In the News (from The Voice of Russia): “Unwilling to accept cuts in wages and social spending, the Europeans go on strike almost every day. Obviously, in the coming year we will see many more strikes in Europe. The EU will have to save in order to overcome the crisis, but the measures to reduce budget spending and market reforms are very painful for the population.”

My Comment: Humanity must switch consciously or through wars and crises from the economy of (unlimited) consumerism to the economy or reasonable (necessary, balanced) consumption. This will free up to 70-80% of the workforce. According to the law of nature, we need to distribute the remainder of work in the most ecological (with minimum cost) and effective way among all the workforce.

We, all the inhabitants of the Earth, must dedicate the time freed from extra (harmful) work to our integral education and upbringing, the method of homeostasis (balance with nature), until we achieve integral connection between us and feel the upper level of the governing forces of Nature.
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Opinion (Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist): “The 130-billion euro aid will not save Athens from default, and ultimately Greece will have no choice but to leave the EU. Politicians are not paving the road for exiting the crisis, but leading the EU to the collapse.

“’Europe is a major threat not only to the US, but the entire world economy. A total failure of European politicians to develop a comprehensive anti-crisis solution… is evident.’

“‘The strategy of cutting back on spending during the crisis does not help.

“‘There is a widespread misconception that a time of saving is suitable for structural reforms because the transformation will make more people unemployed. Structural reforms must be carried out at a time of prosperity of the economy. The Lost Decade in Europe is the end of the EU story that simply will not survive such a weak growth.

“‘The crisis heats up society. The “Arab Spring” can spread around the world, or on the opposite, there might be a slant towards authoritarian regimes, like it happened in Hungary. The example of Hungary is a possible scenario for Europe, and it is very scary. The world is now in the state like in 1934, and the economic crisis creates high political volatility. … I have never seen such uncertainty. Any turn of events is possible in social order.”

My Comment: Again, he advocates expanding the economy, rather than bringing it to a reasonable size, and strengthening the consumer society, rather than against it. The EU will disappear not due to the lack of growth, but due to the lack of unity because it is not the EU by concept. And as for the possibilities of the Nazi regimes in the EU countries, Baal HaSulam wrote about it in his newspaper “The Nation (HaUma)” 70 years ago.
[70873] 

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Opinion (from Reuters): “Risk consultancy Maplecroft said its Global Risk Atlas, which highlights potentially destabilising factors in the world’s key growth economies, found that Brazil, Russia, India and China were no less susceptible to potential security or economic shocks than in previous years….

“For some of them, governance and reform have not kept pace with economic growth, leaving them vulnerable to potential risks such as terrorism or climate change, the survey found.

“According to the report, India and Russia are among 41 countries classified as ‘high risk’, with poor governance, systemic corruption and terrorism identified as particular risks.

“China, meanwhile, is also exposed to security issues, but is classified as ‘medium risk’ due to the unlikelihood of social or political upheaval on a national scale, the report said.

“Brazil, also ranked ‘medium risk’, is considered the least susceptible to global risks of the four BRICs, due in part to the stability of its political structure and record of strong governance.”

My Comment: The crisis will spare no one because it is global and will eventually lead to the need for all countries to change goals and development programs, to replace the material development of society of unlimited consumption  with a society of reasonable consumption, and instead of chasing fulfillment in shopping, fulfilling oneself above our life with what a human seeks subconsciously.
[71376]

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In the News (from Reuters): “More than 100,000 people packed Lisbon’s vast Palace Square on Saturday [February 11, 2012] in the largest rally against austerity and economic hardships since the country resorted to an EU/IMF bailout last May, and organizers vowed to step up protests and labor action.”

My Comment: Instead of budget cutbacks, we need to approach the education of the citizens and build a new form of society, a society of reasonable consumption, when we do not just cutback but eliminate all the surplus, transition to balanced distribution, unify all citizens in a single system of education, and reduce all but essential services and positions. If all of this is executed simultaneously, society will feel much more comfortable than it had in its past good years.
[69685]

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Opinion (Guli Bazarov, Director of the 21st Century Center of Technology): “ In the beginning of the 20th century, entrepreneurship developed very actively, and people were hungry for the pleasures of civilization. Now the feeling of the first hunger has passed. People want to spend more time with their family.

“Everyone calculated for themselves some financial optimum, and they are no longer willing to devote all their free time to work. The period when you worked in order to live is over. But the accumulated tiredness remains. Add to this the lack of career advancement, and you get a worker who has absolutely no motivation. He is no longer kindled about work since he has burnt out.”

My Comment: The crisis will show the pettiness of our egotistic attitude to the world and will bring us to an understanding of a new world, one above our egotistic nature of this world, to a world of bestowal and love.
[70179]

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In the News (from Forbes): “Moody’s was last to the downgrade party, announcing on Monday it was axing the sovereign credit rating of six European nations including Italy, Spain, and Portugal. At the same time, the credit rating agency put three triple-A rated nations (the U.K., France, and Austria) under negative outlook, signaling they too could lose the precious, yet arbitrary, seal of approval.”

My Comment: Now, it is only a matter of time: either the crisis will change the EU or the EU will become smarter, reject the old system, and take the course toward full integration.

They will need to do the following:

1. Introduce a system of integral education and upbringing across the EU,
2. Develop a new economic system of reasonable consumption and equitable distribution,
3. Plan gradual implementation of points 1 and 2 in all EU countries.

Surely until the EU leaders and a new single EU government begins to attend to these questions, the systemic crisis will begin to weaken.
[71291]

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Opinion (John Kozy, PhD, professor): “Offshoring production to underdeveloped nations gives needy people jobs, increases their incomes, reduces poverty, and expands their nations’ GNPs. It also enables people in developed nations to purchase products produced offshore at lower prices enabling them to consume a wider range of things…

“Yes, the wages were better than those that could have been earned before, but they weren’t much benefit. Why? Because when the paychecks began to arrive, the local landlords and vendors increased prices on everything, so just as before, all of their incomes went to pay for basic necessities. The landlords and vendors got the money; the workers were not better off… But, of course, the country’s GNP was better, which is all that matters to economists who still claim that economy is improving…

“Two conclusions follow from this scenario: employment alone is not a sufficient condition for prosperity; full employment can exist in an enslaved society alongside abject poverty, and an increasing GNP does not mean that an economy is getting better… Those numbers mean nothing.

“Economists build models by what they call ‘abstraction.’ But it’s really subtraction. They look at a real world situation and subtract from it the characteristics they deem unessential. The result is a bare bones description consisting of what economists deem economically essential. Everything that is discarded (not taken into consideration in the model) is called an ‘externality’… Since externalities are excluded from all economic models and can be expected to change after any model is implemented, all economic models necessarily fail.”

My Comment: We are in the process of exposing this system and due to our realization of the laws of nature and the law of business opposite to it, we will understand the system in which we want to live. Such a system can be only one: a society with equitable distribution of reasonably limited goods and services.

Fulfillment is achieved by integrating and understanding the meaning of life and raising the whole society to the next level: an integral society in which everyone feels the next level of existence in total unity.
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By creating a network of interconnections, we lead the world; we are becoming the world’s “center of bestowal.” Humanity is experiencing suffering, but is not able to reveal the reason behind it and that is why it does not know how to get rid of it. This is already visible and will be felt more and more. This is why we must as soon as possible explain and tell the people about the reason behind the crisis, about its nature, and how to get out of it.

Without this we cannot say that we are bestowing upon the world. We need to participate in the misfortunes of people with all our strength, to feel their pain and demands more than our own. This is our main purpose. This is what we exist for. That is why it is necessary in the shortest time possible to come out into the world with the explanation of what is going on. The world will not be able to discern the solution on its own. This obliges us to create networks for the preparation of educators, creating content, and so on.

This is our work. Thanks to it we will move forward ourselves, only in dissemination and care for the neighbors.
[71204]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/12, “Questions and Answers”

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In the News (from The Huffington Post): “Republicans in the U.S. Senate want the long-term unemployed to volunteer for 20 hours a week in order to receive unemployment insurance.

“A bill introduced Thursday by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) would also require claimants drawing benefits six months or longer to search for work at least 20 hours a week.

“’Engagement in volunteer service will encourage unemployed workers to maintain job skills, marketability, and a sense of self-worth while providing for the betterment of their communities,’ Burr said in a statement. ‘Even more, the active job search requirement will enhance the integrity of the unemployment system and its ability to identify and serve those most in need.’”

My Comment: There is no need for workers to occupy fictitious positions; there will be no need for them anymore. This will only deepen the crisis, putting unnecessary strains on the budget. What we need for our survival is to organize for everybody a course on integral society in order to become similar to the unified system of nature.
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Opinion (Vladimir Chuprov,  spokesman for Greenpeace Russia): “Today’s weather anomalies are the result of imbalance in the climate system, caused mostly by human intervention into the atmosphere, when the temperature on the planet has increased on average by 0.8 Celsius after the change of the chemical composition of the air.

“This change is enough to shake the whole climate system and get a 10-degree (C) deviation from the norm, as it is happening now.

“We have to live and adapt to this weather. The most that we can do is not to worsen the situation so that the temperature and pressure do not change even more.

“There are two ways to do it: to adapt and to reduce greenhouse emissions. In the first case, this means to restructure the economies to suit the new conditions.

“With regard to emissions, it is necessary to switch to new energy sources and a more efficient use of energy. This involves the transition to a low-carbon economy, to green energy, and renewable sources of energy.

Comment: The only solution to the problem is to immediately reduce production to the required level (reasonable consumption) and gradually shift to eco-energy.
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