Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Thursday, May 13, 2010
Financial Reform, How We Can Save Our Economy / Politics / Market Regulation
The next few weeks will culminate into a defining moment in American history and lay the course for our economic future. After two years of being asleep at the switch, Congress is finally stepping up and taking action on financial reform. The resulting bill will be a clear indication and definitive proof as to who is actually running our country. Will it reinforce the dominance of the Wall Street elite, or will it mark a rebirth of the rule of law and economic prosperity for millions of Americans who have seen their standard of living decline?
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Wednesday, May 12, 2010
EuroZone Bailout Band Aids for Everyone / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
As the health of much of the global economy weakens on a daily basis, political leadership increasingly ignores the source of the malady and instead focuses on short term "band-aid" remedies. These measures which may buy a few months, or years, of relative well being, will convince the public that problems have been solved and will thereby take pressure off governments to make the needed structural changes.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
New UK Government Tax Cut, Annual Tax Free Allowance to Rise to £10,000 / Politics / Taxes
The New Conservative / Lib-Dem coalition UK government is expected to cut UK taxes for most tax payers by £705 per year as part of coalition deal. The Lib-Dem Tax cut policy to be phased in over x years will take the form of the annual tax free allowance rising from £6,470 to £10,000 which is aimed at lifting the low paid totally out of income tax, however it will at the same time benefit all tax payers.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Engineered Inflation Bailouts Cannot Beat the Markets / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Once again the leaders of the western world have engineered a bailout Who pays for it? We hicks and dupes and taxpayers. Once again the politicians, central bankers, and IMFers have patched together a paper dike, in an attempt to hold up the prices of the euro and junk debts, and to prevent the liquidation of banks that hold the bad paper. Once again, they have kept banks and lenders from realizing losses. Once again they have jacked up the moral hazard in the system. Once again they have saved, if only temporarily, the fiat money-fractional-reserve system that works hand-in-hand with big government.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Just Saying No to Social Security Taxes … / Politics / US Politics
Lancaster — known throughout the U.S. as Pennsylvania Dutch Country — is about 40 minutes away from my house. And whenever I pass through the area, I’m reminded of what it means to be truly self-sufficient.
The region’s many Amish inhabitants grow their own food … help each other build their houses … and use horse and buggies instead of gas-addicted cars. Heck, they were “green” before the term became fashionable.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
High Frequency Financial Terrorism, Wall Street Bankster's Maintain Death Grip on United States / Politics / Market Regulation
III: Financial Terrorism Operations: 9/29/08 & 5/6/10
In the aftermath of Goldman Sachs’ public flogging before the world in Congress, and while under investigation, on the very day that Congress was voting on the "break up the too big to fail banks" amendment and cutting behind the scenes deals to gut the audit of the Federal Reserve, the stock market had its greatest sudden drop in history, plummeting 700 points in ten minutes - shades of September 29, 2008 all over again.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
"Drop Dead Economics": The Financial Crisis in Greece and the European Union / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
Riddle: How are the Greek rioters like America’s Tea Party movement?
Answer: Both reject government being taken over by the financial oligarchy to shift the tax burden onto labor.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
EU Bailout Lootathon / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Sally Copperwaite writes: On May 5th, three bank workers died in a blaze at their Athens office block after violence broke out in a mass demonstration against the Greek government.
This was the tragic result of a decision taken in 1992, to impose a single currency on twelve very different economies.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
European Financial Crisis Moving To a New Level, Nationalism and Shared Fate / Politics / Euro-Zone
The European financial crisis is moving to a new level. The Germans have finally consented to lead a bailout effort for Greece. The effort has angered the German public, which has acceded with sullen reluctance. It does not accept the idea that it is Germans’ responsibility to save Greeks from their own actions. The Greeks are enraged at the reluctance, having understood that membership in the European Union meant that Greece’s problems were Europe’s.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Big Short – How Wall Street Destroyed Main Street / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Day after day, bankers have been paraded before Congressional committees regarding their role in the financial crisis which brought the financial system to the edge of the abyss on September 18, 2008. Every one has claimed that they were not responsible in any way for the disaster. They blame once in a lifetime circumstances that no one could have anticipated. It was a perfect storm and they had no way of knowing. These Harvard MBA Wall Street geniuses, who collected compensation in excess of $100 million each before the collapse, had no idea what was going on within their own firms. Ignorance and stupidity is no excuse for losing a trillion dollars.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Europe: Taking the Path Blazed by the U.S. with Similar Consequences to Come / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
After the threat of a continued sell-off in the global capital markets, leaders of the EU, IMF (and most likely members of the White House) arranged an emergency bailout fund to calm the markets.
Today, Wall Street is celebrating the news of a proposed $1 trillion bailout for European nations in danger of defaulting on sovereign debt.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Fed Audit Under Fire / Politics / Central Banks
It doesn't come as too much of a surprise that the measure to audit the Federal Reserve is coming under continuous fire from the central bank and its cronies. For the first time since the Federal Reserve was created nearly a century ago, they have hired an actual lobbyist to pound the pavement on Capitol Hill. This is a desperate effort to hang on to the privilege of secrecy and lack of accountability they have enjoyed for so long. Last week showed they are getting their money's worth in the Senate.
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Monday, May 10, 2010
Sovereign Debt Crisis, Washington Complicit in Massive Financial Wall Street Fraud / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
It was 7 years ago we said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bankrupt. Most everyone within the beltway knew it, but no one would say anything about it. This as it now turns out they were the poster companies, which led to sovereign debt problems, but also showed that they were involved in massive fraud over several years and many in Washington knew it. Earnings were fabricated in order to create conditions, so that the officers could collect millions of dollars in bonuses. Part of this scam was engineered by Goldman Sachs, which pushed more than $100 million in earnings into future years. Earnings were structured so that they justified larger payouts for executives.
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Monday, May 10, 2010
An Open Letter To Governor Charlie Crist Re: Bp Oil Volcano / Politics / Environmental Issues
Dear Governor Crist,
We are witnessing the greatest environmental catastrophe of the modern era in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the top experts have already estimated that this oil volcano has far surpassed the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Even if the current “stopgap” measures temporarily contain this gusher, it still remains an extraordinary challenge to permanently cap. Simply put, we have HUGE problems before us no matter how you look at it. Many are silently weeping in the privacy of their homes because of the sheer enormity and profound gravity of this ongoing, unprecedented, manmade disaster.
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Saturday, May 08, 2010
End the Budget Deficit, End the Fed / Politics / Central Banks
From time to time, someone asks me: "What would you do about the Federal deficit?" I have this amazing answer: "End it immediately. Then run a surplus until it is paid off 100% – exactly as I would do with my own budget."
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Friday, May 07, 2010
U.S. Military Might Cannot Win the Economic Struggle! / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
Government budget deficits and the debt crisis they created in Greece, and concerns that Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Italy may be nearing similar situations, have been dominating the news and roiling global stock, bond, and currency markets for several weeks.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, May 07, 2010
Is Sovereign Debt Crisis Contained to Subprime Countries? / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
As Americans observe the chaos in Greece, most assume that the strength of our currency, the credit worthiness of our government, and the vast expanse of two oceans, will prevent a similar scene from playing out in our streets. I believe these protections to be illusory.
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Friday, May 07, 2010
Why the Fed Does Not Want an Audit, America is Wall Street's Sucker / Politics / Central Banks
Rep. Alan Grayson: You Own the Red Roof Inn, Thanks to the Fed; Why the Fed Does Not Want an Audit; America is Wall Street's Sucker
Please play this must-see video by Alan Grayson explaining in great detail exactly why the Federal Reserve does not want to be audited, and thus why it absolutely needs to be audited.
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Friday, May 07, 2010
BP Gulf Oil Spill, The Halliburton Connection / Politics / Oil Companies
Margot Roosevelt and Jill Leovy write: Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.
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Friday, May 07, 2010
Kyrgyzstan Today: The New Administration’s Pressing Problems / Politics / GeoPolitics
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, having toppled the corrupt regime of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in Bishkek on April 7-8, faces many daunting challenges, from the economy gutted by Bakiyev’s insiders to reestablishing security in the country. It is in the interest of the three major outside players there – Russia, U.S. and China, to assist Otumbayeva’s administration, but it seems problematic at this point whether they will be able to lay aside their traditional rivalry to do so. Such being the case, it would seem that Kyrgyzstan faces a long, hot summer.
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