
Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, May 15, 2013
IRS as a Political Tax Hit Squad / Politics / US Politics
By: BATR
When the Internal Revenue Service admits to violations of law by targeting limited government advocate organizations, you know that the non-divulged crimes are much worse. The discloser in the mainstream media is a pleasant astonishment. The usual pattern of protecting "Big Government" is still intact, while the noise and agency diversion on the abuses of the IRS avoid the fundamental problem with federal taxation, based upon a system of deductions, exemptions, incentives and grants. The extortion and intimidation in the enforcement of the tax code is the entrusted role assigned to the IRS by the political hacks that administer the social engineering experiment that is fundamentally changing America.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Extremist Ideology of Multiculturalism is Why Over 90% of Immigrants Tend NOT Assimilate / Politics / Immigration
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Many of the mainstream politicians actively promote the policy of multiculturalism as the primary way for immigrants to integrate / assimilate themselves with diverse cultures into British society, whereas the facts spanning several decades suggest the complete opposite takes place as the policy of multiculturalism (all cultures being equal) results in immigrants tending to congregate in ghettos that over time displace the indigenous populations, which are further reinforced by subsequent generations most of whom remain within their expanding boundaries of ghetto's which we see in ALL immigrant population groups, which is reinforced by state schools teaching of multiculturalism and by religious schools. The only change that happens over the time is that ghettos can become wealthy i.e. the Jewish immigrants of the 1930's to 1940's now live in rich ghettos such as Gants Hill, Golder's Green, Hampstead and Hendon, similar changes occurred with Hindu and Sikh migrations of the 1950's to 1970's and then for Pakistani's of the 1960's to 1980's and likely for a whole host of more recent influx of migrants from Africa, East Asia (China) and off course Eastern Europe.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Geopolitical Journey: Europe, the Glorious and the Banal / Politics / European Union
By: John_Mauldin
Standing at the edge of the old world and the beginning of the new one, at the tip of Portugal, Stratfor's George Friedman is moved by the exploits of 15th-century European explorers and dismayed by the present fear pervading the Continent that "any decisive action will tear the place apart."
Europeans wreaked much havoc as they spread throughout the world, but they also "left as [their] legacy something extraordinary: a world that knew itself and all of its parts." But now, George asks, with "the death of hubris and of risk-taking … what follows, what is left?" The Europeans are "now reduced to finding a way to resume the comforts of the unexceptional…. Europe has chosen comfort, and now has lost it. It sought transcendence and tore itself apart."
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Why Obama's Syria 'Red' Line Turns Pink / Politics / US Politics
By: Patrick_Henningsen
Back in August 2012, things were a lot different in Washington DC and in the White House.
The Obama administration was brandishing a confident swagger back then, heading into the elections against a hobbling GOP opponent, and Benghazi had yet to unfold in all of its ugliness.
As Hillary Clinton was jetting around on the US State Department budget promoting her 'Friends of Syria' Middle East and European tours, and as the CIA were busy like bees working in the gray shadows of Benghazi, Washington and London were laying the groundwork for their new WMD case is Syria.
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Benefits Cuts and Higher Taxes for Seniors in Obama Budget / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Don_Miller
Some people claim that our Social Security system isn't broke. Technically, they're right. The Old Age andSurvivors Trust Fund (OASI) currently holds $2.5 trillion in special government Treasuries that can be redeemed at any time – in theory of course.
But here's the catch. What happens when the OASI needs those trillions of dollars to pay out benefits? Essentially, the government has to find the money to pay the face value of those Treasuries. So from that standpoint, Social Security is broke. The Treasury IOUs are not backed by any cash surplus, only by faith that the US government will somehow come up with the cash... probably by indebting itself further or by raising taxes.
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
3D Printing, Bitcoin, the Digital Age Revolution Has Begun / Politics / Internet
By: Jeff_Berwick
Welcome to the official beginning of the digital age!
When I first heard that the Internet had finally come to fruition in 1994, I could hardly contain my excitement as I'd been waiting for it since I got my first computer in 1981. When I heard about the Internet 13 years later I didn't even know what anarchism really was or had heard the word libertarian, but I instinctively knew that most problems in the world could be solved if people would just have more of an ability to communicate and to get access to real information. Having grown up in Canada, I was certain that the government's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was not giving me the full and truthful picture of the world!
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Monday, May 13, 2013
Ron Paul on What No One Wants to Hear About Benghazi / Politics / US Politics
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Congressional hearings, White House damage control, endless op-eds, accusations, and defensive denials. Controversy over the events in Benghazi last September took center stage in Washington and elsewhere last week. However, the whole discussion is again more of a sideshow. Each side seeks to score political points instead of asking the real questions about the attack on the US facility, which resulted in the death of US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
The Happy Green Planet, Why Has Global Warming Stopped? / Politics / Climate Change
By: Andrew_McKillop
Despite the propaganda, despite the outright hysteria drummed out by a large slice of the Global Warming Crisis Community, world average temperatures have not risen for over 10 years. Reading the politically correct press or watching government-friendly TV news you might not know it - but it is true. The global warming guru cartel of "warmist" well-paid talking heads has broken apart.
The guru talkers included Britain's Sir James Lovelock, who in 2006 screamed in the politically correct UK press that "Billions will die from global warming before the end of the century". The very same 'Jimbo' Lovelock, today, accuses the "warmists" of outright and shameful exaggeration.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Third World America / Politics / US Politics
By: Stephen_Lendman
Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker calls poverty America's "new growth industry." The state of today's America is deplorable.
In his latest May 3 analysis, economist John Williams said "April "employment and unemployment data were nonsense: the economy remains in serious trouble."
About 23% of Americans wanting work can't find it. Most jobs are temp or part-time low pay/poor or no benefit service ones with no futures. Conditions are getting worse, not better.
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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Americans Increasingly Scared of the US Terror State / Politics / US Politics
By: Global_Research
Daniel Patrick Welch writes: Syria, Libya and other US crimes invisible to financially scared Americans.
Watch Out, World! Even America’s Wealthy Are Losing Ground.
Cognitive dissonance among the US sub-elite means more war and death for everyone else.
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Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Phony Economic Recovery / Politics / Economic Recovery
By: Bill_Bonner
Not much action following the new Dow high. Not much follow-through. But no big breakdown, either.
As near as we can tell, the Fed's EZ money has driven up stock prices. Investors expect more EZ money. So they think stocks will go up more.
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Friday, May 10, 2013
What the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Hopes You Will Never Find Out / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes: Most Americans assume the U.S. Federal Reserve is a powerful government institution that seeks only to safeguard the dollar, boost the economy and drive employment higher.
That's what the Fed wants you to think.
The illusion of the Fed as a stabilizing, positive government entity has more or less existed since its creation under dubious circumstances in 1913.
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Thursday, May 09, 2013
Crash, Depression, Currency Wars . . . Trade Wars and then Real Wars - Video / Politics / New World Order
By: Videos
Trends researcher Gerald Celente predicts war in the Middle East. He says, “It is out of control. What are people waiting for – an Archduke Ferdinand moment?” Celente thinks Israel bombing Syria means World War 3 is on its way. The cycle leading to war started with the crash of 2008. Celente says, “Crash, depression, currency wars . . . trade wars and then real wars. That’s what we’re seeing again.”
Thursday, May 09, 2013
America's Secret Government that Sows Evil Everywhere / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
US stocks continue to climb. The Dow has passed the 15,000 milestone. Gold, meanwhile, got smacked yesterday. It sank back to $1,448 per ounce.
What's ahead?
A mood of prophecy, perhaps brought on by a large helping of osso bucco from our local Italian restaurant, came over us last night. We looked into the future. And there we saw a grim world.
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Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Japan's Secret Nuclear Weapons Program / Politics / Nuclear Power
By: Global_Research
Peter Symonds writes: The Wall Street Journal published an article on May 1 entitled “Japan’s nuclear plan unsettles US.” It indicated concerns in Washington that the opening of a huge reprocessing plant could be used to stockpile plutonium for the future manufacture of nuclear weapons.
The Rokkasho reprocessing facility in northern Honshu can produce nine tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium annually, or enough to construct up to 2,000 bombs. While Japanese officials insist that the plutonium will be used solely to provide nuclear power, only two of the country’s 50 nuclear power reactors are currently operating.
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Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Nigel Lawson Waits for Thatcher to Die Before Admitting He's Wrong on Europe / Politics / UK Politics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Nigel Lawson who was an ardent pro-european tory both during Thatchers regime and for several decades afterwards, therefore his latest announcement that he would vote for Britain to leave the European Union in an referendum has come as bit of a bolt out of the blue, akin to Margaret Thatcher revealing that she was always a closet socialist.
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Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Fed Greatest Lie Exposed - 50 Years of No Real Economic Progress / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Bill_Bonner
Public life bumbles along under a combination of false pretenses and self-imposed delusions.
At the start of last week, it was widely reported that US central bankers had gone as far as they were willing to go. There were voices in the Fed, said the news, urging caution. There would be no further monetary stimulus measures, said the commentators.
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Tuesday, May 07, 2013
The New Untouchables of the 21st Century / Politics / Unemployment
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Throughout history and throughout the world, there have been classes of untouchables. Best known perhaps (other than Elliott Ness and Wall Street bankers) are the caste that goes by the name in South Asia, a.k.a. the Dalits, but there are/were also for instance the Cagots in France, the Burakumin in Japan, and the Roma and Jewish populations in medieval Europe though the Middle East. In the US, one could include the black and native populations. Wikipedia has this definition:
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Handicapping the Potential Successors to Ben Bernanke / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Casey_Research
By Paul Brodsky
[Ed. note: This article originally appeared as a guest contribution in the "Midweek Matters" Casey Daily Dispatch.]
A couple of days after the Fed announced Ben Bernanke would not attend the Jackson Hole summit, for the first time in twenty five years, the New York Times (on the first page, no less) ran an in-depth profile of Janet Yellen, the heir apparent to run the Fed. Beneath her profile there were three other candidates "being discussed": Roger Ferguson, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers.
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Monday, May 06, 2013
Human Liberty Is Doomed / Politics / Social Issues
By: BATR
Any discussion on liberty presupposes an understanding of human nature. Today, the utter confusion and distorted mindset of humankind, relegates animal instincts, as the premier motivation for salacious existence. The criteria for a cordial civilization have long been "consigned to the dustbins of history". Standards for civil and moral conduct are debased by a global disintegration to achieve the ‘good’ for the hunt of acting ‘nice’. Polite and pleasant facades are no substitute for truth and meaning. Yet, the heights of evil transactions seem to be hailed routinely, as the only achievement that power hungry sociopaths aspire to impose on the rest of the planet. Never-ending conflict is inherent in the human condition, while the state of liberty is unusual and resides within the character of the ethical spirit.