The laws of nature are irreversible. We’re unable to add anything artificially because the conditions within our society’s political, industrial, familial, and social systems force us to come to a mutual and integral interdependence. We will be forced to do this regardless of whether we’re rich or a regular worker, a jobless person, a student, or an elderly person.

Nature is locking us into a single general system and forces each person, in accordance with his status, qualities, and interrelations with the society to gradually transform. We can’t remain in our previous state.

Do you see what’s happening in the world today? Could anyone imagine that Germany would give Greece 500 billion dollars and then pardon the debt? Can you imagine Germans giving 500 billion to Greece? There is also Italy and Spain on the line. No one knows how this will end. However, people aren’t out on the streets protesting, they’re not trying to overthrow the government, and they’re not demanding their money back.

Imagine that we have 500 billion in the bank saved up by all of the country’s workers. This is the government’s fortune, and instead of putting this money into realizing the country’s needs, we give it to someone who we don’t even wish to know.

Why doesn’t this result in a civil war? I know Germany, I’ve been there and I’ve talked to the German people. People aren’t particularly happy with the situation, but no one is really opposing it. This is because people understand that for the politicians and the economists having to come to this decision was a lot more painful than for the rest of the people.

They are “sitting” on this money, and with its help they rule over the people and the nation. But if they’ve decided to part with this money, then things must really be bad. We are really that interconnected that I have to give to other countries and pardon the debt, just as I would give to my own nation. They realize the depth of the interconnection and see that the law of nature connects everyone and that this tie cannot be undone.

This is an inner tragedy for those who had to make this decision because parting with 500 billion dollars isn’t easy. Just imagine what your family would say if you took all of your possessions and money from the bank and gave it away?

What we are talking about here is a sense of total connection and necessity. The politicians see no other way out. We, the “small people,” don’t see it, but they do. This is why the biggest tycoons and billionaires will part with their money just as these politicians did, otherwise they won’t be able to exist. They will understand the necessity of this action. Totally paradoxical things are happening right before our eyes, we simply don’t realize it yet.
[61414]
From a TV Program “The Integral World” 10/30/2011

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In the News: “‘The crisis of its [Italy’s] debt can destabilize the entire world, beginning with France. … I realized that we are falling into the abyss, the clock of the policy makers does not coincide with that of the market, and we need a great acceleration,’ said [Carlo de Benedetti, CEO of the Italian manufacturer Olivetti]. (Source: Corriere della Sera) 

“Fitch Ratings warned that it may reduce its ‘stable’ rating outlook for U.S. banks with large capital markets businesses because of contagion from problems in troubled European markets.

“Agency Fitch Ratings warns that a further worsening of the eurozone debt crisis promises serious risks to American banks that have a portfolio of government bonds of countries of concern. The size of national debt exceeded $15 trillion and is almost 100 percent of GDP, the established ceiling of the official national debt.

“‘Unless the euro zone debt crisis is resolved in a timely and orderly manner, the broad outlook for U.S. banks will darken,’ Fitch said. ‘The risks of a negative shock are rising.’

“The analysts don’t expect a resolution of the issues for another 12 months or so, and are unlikely to adjust their outlook on the sector quickly. ‘This is going to have a prolonged and uncertain income,’ Mr. Scott [one of the analysts who wrote the Fitch report] said.” (Source: The Globe and Mail)

“It may well be so that if the U.S. government initiates political games around its debt problem again, a new wave of the global crisis might cover the world by the New Year.” (Source: Utro.ru)
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In the News (from Novosti): “According to experts, service workers, that is, those who do not earn money directly, may be the first to be adversely affected by the crisis. At the same time, there are areas where recruitment continues even during difficult economic times. The specialists who do not have to be afraid of the crisis are the following:

1. IT professionals;
2. Financial experts and top managers;
3. Pharmacists, health care providers;
4. Agrarians;
5. Home staff to VIP families;
6. Office staff;
7. Sales specialists;
8. Promoters and supervisors.”

My Comment: Only those who produce necessary goods and services, such as a moderate range of food products, essential household and industrial goods, delivery and distribution services, and so on will be left.

Everything will be calculated on the basis of minimal cost of energy and labor, optimal production and delivery to the consumer. Progress is a harmful phenomenon if it is not essential because all the comfort, above the necessary level, is achieved through spiritual sensations.

At the level of this world, the need for comfortable surroundings is gradually reduced to the minimum, to what is required by the human body, and the feeling of connection between everyone and the sensation of the world and oneself in it occurs through the upper (spiritual) relationship between people (souls).

All the earthly questions about the existence of our bodies are solved on the basis of the development in the spiritual space, until we reach such spiritual level of complete correction that we cease to feel our bodies.
[61264]

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Opinion: (Jacques Sapir, Professor, Director of the Industrial Studies Research Centre, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, from expert.ru):

1. Is there any hope for a favorable resolution of the situation in Greece? No.

2. Will the crisis expand? Yes.

3. Can’t the leading European states offer help? The Germans and the French are debating it. The Germans are against help, and the French are in favour. If the German position prevails, the future of the eurozone is uncertain.

4. How do you explain the German position? Already in the 90s, a greater fiscal, budgetary, and economic integration was needed. But for the time being, the integration is not happening, and if so, Germany will have to subsidize the EU countries. Thus, the German elite are ready to accept the fact that the eurozone will cease to exist.

5. Why did the Stability and Growth Pact fail? This Pact is not about growth, but about saving the budget. And those countries that had introduced it have gotten the reduced growth and recession: Tax revenues get smaller, and this increases the debt.

6. The worst scenario for the global economy is the collapse of the eurozone, isn’t it? The collapse of the eurozone will impact the reserves, but in the long term will keep Europe from recession. If the euro is saved, Europe and countries that depend on it, such as Russia, will face a long recession and reduced demand.

7. And how will it affect Russia? In both cases, Russia will go through hard times because Europe is the main consumer of Russian exports: oil, gas, and metals.
[61079]

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Opinion: (Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman): ‘“I do think that a considerable part of the unemployment that we are seeing is cyclical. Final comment, cyclical unemployment left untreated, so to speak, for a long time can become structural unemployment as people lose skills, they lose attachment to the labor force.’

‘“Unemployment is far too high. Inequality, which is not a new phenomenon – increases in inequality have been going on for at least 30 years – but as that has continued, we have a more unequal society than we’ve had in the past.”’

My Comment: Unemployment and inequality will continue to grow until market capitalism is replaced by the system of mutual guarantee with reasonable consumption. We can come to it through wars or through a deliberate change.
[61468]

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Opinion: (Stanley Fischer, Bank of Israel Governor): “Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer believes the Israeli economy is in a ‘relatively good condition’ compared to the global economic crisis.

Speaking in a press conference he convened on Tuesday to discuss the recent economic developments in the world, Fischer said Israel ‘can ride through this period successfully if we run the economy in a responsible and organized manner.

“As for the global economy’s situation, Fischer said, ‘The situation in the US is reasonable. It’s not good, but there is growth and no foreseeable danger, at least in the short term, for the US to enter another recession. Talks are of a 2.5% growth in 2012 – that’s not impressive and not close to the potential growth rate, but it’s a relatively good growth rate.’

“‘The forecast for all of Europe hasn’t dropped much since the beginning of the year. The expectation for European growth next year is less than 0.5% – that’s not a recession, but an undesirable situation.'”

My Comment: I present a variety of “opinions” so that later we can see how mistaken a person is in the vision of the world he lives in.
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Opinion: (Beatrice di Mauro, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s council of economic advisers, from Süddeutsche Zeitung): “Policy makers are making effort to tame the debt crisis. Yet, it is the eurozone that is under the biggest threat. The crisis can also spread to the rest of the world…

“The debt reduction only works long term. Our goal is that in about two decades, the national debt in all eurozone countries is 60% of their GDP.

“With regard to the collapse of the EU, it has long since begun. For ten years, there has been an illusion that a single currency means a single zone. Now, the national vision of problems is dominant everywhere, and it turns out that the last 10 years have passed in vain….”
[61070]

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In the News (from CNN): “A group of two dozen millionaires stormed Capitol Hill on Wednesday, demanding lawmakers raise their taxes.

“‘We want to pay more taxes,’ said California millionaire Doug Edwards, a former marketing director for Google (GOOG, Fortune 500). ‘If you’re fortunate, and you make more than a million dollars a year, you ought to pay more taxes.’

“The millionaires want Congress to allow the tax cuts passed during the George W. Bush administration to expire. Some want higher taxes generally.”

My Comment: “It is better to give willingly, proudly, and less than have them take everything,” the instinct of survival says. But this will not help. The only thing that can help is a quick investment of their funds in educating the public about life in the new world of moderate and reasonable consumption and the fostering of unity of people towards similarity with an integral world.
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Opinion: (David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff): “Rosenberg says the US economy is in a modern day depression similar to what Japan has suffered from for the last 20 years.

“Rosenberg says that we’re just 4 years into a depression that will likely last 7-10 years. He says the economy is likely to begin contracting again in 2012 and that the employment situation is going to deteriorate further.”

My Comment: It is an incorrect comparison. If Japan was going through an individual depression, we are experiencing a global one. It’s global not only in scope, breadth, and depth, but also because it affects all aspects of our life, which requires a restructuring of social relations, that is, a transition to a different social system. It is unrealistic to expect that we will come out of the crisis, and it is unreasonable to think that we will return to the former way of life and governance.
[61047]

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Question: Do you think that the current crisis is economic or financial?

Answer: In general, I think there is a big difference between economists and financiers who only think where to invest the capital in order to profit the most.

Economics studies the interaction between the producers, distributors, and consumers of different economic sectors, the connection between consumers and manufacturers, and describes the supply and demand. Because it’s a reflection of the egoistic connections between us, economics (as a result of its development and understanding of the new integral interaction between all producers and consumers) has to describe the new structure of their mutual relationships.

It has to characterize this new system in the form of a balanced system of relationships, the middle line, a society of reasonable consumption that produces all that’s necessary for a comfortable existence of every individual, according to their specific needs, but not more than that, and that reaches and maintains the balance between each person’s bestowal to society and his or her consumption (reception).
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