Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
The Fed as Giant Fiat Currency Counterfeiter / Politics / Central Banks
By: Robert_Murphy
San Jose State economics professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel tells all his students that the easiest way to understand the Federal Reserve is to think of it as a giant, legalized counterfeiter. I had always known that the Fed and other central banks were like counterfeiters, but I still thought that the actual mechanics of open-market operations and so forth actually provided some important distinctions.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Isle of Man, The Greatest Tax Haven? / Politics / Taxes
By: LewRockwell
Nathan Blevins writes:The Call of Ellan Vannin - Freedom isn’t some fanciful creature of the imagination, like Bigfoot. It actually exists, and I’ve seen it. For in the year of our Lord, 2006, I had the marvellous privilege of fulfilling a lifelong personal dream: the dream of travelling to an enchanted place I’d always wished to visit. Well, perhaps I’d not held the dream that long. For you see, it was roughly 6 or 7 years ago that I was reading some smashing stuff from fellow liberty lover, Ron Holland, when I happened upon a trivia question of his that gave me pause:
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Iraq War Inquiry Shows Blair the British Neo-con / Politics / UK Politics
By: Submissions
Alan Hart writes: Putting Tony Blair on trial would be much too cruel. The man is ill, delusional, quite possibly to the point of madness. What he needs most of all is psychiatric help. Any doubts I might have had about that diagnosis were removed by his six-hour presentation to the Chilcot Inquiry of his reasons for joining the neo-conned “Dubya” Bush in the war on Iraq.
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Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Obama Threatens China and Iran, Another U.S. War? / Politics / US Politics
By: Shamus_Cooke
The possibility of yet another U.S. war became more real last week, when the Obama administration sharply confronted both China and Iran. The first aggressive act was performed by Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who “warned” China that it must support serious economic sanctions against Iran (an act of war).
Monday, February 01, 2010
U.S. Government Spending Freeze Not Likely / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Last week politicians in Washington made a few things clear about how they really feel about the state of the union. First, they are beginning to hear the growing discontent with the size and scope of government and the broken promises that keep piling up. Certain events in Massachusetts recently made that statement loud, clear and unavoidable. In the face of those events, the powers that be made the determination that some populist rhetoric was in order, and the idea of a spending freeze in Washington was proposed, albeit with several caveats. These caveats to the proposed spending freeze ensure that we are not at any real risk of actually doing anything about spending.
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Monday, February 01, 2010
Are You 100% Sure They Saved the Financial System? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Mac_Slavo
Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday, that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousands points the first day, another couple thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Secret Banking Cabal Conspiracy Theory Going Mainstream / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Paul Joseph Watson writes: In another measure of how what the establishment labels “conspiracy theory” is quickly becoming mainstream, Bloomberg News carries a story today acknowledging that those derided as “crazy” for warning that the world is run by a secret banking cabal have largely been proven right in light of the AIG cover-up.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Obama’s Junk Economics, Democrats Relinquish the Populist Option to the Republicans / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_Hudson
In a dress rehearsal for this November’s mid-term election, Democrats and Republicans vied last week for who could denounce the banks and blame the other party the most for the giveaways to Wall Street that have swollen the public debt since September 2008, pushing the federal budget into deficit and the economy into a slump.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
U.S. China War of Words Over Iran Nuke Sanctions / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Mike_Shedlock
The war of rhetoric with China continues. Hillary Clinton is again battling China over China's relationship with Iran. Please consider Clinton presses China over Iran nuke sanctions.
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Is The War In Afghanistan About Terror, Or Heroin? / Politics / Afghanistan
By: Andrew_Butter
No one knows how much the “War on Terror” cost so far, but if you add up the actual direct expenditure plus the economic damage, plus the cost of all the extra security, it wouldn’t surprise me if it came to more than the credit crunch cost. Of course it didn’t happen all in one go, but I just wonder whether the current malaise in USA might have something to do with that cost.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Pentagon Confronts Russia In The Baltic Sea / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Rick_Rozoff
Twelve months ago a new U.S. administration entered the White House as the world entered a new year.
Two and a half weeks later the nation's new vice president, Joseph Biden, spoke at the annual Munich Security Conference and said "it's time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should be working together with Russia."
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: F_William_Engdahl
A former US President becomes UN Special Envoy to earthquake-stricken Haiti. A born-again neo-conservative US business wheeler-dealer preacher claims Haitians are condemned for making a literal ‘pact with the Devil.’ Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Bolivian, French and Swiss rescue organizations accuse the US military of refusing landing rights to planes bearing necessary medicines and urgently needed potable water to the millions of Haitians stricken, injured and homeless.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Obama Threatens to Push Economy Over the Edge, the Precarious State of Our Union / Politics / US Politics
By: Peter_Schiff
In this week's much anticipated State of the Union address, President Obama again demonstrated his poor understanding of the fundamental problems that confront our nation. By following the advice of the same people who helped guide our economy to the precipice of total collapse, Obama now threatens to push it over the edge.
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Friday, January 29, 2010
More Government in the Financial Sector to Save Capitalism / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Vitaliy_Katsenelson
I am a Capitalist Pig, and proud of it, thus you would not expect me to support government interference and more strenuous regulation of financial institutions – after all, capitalism (free markets) and tight regulation don't mix well. Well, at the risk of been kicked out of the Capitalistic Pig Party, I am in support of tighter regulation of too-big-to-fail (TBTF) institutions – the likes of Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank America, and (God forbid; after all, they are doing “God’s work” – their CEO’s words, not mine) Goldman Sachs.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Banks Under Attack From Washington, The Impact on You / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Mike_Larson
These days, the financial industry’s locus of power can’t be found in London. It’s not in New York City. Frankfurt? Tokyo? Davos, Switzerland? Nope, nope, and nope.
The real decisions that impact the capital markets are being made in Washington. And they’re sometimes being made by politicians who don’t really have a clue about how the industry works, or what unintended consequences their actions may have. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.
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Friday, January 29, 2010
The FDA Ensuring the Next Disaster in the U.S. / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Mike_Stathis
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is like many federal regulatory bodies that were established for the sole purpose of protecting U.S. consumers.
As you might imagine, like other regulatory bodies, a properly functioning FDA is critical for ensuring the nation’s health and safety.
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Friday, January 29, 2010
AIG Secret Deals Conspiracy Starting to Unravel / Politics / Market Manipulation
By: Mike_Shedlock
David Reilly at BusinessWeek takes dead aim at Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the New York Fed in Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Save the Middle Class Whilst Fixing the Banks For Good / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Michael_Pento
While I’m disgusted with the level of banker’s bonuses and with the obscene leverage practices financial institutions undertook, I do not think the answer to how we clean up them up now is to pile on yet more regulation. To be sure, banks that helped bring down the world economy and then subsequently got bailed out by the taxpayers should not be making billions of dollars in bonuses, especially while the middle class is suffering so greatly. And if we’re going to keep the FDIC in effect, a certain amount of regulation is required to protect taxpayer-backed deposits. But the real remedy does not rest with government, as it was their consistent meddling with markets that engendered the crisis to begin with.
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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Paul Volcker Financial Sector Reform Plan Sparks Split Between JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Bob_Chapman
Paul Volcker is back and things are about to change in Washington. A split has occurred between the paper forces of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Mr. Volcker represents Morgan interests. The Morgan side is tired of Goldman’s greed and arrogance. Volcker cannot be called old school or anachronistic. He represents sanity in an insane financial world even though he is an integral and powerful part of the elitist structure. He represents a change in gears and approach.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Why the Volcker Banking Crisis Plan Doesn’t Go Far Enough / Politics / Market Regulation
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: I don't often agree with the Obama administration. So I have to say that I was surprised when I heard it had a plan to reduce the risk of another banking crisis. It wants to prohibit banks that are protected by deposit insurance from engaging in risky, proprietary trading, and it wants to break up some of the very largest banks.