Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Bernanke, Time’s Person of the Year Drives the Debt Crisis Spiral / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
Fed President Ben Bernanke has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2009. However, in looking back at former People of the Year it becomes crystal clear that this title doesn’t necessarily mean that the honored person has done something good for the world …
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
U.S. 2 Million Troop, $1 Trillion Death Machine / Politics / US Politics
With a census of slightly over 300 million in a world of almost seven billion people, the U.S. accounts for over 40 percent of officially acknowledged worldwide government military spending with a population that is only 4 percent of that of the earth's. A 10-1 disparity.
In addition to its 1,445,000 active duty service members, the Pentagon can and does call upon 1.2 million National Guard and other reserve components. As many as 30% of troops that have served in Afghanistan and Iraq are mobilized reservists. The Army National Guard has activated over 400,000 soldiers since the war in Afghanistan began and in March of 2009 approximately 125,000 National Guard and other reserve personnel were on active duty.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dr. Keynes's U.S. Health Care Prescription / Politics / US Politics
"Health care in lead as stocks surge" ~ MarketWatch
This December 21, 2009 headline marks what I regard as the triumph of Keynesian dogma in the American equity markets. I can think of no headline in the last 30 years that better illustrates the triumph of Paul Samuelson, whose health care expenses finally ceased last week.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Obamas Healthcare Reform Spells Disaster for Americans (Part 1) / Politics / US Politics
First, I want to point out that this article should by no means encourage support for the Republican Party. If you are not already aware, both parties deliver essentially the same results when it comes to issues that matter most to the people, such as the case with free trade and healthcare, while fooling you to think they represent opposing positions.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Obama and Democrats Drop the Health Care Bomb on American's / Politics / US Politics
As business owners undergo the yearly ritual of passing through eye-popping health insurance premium increases to their employees, it's easy to understand why any attempt at health insurance reform would be met with some degree of hope. Unfortunately, President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress are about to take a very bad system and make it unimaginably worse.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Bernanke Man of the Year, Are We Missing Something? / Politics / Central Banks
Olivier Garret writes: Ben Bernanke is a dubious choice to be named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine. While Time’s Managing Editor Richard Stengel credits him with recognizing early and reacting appropriately to the ongoing financial crisis, in reality, he was wrong time and again with both his predictions and his remedies. Just remember these gems:
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Peak Climate And New Energy / Politics / Climate Change
Exit Global Warming"Hockey sticks in the air!" well summarises the Copenhagen Climate summit debacle, as some world leaders, especially Obama and the 'European climate triumvirate' of Brown, Sarkozy and Merkel wrestled a face-saving, non-binding and vague agreement from the wreckage. This hard-won gesture, as of Saturday December 19, brings Brazil, China, India, South Africa and about 20 other states into a nice statement of principle affirming their collective wish that world average temperatures should not rise by more than 2°C in a flexibly defined long-term period, stretching to about 2040.
Monday, December 21, 2009
The Long Decline of the U.S. Economy / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
The official position on the cause of the current financial downturn is that it was caused by the reckless practices of financial institutions and the failure of regulatory bodies, and it is likely that these were the proximate causes, but they were not the ultimate cause. Americans, unfortunately, are rarely willing to search for ultimate causes or do anything about them when they are found.
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Monday, December 21, 2009
A New Era for Humanity Has Begun / Politics / Social Issues
A new era for the human race has clearly begun. When I compare the state of people’s awareness today with what it was just a few years ago, remarkable changes are taking place.
People are finally waking up to the fact that the world of big money, big media, and big business is taking them absolutely nowhere except into degradation, alienation, and slavery.
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Monday, December 21, 2009
Obama's Planned 400% Excise Rip Off Tax / Politics / US Politics
The Wall Street Journal brings more bad news. A headline reads "Lawmakers Weigh a Wall Street Tax." The first mention of this was in October. The proposal has not died as Congress seeks new ways to finance its profligate spending. Both houses are considering legislation.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009
Afghanistan, World's Longest War Has Only Just Begun / Politics / Afghanistan
The higher number of Defense Department contractors, 160,000, added to over 100,000 troops - with the likely prospect of both numbers climbing yet more - will result in over a quarter of a million U.S. personnel serving under the Pentagon and NATO. The latter has 42,000 non-U.S. troops fighting under its command currently and pledges of 8,000 more to date, with thousands in addition to be conscripted after the London conference on Afghanistan next month.
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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Why Copenhagen COP15 Failed / Politics / Climate Change
To anybody interested in the future of the earth’s climate, the conclusion of the Copenhagen conference represents either colossal disappointment or profound rage. The financial pledges— if honored— that rich nations made to poor nations will do nothing to combat global warming. The few climate related agreements that were made were of zero substance, especially when compared to what the situation demanded.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Ebeneezer Scrooge Hero Not Villain / Politics / Social Issues
My interest in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol began one Christmas eve when, as a small child, my parents turned on network radio to listen to what, even then, had become a classic Christmas eve festivity: Lionel Barrymore's presentation of the Dickens story.
Radio was a medium that required the imagination to paint scenes far more colorful, and to concoct monsters far scarier, than anything motion pictures or television have ever been able to present. With radio, the listener was the stage designer, costumer, and location director.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Social Credit and Meta-Feudalism / Politics / Social Issues
“Douglas said that we are trying to pass from one type of civilization into another in which the possibilities are such that we cannot imagine.”
“The King is dead long live the King” so goes the feudal aristocratic mantra establishing power continuity. Death and birth are a part of reality and amidst the pain of death the love of life must prevail. Currently many say that American society is dying but in fact it is experiencing a transformation.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Global Dimming Impact on Climate Change / Politics / Climate Change
Horizon producer David Sington on why predictions about the Earth's climate will need to be re-examined. We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Global Warming, the Media, and the Impending Catastrophe / Politics / Climate Change
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer write: Soon, President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen with his pathetically inadequate proposal to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020, which in essence will amount to driving off the environmental cliff at 83 miles per hour rather than 100 miles per hour. This proposal will only place our emissions at 3-4 percent below 1990 levels.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Throwing Our Energy at Impossible Dreams / Politics / Social Issues
P.F. Henshaw writes: In the haystack of contentious arguments at Copenhagen it seems only the occasional unofficial commentary pointed to the real solvable source of our monumental collision with the limits of the earth. Somehow in the process of growing ever bigger, mankind got "big", and continuing to grow still bigger is optional. Yes, it sort of "happened naturally", and is also natural for us to be a bit confused about the whole turn of events it precipitates, but it is still also definitely our own choice to be doing it too, and we're simply hiding from the problem it creates on the whole.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Are the Democrats Fighting the Banks? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
How pathetic. President Obama sat at a table surrounded by super rich bankers, pleading with them to lend money to small businesses and workers. The media mislabeled Obama’s groveling as “encouraging,” “imploring,” and “pressing,” but a man who refuses to take action is powerless; and powerless people can only beg.
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Friday, December 18, 2009
Is Obama Preparing for War in South America? / Politics / US Politics
Interview with Eva Golinger
Mike Whitney----The US media is very critical of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He's frequently denounced as "anti-American", a "leftist strongman", and a dictator. Can you briefly summarize some of the positive social, economic and judicial changes for which Chavez is mainly responsible?
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Thursday, December 17, 2009
Audit The Fed, Then Abolish It / Politics / Central Banks
Pawns For The Fed: George Will, Robert J. Samuelson, Bonddad, Time, Others
The Fed is fighting tooth and nail Ron Paul's Audit The Fed proposal. Along the way it has picked up backers in some surprising places.