Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, January 19, 2009
What's Missing from Obama's Economic Recovery Plan / Politics / Economic Stimulus
Barack Obama and Co. are planning to launch their own version of economic "shock and awe" in the opening weeks of the new administration. Aside from the $825 billion stimulus package, which will be used to create 3 million new jobs and make up for flagging consumer demand; Obama is planning a financial rescue operation for banks that are buried under hundreds of billions of dollars of troubled assets. Spearheaded by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economics chief Lawrence Summers, the new program will create a government-backed "aggregator" bank that will purchase mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other problem assets for which there is currently no active market. The proposed "bad bank" will do what the TARP program was supposed to do; wipe clean the banks balance sheets so they resume lending to consumers and businesses. Until the credit mechanism is fixed, the economy will continue slip deeper and deeper into recession.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Bailed Out Banks Seek More Money to Fill Financial Black Holes / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Strengthening or Weakening the Economy? - The economic situation continues to deteriorate this week as past and future bailouts were discussed on Capitol Hill. The debate was over the accountability of already disbursed TARP money, and on whether or not to release remaining funds. Banks that had already been bailed out before are looking for more money to fill the black holes that are their balance sheets, warning that they are simply too big to fail.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 19, 2009
How a Regulatory Makeover Can Fix the Financial Crisis / Politics / Market Regulation
Shah Gilani writes: Open Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama: How a Regulatory Makeover Can Fix the Financial Crisis
Mr. President-Elect:
The people of the United States have spoken. Their collective voice resonates loudly and overwhelmingly in praise of your vision and promises for America the beautiful.
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Bush Attempts to Take Credit For a Recovery That Has Yet to Happen / Politics / US Politics
Nominations are being accepted for the most galling statement of the week. Here is my nomination: White House Sees 'Strong' Econ Recovery Early In Obama Admin .
The Bush administration said the U.S. economy should emerge from its slump in the second half of the year - an optimistic forecast released days before President-elect Barack Obama inherits a recession and mammoth budget deficit.
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Friday, January 16, 2009
Orwell's 2009- United States Big Brother is Watching / Politics / US Politics
war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
“All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” George Orwell
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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Social Mood Will Define The Economic Future / Politics / US Economy
Boomers have known only inflationary or reflationary conditions for most, if not all of their conscious lives. Here is the pattern: Want, work, borrow, spend, enjoy, and worry about the bills tomorrow, as if tomorrow would never come.Now tomorrow is dawning, the bills are due, and boomers are now entering end of life with a need to consume what they perceived would be a treasure chest of accumulated wealth that would allow them to sustain their inflationary lifestyles to life's end.
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Baby Boomer Pensions The NEXT crisis! (and what to do about it) / Politics / Pensions & Retirement
Baby Boomers who will be relying on pensions as a backup support because of losses in the stock and property markets, will find that those organizations which are supposed to pay the pensions don’t have the funds. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/..Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 12, 2009
Credit Crisis Panic Measure Tax Savings to Force People to Spend / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Punishing savers is no way to help the economy. Intriguing new ideas about how to deal with the credit crisis are coming thick and fast. Never mind printing money – we're now seeing real radicalism in the pages of our newspapers. Last week, we saw calls in The Times to tax savings to force people to spend or invest, rather than just sit on their money. And elsewhere, two former Bank of England economists suggested that the Government buy the homes of those about to suffer repossession and rent them back to them.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Too Big to Fail? / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
A mortal threat to the nation's economy and national security - As our economy continues to decline and we have bailouts, loans, and guarantees that now total into the $trillions of dollars, let's examine who is getting these funds and why. These funds are not going to the community banks, mom and pop stores, or other small enterprises. They are going to huge conglomerate corporations that have been deemed “too big to fail” and therefore represent a threat to the nation's financial security. These conglomerates are the result of acquisitions and mergers over the last few decades that had the effect of reducing competition and consumer choice. In the end this has the ultimate effect of raising prices which would by definition increase profit margins.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Democrats Attacks on Obama Presidency have Already Begun / Politics / US Politics
Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) flexed their muscles, shook their rattles, and told President-elect Barack Obama not to tread upon them. "I don't believe in the executive power trumping everything," Reid, the Senate's majority leader, told the political newspaper, The Hill. He said he believed "in our Constitution, three separate but equal branches of government." For emphasis, he warned, "If Obama steps over the bounds, I will tell him. . . . I do not work for Barack Obama, I work with him."Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Obama Dreaming of Deficits / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package will include hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax breaks for individuals and businesses, according to a transition official and Democratic aides. Obama is asking that tax cuts make up 40 percent of a stimulus package, the people say.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, January 05, 2009
A Whole Lot of Quantité Going On / Politics / Economic Stimulus
- WHAT on earth...?
- Sorry, if you could just keep turned to the wall...
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Friday, January 02, 2009
Anti-Gold:Usura Socialism / Politics / Fiat Currency
Turning and turning in the widening gyre;
The Falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart: the centre cannot hold;
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
U.S. Treasury Starts to Make Subprime Auto Loans / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
One day after the treasury (taxpayers) injected $6 billion into the failing auto industry GM, GMAC ease lending rules to entice car buyers .General Motors Corp and its GMAC funding affiliate launched programs on Tuesday to lure U.S. car and truck buyers back into showrooms as the largest U.S. automaker tries to revive its sagging fortunes.
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Important Economic and Political Transitions During 2009 / Politics / US Politics
As another year draws to a close, there are some important transitions ahead of us. Not just transitions to a new administration, but also economically, politically and culturally.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
State Budget Gimmicks Can't Solve Banking Crisis / Politics / Credit Crisis 2008
Citing ethical concerns, as if Illinois had any, a Coveted Casino License went to lowest bidder who plans to build in the city of Des Plaines.Illinois gambling regulators on Monday chose the lowest bidder among three finalists for the state's only unused casino license, saying the company that plans to build in Des Plaines didn't raise the ethical concerns posed by finalists for Waukegan and Rosemont.
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Saturday, December 27, 2008
What Happened to the American Dream? / Politics / US Economy
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." --Historian and writer James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book Epic of America.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Federal Reserve Abolition Act / Politics / Fiat Currency
On June 15, 2007, Ron Paul introduced HR 2755: Federal Reserve Abolition Act. There were no co-sponsors, no further action was taken, and the legislation was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and effectively pigeonholed and ignored.It's a bold and needed measure to "abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks, to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and for other purposes."
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
New Year Resolutions and the Financial Crisis / Politics / Social Issues
Given the devastated state of many Americans’ finances, our New Year’s resolutions will take on greater significance this year. To “get out of debt” was often a casually stated goal to be set as midnight approached and forgotten soon after; today it is rightly recognized as a fundamental necessity of life.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Death of Deep Throat and the Crisis of Journalism / Politics / US Politics
Mark Felt died last week at the age of 95. For those who don't recognize that name, Felt was the “Deep Throat” of Watergate fame . It was Felt who provided Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post with a flow of leaks about what had happened, how it happened and where to look for further corroboration on the break-in, the cover-up, and the financing of wrongdoing in the Nixon administration. Woodward and Bernstein's exposé of Watergate has been seen as a high point of journalism, and their unwillingness to reveal Felt's identity until he revealed it himself three years ago has been seen as symbolic of the moral rectitude demanded of journalists.Read full article... Read full article...