In the News (from BBC News): “The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England.

“Prof Dame Sally Davies said bacteria were becoming resistant to current drugs and there were few antibiotics to replace them.

“Antibiotics have been one of the greatest success stories in medicine. However, bacteria are a rapidly adapting foe which find new ways to evade drugs.

“MRSA rapidly became one of the most feared words in hospitals wards and there are growing reports of resistance in strains of E. coli, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea.

“Prof Davies said: ‘It is clear that we might not ever see global warming, the apocalyptic scenario is that when I need a new hip in 20 years I’ll die from a routine infection because we’ve run out of antibiotics.’

“She said there was only one useful antibiotic left to treat gonorrhoea.

“’It is very serious, and it’s very serious because we are not using our antibiotics effectively in countries.’…

“The World Health Organization has warned the world is heading for a ‘post-antibiotic era’ unless action is taken. …

“Prof Pennington said the drugs companies had run out of options too as all the easy drugs had been made. ‘We have to be aware that we aren’t going to have new wonder drugs coming along because there just aren’t any.’”

My Comment: Nature puts “pressure” on us from all sides and will not leave us until we come in balance with it. The goal of evolution is to create all the conditions for the still, vegetative, and animal world for the realization of integral correction of the human being so that he complements nature by his conscious correction like the final, highest figure in the general “Lego” of nature. Until we begin to advance towards this goal, suffering will worsen.
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Opinion (Oxfam): “The world’s richest 100 people earned enough last year to end extreme poverty for the world’s poorest people four times over, Oxfam has said.

“The charity said an ‘explosion in extreme wealth’ was hindering efforts to tackle poverty, in a briefing released ahead of next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Releasing The Cost Of Inequality: How Wealth And Income Extremes Hurt Us All, Oxfam said the net income last year of the 100 richest people was 240 billion US dollars.

“In contrast, people in ‘extreme poverty’ live on less than 1.25 US dollars per day, and the charity called on world leaders to commit to reducing inequality to levels last seen in 1990.”

My Comment: No charities can correct the situation, and what arrives to the starving population does not contribute to its development, but rather leads to its degradation because it is not accompanied by integral education. So, even if all the rich had shared with all the poor, the world would not have become better. On the contrary, it would have become worse.

Until we eliminate the root cause of our problems— our egoistic nature—all of our actions, being egoistic, will always bring a negative result. The only problem is that the action is far removed from the result and we do not see their connection. We need to initially combine help with integral upbringing, not just education, and then we would attain the development of humanity, which would be capable of establishing itself in a new world.
[98806]

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Opinion (Daniel Gros, Director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies): “At high-level gatherings of the European Union elite, one often hears the following type of statement: ‘Europe must integrate and centralize economic governance in order to defend its social model in an age of globalization.’ …

“But the claim that only deeper EU integration can save the ‘European’ social model from the onslaught of emerging markets is not true. Yes, globalization represents a challenge to all EU member states; but it is not clear how more integration would help them to confront it. More European economic governance is not a panacea.

“In fact, it is not even clear which European social model needs to be saved. There are enormous differences among EU members in terms of the size of their public sectors, the flexibility of their labor markets, and almost any socio-economic indicator that one can think of. The common elements that are usually identified with the ‘European’ social model are a quest for equality and a strong welfare state.

“But neither of the main problems confronting Europe’s social-security systems – slow economic growth and aging populations (a function of low fertility) – can be addressed at the European level. …

“The key to ensuring the future of Europe’s social-security systems, and thus its social model, is faster growth. And, again, it is difficult to see how more Europe would improve the situation. The obstacles to growth are well known, and have existed for a long time without being removed. The reason is quite simple: if there were a politically easy way to generate growth, it would have been implemented already.

“Moreover, most national policymakers have a tendency to blame ‘Brussels’ for all of their difficult choices, thus creating the impression at home that the economy would improve if economic affairs could be managed without EU interference. More integration is preached at the European level, but implicitly portrayed at home as an obstacle to growth.

“This double-speak on the part of national political elites is perceived as such by voters, whose trust in both national and EU institutions is naturally declining. The claim that Europe needs more integration to save its social model has long lost credibility. Integration is irrelevant to that question, and, in those areas where deeper integration really would benefit Europe, it appears to be the last thing that national leaders want.”

My Comment: It is necessary to look at the pressure put on us by objective natural forces of our development. No problem can be resolved internally within a country but only through their complete integration. But this assumes a preliminary change of general thinking from egoistic to integral thinking. This can be achieved within a few months by the method of integral education, which was not done before the formation of EU. But of course, the claim that integration will not save the EU is a profound mistake.
[98798]

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In the News (from Plan and the Overseas Development Institute): “Girls are bearing the brunt of the global economic recession – being more likely to experience poverty, reduced life expectancy and drop out of school, according to a new report from Plan and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). …

“It says family poverty hits girls hardest – with only a 1% fall in GDP increasing infant mortality by 7.4 deaths per 1,000 girls versus 1.5 for boys.

“The findings also indicate that food shortages and malnutrition are more common among girls than boys. Women also reduce their own food consumption to become ‘shock absorbers’ for household security.

“As women go out to work longer hours for less money, more girls are pushed out of school and into filling the gaps at home with domestic work, into hazardous child labour or even transactional sex.”

My Comment: Integral education leads us to building a society of equals, providing everyone with basic needs, and everyone’s duty to participate in their own correction (education and upbringing). If we stop producing more than is essential for existence, we will get rid of unnecessary and harmful work and will be able to raise ourselves to the next level dictated by nature, the level of integral humanity.
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In the News (from Reuters): “British Prime Minister David Cameron told European leaders on Thursday that any attempt to force countries into ever-deeper political union was a mistake that Britain would not be part of. …

“’Countries in Europe have their histories, their traditions, their institutions, want their own sovereignty, their ability to make their own choices, and to try and shoehorn countries into a centralised political union would be a great mistake for Europe, and Britain wouldn’t be part of it,’ he said in a speech.”

My Comment: He is right. It is not worth getting closer. I must be prepared in advance to live with another person in one room. It is necessary to implement integral education first, and only then to the extent of its impact on the European nations, bring them closer together, up to a single country—only this approach will be beneficial.
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Opinion (Aditya Chakrabortty, columnist): “More than 2,500 business executives and bankers will converge on the highest town in Europe for the annual World Economic Forum. …

“The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Resilient dynamism.’

“As participants acknowledge, the real business lies in private sessions with industry peers and amenable politicians, and access to those starts at around £98,500.

“And this is what makes Davos so fascinating: it is the most perfect case study of how the practitioners of free-market, globalised capitalism give the public one explanation for what they are doing and why, while privately pursuing the complete opposite. … From its inception, the whole point of Davos has been to promulgate the gospel of free-market fundamentalism. …

“And it’s true: unlike previous generations of the ultra-wealthy, many of the modern super-rich work for a living, in running major businesses or in finance (although the Davos guestlist still includes plenty of sheikhs and royals). But that doesn’t mean they truly earn the millions they claim. …

“Take a look at who’s in the Davos set. Last spring, two American academics, Jon Bakija and Brad Helm, and a US Treasury official, Adam Cole, published the most comprehensive analysis yet of the richest 0.1% earners, based on tax returns. Of these top dogs, nearly two in three were top corporate executives and bankers. And the story in both those professions has not been of brilliant returns to shareholders or vast improvements for society, but of wealth extraction and lobbying politicians, Davos-style.

“Earlier generations would have known what to call this Davos set of wealth extractors and rip-off merchants. Andrew Sayer, a Lancaster professor working on a book to be called Why We Can’t Afford The Rich totes up the terms: Ruskin referred to such wealth as illth, the liberal JA Hobson as ‘improperty.’ Only now, the top 0.1% are able to conceal what they’re up to in plain sight.”

My Comment: Until people decide that only through changing themselves will they correct the world and that otherwise they will destroy themselves, everything will continue as dictated by our egoism, and everything will be done only for its sake, even if it does not lead to the better. After all, our nature is like the serpent that absorbs everything but is not sated. Only immense suffering will compel us to kill it (the path of suffering) … or we can come to the awareness that it is something that brings death (the path of awareness, Light).
[98669]

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In the News (from Espanarusa.com): “The economic crisis has disappointed Spaniards so much that 14% of unemployed people aged over 30 are willing to work for free, with no financial reward. The survey revealed that among the Spaniards, who have a job, 18% do not receive a salary. Three out of every four explain that working for free will help them find a paid position in the future.”

My Comment: Society is not obliged to provide everyone with work, but it must take care of providing basic necessities for everyone. It also should take care of integral education for all the citizens in order to bring society to equilibrium with Nature.
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In the News (from Business Inquirer): “The world’s political and business elite gathered in the snow-covered resort of Davos on Wednesday, aiming to instil some confidence in the global economy amid tentative signs of recovery.

“About 45 world leaders will rub shoulders with around 2,500 lobbyists, journalists, captains of industry and economists in the picture-postcard Swiss ski resort for the five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). …

“Organizers have chosen the theme ‘resilient dynamism,’ reflecting the need for an improvement in the structure of the global economy to resist sudden emergencies like the eurozone debt crisis.”

My Comment: As long as politicians and economists are not aware of the dead end in egoistic protectionist development, do not recognize that the future of the world lies in global integral development, sustainable production and consumption, avoiding excessive production, and accept the need for equal rational consumption by all the people in the world, up to the point of full integration of all of humanity as the next stage of our development, the crisis will inevitably force us to recognize our mistakes through its dramatic manifestations.
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Opinion (David M. Smick, global macroeconomic adviser, founder and editor of the International Economy magazine, author of The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy): Here’s a prediction: The political party that controls the White House after January could, four years later, be out of power for a generation. The economic challenges are that daunting. …

“The globalization model of the past 30 years is cracking up. And there appears to be no new model to replace it. …

“It is difficult to underestimate the degree to which this flawed, sometimes frightening, good we call globalization has been the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs. As a result, the public has unrealistic expectations about how much the economy can deliver in a post-globalization world.”

My Comment: We have to reconsider the whole model of the world as the economy reflects only one of its ugly relationships. Globalization, which was built by egoists, failed, but it has accelerated the realization of evil in egoistic dependence and forces us to recognize the finality, a dead end, of the general egoistic approach to life. A truly global, integral world lies ahead in which all relationships and solutions will be based only on the likeness to the laws of nature, the Creator.
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In the News (from GlobalScience.ru): “American psychologists are alarmed. Today’s kids increasingly abandon traditional toys in favor of computers; moreover, the process begins at a very early age. This trend is observed in all the developed countries and brings producers of traditional toys to ruin. Is it necessary to teach children to use computer technology so early, immersing them in the virtual world?

“Psychologists warn that happiness is in good communication with the child, spending time together with him, and therefore, they advise parents not to buy their way out of responsibilities with expensive toys, but to spend more time with children.”

My Comment: We have made our life so that we have no time for children; we push them towards computers. If it were not for the threat of the ruin of manufacturers and sellers of traditional toys, no one would have raised the issue. In integral education that Kabbalah offers, the main emphasis is on communication between children and discussions with the teacher, guided tours, and games; working with a computer is only supplementary.
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