In the News (from The Investment Blog): The debt to income ratio [in the US] went from 70% in the 1990s to 140% now. Retrenchment of the U.S. consumer will result in a painful rebalancing in the economy and a cumulative contraction of personal consumption close to US$600bn.

My Comment: These numbers are correct if we don’t change the world with our attitude to it and to all our debts. We need to perform a universal revision, and jointly make a decision about how to live, according to the laws of Nature that govern us. Then we will understand how we can easily come out of the recession together.

In the News: (from BBC News): Japan’s parliament has passed legislation to give a cash hand-out to every resident in attempt to boost the recession-hit economy. Most people will get at least 12,000 yen ($121; £86) under the $20bn plan.

My Comment: Actually, people will just put this money away for harder times.

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YrzjrmuaUI]

My Comment: For now, this is the only conclusion that the G-20 participants are able to reach. But even this is a good thing, since it allows them to feel their total interdependence.

After holding a few more of their pointless meetings, they will realize that it’s necessary to learn to live differently in order to feel secure, and to be sure that no one will get you where it hurts the most.

They will then have to teach themselves, their people, and the whole world about the world’s globality and the condition of the mutual guarantee (Arvut), until reaching the sublime goal of, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

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A news report and questions I received about the future:

In the News:(from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty): A Levada Center poll released on March 5 found that 50 percent of Russians believe the country faces an external military threat.

My Comment: The crisis will force the entire world to unite, and then such suspicions will vanish.

Question: In recent times, books propagating war and mass destruction are in high demand, and people take them seriously. Will we be able to prevent the suffering that extremist organizations have in store for humanity?

My Answer: This is exactly why Kabbalah has been revealed to humanity: to enable us to go through the phase of correction peacefully, through realization, instead of suffering and wars.

Question: Why are you convinced that the third world war will be “nuclear”? Why aren’t you viewing the present situation as a third economic world war?

My Answer: This is what Baal HaSulam wrote almost a hundred years ago, before the atomic bomb was even invented.

Question: “And they will prevent Israel from returning to their own land until the merit of the children of Ishmael shall have become exhausted. And the sons of Ishmael will fight mighty battles in the world, and the sons of Edom will gather against them, and make war against them, some on land, others on sea.” What is the Kabbalistic explanation of this excerpt, which is about the end of days?

My Answer: It is about the end of the world’s egoistic existence.

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In the News (from The Baltic Course): “Estonians plan to create virtual ‘happiness bank‘” In times of economic woe, Estonians are banking on ideas to lift their spirits above the gloom and doom of recession with an online “happiness bank.” In the virtual “happiness bank,” people will be able to earn virtual money on their accounts by doing good deeds for those in need. Organizers hope it will give people the idea that doing good is as valuable as earning money. “The main aim of the project is to force people to become actively involved in improving their lives instead of passively hoping that someone else will do it,” said Rainer Nolvak, one of the main organizers of the project.

My comment: This is a praiseworthy initiative. We have to try different methods to show people that fulfillment and satisfaction do not depend on the amount of money in their bank accounts, but only on the society’s attitude to them.

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In the News: (from CNN Money): “US Foreclosure Filings In February Up 30% On Year” Slightly more than 290,000 properties – one in every 440 housing units – were slapped with a foreclosure filing in February, up nearly 30% from a year earlier [and] a roughly 6% increase from January.

My Comment: This wave of eviction can spread to the whole world, until the government will realize that this poses a threat to it, in which case it might issue an order to stop the foreclosures and evictions. But what will the authorities do when the hungry population starts revolting?

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In the News (from Time): Over the past few weeks, the U.S. newspaper industry has entered a new period of decline. The Rocky Mountain News closed, and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, owned by Hearst, will almost certainly close. The most recent rumor is that Hearst will lay off half the editorial staff. 24/7 Wall St. has created a list of the 10 major daily papers that are most likely to fold or shutter their print operations and only publish online: The Philadelphia Daily News, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Miami Herald, The Detroit News, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Daily News,The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

My Comment: My advice to the mass media is: start working on educating the public. This will breathe new life into you. We extend our hand to you in help – all our materials are available for you free of charge!

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A question I received: What is success? No longer do we have the financial underpinnings to have the next generation make more money than their parents. No longer can the future generation use the world’s resources the way we did. It is time to take stock and create new bottom lines. Is success having wealth, or is it a feeling of being wealthy?

Wealth is having a good relationship. Wealth is living in harmony with life. Wealth is feeling right about one’s life and walking in dignity. How do we educate our children and our children’s children to know that we are truly a global society and must share and care for each other, and that this is the ultimate successful life?

Universal Success is our success to live in accordance with the Laws of Nature. For humanity, this is the law of need and giving according to your ability, where the goal is freedom and the means is altruism.

My Answer: Everything that you have said is right.

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Job Losses Hint at Vast Remaking of Economy” Growing joblessness may reflect a wrenching restructuring of the American economy. In key industries — manufacturing, financial services and retail — many companies are abandoning whole areas of business. “Businesses [are] deciding to close down operations or get out of a line of certain activity,” said Martin N. Baily, a chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The stimulus spending bill signed last month includes $4.5 billion for job training. That only begins to address an area long neglected, said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project in New York. “You’ve got to use this moment to retrain for jobs” said Mr. Stettner.

My Comment: This is true, but even a new economy will not work unless its aim is global and integral, in line with producing goods and services for the benefit of the whole world. The producer should only receive what’s necessary for him and give the rest to the common fund. Retraining people for jobs should incorporate reeducating people about life in a globalized world. Otherwise, people won’t understand the laws of Nature, and therefore, will not be able to succeed under the new conditions.

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In the News (from Economist): “What went wrong” The IMF blames inadequate regulation, rather than global imbalances, for the financial crisis. It argues that the “main culprit” was deficient regulation of the financial system, together with a failure of market discipline.

My Comment: And these are the people managing the world’s economy today! They just don’t understand that egoism has grown beyond the boundaries of regulation and management. Instead, they are being manipulated by their blind urge to keep everything under their own control.

In the meantime, their rigid thinking and unwillingness to understand the structure of the new world are causing more problems. Because they refuse to see that the world is now global and integrated like a “small village,” with a mutual “butterfly effect” (the mutual influence of everyone on everyone), new effects of the crisis are starting to emerge in America – tent cities.

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In the News (from The Truthout Organisation): “After the Financial Crisis, Civil War? Get Ready to ‘Leave Your Region’” Will the economic and financial crisis degenerate into violent social explosions? That’s the rather alarming conclusion that the experts of European think tank LEAP/Europe 2020 lay out. The experts foresee a state of “generalized every man for himself” in the countries stricken by the crisis. That panic would then conclude in logical confrontations, in other words, with partial civil wars. According to that association, the most dangerous regions are those where the system of social protection is the weakest. Latin America, as well as the United States, are the areas most at risk. “There are 200 million guns in circulation in the United States,” LEAP head, Franck Biancheri, reminds us.

Stock Up on Supplies: LEAP alerts us to the risks of possible energy, food and water shortages in regions dependent on the outside for supplies, and it advises that people stock up on provisions.

Must we conclude from this that the global crisis could transform itself into a world war? “LEAP’s forecasts are extreme, but social violence is arising,” concedes Barclays’s economist Laurence Boone.

One hope remains, a “last chance” according to LEAP, that would lie in the ability of the G-20 – which meets April 2 in London to promulgate a “convincing and audacious” action plan. In that case, the world would still not be out of the woods, because – as the experts do not fail to also remind us – a severe climate crisis is also materializing.

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