Doom and Gloom or Opportunity for Change?

Greetings Fellow Travelers,

Hope that this New Year, brings the well deserved blessings to you all. The way forward seems littered with awesome economic obstacles, which threaten to redefine the essential structure and nature, not only of markets, but of the societies that therein exist. Indeed a glacial shift in the global economies, the real New World Order, may be coming forth with relentless force. Though much of the attention has been focused on those actors at the commanding heights of industry, finance, etc, in the most economically developed societies, the impact of this meltdown actually falls with violent force, on those at the lower levels of the economic structure.
It is to us who work to live, those whose life and not classic profit margins, stock portfolios, etc, are dependent on the health of the economies. The ironic question, is about the viability of such dependence on the traditional economic models. Should workers who toil day to day, to feed, house and clothe our families, entrust their investments to the judgment of the likes of those responsible for the current economic crisis. Indeed the added question is, whether or not this was a error made by a system that works, or if this was the inevitable outcome of a model based on the exploitation of humanity and nature, consumerism, ever expanding profit and greed, that time and time again has shown that its essential rhythm is "boom and bust". The result is crisis, scramble for survival, vulture like preying on fellow competitors and historically violent conflict, that escalates to global warfare.
If these reflections present a picture of doom and gloom, it is only the partial message, what I really feel, is that the opportunity for significant and substantial change is present. That the recognition of the need to do the work of detoxifying, cleansing from the wanton excesses, overindulgence and pathological dependency of the current era is finally in effect. For those of us who work to live, this could well be our opportunity to redefine our way of being, our way of living in a more sterling and nourishing way.