Entries in the 'Economy' Category

The World Crisis: Worst Yet to Come

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Bloomberg): “The worst may be yet to come in the global financial crisis as the central bank spending that kept defaults low runs out, according to Deutsche Bank AG. (DBK).

“‘If these implied defaults come vaguely close to being realised then the next five years of corporate and financial defaults could easily be worse than the last five relatively calm years,’ the analysts in London said. ‘Much may eventually depend on how much money-printing can be tolerated as we are very close to being maxed out fiscally.’

“Default rates stayed in line with historical norms between 2007 and 2011 because of the ‘unprecedented intervention’ of European and U.S. policy makers, the analysts wrote in the report yesterday.

“Although defaults have been low, recoveries are falling because the public spending that kept non-payments down has failed to spur economic growth, according to the analysts.

“‘The LTROs [long-term refinancing operations] gave us some respite but they don’t appear to have taken the problem away,’ Burns said in a phone interview. ‘At the moment there are no more LTROs on the table.’”

My Comment: Will we really fail to convey to the analysts an opportunity to correct the global economy through changing the relationships in society? How much suffering do people have to go through so that political and financial authorities understand that the only opportunity to correct the crisis is through social relations? The vast majority of scientists talk about it, but as usual, the government doesn’t want to listen and acts in their narrow egoism.
[76066]

Related Material:
Global Economic Crisis Deepens
The Crisis Is Just Beginning
The Development Of The Global Crisis

The Debt Crisis Is Returning

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Guardian): “Europe’s sovereign debt crisis exploded back into life on Tuesday, with markets across the continent rocked by a wave of panic selling amid renewed fears about the impact of savage austerity measures in Spain and Italy.

“Italy and Spain, the eurozone’s third and fourth biggest economies, were at the centre of the market turmoil, with investors demanding an increasingly high premium for holding their bonds.

“‘Spain is a big focus right now and even Greece will be coming back into the picture as it looks for another tranche of aid, so this eurozone debt tragedy is not going away, but seems to be getting worse,’ said Daniel Hwang, senior currency strategist at Forex.com in New York.”

My Comment: The crisis will not go away until people understand its cause. It forces us to change ourselves, our relationships and rebuild everything on a new foundation, not egoistic, but like in a single family. Nature has all the possibilities to implement this, while we have no strength to resist it, so isn’t it better to think?
[75861]

Related Material:
The EU’s Free Fall
Eurozone Debt Web: Who Owes What To Whom?
You Will Die Today So I Could Die Tomorrow

The Fed Will Be Powerless To Stop The Real Crash

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Graham Summers, Chief Market Strategist): “Over the last two years, I’ve been caught into believing a Crash was coming several times. In some ways I was right: we got sizable corrections of 15+%. But we never got the REAL CRASH I thought we would because the Fed stepped in.

“So what makes this time different?

“Several items:
1) The Crisis coming from Europe will be far, far larger in scope than anything the Fed has dealt with before.

2) The Fed is now politically toxic and cannot engage in aggressive monetary policy without experiencing severe political backlash (this is an election year).

3) The Fed’s resources are spent to the point that the only thing the Fed could do would be to announce an ENORMOUS monetary program which would cause a Crisis in of itself.

“In simple terms, this time around, when Europe goes down (and it will) it’s going to be bigger than anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes. And this time around, the world Central Banks are already leveraged to the hilt having spent virtually all of their dry powder propping up the markets for the last four years.

“Again, this time it is different. I realize most people believe the Fed can just hit ‘print’ and solve everything, but they’re wrong. The last time the Fed hit ‘print’ food prices hit records and revolutions began spreading in emerging markets. If the Fed does it again, especially in a more aggressive manner as it would have to, we would indeed enter a dark period in the world and the capital markets.”

My Comment: Here is an opportunity to begin local wars or one world war. The rulers will practically have no other choice. And only the timely realization that the crisis is aimed at changing society can lighten our path.
[75982]

Related Material:
The Debt Crisis Is Returning
“US Government Debt Growing Four Times Faster Than GDP”
The Discontent Of The Masses Is Ahead

“US Government Debt Growing Four Times Faster Than GDP”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (From mybudget360.com): “The global market is being held together with the veneer of massive debt duct tape. The solution for much of the European debt crisis was to simply add more debt to the current situation. In other words, solve a debt problem with more debt. All this does is delay the inevitable. The hope is that somehow GDP in these countries will grow fast enough to pay off existing debts but the amount of debt is so enormous that it is mathematically impossible without inflating currencies away. Even the US is mired in enormous levels of debt and the pace of debt expanding is by far outpacing GDP growth.

“This debt by definition is unsustainable. If anyone was honest about this they would realize that we will never payback that $15+ trillion in debt outstanding.

“Unlike the banking sector, the deleveraging is occurring at the household level. The only area where this isn’t occurring is in the corrupt student loan market that keeps growing into yet another debt based bubble.”

My Comment: Once they used to say in Russia: “War will write everything off.” This is what they are hoping for.
[75917] 

Related Material:
The Discontent Of The Masses Is Ahead
The EU’s Free Fall
Hard Defaults Are Inevitable

Obsession With Money Deadens People

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Bruce E. Levine, a clinical psychologist, author of Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite): “A preoccupation with money is nothing new in our culture, but have Americans become even more ‘money-centric,’ and does this deaden us, making us incapable of resisting injustices?
“A money-centric society is one in which money is at the center of virtually all thoughts, decisions and activities. …Such a society coerces even the non-greedy to focus on money at the expense of damn near everything else in order to survive.
“Both greed and fear make one more money-centric, and in recent years, it has become more socially acceptable to be greedy and increasingly commonplace to be financially insecure.
“Nowadays, nearly everybody, even teachers and postal workers, lacks job security. Today, I see money worries, more than anything else, triggering panic attacks, depression, and alcohol abuse. Money discussions have even come to dominate family counseling sessions, where high school students increasingly talk about their fear of becoming financial losers, and parents fear their children will ruin their lives by accumulating student-loan debt while pursuing fields where there are few decent-paying jobs.
“As late as 1936, a sitting president of the United States running for reelection knew that that it was quite popular to blast the greedy, selfish elite: ‘We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.’
“That was Franklin D. Roosevelt on Oct. 31, 1936. Contrast FDR’s speech with President Barack Obama’s response in an interview excerpted by Bloomberg Businessweek and the Wall Street Journal in February 2010: ‘First of all, I know both those guys. They’re very savvy businessmen. And I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That’s part of the free market system….’
“So, it should surprise no one that the Rolling Stones do corporate gigs, including one a decade ago in which they took in $2 million to entertain Pepsi bottlers in Hawaii.
“Equally widespread and probably even more responsible for dissipating rebellious energy is when songs of perceived rebellious artists are used as background music in commercials used to propagandize listeners into associating their rebellious urges with consumer products.
“Spirituality, music, theater, cinema, and other arts can be revolutionary forces, but the gross commercialization of these has deadened their capacity to energize rebellion. So now damn near everything—not just organized religion—has become an ‘opiate of the masses.'”
My Comment: Egoism directs our entire life, and there is nothing but personal gain behind our actions, even the most “unselfish” ones. We can rise above our nature into the property of bestowal only under the influence of the force of the “Light.”
[74136]

Related Material:
When Money Runs The show
100% Spiritual Work In The Chains Of The Ego
The Hard Labour Of The Advanced Society

The Domino Effect

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)): “Major donors’ aid to developing countries fell by nearly 3% in 2011, breaking a long trend of annual increases. Disregarding years of exceptional debt relief, this was the first drop since 1997. Continuing tight budgets in OECD countries will put pressure on aid levels in coming years.

“‘The fall of ODA is a source of great concern, coming at a time when developing countries have been hit by the knock-on effect of the crisis and need it most. Aid is only a fraction of total flows to low income countries, but these hard economic times also mean lower investment and lower exports.’”

My Comment: So far the crisis is held back by the year of presidential re-election (the economy of election), but then it will hit everyone like a tsunami.
[75120]

Related Material:
Apocalypse Tomorrow
IMF Chief Warns Of Gloomy Economic Outlook
The Army May Be Used To Suppress People’s Resistance

The Discontent Of The Masses Is Ahead

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s former Finance Minister): “‘The scenario of the debt crisis, reduced growth, and reduced demand for oil is very likely. …Corporate structures in Europe and around the world have already calculated it and are trying to be ready for it.’

“‘The actions taken by the European Central Bank to purchase the debt is a necessary measure that does not solve debt problems since they ultimately do not degrease country’s national debt.’

“‘If the recession lasts another year, we will have to solve the problem employing more resources at the expense of the stabilization fund, the IMF….

“The European countries will soon have to make decisions on budget cuts; otherwise, it will lead to an increase in government debt and the inability to service it.

“The scenario of rescue of the European economy through printing money and rising inflation is more than likely.

“‘If the printing money is maintained to support the economy, then ultimately, it will result in inflation. And it will hit the real income of the population. Thus, the industry will be saved through inflation, but the real income of the population will decrease….’”

My Comment: But these methods cannot solve anything either. The waves of public discontent and civil wars are ahead—if the authorities do not instigate a world massacre instead.

It is necessary to restructure the system of society, industry, and economy to reasonable consumption, integral education and upbringing, and unity in front of the common enemy: the consumer attitude towards the world, nature, and environment.

It is necessary to begin to educate the population in advance so as to change its view of society, priorities, and values and create new landmarks—the integral ones. Only by these changes will we be able to provide us and our children with the guaranteed future. Otherwise, we have no future.
[75263]

Related Material:
The Economics Of Happiness
Solving Problems That Have No Solution
The False Key To Salvation

Is Work The Center Of Life?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If half of the human population will not be working, then won’t an opposition emerge between those who work and must give to those who do not do anything other than study all the time?

Answer: First of all, one needs to look at those who work and those who study as everyone who participates in the same pursuit. There will not be such a concept as “working or not working.” According to our research and statistical data, 1-2% of the Earth’s population can produce all of the necessary food products and an additional 6-7% of the people can produce everything else that man needs. Everything that is necessary; do you understand? Let’s say, it’s 10% of the entire human population, and what about the rest of the people? What should be done with them? Destroy them?

We need to understand that a person shouldn’t be working in the way that he’s working today at all. Except for the past couple of centuries, never has a person been working from morning until night. Work has become the most important for him. And for comfort, kindergartens are being organized close to companies. Work in general has obtained the status of the center of life.

But why should it be this way? Why can’t a person come to work for only two hours a day, and study for the rest of the time? At that, he is working on self-education, integral development. He joins this process and each time, every day, to the extent of his changing, he must bring himself to a greater balance with nature. And this is a constant renewal. We will be obligated to do this. Nobody needs to give up anything; everyone is equal in this.

Today, when you communicate with a person, first of all you find out: who are you, where are you, what is your occupation, how much do you earn? This is all that interests us. But now we are coming to a different society. Neither the earth, nor the natural resources, or the environment (as much as we have already polluted it) will allow us to behave this way any further. We already see this.

In no way are we convincing anyone, like the rest of the scientists, that we need to act this way and not another; we simply offer a possible solution. We will be happy to hear other proposals. We are also constantly searching, supplementing this methodology with newer and newer data. In general, this work is part of the research. If you were to ask me 10 years ago, then you would have heard only a small part of what I am saying today. Besides, we have discovered a lot from our colleagues around the world with whom we are cooperating closely.
[74591]
From a Lecture at Šiauliai University, Lithuania, 3/22/12 

Related Material:
The Method Of Recovery
Understanding The Integral Method
Half Of Jobs To Disappear By 2030

The Economics Of Happiness

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to change people somehow, and here we encounter a very interesting phenomenon: Nature compels us to shift from a society of excessive consumption to a society of reasonable consumption, in balance and harmony because when we consume equally and give to one another and to nature, by keeping that law of balance as the main law of nature, a great number of people will be released from work.

This means that, with the help of the crisis, the future society that is already beginning to take shape will gradually result in people working very little. They won’t have to work ten hours a day. The erroneous attitude toward the use of our time should be replaced by creating new relationships among people. This will indeed require a lot of time.

We have studied this issue and have reached the conclusion that for the hundreds of millions of people who will soon be free from work (there will simply be no work for them), we need to establish a huge world university. We must teach these people about the integral attitude to others and to nature.

The right integral attitude to mutual cooperation will release such forces that everything will be enough for everyone.

According to all our calculations and data, there is nothing in the world that we lack. The only problem is that man cannot properly allocate everything because of greed, because of his ego.

If we take all the unemployed and create one university, classes, and clubs where people will learn the integral education, we will create a totally different society, that will be satisfied, balanced, no longer seeking super satiation, and will really feel happy.

It is known that in the last few years, the so-called “economics of happiness” has been developed, which measures everything not by the amount of money, but by how a person feels life. In principle, this is what we need to come to.

There is nothing artificial here. Life simply obliges us to study all the processes that take place in society and how we can balance them. This is what nature pushes us to.
[74313]
From a Lecture at Šiauliai University, Lithuania, 3/22/12

Related Material:
Understanding The Integral Method
Solving Problems That Have No Solution
A Loaded Message

Unemployment In The EU Reached Record Levels

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from BBC News): “Unemployment across countries that use the Euro edged higher in February to 10.8%. That’s up from 10.7% in January and the highest level since the introduction of the single currency in 1999. Spain has the highest rate of 23.6%.

“Meanwhile, a separate report confirmed that manufacturing activity in Europe shrank in February. …

“France was particularly weak, with manufacturing activity falling to the lowest level in almost three years. …

“Finance ministers will hope that an agreement to increase the size of the eurozone’s rescue fund will help bolster sentiment.”

My Comment: When decisions are deadlocked, there is no other solution but war as it has always been in the past. In order to prevent an impasse, a massive outreach is required to explain the solution to the crisis through integral education. Human egoism is the cause of the crisis, and it must be corrected from individual to integral.
[74502]

Related Material:
“Eurozone Unemployment Hits New Record”
20 Signs That Europe Is Plunging Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression
Unemployment: The Threat Of Global Scale