Politically
Iran is flanked on both sides, war games are being carried out in the gulf, the US is setting up a missile defense system in Poland, Russia is threatening Poland with nuclear attack, Georgia continues to be a pawn in the new Cold War, and China has performed its Olympic opening act on the world stage. Tensions are high as the rhetoric continues to spew.
Economically
The US dollar continues to weaken amid limitless government spending. First the surplus was depleted, then treasury bonds were sold off to foreign nations, and now the money is just being printed out of thin air. This has created an unprecedented level of inflation in the dollar. This weakened dollar has raised the price of oil enormously and industry is passing on its costs onto consumers, as a result prices on just about everything are up. This in turn creates a stagnation in the economy as people are less able to afford luxuries, consumer spending drops which in turn leads to businesses closing shop, which leads to higher unemployment, which leads to less spending... The vicious cycle. People continue to lose their homes as they default on their mortgages and banks default on their credit. All the while the dollar continues to be undermined by further inflation, and the US national debt is at $10 trillion with $99 trillion in future obligations to the soon to retire baby boomer generation.
Lawrence Summers (MIT and Harvard educated, Former Chief Economist for the World Bank, Former US Secretary of the Treasury and President of Harvard University): "...we are facing the most serious combination of macroeconomic and financial stresses that the U.S. has faced in a generation–and possibly, much longer than that. It's a grave mistake to believe in the self-equilibrating properties of economies in the face of large shocks. Markets balance fear and greed. And when fear takes over, the capacity for self-stabilization is not one that can be relied upon."
Richard W. Fisher (President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank) estimated the obligations of the US to be $99.2 trillion. Fisher stated: In the distance, I see a frightful storm brewing in the form of untethered government debt . I choose the words—"frightful storm"—deliberately to avoid hyperbole. Unless we take steps to deal with it, the long-term fiscal situation of the federal government will be unimaginably more devastating to our economic prosperity than the subprime debacle and the recent debauching of credit markets that we are now working so hard to correct.
The Election
The great illusion is still strong. People actually believe that Obama and his Change Train will restore order so we can continue to live in our bubble. When we look past the rhetoric and examine Obama's policies there isn't much difference between him and McCain. He does not take an anti-war stance, supports interventionist policies, has no real measures to fix the economic situation at its source (the Federal Reserve), and has nothing to offer other than false hope (which I guess is better than no hope at all). Don't get me wrong, Obama represents an incredible step forward in the breakdown of racial segregation. My beef is that he talks the talk but certainly doesn't walk the walk when it comes to real 'change we can believe in'. All style no substance.
The democrats are quite simply the ying to the republican yang. Two sides of the same coin, two heads of the same dragon. Nothing in this election is about serving the interests of the American people, its about a power struggle between two corrupt factions fighting for the rule of a fledgling empire. Of course, it's bad to generalize but its quite obvious that when you see anyone leave the party line (Ron Paul for the Republicans, Dennis Kucinich for the Democrats), the media almost completely ignores their cries for a return to constitutional government as corporate influence becomes far more powerful than serving the public good.
Meanwhile the internet becomes a more and more relevant source of news as the corporate world desperately grasps at straws by trying to pull stunts like trying to turn the internet into merely a better version of TV (Net Neutrality). And let's see Fox News try to put a positive spin on McCain picking a self-proclaimed hockey mom to be the Vice President of the most powerful nation on the planet. Mainstream "news" has officially become more fiction-fantasy than normal television.
Environmentally
We are currently in the midst of a mass extinction event dubbed the 'Holocene extinction event'. On average, a mass extinction hits the planet about once every 100 million years. Currently we are losing roughly 27,000 species every year from habitat loss. In contrast, the fossil record shows an average loss of 10 to 100 species per year in the past. The early warning signs of serious ecosystem breakdown are already rearing their ugly heads, when do we pass the point of no return?
Science and Spirituality
As science delves deeper into the pursuit of 'objective truth' its beginning to discover that the universe may be a more subjective place than we thought. The cold, calculated view of the reality in which we're merely clumps of atoms bouncing around aimlessly is giving way to a more meaningful and human picture of who we are and where we come from. Quantum mechanics has made astounding discoveries into how our observations and actions actually alter the space around us.
A worldview is emerging in which all things are interrelated and at the core of this is the reconciliation between the facts of science and the deep inner search for a sense of meaning and purpose. Fields such as Gaia and systems theory are redefining our concept of a living organism: are we only our bodies, or are we do we stretch beyond the confines of our skin? So-called 'integral thinkers' are building a framework in which all truths and perspectives are considered to create a more complete understanding of the universe.
"The bigger you build the bonfire, the more darkness is revealed." -Terence McKenna
Technology
Nothing defines the beginning of the 21st century more than the influence technology has on us. Back to the Future predicted that the coolest thing in 2015 would be flying cars. For starters, in 2008 we have phones that give us a direct connection to the sum total of all human knowledge. The internet doubles in power every two years as every facet of interaction becomes digitized right down to our social lives (Facebook). The stereotypical computer user went from acne-covered nerd to trendsetter.
We organize our lives digitally, get our information digitally, connect socially digitally, dance to digital music, get entertained by digital movies, and technology continues to build upon itself exponentially. The future is shaping up to be nothing short of science fiction fantasy.
Paradigm Shift
Fueled by the strongly emerging use of the internet as a tool for the spreading of unconventional wisdom (and unconventional bullshit), great change seems to be on the horizon. Dissent aimed at the entire establishment is growing exponentially; from our political and financial institutions to corporate dissemination of information, ethnocentrism, and the collective disregard for our planet. As our unsustainable model for how to live on earth seems to be dying, the growing number of people who see that the shit is about to hit the fan have come up with all sorts of wacky alternatives to the current paradigm, attempting to ease the shock of transition into the next stage of the human story.
If you're bored, don't be. These are exciting times. Crisis may be upon us, but crises allow unprecedented opportunity for change. The world isn't coming to an end, it's just changing as it always has and always will.
I'll try to make this blog an entertaining and informative window to the world as I see it.
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