Opinion: (Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s former finance minister): “Russia’s ‘congenital problems’ amplify the effects of the crisis on the country.

“‘One of them is the problem of dependency on energy. Forty percent of state revenues and 40% to 45% of Russia’s GDP come from profits from oil and gas sales. This means that Russia may get a double blow during the second wave of the economic crisis,’ he said.

“Focusing on the national currency alone would be the wrong path to take, he argued.

“Strengthening the ruble would result in cheaper imports and hence damage domestic production, while taking no measures to strengthen the currency might set off uncontrolled inflation, he said.

“He called for a diversified range of measures, including inflation control.”

My Comment: The solution is to correct the use of money as a means of exchange and connection in society, to make it the equivalent of bestowal and connection, rather than domination and power. Without solving this problem, we won’t be able to come out of the crisis. In any case, the crisis will destroy the use of money as a means of accumulation, power, security, and achieving other egoistic goals.
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In the News (from Itogi.ru): “While the leaders of the major world powers are trying to find a way out of the economic crisis, and financial managers seek to comprehend its nature, the scientists from Baikal State University decided to look into… the physical nature of money. They hypothesized that the finances are nothing more but a particular kind of matter, and thus they obey the classical laws of physics.

“The researchers concluded that if the term ‘crisis’ is understood as dramatic changes in the properties of an open system, this process will inevitably lead to the emergence of a new, possibly better and more ordered structure of the system. In other words, the greater the economic crisis will be, the stronger and more reliable the global economy will become.

“Money is matter. Consequently, according to physical laws, money exists in some time coordinate and has some energy. As a result, the following formula is proposed: ‘Money is time divided by energy.’ Everything is simple: For a certain period of time, money sets in motion social and political mechanisms and essentially, itself is the carrier of power.

“On the basis of this thesis, the researchers argue, for example, that the concentration of money in one place minimizes its energy. Money should not lie dormant, but work regardless of whether it is a family or national budget.

“The interdependence of energy and money can be easily explained. If the energy of money is materialized solely in the product of production, its rapid growth may lead to the depreciation, nulling of money (the crisis of overproduction, onset of inflation, and devaluation). In addition, the ‘magic’ formula implies the dependence of money on time: The more money a person or state has, the longer it takes to spend, ‘dissipate’ it.

“The scientists are confident that by treating money as a special form of matter that exists in a physical and virtual forms and employing the general laws of motion, interaction, and transformation of matter, it is possible to calculate and predict the movement and energy of finances in a given country or particular regions. In other words, economists who drive cash flows should study physics.”

My Comment: Money is an accurate reflection of our desire: egoistic, if it is aimed at personal gain, or altruistic, if it is aimed at the benefit of society. The use of money depends on us. Money will remain an indicator of the exchange of desires even if money disappears in its material form and remains only in the form of cashless exchange. This is the measurement of our connections. That is why the correction of the crisis depends on the education of people.
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Opinion: (Bruce Krasting, a former hedge fund manager): “Issues related to subsistence have replaced the fervor for demonstrations.

“The closing of stores and shops is escalating. Apparently, 20% of all retail establishments are shuttered. Nearly every block has one reminder of the ongoing depression in the economy.

“The Greek Diaspora is in full swing. People are leaving the country, old and young alike.

“They leave their homes, as there is no future there, but all the time they wish they never left.

“As the shops close and the people leave, the economy shrinks. …The country is imploding.

“People are feeling hopeless, and the situation is getting worse. …there is not a chance in hell that Greece will avoid a default.

“A transition from the Euro to the Drachma would cause huge additional pain. It would devalue the pensions of every citizen by at least 50%. …a default would mean that Greece would be a debt pariah. In spite of this, [many prefer] that it would come sooner rather than later. … There is nothing desirable about this choice. It’s now just inevitable.”

My Comment: This is how a hurricane, tsunami, mudslide, or any other disaster is approaching us slowly—so as to give us time to realize that the reason for what is happening is the lack of correspondence of our egoistic connections with unified nature. As soon as we start considering and treating the world as a single whole and ourselves as its part, we will immediately feel that the blow is retreating and giving us time to adapt.
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Opinion: (David Rubenstein, managing director and a co-founder of The Carlyle Group): “Countries teeter, protests rage, unemployed multiply, deficits abound the virtues of capitalism are questioned.

“I always felt there were two principal flaws – and we saw them come to a head over the past few years. The first is that unfettered exuberance about wealth creation will produce unsustainable booms and inevitable crashes. The great recession, fueled by cheap credit, is a textbook example of this flaw.

“The second is the inequality that results when the charge towards wealth creation leaves behind those less able (in most cases through no fault of their own) to adapt or to compete with the hard-chargers.

“While there is no simple cure to capitalism’s two big flaws, here is what I would do in 2012 to get the system back on its feet and to modulate income disparities.

“1. Save the euro and the European Union. A functioning and vibrant EU – the world’s largest economic unit – is essential to global prosperity.

“2. Fix the US debt and deficit. …This is not acceptable, nor is it good for capitalism.

“3. Integrate the emerged markets. The world needs to acknowledge that the centre of capitalism is shifting to the emerging markets – where most of the growth will occur in 2012. …If they are not, the capital needed to solve many of the developed markets’ current problems, especially residual issues of the great recession, will not be available on tolerable terms. Again, this will hurt the poor more than the wealthy.

“4. Educate. Educate. Educate. Perhaps the greatest cause of income inequality is the dismal state of primary and secondary education.”

My Comment: Capitalism has exhausted itself; it cannot be integral as Nature requires because it is built not on reasonable consumption, but on the continuous growth of production and consumption, which is unfeasible due to limited markets and natural resources.
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Opinion: (Michael Khazin, an economist, from newizv.ru): “Neither the U.S. nor the EU can cope with the crisis. The U.S. are more tenacious than the EU not least because they have a stronger currency. The EU has already partially used its ability to print currency; they printed money in December, equivalent to one trillion USD. In addition, the EU has chosen a strategy that the American economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz called suicide. And Stiglitz is a highly insightful person.

“The fact is that rather than supporting the demand, the EU starts tightening its belt. That is, it supports the banking system, but people have to tighten their belts. De facto thus the demand weakens even more. As a consequence, most likely, the European economy will start to collapse this year, and quite quickly. This may be partly glossed over by inflation, and recession will not be expressed so obviously. Even different statistical tricks may be used to understate inflation and represent growth, but the essence will not change.

“The Americans still have reserves. I think that they will hold out until summer and then begin the recession, following the simple logic, and that will allow Obama to be re-elected. Although this recession will be expressed only by inflation by the end of the year, yet they will still be at zero balance. However, we need to keep in mind that in contrast to Europe, the U.S. aggressively supports the demand.

“Obama has increased the budget deficit by more than one trillion USD a year, and this whole trillion went to support the demand, unlike Europe, where the same amount went to the banks. In this sense, if it were not for the increase of the budget deficit, the U.S. economy might have already fallen by 8-10% over the last 2-2.5 years.

“Here is the picture of the world: As long as the U.S. will support the demand, they will hold on, balancing at zero. Once the resources are exhausted, they will begin to fall. It will happen, most likely, a little later than in Europe.”

My Comment: Khazin is right, although we have always made mistakes in dates: The world was late all the time, finding new tricks not to manifest the crisis. I would push everything one half to one year forward. Besides, politicians have a game in store called the “international situation.”
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Opinion: (Andrew Burns, World Bank Manager of Global Macroeconomics from BBC News) “The World Bank has warned developing countries they need to be prepared for shocks as global economic growth slows.

“The organisation has slashed its growth forecasts, and is now predicting a 0.3% contraction for the eurozone in 2012.

“’Escalation of the crisis would spare no-one,” the report’s author warned.

Referring to the eurozone crisis and its potential to impact growth in rich and poor countries, Andrew Burns said:

“’Developed and developing-country growth rates could fall by as much or more than in 2008/09.’

“’The importance of contingency planning cannot be stressed enough…’

“The World Bank’s Global Economics Prospects report says that slower growth is already visible in global trade and commodity prices.

“It said that declining commodity prices were better news for the developing world, although food security for the poorest countries was still a major concern…

“’Developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time,’ said World Bank chief economist Justin Yifu Lin.”

My Comment: Wouldn’t it be better if they would bend their heads and look for new recipes for salvation. Kabbalah is offering.
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In the whole world there are calls for social justice. We, on our part, should explain to people that it is impossible to enforce social justice artificially. A standard division of resources, like they do in social security, won’t help. For example, it is impossible to compare a millionaire who receives a thousand dollars for the third child with a poor family that receives one thousand dollars for the third child. Is this justice?

As Baal HaSulam explains, the measure of truth doesn’t allow us to attain justice. If you divide things equally among everyone, there will be no equality. So how can we solve this problem?

In order to do that, we need to be as one family. In the family there isn’t equality, but everyone receives his share because we treat everyone with love. When I love everyone, I can help one at the expense of another. Thus I operate according to the principle of mutual guarantee, and so I operate fairly. There is simply no other way.

This is what we have to gradually convey to people. After all, today society is more sensitive than ever to inequality, including sectors that not long ago were very far from that. In every country there are plenty of reasons for dissatisfaction, and the only way to succeed is to educate people about unity. According to the level of connection, people will come to social agreement about how to divide the resources, thanks to their sympathy for the sufferings of others.

Can you demand cheap housing for yourself when others have nothing to eat? After all, we have a common “pie,” which isn’t enough to supply all the demands. So if we don’t unite people into one family, we won’t reach anything.

Then we will be able to explain that the current evil is actually for the better: It enables us to correct ourselves and to advance towards the good. After all, thanks to mutual cooperation we will change and will start to share the resources the same way it is done in the family. Then we won’t need to turn to the government, which will not help with its imaginary crumbs anyway. There is only one solution: unity of the people.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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In the News (from Reuters): “President Barack Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday that he plans a $1.2 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit prompting Republicans to level election-year charges that deficits are out of control.

“Obama said ‘further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments.’

“The proposed increase would push the debt ceiling to $16.394 trillion.

The move by the Democratic president, who is seeking re-election in November, gives Congress 15 days to vote on a resolution of disapproval under terms of budget control legislation passed last year.

“‘The President’s runaway borrowing threatens the foundation of our economy and the financial future of every hardworking American,’ said Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.

“‘It brings our nation closer to what the chairs of his own fiscal commission called “the most predictable economic crisis in its history.”’”

Comment: A rabbit is unable to get away when hypnotized by a boa’s eyes. It understands this but tries not to think, desiring to be mesmerized and not hearing about the future, denying the possibility of changing its behavior.
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Opinion: (Mario Monti, Italian Prime Minister): “‘Italy, in order to develop economically and socially, needs Europe, and Europe to be stronger needs Italy,’ Monti said in a speech in the northern city of Reggio Emilia at a ceremony honoring the Italian flag.

“‘No European country is so strong to think it can go forward alone in facing the great global economies,’ he added. ‘It’s time for everyone to do their homework. No one can think they can do less than the others.’”

Comment: Do you have to be on the verge of bankruptcy to talk like that? Isn’t it possible in advance?
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In the News (from Bloomberg): “Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said on Jan. 4 that the EU is on the brink of a recession of unknown scope.

“‘Things are really starting to slow down,’ Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics in London, said by telephone. ‘There’s an underlying economic downturn going on at the same time as the peripheral debt crisis continues. Even the strongest parts of the euro-zone economy are beginning to falter. ‘We see the euro zone beginning to break up, perhaps as soon as this year.’”

My Comment: A fortiori, it’s strange to see the idleness of “decision makers.” But in general, they cannot come up with a solution because they do not view the world as common and integral, as a single whole that is in need of unity and mutual guarantee, which is possible only under conditions of integral education of the masses and the movement in universal bailout when facing a universal disaster.
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