Entries in the 'Crisis' Category

European Crisis Could Kill Weak Banks

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank Chief Executive): “Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will stunt bank profit for years and could kill off the weakest, Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann told industry bosses, amid intense scrutiny of the sector’s finances.

“’Prospects for the financial sector overall … are rather limited,’ the CEO of Germany’s top bank said on Monday. ‘The outlook for the future growth of revenues is limited by both the current situation and structurally.’

“Ackermann said that the financial services industry needed to go beyond curbing the excesses of the past and reevaluate what role banks play in the global economy, signaling that the lender will not revive some of the risky businesses…”

My Comment: Surely, those who deal with economic relationships, more than anyone else, feel how impossible it is to manage them.

The problem can be solved only by changing the way we perceive the real state of society: We find ourselves in a interconnected world, and hence, we are obliged to change the strategy of our relationships. Unilateral egoistic profit should be substituted by multi-lateral mutual benefit to maximize our interconnection rather than individual profit—for the well-being of society. Economists in particular have to ponder over the crisis of their own perception(!) and its repair.
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Slowdown Brings Forward New Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Nouriel Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC): “The current slowdown in the world economy has brought forward the timing of a new financial crisis.

“’I thought a few months ago that the perfect storm would be 2013,’ Roubini said in an interview in London today. ‘But now, the economic weakness in the U.S., euro zone and the U.K. is front loaded. So we’re going to double dip earlier. The climax of it could be 2013, or it could be already earlier. It depends on what policy tools are available.’

“Another financial crisis ‘is already manifesting itself’ in developed economies.

“Roubini said if he had large amounts of money to invest, he would ‘mostly keep it in cash,’ especially in dollars, as the U.S. currency tends to strengthen during financial crises.”

My Comment: The more frequently we will experience crises, the quicker we will understand that they have their purpose, nature, cause, and goal: to force us to realize our egoistic opposition to global, integral nature.

Nature compels us toward mutual guarantee, flexibility, and realization that we are integral parts of a single mechanism. We are entering the stage of our “human” development, and we will be forced to reach the quality of “love thy neighbor as thyself”—the law of commutation of single system elements.
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You Will Pay Twice

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi): “Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Friday that ousted Libyan leader Gaddafi was loved by his people and that the rebellion that toppled him was not a popular uprising.

“’This wasn’t a popular uprising,’ like in other north African countries ‘where the wind of freedom begins to blow,’ he told young supporters of his People of Freedom party gathered in Rome.

“’Powerful men decided to give life to a new era by putting out Gaddafi,’ he said.

“’This wasn’t a popular uprising because Gaddafi was loved by his people, as I was able to see when I went to Libya.’”

My Comment: For a long time, everything in the world is happening by someone’s order, including terror, revolutions, and wars. Do they understand that in an integral and unified world, the harm that one inflicts upon others by acting egoistically and causing evil returns back to him, but it is multiplied by the coefficient of integrity of the world at the time of his action. That is, as they say: “You’ll pay twice.” I wouldn’t recommend it…. Although we will witness it in a near future.

With regard to the plans to annul the state of Israel, it goes against the plan of nature to raise humanity to the Biblical level, which is beginning to be implemented just now. According to this plan, the Biblical principle of “love thy neighbor as thyself” has to spread throughout the entire world from the Holy Land, and not from the Capitol Hill. This the purpose of the existence of Israel.
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The World Of Pain Will Dissolve In An Ocean Of Goodness

Dr. Michael LaitmanMutual guarantee is the only way to counter the blow that nature casts upon us today (if the revelation of the Creator can even be called a blow!). Mutual guarantee will put us in concord with the blow, and instead we will sense it as a positive influence.

If today we connect by ties of mutual guarantee to the degree that we are supposed to, we will sense goodness in this world and will succeed in everything. Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation” how a person’s outlook changes. We would see healthy people, a blooming economy and industry, and perfect families. There would be no sick, unfortunate, and hopeless people. There would be no use of anti-depressants, no drugs, and no divorces.

Our world would be harmonious and we would only be concerned with achieving an even greater state of harmony with the Creator, with the force of nature, which would reveal itself to us more and more.

We must bring ourselves into correspondence with the perfect system of connections in the shortest amount of time possible. We can’t even imagine yet what a perfect connection means; however, we must achieve it in a short period of time. I can’t even imagine how fast this should unfold—each day will feel like a new life. The changes will be so rapid that people will lose their sense of time.

Today we sense that there is morning and evening; we say things like “come tomorrow,” “in a week,” or “in a month.” However, this will disappear because we’ll lose our sense of time. Time will become a change of states, to the point where people won’t even think in terms of morning or evening. These notions will disappear from their consciousness and time will only be measured through changes taking place within them.

This is how we rise above time and space. All of our sensations will no longer depend on them. We will continue to eat, drink, and do things in this world, but a new mechanism and new attitude will begin to get a hold of us, until this entire world will disappear, and we will smoothly transfer into a new state. The importance of this world will be lost to such an extent that we will simply stop seeing and sensing it.

The extent to which we rise in order to connect to one another is the extent to which this world will begin to disappear.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/2011, Rabash’s article

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Which Businesses Will Succeed?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Lately, you have been saying that no economic program or transaction will be successful without taking humanity into consideration. How can we explain this to people? They are unable to take all of humanity into consideration. The most they can understand is to consider a few companies or a number of people.

Answer: If I want to make a deal with someone and I want it to be successful, I must think: “What deal can be successful if the world has become round and is in a global crisis because we are unable to consider all the connections between us? What deals can I make without considering all these connections?” True, you can’t make any. So, what should I do? I should consider them as best as I can.

A business can be successful on condition that I also care for a fellow human being as much as I am able to the extent of my correction, as much as the fact that the world is round becomes revealed in the world. If the fact that the world is one hundred percent round would be revealed to us, we would find our hands and feet tied, and we would not be able to do anything. I am not able to find a piece of bread until you bring it to me, and you will not be able to feed yourself until I give you a piece of cake.

This is why these connections are not being revealed to us. We only discover minor faults in the connection between us: “So, what is the big deal?…” In this case, I need to take into consideration that I must contribute to the world and care for preparing people for the new world and their global education.

Education is the primary priority. If people and the world as a whole do not know where they are, this would be the worst thing. Essentially, this is the only difference between the current and the future reality: the perception of common interconnection where we exist, to see the strings that connect us with our own eyes.

This is why it is necessary to educate people first, to open their eyes, to impress them, make them feel and see that we are really connected, and that there is nothing that can be done. People will be able to make deals, conduct business, make calculations, and earn interest to the extent that they feel that there is nothing else they can and that we are really connected.

So, what do we do now? We try to act this way regardless, even if we do it artificially, to the extent of our understanding, for example, to give several percent to the world’s global education.

Let us say that the common connection between us is now being revealed as 3%. Then, a person is not required to be connected to the world more closely than an extra 3%. He must think that the world is interconnected and contribute to the world’s advancement in this direction. In our example, he would give 3% of his profit to global education.

Then, success will really accompany him. This is because in this way, he becomes harmoniously connected to nature, makes himself similar to it and in balance with it to a certain degree, and changes in the direction of a new tendency. He is not required to know at all the entire connection between us and act according to it.

When he attains this entire network and begins to realize the connections according to it, everything will become very simple. He will only take what he and his employees need and give everything else for the benefit of society. Then it is said that he knows the entire network and is connected with it like a cell in a single organism.

However, this is not required of him now. Instead of only keeping what he needs, he keeps 97% and gives 3% to the education of the world. It may be 5% a year from now, and 50% in another five years. And thus we will advance gradually, to the extent that we sense and move toward the contemplation of the network that connects us and obligates us to act in accordance with it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/2011, Rabash’s article

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ECB President Calls For Swift Action To Help Greece

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from bbc.co.uk): “European Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet has called for swift action to help Greece.

“He urged eurozone governments to rapidly implement the agreement, which allows for a second bailout.

“His comments to the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee echo those of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

“The latest problem for the implementation of the second bailout is that the government of Finland wants collateral for its fresh loans to Greece.”

My Comment: This demonstrates how a lack of understanding of the necessity to be in mutual guarantee for the survival of everybody will lead to the collapse of the European Union and war. After all, by not helping, you cause bankruptcy. This is similar to people in one boat: There is a leak under one of them, and the rest think that it doesn’t concern them—most importantly, it’s still dry under them.

Finland’s reactions show how necessary it is to provide universal upbringing and education—an explanation of the fundamentals of global and integral humanity and its laws—for decision-making politicians in the first place. We, all those who understand from Kabbalah that unity is salvation, have a duty to introduce this into the world.
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Kabbalah Circulation: Simply And To The Point

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we ensure that our circulation is not met with antagonism?

Answer: The approach is simple. First of all, we circulate the knowledge about the crisis without frightening people, but showing them the real situation.

And the situation is that we are opposite to global, integral nature. We know from biology, zoology, cybernetics, physics, astrophysics, and other disciplines that nature is global and all its parts are interconnected; they all are in homeostasis, balance, and harmony. All, except man.

Man was intentionally directed to the egoistic path of development that lasted until our time. And now we find ourselves in the crisis with regard to nature. In its development, human society became a global system and came into direct conflict with nature.

 

Existing inside nature, we are opposite to it. This is the core of the crisis: We do not correspond to nature. And until we reach accord with it, we will feel bad. This is what happens during any change of parameters be it temperature, pressure, or anything else. Hence, by not adapting to the environment, we experience crisis.

This shows what can be done, how human society can correspond to nature. This correspondence means that we have to be connected harmoniously between ourselves and with nature. Harmony demands of us to receive and give in a balanced way. After all, only two forces act in nature: reception and bestowal.

If we implement this approach both in human society and also in relation to the outside world, our life will be good. Thousands of scientific articles attest to it. We only need to show and explain it to people. We don’t say anything from ourselves; we merely organize the materials and present them: “Look, this is what constitutes our problem. Economists, scientists, and sociologists talk about it. So let us find a remedy according to their diagnosis. Let us cure ourselves.”

We do not employ the wisdom of Kabbalah or religion in our explanations. We only present the available scientific data correctly and bring it to people.

This raises a question: How do we correct our interrelationships—how to correct man? In response, we explain what’s described in Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom” and other materials: Man is a result of the environment, and hence, we need to change the environment so that it affects everybody in a different way. We have to artificially, using games, create among ourselves the correct environment.

The influence of the environment that I build transforms me. Yes, I play, I pretend; in reality I have no desire to be nice and responsive. Yet, I created a big environment that influences me in different ways, and thanks to this I change.

This is what we have to do, similar to how children grow. By building the environment and feeling changes in myself, I get to know my nature and Nature in general. I become wise, like the Creator, and raise myself to His degree. This is our goal: not to solve the crisis and have a good life in our world, but to raise ourselves to the next degree by correcting the crisis.
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From the New York lecture #1, 9/11/11

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End Of The First Episode. What’s Next?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have reached a point where we have completed building the global and integral egoistic system of connections. We have tied everything together as much as possible, all banks and trade; we have come full circle. Clearly these actions were driven by egoistic motivations and pressure from suffering: the desire for money, honor, and power.

Just as we have completed this global and integral egoistic system, it began experiencing breakdowns. These breakdowns evoke a sense of crisis within us. Now our actions must correspond to the method of Kabbalah and we must try to correct the relations between us as well as the way we relate to the world.

On the account of these trials we raise MAN (prayer), and the Light that Reforms becomes revealed. It creates transformations within each person’s individual egoism and changes the way he relates to others. The Light brings us into correspondence with the conditions that are being revealed to us in this global network so that we would become better suited for it.

Each time this network will reveal itself as more integral and global in the context of bestowal to one another, and each time we’ll have to work harder to influence the force from Above, which corrects us in accordance to the global network.

The force of bestowal will constantly reveal itself between us, and each one of us will have to make sure to bring himself or herself in accordance with it. First the Creator reveals the force of bestowal on His end, and then it’s up to us to change ourselves accordingly.

However, if the revelation of this network isn’t accompanied by our independent advancement, we sense it as a crisis. The situation will only worsen, up to the point where we won’t be able to trade and profit from one another, which is something that we depend on. It can get to a point where we won’t be able to sustain ourselves and then we’ll be forced to search for a solution.

All this needs to be explained from a Kabbalistic point of view because people won’t be able to solve this on their own. In this type of situation the only solution is war. In order to know something and to begin to operate correctly, we need to make at least a minimal amount of positive inner changes that will be in concord with the global network.

This is why Kabbalists, who view this situation from Above, must advise us on our actions. It was always this way, even with prophets and Kabbalists of all times and of all levels.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/2011, Writings of Rabash

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U.S. Denounced For Orchestrating Europe’s Financial Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Laurence Parisot, the head of the French MEDEF employers’ union): “French business leader and President of the influential MEDEF Laurence Parisot said in an interview on Sunday with Le Figaro newspaper that key players in the U.S. financial elite and particularly the U.S. media have been playing a pivotal role in purposely destabilizing and aggravating the European sovereign debt and financial crisis throughout the summer of 2011 and continue to do so by spreading false rumors around international markets in a bid to strengthen their own hand, particularly in dealings with China.

“Laurence Parisot went on to explain how the situation had particularly worsened for Europe when China started to categorically denounce and criticize the U.S. for the exorbitant level of its debt. ‘The Americans then probably wanted to pass the blame onto Europe. We saw a kind of psychological warfare and an attempt to destabilize the Euro zone. The markets overreacted, being by nature very sensitive to rumors – even organized rumors.’ she said in the interview.

“However the President of the MEDEF did state that rather than being due to some sort of a conspiracy, the Eurozone’s difficulties were simply being ‘orchestrated’ from the other side of the Atlantic. She cited examples such as how the U.S. press immediately echoed and explicitly spread rumors mainstream about the financial states of French banks and the alleged imminent collapse of the Euro zone even though these rumors were completely unfounded and had no credible source.

“To quote, ‘We went from attacks on Spain to Italy and then France, and even up to rumors of Germany’s degradation last week! When American publications widely read by investors and financial analysts count on false and sensationalist headlines, it’s time to ask questions.’ she said.”

My Comment: The USA does this openly, by the right of the strong to do what is advantageous for it, without burdening itself with the guise of “good manners.” It is so in everything. Today, this attitude of any person, let alone any country, in relation to others will not remain without response from the integral system of nature that is being revealed now.

Earlier, until 1995, such behavior of people and countries did not cause an obvious negative reaction from nature. Americans, as well as other nations, ought to take note of this.
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The US Continues To Face An Ongoing National Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from President Obama’s speech to Congress): “…The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy…. Ultimately, our recovery will be driven not by Washington, but by our businesses and our workers. …

“I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act. …

“The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. … It will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers, and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business. It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled….”

Comment: If that is what Mr. President really thinks, then he is mistaken at the root. It is necessary to change one’s attitude to the world, to show an example of a country that replaced power politics and economy with a politics and economy of unity.

And to accomplish that, it is necessary to launch a wide-ranging system of worldwide, integral upbringing in the spirit of “mutual guarantee,” and according to the understanding of the new connections in society, to create the economy of the new world—the economy of mutual guarantee.

Only that will help us come out of the crisis!
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