Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Eurocrats Terrified of Democracy; In Praise of Papandreou's Greece Referendum Decision / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Mike_Shedlock
I do not know what motivated Greek Prime minister George Papandreou to call for a voter referendum on the Greek bailouts (and no one else does either) with the exception of Papandreou himself.
However, there are some rather interesting possibilities (as well as a simple explanation).
The Slog outlines a scenario that Papandreou’s bailout referendum bombshell was inspired by Merkel in order to trigger major losses in French banks, causing France to lose its AAA rating, culminating in a total Merkel victory and German revenge over France.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
China Leverages Electrolytic Manganese Metal Stockpile Monopoly / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
metal over 30 years ago, but so far, the country has not been able to produce any electrolytic manganese (EMM), a critical alloying element. And like rare earths, the US has been sourcing its electrolytic manganese largely from China and small amounts from South Africa. In 2009, China’s production accounted for 95% of the global electrolytic manganese production.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Auf Wiedersehen, Au Revoir, Greece! / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Axel_Merk
Greek Prime Minister Papandreou is throwing in the towel: by calling for a popular vote on austerity measures now, we believe he is almost assured a no vote. This allows Papandreou to say that he tried everything he could to avoid a default, but the people have spoken. Having said that, as we write this analysis, Papandreou appears to be changing his mind and may cancel the idea of a referendum as quickly as it came about. Still, the message is clear: a default is coming.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Global Financial Crash Imminent, MF Global Is The First Of Many! / Politics / Financial Crash
By: Submissions
John Rolls Submits: To all Patriots:
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Russia Rebuilding an Empire While It Can / Politics / Russia
By: STRATFOR
Lauren Goodrich writes: U.S.-Russian relations seem to have been relatively quiet recently, as there are numerous contradictory views in Washington about the true nature of Russia’s current foreign policy. Doubts remain about the sincerity of the U.S. State Department’s so-called “reset” of relations with Russia — the term used in 2009 when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed a reset button to her Russian counterpart as a symbol of a freeze on escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington. The concern is whether the “reset” is truly a shift in relations between the two former adversaries or simply a respite before relations deteriorate again.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
What the World Will Look Like if Occupy Wall Street Wins / Politics / Financial Markets 2011
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald, Chief Investment Strategist writes: There are many reasons why the Occupy Wall Street movement could fail - a lack of cohesion, too many directions, no leadership, not enough money, and no representation, to name a few.
But what if it "succeeds?"
What would our investing landscape look like and what would we do about it?
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Perspectives on the Crisis in Europe / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: John_Mauldin
This week's Outside the Box will be unusual. Rather than one essay, I give you a number of short ones, and links that are representative of the confusion that is Europe, along with a little history. As I noted this weekend, last week's Eurozone announcement was short of details, and very little of the real work had been done. Merkel has to get her own country on board, keep the other nations that are in trouble from demanding haircuts, and keep the markets from trashing Italian and Spanish debt. Berlusconi has to figure out how to get the Italian budget balanced while staying out of jail and "balancing" his social calendar. Maybe he can dollar-cost average with a 70-year-old date? (Sorry, that was snarky, but it is so easy.)
Monday, October 31, 2011
U.S. Leaving Iraq? / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
It is not too often I am pleased by the foreign policy announcements from this administration, but last week's announcement that the war in Iraq was in its final stage and all the troops may be home for Christmas did sound promising. I have long said that we should simply declare victory and come home. It should not have taken us nearly a decade to do so, and it was supposed to be a priority for the new administration. Instead, it will be one of the last things done before the critical re-election campaign gets into full swing. Better late than never, but, examining the fine print, is there really much here to get excited about? Are all of our men and women really coming home, and is Iraq now to regain its sovereignty? And in this time of economic crisis, are we going to stop hemorrhaging money in Iraq? Sadly, it doesn't look that way.
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Monday, October 31, 2011
U.S. Natural Gas Find off Vietnam Could Raise Tensions with China / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
First, the good news...
U.S. oil company ExxonMobil is reporting a "potentially significant" gas discovery off the coast of Vietnam, stating in a press release, "We can confirm ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Vietnam Limited drilled its second exploration well offshore Danang in August 2011 and encountered hydrocarbons."
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Is Economics Worthless Ideology? / Politics / Economic Theory
By: William_Anderson
In fêting the latest recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent, the New York Times editorializes that somehow this is a "victory" for empiricism over theory. Although the editors don't come right out and attack theory, they make their point clear by declaring that the latest award is a "challenge to politicians who are driven more by ideology than by serious consideration of the real-world consequences of their actions." In other words, any worldview that might be influenced by real-live economic theory that reflects human action must be wrong because Sims and Sargent won the Nobel.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Occupying Wall Street 99ers Should Pack up and Get on with Their Lives / Politics / US Politics
By: Douglas_French
The 99 percent occupying Wall Street won't get much satisfaction from J.C. Chandor's Margin Call.
The occupiers want to believe that the 1 percent is Gordon Gekko stepping on their throat. Half the protesters are aged 20–29, highly educated, in hock up to their ears in student-loan debt, and unemployed. Surely this is someone's fault. The 99ers want what Wall Street has to offer: money, power, and a black town car to pick them up and shuttle them to and from work each day.
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Monday, October 31, 2011
How to Lick the Government Budget Deficits / Politics / Government Spending
By: BATR
Government deficits are a way of life in the post republic America. The spending addiction is a plague that swept away the land of the free and the home of the brave. The cultural curse of entitlement ‘rights’ has created a system of mob rule on the bottom of the ladder and champagne wishes and caviar dreams by plutocrat aristocrats. The controllers of the corporatist economy are just as adamant about their ‘right’ to dominate as the unwashed demonstrator defends their latest chanting theme for wealth re-distribution.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Higher Education, Zombified, Parasitic, and Corrupted by Easy Money / Politics / Education
By: Bill_Bonner
When the financial crisis of 2008 hit, we saw how state-managed capitalism works. Favored companies are allowed to make as much money as they can. But they are protected from going broke.
Certain firms are deemed “too big to fail,” by virtue of the key role they play in the economy, or at least by the role they play in a politician’s plans for re-election or future employment. But state-managed capitalism is very different from the real thing. It is capitalism in a degenerate form.
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Resurrection of Eurozone Debt Crisis Imminent? / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: DK_Matai
How fine are the emperor's new clothes? How beautifully spun is the yarn? Eurozone crisis may resurrect in the coming weeks because:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Occupy the Treasury! Reclaim the Monetary System with the NEED Act - HR 2990 / Politics / US Politics
By: Nikki_Alexander
HR 2990 - The National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2011 could be the catalyst for a global renaissance. The NEED Act eliminates private control of the monetary system and restores the government’s Constitutional authority to create money without creating debt and spend it into circulation to rebuild the productive economy.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
America Is a Police State, There is No Longer Any Doubt / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Becky Akers writes: Hard to keep track of what’s illegal these days. The most innocuous deeds can land a serf behind bars even as crimes worthy of a sociopath earn rulers the Nobel Prize.
And so the Feds order some drones to kill American citizens and others to sexually assault them. You might think cops who pretend they joined "the force" to protect rather than lord it over us would hie themselves to DC and collar the criminals preying on us.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
U.S. Debt Day of Reckoning Is Coming, Despite Universal Blindness of the Masses / Politics / US Debt
By: Gary_North
The debt ceiling battle led to a compromise. Congress and the President promised to submit to mandatory budget cuts. A bipartisan super committee was set up to put together a package of debt reduction cuts totaling several trillion dollars over supposedly a decade. If the committee deadlocks, the cuts will begin automatically on January 2, 2013. These must be $1.2 trillion in cuts, or $120 billion a year.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Occupy Wall Street “What’s Your Agenda?" / Politics / US Politics
By: Danny_Schechter
One of the most frequently repeated, recycled and dismissive questions about Occupy Wall Street is its supposed lack of an “agenda.”
The “what do you people want” question has featured in media interviews almost to the exclusion of all others.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Eurozone Bailout Deal: Hold the Cheers / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Stephen_Lendman
More debt agreed on exacerbates an out-of-control problem. Only its final resolution is delayed. The longer crisis conditions continue and grow, the worse they'll be when day of reckoning time arrives.
Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance and punisher of hubris and arrogance in Greek mythology, may have final say.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Carbon Fear And Loathing In Riyadh / Politics / Crude Oil
By: Andrew_McKillop
A little trip to Riyadh is interesting. There, young western educated planners and cadres are all rigorously indoctrinated, or self-indoctrinated with Postcarbon Sustainability themes and memes. All government agencies are full of them. The holy city of Mecca now boasts an urban rail system able to carry 60 000 passengers per hour, and Saudi railway boomers intend to rival American and Russia railway builders of the 19th century, with 2400 miles of rail track currently under construction. To be sure, the main goal is replacing and substituting oil in the Saudi economy. In their colorful powerpoints, the Postcarbon Prophets of the Kingdom show these rail networks lined by Super Grids fed with clean green energy from huge windfarms and glistening solar power plants, miraculously protected from airborne sandstorm grit and stones. Whatever it is, Future Energy is not oil.