In the News (from The Financial Times): “Remember the bottom billion in our brave new world” In 1978 James Tobin, the Nobel economist, proposed a tiny tax of 0.5 per cent or less on all foreign currency exchange transactions to deter speculation and pay for development. Some calculate this tax could yield $375bn (€289bn, £253bn) annually. Even at half that amount, it is on a par with the amount that should already have been directed to development globally. This levy, even if it is cut to 0.005 percent, would limit volatility in small economies whilst generating enormous sums for the poor. It would also cost taxpayers nothing. It is a smart, painless way to create revenues and jobs while bringing the poor into the global economy. It, like the Tobin tax, is tax neutral to the consumer while curbing overproduction of carbon dioxide and helping the world’s poorest.

My Comment: This proposition was made 30 years ago, and it still hasn’t been implemented (nor will it ever be), because it goes against our egoistic nature! And if it ever does get implemented, it will only be in order for the organizers to pocket the proceeds.

There’s no getting around the fact that we have to correct our egoism. None of our actions, no matter how “good,” will help us, save one – correction of our nature. And actually, we aren’t capable of doing this. Only the study of Kabbalah will correct everyone.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Financial Crisis Is Turning Countries Into Outlaws of the Global Government
Laitman.com Post: The Present Crisis Is a Crisis of People’s Trust in the Egoistic System of Relationships

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In the News (from Spacewar): “Russia 2008 arms sales post-Soviet record: Medvedev” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia sold 8.35 billion dollars worth of arms last year, a new post-Soviet record. And despite a rise of 800 million dollars (around 10 percent) in arms sales in 2007, Medvedev told his top officials to boost further purchases by seeking out new international markets.

My Comment: How barbaric are we, that a modern government takes pride in having record arms sales, in distributing weapons of mass destruction!? Governments punish their citizens for selling weapons, but then they go and do the same thing…

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Two questions I received on art and its purpose:

Question: What’s the role of arts and culture in the modern world?

My Answer: The methods and vehicles of art and culture should be used to explain the purpose of life and the means to attain it. After all, there is nothing more to our lives in this world other than achieving life’s inner purpose, the Creator.

Question: The times are changing and the situation is forcing us to limit ourselves to just the bare necessities. What do Kabbalists say about the role of artists and art in our world?

My Answer: The only things that will remain are those necessary and essential for the “new humanity,” or in other words, whatever is needed to reveal life’s cause, purpose, and the best way to attain it. Art will be Kabbalistic – aimed at the Creator, rather than the animalistic existence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is There Anything Spiritual About Works of Art?
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In the News (from Bloomberg): “Global Confidence Weakens as Slump Deepens, Job Losses Mount” Confidence in the world economy waned in February. Advanced economies are already in a depression and fiscal stimulus alone won’t succeed in dragging the global economy out of its mire. Central bank officials say transmission channels for their policy actions are still clogged, delaying the effect of interest-rate cuts.

“They’re thinking this recession is going to persist,” said survey respondent Yoshiki Shinke, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “We can’t be optimistic yet. The bottom of this recession isn’t in sight.”

My Comment: The crisis can only be resolved by:

1. Diagnosing its true cause

2. Finding the means to correct or treat it

3. Preparing this means

4. Utilizing it

And here is the solution:

1. The cause of the crisis is our egoism, which has become global and interconnected into one whole

2. The only thing that can change and correct our egoism is the force that created it and controls it

3. Learning to control the force that controls our egoism

4. By influencing the force that controls our egoism, we will transform our world

All of this is explained in the science of Kabbalah and is ready for us to use. The “patient” (we) should use it while still alive. Just think: what would happen if a person discovered that he’s ill, and instead of seeking professional medical help, he decided that he would go and study medicine on his own? Wouldn’t it be too late?

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Our first book in Czech has been published in the Czech Republic:
From Chaos to Harmony

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Kabbalah website in Czech

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In the News: (from The New York Times): “Recession Can Change a Way of Life” In the United States and other affluent countries, physical health seems to improve, on average, during a downturn. Sure, it’s stressful to miss a paycheck, but eliminating the stresses of a job may have some beneficial effects. Perhaps more important, people may take fewer car trips, thus lowering the risk of accidents, and spend less on alcohol and tobacco. They also have more time for exercise and sleep, and tend to choose home cooking over fast food… In the United States, a 1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, on average, decreases the death rate by 0.5 percent…

David Potts studied the social history of Australia in the 1930s in his 2006 book, “The Myth of the Great Depression.” Australia’s suicide rate spiked in 1930, but overall health improved and death rates declined; after 1930, suicide rates declined as well … he found in interviews that many people reminisced fondly about those depression years… today’s teenagers stand less chance of making foolish decisions in the stock market down the road. In addition to trying to get out of the recession — our first priority — many of us will be making do with less and relying more on ourselves and our families.

My Comment: This is what happened during previous crises, and it may also happen during this crisis. However, the crisis will not go away until we reach harmony with the world around us, because we caused the crisis with our lack of harmony with Nature.

Therefore, we need to change. Time alone won’t change anything. I hope that the crisis will quickly teach us how to change: we have to become altruistic toward one another. I hope that we won’t just feel comforted by the above mentioned statistics, but will soon realize that it’s necessary to provide a global education for humanity.

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