Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Credit Storm in Europe, Politics on Capital Hill / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Mike_Whitney
Credit market turmoil in the Eurozone has ignited frenzied trading on global markets. On Tuesday, shares tumbled nearly 300 points on the Dow Jones before launching an unconvincing 257-point late-day comeback. Wednesday the mayhem continued; all the major indexes seesawed wildly as positive news on durable goods was nixed by reports on wobbly EU banks. Erratic selling pushed the S&P down to 1,067 while the Dow slipped below 10,000 for the first time since February 7.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Why Bank Regulators Can’t Tell A Dead Parrot From A “Resting” One / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Andrew_Butter
Caught this one via Edward Harrison on the tedious business of bank regulation, capital adequacy, and other such delightful subjects, ideal for anyone who can stomach more discussion on something that many (particularly central banks and regulators), would prefer to be just swept under the carpet.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Californian Cities L.A., Antioch Going Bankrupt / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
Bankruptcy talk is heating up in California with the city of Antioch on the front burner. Please consider Bankruptcy talk spreads among California municipal officials.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 28, 2010
Mysterious Money Supply Discrepancies, Government Cover-up Full Horror / Politics / Money Supply
By: LewRockwell
Richard Daughty writes: Being an inveterate conspiracy theorist who is absolutely convinced that the government is full of morons, lunatics and traitors, not to mention legions of hired goons with badges, and who have, I maintain, been hovering above my house in an invisible helicopter to shoot thought-control rays into my brain all the time (zzzt!) so that now all I can hear is voices in my head urging me to “Burn! Burn everything!”
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Fine Print of Central Banking Money Printing / Politics / Central Banks
By: MISES
Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan writes: Since the rise of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has become a superstar of sorts. It frequently makes headline news, whether due to some type of utility shortage, some political scandal, or a corruption case. The most common perception of Venezuela is one of economic peril. Indeed, analysts have been predicting the government's collapse since at least 2007. While Chavez's Venezuela has survived so far, most agree that its economy limps on one leg and that default is only a matter of time.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Obama Impotent As Wall Street Criminals Are Given A Free Pass And Watered Down Reforms / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Danny_Schechter
We now know that it was the Obama Administration led by the President himself who used techniques well understood and denounced decades earlier by none other than Mao TseTung.
Mao had no use for those who talked left to move right.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Chairman Alan Greenspan, A Fiat Mind for a Fiat Age / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
A speech delivered at the Ludwig von Mises Institute Conference: "Austrian Economics and the Financial Markets," held at the University Club in New York City, May 22, 2010. Comments in brackets and italics were cut from talk due to time constraints. The speech can be heard in the "Interviews" section of the AuContrarian.com website, and, on the Ludwig von Mises website along with those of other conference speakers.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Tobin Tax Plan Wall Street Hates … But Can’t Seem to Kill / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently came out in favor of a "Tobin tax" - a small tax on financial transactions, proportionate to the size of the transaction. The Tobin tax idea also has been proposed by Britain's former prime minister, Gordon Brown, and was proposed in Congress by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
What's Really Wrong with the U.S. Health Care Industry / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Vijay_Boyapati
On May 3, 2010, I gave a talk to a class of students studying public health policy at the University of Washington. I began the talk by asking the students how many of them believed that the current healthcare system in America was flawed; everyone in the class raised their hand. I then asked how many of them believed that the recently passed healthcare legislation, supported by President Obama, was a step in the right direction in reforming America's healthcare system. Once again, everyone raised their hand.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Property Rights, Liberty, and Immigration / Politics / US Politics
By: LewRockwell
Glenn Jacobs writes: Libertarian philosophy is based on the concept of self-ownership. Human beings own themselves. When we rightfully acquire property, either by making first claim to that property (homesteading) or through voluntary transfer with another person or persons, that property becomes part of our lives, and thus we lay claim to ownership of that property as we would our own bodies.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Television, The Reason Why Asia Will Overtake America / Politics / US Politics
By: Gary_North
Asians manufacture cheap televisions and sophisticated home theater audio systems. Americans buy them. Then we use them, expensively. The cost in forfeited productivity of watching television is greater than any other single waste factor in the West's economy. The only thing that comes close is Web media. TV consumes on average 4 to 5 hours a day of every American's life. The statistics are really amazing.
Web-based time consumption is catching up, especially among teenagers. Teens spend between 7 and 8 hours a day on media-related leisure.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
U.S. Recession Breeds Escalating Violent Crime / Politics / US Politics
By: Janet_Tavakoli
The Wall Street Journal reported that violent crime is down in the big cities in the U.S., saying this breaks the pattern between economic downturns and an increase in crime. Supposedly this is because policing has advanced, not because human nature has changed. I do not believe the article is plausible.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
BP Gulf Oil Spill Puts U.S. Energy Bill on Slippery Slope / Politics / US Politics
By: OilPrice_Com
With energy, Senate Democrats find themselves between a rock and two hard places. Nonetheless, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have introduced their climate and energy bill.Its timing is awful. Its fate is uncertain. Yet its sponsors felt it had to be done now.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
U.S. Government Has Become An Overgrown Monstrosity / Politics / US Politics
By: Pravda
Today, the number of Americans who are able to financially survive without any reliance on the U.S. government whatsoever is declining at a staggering rate. Whether it is through direct handouts, entitlement programs, student loans, government bailouts, government contracts or direct employment, the truth is that now a solid majority of the American people are at least partially dependent on the federal government for their economic survival.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Germany After the E.U. and the Russian Scenario / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: STRATFOR
Discussions about Europe currently are focused on the Greek financial crisis and its potential effect on the future of the European Union. Discussions these days involving military matters and Europe appear insignificant and even anachronistic. Certainly, we would agree that the future of the European Union towers over all other considerations at the moment, but we would argue that scenarios for the future of the European Union exist in which military matters are far from archaic.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Merkel's Savage Blitz through Euroland, Germany Pushing Eurozone To Cliffs Edge / Politics / Euro-Zone
By: Mike_Whitney
Angela Merkel has let a minor brush-fire on the periphery turn into a raging inferno that's sweeping across the continent. Absent Berlin's fumbling diplomatic effort and its ferocious attachment to Hooverian economics, the Greek matter would have been over by now. Instead, the fire continues to burn while the German Chancellor pushes the eurozone closer and closer to the cliff. And what for; to prove that prodigal spending by the member states (Greece) mustn't go unpunished? Is that what this is all about? Is Merkel really willing to break up the EU just to prove her point and to accommodate her towering sense of self righteousness?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The New Chaos / Politics / Social Issues
By: Michael_T_Bucci
In last week's edition of Asia Times, Chan Akya correctly induces that the "new world" is one "where the definition of order is a state of continued chaos." He is speaking as an expert generalist about economics and the markets, but so too is this chaos found within every aspect of human society at this time and, I maintain, increasingly for some time to come.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Congress Writes More Blank Checks for the Military Industrial Complex / Politics / Government Spending
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Congress, with its insatiable appetite for spending, is set to pass yet another "supplemental" appropriations bill in the next two weeks. So-called supplemental bills allow Congress to spend beyond even the 13 annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government. These are akin to a family that consistently outspends its budget, and therefore needs to use a credit card to make it through the end of the month.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Fix the Economic Recession By Undermining Public Sector Workers Rights / Politics / Social Issues
By: Shamus_Cooke
In the state of Oregon, the most widely distributed paper, the Oregonian, announced on its front page that the state should expect “Ten Years of Pain.” The perpetrator: the budget crisis — $2.5 billion in the coming two-year budget cycle, with $2 billion projected deficits until 2019. Sadly, these depressing numbers assume that the economy will recover, a belief lacking any credible evidence.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Will the Financial Reform Bill Really Rein In Wall Street? / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Kerri Shannon writes: The Senate on Thursday approved an extensive financial reform bill that would give Washington broad new powers over Wall Street. However, there's still a question over whether the bill will really be able to rein in Wall Street, or if it will simply become another broken barrier tripping up the free market.