Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Saturday, December 08, 2012
2012 Doomsday Psychology, Millions of Chinese, Russians and Americans Believe the End of the World Is Nigh / Politics / Social Issues
By: DK_Matai
Panic buying of candles and essentials has accelerated not only in China and Russia, but there has been a simultaneous explosion in the sale of survival equipment, food, fuel and emergency shelters in America in preparation for the Mayan calendar's long count deadline: December 21st, 2012. The precise mechanism for the Armageddon to manifest remains vague, ranging from:
Saturday, December 08, 2012
U.S. Looming Pensions Crisis: State Budgets Soon to Be Under Siege / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
By: John_Mauldin
In 2003, I was writing about the unfunded liabilities of state and local pensions. It was part of Bull’s Eye Investing, which came out in 2004. I caught some flak for being so pessimistic about the potential problems. Quoting:
Unless steps are taken soon, it is possible we can see shortfalls approaching $1 trillion–$2 trillion in state-sponsored pension funds within 10 years. A deficit of this size on the state level can truly be called a crisis. A tax increase or other adjustments to fund this will be a large drag on the economy.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Identity Politics and Political Correctness / Politics / US Politics
By: Casey_Research
L: Doug, I hear that a friend of yours, Indian activist Russell Means, has passed away. He was an unusual and interesting character. Are you up to talking about it?
Doug: Yes. You know, I've gotten into the habit of doing obituaries in recent years in The Casey Report – but generally of people I don't like. I know that's considered improper, because you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but –
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 07, 2012
IMF Capital Controls Danger for Emerging Market Investors / Politics / Emerging Markets
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
The IMF is up to no good again.
On Monday they released a new report on international capital flows which relaxed its opposition to exchange controls.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 07, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Means 50% Tax Rates for the Middle Class / Politics / Taxes
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
If I didn't know any better, I'd think there's a small but growing group of people in Washington who think it would actually be good if we temporarily went over the fiscal cliff.
I say that because I am seeing a smattering of articles recently suggesting that somehow going over the cliff "won't be all that bad" or that we're "really just talking about cuts that need to happen in the first place."
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 07, 2012
Starbucks £23 Million Tax Dodge Facts, Offers £10 million Donation per year for 2 years / Politics / Taxes
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Starbucks is feeling the heat as the general public is seeing through the smoke and mirrors of its publicity machine's assertions that it effectively makes no profits in the UK when the reality is that Starbucks for well over a decade has been transferring its profits abroad to the likes of the Bermuda tax haven and instead reporting losses, giving it an unfair advantage over smaller competing UK coffee houses who do pay an infinitely greater amount of tax on profits.
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Are American's Having Enough Babies to Stop Turning Japanese? / Politics / Demographics
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:
A new study by The Pew Research Center shows that the birth rate in the United States has dropped to the lowest level since 1920, when reliable statistics were first made available.
The birth rate dropped precipitously last year to only 63.2 per 1,000 women of childbearing age (which is defined as 15 to 44 years of age). That is half of what it was in 1957 at its peak.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 06, 2012
The Battle for Damascus, Assad's Last Stand / Politics / Syria
By: STRATFOR
The battle for Damascus is raging with increasing intensity while rebels continue to make substantial advances in Syria's north and east. Every new air base, city or town that falls to the rebels further underlines that Bashar al Assad's writ over the country is shrinking. It is no longer possible to accurately depict al Assad as the ruler of Syria. At this point, he is merely the head of a large and powerful armed force, albeit one that still controls a significant portion of the country.
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Neoliberal Terror / Politics / US Politics
By: Andrew_McKillop
What is neoliberal terror? In a recent on-line article ('Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terror') Henry Giroux claimed that firstly hurricane Katrina, then hurricane Sandy imprinted their "haunting images of the abandoned, desperate and vulnerable", "and for a moment imposed themselves on the collective conscience of Americans".
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Is the U.S. Fiscal Cliff the Result of Psychopath Leaders? / Politics / US Politics
By: Brian_Bloom
In the early hours of this morning – at 3:00 am to be precise – I was lying in bed thinking about how the world got to this point in its history, and I started thinking about the synchronicity of the French Revolution, the American Revolution and the Industrial revolution that began to emerge in England.
“Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” were all about human rights – the right to be given equal opportunity to apply one’s skills without living under a crippling tax burden under the French King Louis XVI. Quote from Wikipedia: “Amidst a fiscal crisis [1789] , the common people of France were increasingly angered by the incompetency of King Louis XVI and the continued indifference and decadence of the nobility.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution )
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Is U.S. State Secession a Right? / Politics / US Politics
By: David_Gordon
Grant defeated Lee, the Confederacy crumbled, and the idea of secession disappeared forever, or at least that's what the conventional wisdom says. Secession is no historical irrelevance. Quite the contrary, the topic is integral to classical liberalism. Indeed, the right of secession follows at once from the basic rights defended by classical liberalism. As even Macaulay's schoolboy knows, classical liberalism begins with the principle of self-ownership: each person is the rightful owner of his or her own body. Together with this right, according to classical liberals from Locke to Rothbard, goes the right to appropriate unowned property.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
California Dreaming: Bankruptcy, Pensions and Taxes / Politics / US Debt
By: BATR
The California Public Employees' Retirement System lives in the rarified air where financial magic somehow materializes to pay for their irrational exuberant pensions. When the drug high is over, the real world requires a harsh penalty for ebullient irresponsibility. The Chicago Tribune reports:
"San Bernardino, a city of 210,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 1. Since then, it has halted its bi-weekly, $1.2 million payment to Calpers, saying it wants to defer any payments to the fund until fiscal year 2013-2014. Calpers says the city is already $6.9 million in arrears since August 1.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
CIA and Pentagon Fusion Revolutionizes Modern US Covert Action Complex / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Justin O’Connell writes: The Pentagon will expand its spy network over five years to rival the CIA in size, according to US officials, as it constructs the thus far classified Defense Clandestine Service or DCS. The project will “transform” the Defense Intelligence Agency from a Cold War, multiple-war agency to include increased operations against Islamists in Africa, North Korea-Iran weapons transfers, and Chinese military modernization that is now underway. Once completed, the DIA will have approximately 1,600 so-called “collectors” the world over who will be “closely aligned” with the CIA and elite military commando units. As the Washington Post notes, “an unprecedented total for an agency whose presence abroad numbered in the triple digits in recent years.”
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Obama Tells Goldman Fiscal Cliff Deal is Just a Matter of Maths / Politics / US Politics
By: Bloomberg
Bloomberg TV's Julianna Goldman spoke with President Obama today to discuss the fiscal cliff and his efforts to compromise with Republican leaders. In a lengthy interview in the Map Room of the White House, President Obama told Goldman that he is willing to make further cuts in entitlements, but insists that Republicans accept higher tax rates for top earners in the US. "It's just a matter of math."
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Ukraine Crushed in $1.1bn Fake Russian Natural Gas Deal / Politics / Natural Gas
By: OilPrice_Com
Certainly the folks at Gazprom are having a good snicker, reveling in the mockery that has been made of what should have been a landmark Ukraine-Spain gas deal that would have loosened Russia's gas grip on Kiev.
Everyone wondered how Russia would respond to Ukraine's attempt at gas independence. But this is what happens when you mess with Gazprom.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Egypt's Strategic Balance, Morsi's Challenge to the Nasserite Model / Politics / Middle East
By: STRATFOR
Immediately following the declaration of a cease-fire in Gaza, Egypt was plunged into a massive domestic crisis. Mohammed Morsi, elected in the first presidential election after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, passed a decree that would essentially neuter the independent judiciary by placing his executive powers above the high court and proposed changes to the constitution that would institutionalize the Muslim Brotherhood's power. Following the decree, Morsi's political opponents launched massive demonstrations that threw Egypt into domestic instability and uncertainty.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
An American Success Story in Mexico: Jim Bourque Starr / Politics / US Politics
By: Jeff_Berwick
Q: Jim, when did you first come to Mexico to live, and more importantly, why?
A: In 2004, I moved from San Jose, California, to Mexico City. I was in the States and met a woman from Mexico City. We married and moved to Mexico City. I started a chiropractic clinic there. It was surprisingly easy, because I didn't have to jump through any hoops. I just set up shop.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Mark Carney Abandons Canadians Sinking Ship, As Housing Market Crashes / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
"Just when scientific progress was supposed to be ridding the world of myths and ghosts, famous people became larger than life.... Fame was found increasingly fascinating. And it seemed to happen by popular demand. The general spread of education didn't make people more resistant to fame. If anything, it made them less resistant." -Clive James, Fame in the Twentieth Century
Monday, December 03, 2012
All I Want For Christmas Is The Truth / Politics / US Politics
By: James_Quinn
“Eyes blinded by the fog of things
cannot see truth.
Ears deafened by the din of things
cannot hear truth.
Brains bewildered by the whirl of things
cannot think truth.
Hearts deadened by the weight of things
cannot feel truth.
Throats choked by the dust of things
cannot speak truth.”
― Harald Bell Wright – The Uncrowned King
Monday, December 03, 2012
Doing Away With U.S. Debt Ceiling Drama / Politics / US Debt
By: Peter_Schiff
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made news last week by proposing to transfer the Congressional prerogative to raise the debt ceiling to the President. The change would essentially do away with the meaningless debt ceiling debates that have become ritual kabuki in Washington over the past few generations. Most Republicans have dismissed the proposal as a blatant executive power grab that will significantly weaken both the Congress and the minority party. While this is certainly true, Congress will only lose a power that it has never shown the slightest courage to actually use. But in truth, the proposal has the merit of refreshing honesty. By telling U.S. taxpayers, and the world in general, that the U.S. government has no intention of ever balancing its budget or limiting its accumulation of unsustainable debt, then perhaps we can begin to have an honest discussion about our economic future. Read full article... Read full article...