heat. In contrast, the utter failure of the Congressional Super Committee in the United States to come up with any shred of success in addressing America's fiscal problems has sparked a renewed realization that America's fuse is dangerously short.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
We Are All Keynesians Now - Except Me / Politics / US Debt
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
If you want federal debt reduction, you are going to get it Super-Committee "failure" or not. The recent debt-ceiling legislation calls for $1.0 trillion less-than-otherwise federal spending over the next 10 years. The "trigger" calls for $1.2 trillion less-than-otherwise federal spending over the next 10 years. And, with the return to the Clinton-era personal tax rates for all household income groups on January 1, 2013, revenues will increase by $3.5 trillion more-than-otherwise over the next 10 years. So, that is $5.7 trillion of less federal debt issuance than otherwise over the next 10 years. Now, that's what I would call a grand bargain. And don't forget, unless Congress acts before yearend 2011, an extra $168 billion of federal debt that otherwise would have been issued won't be because of an expiring FICA tax "holiday" (just in time for the holidays?) and the expiration of extended unemployment insurance benefits. The U.S. as the next Greece? I beg your pardon. Try Canada, eh?
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Horrible Bosses, Pitchforks & Torches / Politics / Social Issues
By: D_Sherman_Okst
If you haven’t seen the movie “Horrible Bosses” I’d recommend that you do. Please see it. Go enjoy yourself. As bad as things are getting it is incredible to realize that we can still laugh.
And trust me, you’ll laugh hard at this movie.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Super-Committee is Dead, Long Live the Debt! / Politics / US Debt
By: PhilStockWorld
In case you are voting in the next election – here are 12 people to get rid of. Much as I may blame one party over another for this failure, they all deserve what’s coming to them for A) Pretending they were going to accomplish something and B) For not now getting up and making very strong statements denouncing the corruption in politics that make it impossible for Congress to do the Nation’s business anymore.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Financial Crisis and an Interimly Limited Nationalism / Politics / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Submissions
Mark Blair writes: Again, readers, I’m writing about a Big Picture Issue; but again, there is immediate sub-issue relevance. Again, I beg your pardon for my ignorance of your field.
There’s an old Arab proverb that goes: ‘My brother and me against my cousin; my cousin and me against the stranger.’ The proverb provides sharp insight into human relations, particularly what anthropologists call ‘reciprocity,’ which concerns the relation between kinship, trust (contracts, if you will), and the apportionment of resource.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Syria, Iran and the Balance of Power in the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
U.S. troops are in the process of completing their withdrawal from Iraq by the end-of-2011 deadline. We are now moving toward a reckoning with the consequences. The reckoning concerns the potential for a massive shift in the balance of power in the region, with Iran moving from a fairly marginal power to potentially a dominant power. As the process unfolds, the United States and Israel are making countermoves. We have discussed all of this extensively. Questions remain whether these countermoves will stabilize the region and whether or how far Iran will go in its response.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Why America Hates Congress / Politics / US Politics
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
Everybody knows that screwing up a critical assignment at work will almost surely get you fired.
That is, unless you work as a member of the U.S. Congress.
After more than two months of bickering, the six Republicans and six Democrats on the "super committee" tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion debt reduction savings over the next decade have thrown in the towel.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Russia Ups Ante with Caspian Neighbors by Moving Offshore / Politics / Russia
By: OilPrice_Com
On 16 November in Astrakhan Lukoil president, Vagit Alekperov told journalists that his company will spend over $16 billion over the next decade to develop the country's Caspian offshore Korchagin and Filanovskii oil and natural gas fields in the Caspian, at the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Astrakhan Region.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Ron Paul on the Congressional Super Committee on Federal Budget Spending Cuts / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
This week marks the deadline for the so-called congressional Super Committee to meet its goal of cutting a laughably small amount of federal spending over the next decade. In fact the Committee merely needs to cut about $120 billion annually from the federal budget over the next 10 years to meet its modest goals, but even this paltry amount has produced hand-wringing and hysteria on Capitol Hill. This is only cutting proposed increases. It has nothing to do with actually cutting anything. This shows how unserious politicians are about our very serious debt problems.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
World Government, Currency and the Bilderberg Group / Politics / Conspiracy Theory
By: Sam_Chee_Kong
“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had man’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlock, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” By President Woodrow Wilson on The New Freedom
Monday, November 21, 2011
Baby Boomer Blindness, Forget Retirement / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Gary_North
"MarketWatch" ran an article on the attitudes of retired Americans ages 55 to 75. The title is accurate: "Retirees are confident, but workers can't retire." But the subtitle points to the problem facing these people: "Retirees' finances recover, but one-in-four workers plan to work until 80."
The article reports on two surveys. The first is a survey of over 1,500 retirees in 2008 and 2011. These people had $100,000 or more of investable assets in 2008. Age range: 55 to 75. Think about this. Some of these people had retired at age 55. This is surely not a normal segment of the population. Second, they had at least $100,000 to invest. Is this sample representative of retired Americans?
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Obama’s Trans-Pacific Free Trade Partnership Disaster / Politics / Protectionism
By: Ian_Fletcher
Will America ever learn?
No, I guess not.
After the failed promises of NAFTA, a job-destroying trade deficit that has burgeoned despite a long series of free-trade agreements, and ever-more-aggressive foreign mercantilism, we’re plowing ahead with even more of these agreements.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
What are the Consequences of a Eurozone Break-up? / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: DK_Matai
"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." That was Churchill in a speech to the House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster in London on November 12, 1936, as clouds darkened over Europe, three years before the outbreak of the Second World War. Dark clouds are now hovering once again over Europe in regard to the single currency, eurozone sovereign defaults and an interlinked banking crisis. This is not going to take three years.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Will David Cameron Sell UK Down the EU River of Worthless Promises to Join the Euro? / Politics / UK Politics
By: Mike_Shedlock
The UK had been expected to have a voter referendum on proposed EU treaty changes. The EU of course does not want voter referendums or anything that look remotely democratic as we have seen by actions in Greece and Italy.
Deal or No Deal?
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Dealing with Despots: Sanctions Make Things Worse, Case in point Iran / Politics / Middle East
By: Andrew_Butter
The stupidest OP-ED I’ve read all year was a recent column in the New York Times:
The sale of oil — about 2.3 million barrels are exported every day — accounts for more than 50 percent of Iran’s national budget. Under current American law, the importation of Iranian oil is prohibited, but gasoline refined from Iranian petroleum is not. Sanctions obviously need to hit this industry harder.
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
UK Government Sells Northern Rock for Approx £20 billion Loss to Virgin Money / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Nadeem_Walayat
This weeks mainstream media coverage in the UK of the sale of the bankrupt bailed out Northern Rock to Virgin Money for approx £1 billion against a £1.4 billion cost to the tax payer for a net loss of approx £400million as illustrated by the Daily Mail and the BBC's Robertt Preston telling us that the tax payer has got a good deal is WRONG.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Germany and France Divided: End of The Road for The Euro? New Beginning for the Deutsche Mark? / Politics / Euro
By: DK_Matai
1. Divisions between Germany and France have widened significantly in regard to a common Eurozone solution as borrowing costs outside of Germany rise to euro-era records;
2. The German government is standing firm in its opposition to deploying the European Central Bank (ECB) for the bailout of faltering Eurozone sovereigns;
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Friday, November 18, 2011
The Symbiotic Relationship of Feds and Insiders / Politics / Central Banks
By: Bill_Bonner
Yesterday when the markets closed the price of oil was only 66 cents shy of $100. What a come back. We expected oil, stocks and gold to sink down deep…and not come back for a long time. So far, we’re wrong a about that. People are still sending money to Wall Street to buy stocks and gold.
Where is all this money mail coming from? We don’t know exactly, but there are foreign stamps on many of the envelopes. Foreign stock markets are down. Many of the leading foreign bonds are down too. Investors look at Italy; they see Vesuvius. They look at France; they see Dunkirk. They look India; they see a Black Hole.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Police State vs. Occupy Wall Street, This Is Not Going To End Well / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Right now, we are watching the early rounds of a heavyweight fight between two extremely determined opponents. Occupy Wall Street has no plans of losing this fight and neither do law enforcement authorities. Perhaps those running the show actually believed that raiding Zuccotti Park and more than a dozen other "Occupy camps" around the nation would end these protests, but that is just not going to happen. Whatever your opinion of Occupy Wall Street is, everyone should be able to agree that this is one dedicated bunch. They are absolutely obsessed with their cause and in response to the recent raid on Zuccotti Park organizers are calling for “a national day of direct action” on Thursday. But if Occupy Wall Street protesters want to take things to "the next level", they should not underestimate the resolve of the police state. Over the past decade, the homeland security apparatus of the federal government has been slowly but surely turning this country into a "Big Brother" police state.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Bankster Conspiracy for a United States of Europe / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: LewRockwell
Jim Davies writes: It's fascinating to watch the unfolding shambles in Europe, rather like observing, from a nearby lifeboat, the Titanic slowly but inexorably slipping under the water. "Expert" predictions are either gloomy or non-credible; either the EU will break up or its currency will collapse, or both. The dominoes are poised to tumble. But recently, a whisper has been heard about a rather different possible outcome. Conspiracists will leap at the chance to say the crisis was planned for that purpose.