Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
U.S. Economic Austerity May Result in Unrest on America's Streets / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: Danny_Schechter
William Shakespeare put a key question this way; “To Be Or Not To Be?” Today’s economists and policy makers pose a different choice: to spend or not to spend.
Governments throughout the west are in a panic as debt mounts and economies contract.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wikileaks Defenders Promise More Cyber Attacks / Politics / UK Politics
By: Chris_Kitze
BARRACUDA writes: A pro-WikiLeaks hacker has told Sky News an internet insurgent group will keep attacking those companies who target the whistleblowing website.
Speaking on camera for the first time, the cyber-insurgent "Bass", from the group Anonymous, revealed details of how they operate and their growing size.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Mexico and the Cartel Wars / Politics / Mexico
By: STRATFOR
In our 2010 annual report on Mexico’s drug cartels, we assess the most significant developments of the past year and provide an updated description of the dynamics among the country’s powerful drug-trafficking organizations, along with an account of the government’s effort to combat the cartels and a forecast of the battle in 2011. The annual cartel report is a product of the coverage STRATFOR maintains on a weekly basis through our Mexico Security Memo as well as other analyses we produce throughout the year. In response to customer requests for more and deeper coverage of Mexico, STRATFOR will also introduce a new product in 2011 designed to provide an enhanced level of reporting and analysis.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
EU Agrees to Disagree on Debt Crisis until 2013 Whilst Greece Smoldwers in Riots and Firebombs / Politics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Shedlock
Pretty speeches regarding solidarity will not solve the European debt crisis. Yet, as Greece smolders in riots and firebombs over various austerity measures, pretty speeches, untenable pledges regarding haircuts, and continual bickering remain the only action items of note coming from Europe.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Ron Paul Terrifies Ben Bernanke / Politics / Central Banks
By: Gary_North
I have good news and bad news for Ben Bernanke.
First, the good news.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What if Wikileaks is PSYOP? / Politics / US Politics
By: Michael_T_Bucci
Mr. F. William Engdahl has contributed a controversial opinion about the Wikileaks phenomena and it deserves reading and remembering [1]. No one can prove or disprove the legitimacy of any leaked document since its original author is undisclosed. Furthermore, as it now stands, the actual "source" (person) behind a document can no longer uphold or refute his or her own leaked words publicly without the risk of facing charges by Washington and the U.S. Military. Equally disturbing is the world media - self-proclaimed champions of high journalistic standards and integrity. The world media never asked the critical question: Are these cables authentic?
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The IMF and the ECB on Perfecting Stupidity / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Richard_Daughty
This week's winner of the coveted Mogambo Bluster And Incompetence Award (MBAIA) goes to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
I will skip the part where I heap disdain on the IMF and say rude things like how I think that the IMF is a worthless bunch of incompetent, self-serving, socialist scumbags.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The US Economy is A Giant Ponzi Scheme, Prosecuting Wall Street Fraud / Politics / Credit Crisis 2010
By: Washingtons_Blog
Bill Gross, Nouriel Roubini, Laurence Kotlikoff, Steve Keen, Michel Chossudovsky and the Wall Street Journal all say that the U.S. economy is a giant Ponzi scheme. Virtually all independent economists and financial experts say that rampant fraud was largely responsible for the financial crisis. See this.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
What the State Fears Most: Information / Politics / US Politics
By: J_M_Finegold_Catalan
History tells a cyclical story of man versus state: man persistently creating new ideas and the state tirelessly laboring to destroy them. Bureaucracy has never been a friend to the ideas that undermine its artificial legitimacy.
All too often, history provides us with examples of state-enforced book burnings and other forms of extreme censorship. Many of us today take our so-called freedom of speech for granted, and few realize just how pervasive government censorship remains. It is true that not many of us living today in the industrially advanced world have experienced the worst kinds of censorship[1] — few have memories, for example, of the Nazi book burnings that took place throughout the 1930s, which claimed over 18,000 works.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Taking Stock of WikiLeaks / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
Julian Assange has declared that geopolitics will be separated into pre-“Cablegate” and post-“Cablegate” eras. That was a bold claim. However, given the intense interest that the leaks produced, it is a claim that ought to be carefully considered. Several weeks have passed since the first of the diplomatic cables were released, and it is time now to address the following questions: First, how significant were the leaks? Second, how could they have happened? Third, was their release a crime? Fourth, what were their consequences? Finally, and most important, is the WikiLeaks premise that releasing government secrets is a healthy and appropriate act a tenable position?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Lies, The New Foundation of the Financial System / Politics / US Politics
By: Bill_Bonner
Lies, lies, lies…
The days are dwindling down fast now. There are only a precious few left in 2010. The Dow rose 40 points on Friday. Gold fell off $7.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 13, 2010
Ron Paul, Audit the Fed in 2011 / Politics / Central Banks
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
Since the announcement last week that I will chair the congressional subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, the media response has been overwhelming. The groundswell of opposition to Fed actions among ordinary citizens is reflected not only in the rhetoric coming out of Capitol Hill, but also in the tremendous interest shown by the financial press. The demand for transparency is growing, whether the political and financial establishment likes it or not. The Fed is losing its vaunted status as an institution that somehow is above politics and public scrutiny. Fed transparency will be the cornerstone of my efforts as subcommittee chairman.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Debt-Dollar Discipline: Part III - Future Reorganization / Politics / US Politics
By: Ashvin_Pandurangi
"There are more ideas on earth than intellectuals imagine. And these ideas are more active, stronger, more resistant, more passionate than ''politicians'' think. We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them." - Michel Foucault
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sell Bernanke and the U.S. Dollar, Buy Gold and Silver / Politics / Central Banks
By: Fred_Sheehan
Who am I? What is Money? The Fed is Here to Help
"I am a macroeconomist rather than an historian. My focus will be on broad economic issues rather than details."
Read full article... Read full article...Professor Ben S. Bernanke, "The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach,"1995
Monday, December 13, 2010
China’s Relentless Advance Continues! / Politics / China Economy
By: Sy_Harding
Wars between major countries are no longer fought on the high seas, or on land with vast armies, but in board rooms and markets. It’s now economic warfare that threatens to alter the global landscape, enriching the winners and creating hardship for losers.
It’s no longer about which country has the largest navy or nuclear arsenal. It’s about which country can win the economic battles.
Monday, December 13, 2010
U.S. Politicians Engaged in Grand Compromise or Great Conspiracy? / Politics / US Politics
By: Martin_D_Weiss
When Americans went to the polls last month, many thought they were voting for a return of fiscal sanity in Washington. And with fiscal sanity, we’d have far better assurance of bond-market stability.
Instead, three houses of ill repute — two on Capitol Hill and one on Pennsylvania Avenue — are joining to deliver one of the most wanton, deficit-busting, bond-wrecking bills of all time.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Fed Vastly Expands Moral Hazard, Wrecking the American Economy / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
This definition of moral hazard from Wikipedia is quite satisfactory: "Moral Hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk behaves differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.
"Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions. For example, a person with insurance against automobile theft may be less cautious about locking his or her car, because the negative consequences of vehicle theft are (partially) the responsibility of the insurance company."
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Political Economy and Silver Price Manipulation / Politics / US Politics
By: Howard_Katz
The science which today is called economics was originally called political economy, meaning that it was a combination of politics and economics. This has always seemed a little strange to me. Economics is the science of creating wealth. We cannot say that politics is the science of destroying wealth (although sometimes it seems that way). However, we can say that improper politics is the science of destroying or stealing wealth and proper politics is the science of safeguarding the right of property.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Western Civilization and Classical Economics: The Immorality of Austerity / Politics / Economic Austerity
By: John_Kozy
When a civilization abandons its morality, no rationalization can be devised to justify its continued existence. It is likely that many reasons can be given for this abandonment in the Western world, although I am convinced that one predominates—the expansion of law. Law once governed various kinds of behavior. It has now encroached upon various kinds of speech and is even being applied to the realm of belief. When someone is accused of having done something wrong, the reply offered usually is something like, "What was done complied with all legal requirements." But "right" has never been defined as "conforms to law," because thoughtful people have long noticed that the law itself can be a great crime, and the worst criminals in a culture can be its lawgivers, as the people of Ireland, Portugal, France, Spain, Greece, and Great Britain are now finding out. Americans will soon find it out too.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Obamanation, Time that Americans Took Back Their Nation from the Criminals / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Stathis
Back in early 2007, very few pundits gave Obama a chance in the 2008 Democratic presidential race. At the time, Hilary Clinton and others were front runners. But things would soon change.
Prior to the 2004 presidential campaign, George Soros & Co. were working to position Obama as a serious contender in 2008. They put together a propaganda book based on some episodes of Obama’s life, filled with the inspiration and glory often seen in fiction novels.
Read full article... Read full article...