News Report (from Spiegel Online): This year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Paul Krugman, has joined the chorus of those criticizing German government inaction in the face of the financial crisis. He spoke to SPIEGEL about the price of doing nothing and why he thinks Berlin has misjudged the severity of the slump.

Krugman: “Europe has a major coordination problem: The trade-off between deficits and output is much less favorable for any country acting unilaterally than for the EU as a whole. So cooperation is essential. But if Germany, the largest economy, refuses to go along, there will be no cooperation. Events have given Germany a strategic policy importance disproportionate to its size.

SPIEGEL: What’s the price of inaction?

Krugman: A very, very severe slump, with worse unemployment than at any time since the 1930s — and quite possibly a Japanese-type lost decade to follow.

My Comment: The European Union must make a fateful decision. If the EU countries takes the path of unification, they will become the world’s largest economy, as well as the cultural center of the world. On the other hand, if every separate country tries to solve the problems on its own, this will bring them all to a collapse so great that none of them will ever recover from it! It’s because this will set them against the law of Nature, which is driving all humanity toward globalization.

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News Report: (translated from pravda.com): Excerpts from the article “The Crisis of Desires,” by the Ukranian Deputy Minister of Finance and presidential legal advisor, N. Poludenny: The desire and its satisfaction (pleasure) are the basis of man’s energetic-informational nature. We are woven of desires. Our crises will multiply, evolve and intensify until we realize that we must change our perception of the world. First and foremost this means altering the vector of our desires and acquiring the perception of unity between all people in the global system of our world.

Today everyone is talking about restoring trust – trust in the financial system, in the government, and in each other. People presume that this is a matter of an individual’s psychology or the psychology of the masses. In reality, however, trust is a spiritual category, whose root lies in a global spiritual state called “faith.” Confidence and loyalty are derivatives of this state.

These states are impossible as long as people realize their desires with a “minus” sign. And on the contrary, when a person changes the vector of his desire from “receiving for his own sake” to “giving for others’ sake,” he automatically enters the state of confidence, restoring others’ trust in him, and acquiring faith (at the very least, faith in his own abilities).

My Comment: Bravo! Let’s hope that everyone else will soon recognize the reason for the crisis as well! And when they do, people will begin searching for the means (the strength and the method) to correct our nature – and they will reveal Kabbalah.

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Economist Michael Khazin stated the following in an interview with Echo Radio: What is globalization? Globalization is a political, ideological, and cultural structure built over an absolutely material process – the global division of labor. Beginning with the 18th century, humanity started developing scientifically and technologically, and this was accompanied by a growth of markets where people sold their products. There were many “globalizations” in the 18th century; in fact, every large country led its own system of labor distribution.

My Comment: Many define globalization as the distribution of labor, production, and the market. However, Kabbalah defines globalization differently: it means that the world is global and integral, and all of its parts are completely interconnected like in a small village. In it, every part determines the fate of all the others, according to the Butterfly Effect.

The world has become like this due to progress. From this moment on, there cannot be any conflicts between different parts of the world because anyone who is against integration is also against progress, evolution, and the law of nature. We must recognize that the absolute connection of all the world’s parts is a fact. We must also recognize that our discrepancy with or failure to carry out nature’s law of Unity will elicit a negative reaction: the crisis will become more severe. And we will be the ones who created this reaction.

Here are some more definitions of globalization:

Globalization – a process of global economic, political, and cultural integration and unification. The main consequences of this are a global distribution of labor; migration of capital and human and industrial resources on a global scale; standardization of legislation and of economic and technological processes; and greater contact between different cultures. This is an objective, natural, historic process that is systematic. In other words, it encompasses all areas of social life.

Globalization – the process of a continuously growing influence of various international factors (such as close economic and political connections, exchange of cultures and information) on the social reality of separate countries.

Globalization in politics – an approach to the world’s formation, organization, functioning, and development that views the world as an integral economic, socio-cultural, and political super-system.

The concept of globalization – a theory stating that the evolution of financial markets and institutions leads to a state where geographic borders cannot limit contracts and other transactions. Usually the term “globalization” pertains to a growing international activity of banks and other institutions.

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I participated in a discussion called “Power and Capital” for the TV program, “The Butterfly Effect.” I spoke with Amir Hen, a famous Israeli attorney in the field of economics, finance and business (right).

Summary: How should we create business contracts between people and corporations if we are to take into account the global interconnection of all people and the society, the absolute interdependence between everyone in the world? This is something that no computation system can estimate!

However, if the person doing business will simply aspire to give everyone the opportunity to make a living, and to keep for himself only as much as he needs to exist, in order to become similar to Nature or to a living organism, then he will find himself in harmony with the world and fulfilled by the Upper World!

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The following quote is attributed to Scottish history professor Alexander Tyler in 1787, who foresaw the development of the USA as follows (from Financial Sense):

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• From spiritual faith to great courage;
• From courage to liberty;
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy;
• From apathy to dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage

My Comment: Prof. Tyler was right about the process, but not its outcome. He did not foresee globalization – humanity’s complete interconnection. But it is precisely the need to survive, to exist in an interconnected system, that will compel humanity to seek a method of curbing every person’s individual egoism. And when we search for a method to correct egoism, we will find that Kabbalah is the only adequate method.

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News Report (translated from chaskor.ru): The concept of ecovillages has gained popularity because people are hoping to escape the trap of civilization that has cornered them. Only yesterday such communities seemed extremist and sectarian, but today they’re regarded as a way to survive the global crisis, which is turning into global chaos. In addition, it’s easier to survive a crisis in a commune.

My Comment: Separating from the global civilization to save one’s own neck will bring any commune to a terrible crisis – one that’s greater than in the rest of the world. It’s because a commune will isolate itself from everyone in order to survive on its own, and this goes against unification, globalization, and Nature’s plan to unite everyone. These aren’t eco-villages, they’re EGO-villages!

News Report (from World Net Daily): …the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book. “Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss,” writes Hilmar von Campe…

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, if we’re not moving toward global integration, then we’re moving toward mutual isolation and the emergence of Nazi regimes in the developed countries.

News Report (from National Post): More singles are turning to the Internet as a cheap, convenient way to find love during trying economic times. A poll by Opinion Research Corp. found that 57% of Americans said the credit crunch made them worry about their love lives… similar surveys in Australia and Britain came up with the same results.

My Comment: Suffering and fear are showing us just how fragile we are and how much we need the support of the environment. We were created as social creatures and we have to create a friendly and supportive society around us. And if we don’t want to, nature will force us to. Then we’ll want it and therefore build such a society!

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News Report (from ABC News): …a bailout drama is playing out inside the closed-down Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago, where more than 200 angry workers have hunkered down after they were abruptly fired … without final pay or benefits. The union workers believe they are victims of a bungled bailout and that Bank of America, which received $25 billion in the federal rescue package, stands between them and their paychecks.

My Comment: The tensions that have erupted in Greece show us that the world is balancing on the brink of an explosion. People’s discontent is ready to erupt at the slightest cause, and it’s always easy to find an instigator of tension, even war. It is necessary for us to stop and think about the fact that it is impossible to curb our egoism using the conventional measures. The explosion may happen anywhere and at any moment.

News Report (translated from utro.ru): The financial crisis has brought about a recession in tourism and dining, transportation and financial services industries. However, communication via mobile connections is the last thing people are willing to cut back on.

My Comment: The crisis will affect all aspects of our lives, forcing us to wise up. It will force us to search for an inner communication – “soul to soul.”

News Report (translated from utro.ru): The legal sector of Russia’s alcohol market faces a catastrophic shortage of raw materials. By the beginning of next year, two thirds of all the alcohol factories in the country may have to cease operation.

My Comment: This is a serious threat to the nation’s health. In fact, it may bring it to the brink of extinction.

Conclusion: The crisis will influence us and people will feel it in every aspect of their lives. It will be felt differently in different parts of the world, but no one will be able to escape. In the end it will force us to create good connections with each other. We can do this now or after a period of exacerbation and wars. If mankind will accept that the things taking place are the Creator’s request for us to correct ourselves and ascend, then the crisis will turn into a joyful revelation of a perfect world.

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News Report (from the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center): Public opinion experts report that Russians have lost their optimism about the future. The turning point in their mood occurred in August-September. Before then, the optimistic contingent was on a steady increase, while the pessimists decreased in number. However, with the arrival of autumn, the trend took a 180 degree turn.

My Comment: And this is happening before the real crisis has even begun. The layoffs are only starting, and people still have savings and the inertia of the past. The real crisis will begin in January-February of 2009.

On the whole, people do not understand that they are already living in a different world – one that’s global, and whose laws they don’t know. These are the laws of the spiritual world that we aren’t following, which is why we are experiencing our discrepancy with them as a crisis. None of the previous methods to outlive or out wait (while stocking up on salt, matches and soap) will help us.

But perhaps we will suddenly wise up, and just by desiring to learn about the law of globalization (“Love thy neighbor as thyself”), we will cast all the evil away from us and draw closer to goodness.

News Report (from supportproject.eu): A recent study in six EU-countries found that problems such as depression, anxiety, phobias or alcohol dependence affected 11.5 % of their population. More people in the EU (almost 60,000 per year) die from suicide than traffic accidents.

My Comment: This is happening because a desire that’s above our world is surfacing in people. This desire is for something beyond the the corporeal things (food, sex, and family) as well as the social things (money, power, and knowledge). When a person has generally gone through these desires, a new desire emerges in him – a desire to receive the Light into the common desire of Adam. However, the only way to receive the Light into this desire is by restoring one’s unification with others, according to the rule, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Before we appeared in this world, we were united together and filled with the Upper Light. Then, our unification was disrupted (broken), and each us was left inside his individual desire and perception, wherein we perceive only a small luminescence called “our world.” When we reconnect with each another, we once again begin to perceive the common Light – the Upper World.

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News Report (from AFP): A summit of Central American leaders on Friday agreed to adopt a common regional currency and passport, among other measures to bolster regional integration in the face of global financial uncertainty, they said in a statement.

My Comment: Integration is always a good thing. Hence, they will feel some improvement and rejuvenation. However, they should take care to ensure that in the aftermath, their integration won’t become opposite to the whole world, but will facilitate everyone’s unification.

News Report (translated from newsru.com): The Russian Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Lavrov stated that nations should cast aside their geopolitical games and work together to save the world from the financial crisis. Lavrov noted that salvation can only be collective, by creating a single economic space between Russia, the USA and the European Union. The global financial crisis has clearly demonstrated that international cooperation must come before politics if we are to overcome economic disasters.

My Comment: We’re beginning to see the good consequences of the crisis: hunger is compelling us to make peace with each other. Do you see how the Creator toys with us!? Whether by goodness or suffering, He will force us to grow up, stop playing war, and bring the world to happiness instead of destruction.

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News Report (from The Telegraph): “Russians turn away from vodka in hard times” With retailers struggling to find credit and ordinary Russians being forced to change their spending, a vast lake of undrunk vodka is accumulating in distilleries across Russia.

Official statistics indicate a collapse in demand for vodka over the past two months. November inventories of unsold vodka stock have risen to 82 million liters, a 600 per cent increase from 2007, according to the National Alcohol Association.

“People are spending less money on alcohol and other products because of the financial crisis,” said Pavel Shapkin, the executive secretary of the National Alcohol Association.

My Comment: Of course, Mr. Shapkin is right. However, people will still find ways to get drunk, such as resorting to the low-grade black market brew, which will harm them even more. Russia’s national question is: how can it find balance between the optimal amount of liquor for everyone, and making it available at a reasonable price, so the people won’t quench their thirst with poisonous substances?

A question I received: Where will the crisis be felt the least?

My Answer: This question isn’t related to Kabbalah, and I’m not a specialist in economics. However, I think that the crisis will be least harmful for countries with the most developed economies: the US, then Europe, and then Japan. According to Kabbalah, those closet to integration and globalization are better off. The same is true for their currencies.

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