Kabbalah's Insight into the Current Global Crises

Governments all over the world are finding it difficult to deliver on promises made to their electorate due to soaring oil prices and slowing global economic growth. Indeed, economic conditions have changed since last year and it is becoming harder to fulfil all the promises made to working families, entrepreneurs, corporations, local governments, meet the infrastructure needs of the future generations and save the planet.

We have had a great run of economic growth since the Asia credit crisis and the burst of the Internet bubble. We believed that this time we would be safe from recessions; Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, would see to it. Even now, voices rise to claim that we will be alright; the increasing consumerism of China and India is continuing to pull the train of the world economy. We have shifted our adoration toward new idols.

If this could only be true. But history shows that it is unlikely to be the case. In the last 100 years alone, a chain of economic crashes shine vividly in our mind as reminders of caution, to name just a few: 1929, 1939, 1973, 1979, 1989, 1990 in Japan, 1998, 2000. Booms regularly end in busts, happy times end in tears.

Many things can go wrong that have not yet been factored into our forecasts: the calamities that are afflicting China, for example, could end up igniting inflation and depressing output; the rising cost of food in the less developed inland areas of China and across the rest of Asia could trigger social unrest of a grand scale; the shortage of drinkable water could result in increased public spending and even border conflicts in the interest of gaining access to water.