Information Related to "World News & Trends Nov/Dec 2010"
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The Economist has been watching events in America for a long time. A recent issue reports that "nearly six out of ten Americans now say that they oppose even [U.S. President Barak] Obama's 'good' war-the one against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. An America that is bleeding economically at home, with unemployment stuck at nearly 10% and debts as tall as the eye can see, is losing confidence in its ability, and perhaps in its need, to shape events in far-flung regions such as Central Asia and the Middle East" ("After Iraq," Aug. 28, 2010).
Writing in The Times of London, Stephen Robinson makes this comment in his review of Michael Mandenbaum's book The Frugal Superpower: "America is becoming more like Europe partly by political will, but mostly because of demographic forces Washington cannot control. As President Obama unveils socialised medicine, ageing baby boomers have pushed up spending on health and pension programmes to 40% of the federal budget" ("A Weakened Washington," Oct. 8, 2010).
He further observes that "it is the diplomatic/military operation that will be slashed as politicians fail to cut welfare spending." Britain has already started down this road. Massive defense cuts are already on the table. Remember, however, that as the Economist editorial above notes, "Even in an age of austerity America still towers above all comers in military power."
How soon will it be before even this enormous advantage begins to wane?
Stephen Robinson in his previously quoted review predicted: "The USA will no longer deploy in defence of oppressed civilians in the Balkans, Somalia and Haiti. It will act only if its specific interests are threatened, notably in the Middle East, and in facing up to a resurgent China" (emphasis added).
A full-page Times article from a Washington correspondent was titled "US Poverty Soars to Highest in 50 Years as Obama Struggles to Revive Economy" (Sept. 14, 2010). Times columnist Anatole Kaletsky observes that "a toxic mood has gripped US politics." He asks: "Is it just pre-election jitters or the sign of a much more serious decline?...Is America in the early stages of a permanent decline in its standing?" (Oct. 6, 2010).
The Times' chief foreign commentator Bronwen Maddox offers one reason in her article "America Is Strangling Itself With Green Tape" (Aug. 6, 2010). She observes, "If you add armies of lawyers to a vast pile of regulation on the environment and health, it's a disaster for investors [who normally help propel economic growth]."
These questions should be asked: Can the United States really afford all these massive social and environmental programs without incurring massive long-term damage to its economy? In the long run, will European-style socialism really work in America? And while many Americans now see that the government's economic policies are leading to looming disaster, will that be enough to reverse course?
Our free 110-page booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy explains the historical backdrop of America's current afflictions while also projecting where the nation is headed in the future. Request or download your free copy today. (Sources: The Times [London], The Economist.)
The nagging problems of the current recession have plagued us for more than three years. Some of our readers lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Food was scarce, but it was more available for families on farms. City dwellers often ate only one meal a day, if they could find food. It was a frightening and depressing time.
Recent U.S. government reports state that the recession hit bottom in 2009. If true, one would expect the housing market to be noticeably recuperating by now. But that hasn't happened. In fact, some say that the housing market is still going down and that home foreclosures are increasing.
How and when the global economy recovers may well rest in the hands of One who directs world events according to His plan and purpose as spelled out in Bible prophecy. Scripture indicates major changes ahead in the status of several great powers, including major declines for the United States and the rise of a new European-centered superpower. To learn more, request or download our free booklets The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy and You Can Understand Bible Prophecy.
Most observers of the financial scene are fully expecting a damaging currency war principally between the People's Republic of China and the United States, but extending to the euro and other global currencies.
The Wall Street Journal reports: "The U.S. and China deepened their confrontation over Beijing's foreign-exchange policies, prompting fears that the dispute could undermine economic relations between the world's two largest economies ... The increasingly hostile rhetoric suggests that leaders aren't moving closer to an agreement over how best to address the issue" (Damian Paletta and John Miller, "China, U.S. Step Up Fight Over Currency]," Oct. 7, 2010).
Reuters columnist James Saft put it this way: "China is so adroit in melding diplomacy, jawboning and action to keep the value of its currency low, that you have to feel something approaching compassion for the plodding adversaries from the United States, Europe and Japan" ("China's Skill Is Breeding Frustration," International Herald Tribune, Oct. 6, 2010, emphasis added throughout).
The recent fall of the dollar offers no encouragement in effectively marketing potentially lucrative exports. The Wall Street Journal reported that "the U.S. dollar touched record lows against several currencies [Oct. 7], adding to already high levels of strains between countries competing in the financial markets to keep their export markets competitive ... As [the] dollar weakens, talk of a 'currency war' is building" (Tom Lauricella, "As Dollar Falls, No Clear Path Toward Stability," Oct. 8, 2010).
The Financial Times also expressed its concerns: "If the world is on the brink of an out-and-out currency war, a variety of battalions has been out on manoeuvres in the past few weeks. The Bank of Japan ... has launched a fusillade of intervention to hold down [Japan's currency] the yen in foreign exchange markets ... The main combatants, the US and China, continued to exchange rhetorical salvos" (Alan Beattie, "Global Economy: Going Head to Head," Oct. 8, 2010). The same article noted that, according to the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), "There is clearly the idea beginning to circulate that currencies can be used as a policy weapon."
Recent diplomatic pressure by the European Union (EU) to persuade China to let the yuan rise to ease the situation has been met with strongly stated rebuffs voiced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Clearly Beijing has the monetary reserves to maintain a relatively weak currency.
Financial Times columnist John Authers sums up the potential risks: "First that a 'loser' in the currency war snaps and resorts to a trade war and second that currency traders get caught as they did in 2008 and lose a bundle. Those losses could cascade elsewhere in the [global] financial system" ("Everyone Will Lose in a Global Currency War," Oct. 10, 2010).
Such developments would compound the fragility of the financial infrastructure around the world, especially at a time when many nations are trying to climb out of the worldwide recession. (Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times [London].)
USA Today recently ran an insightful article about how Americans see and comprehend God. A recent survey identified four ways Americans primarily see Him, ranked as follows: authoritative, 28 percent; benevolent, 22 percent; distant, 24 percent; critical, 21 percent. The remaining miniscule 5 percent represents atheists and agnostics. (According to surveys, about nine out of 10 Americans apparently believe in God's existence.)
These survey results were obtained by telephone inquiries in connection with a study by Baylor University in central Texas. The rationale for the poll was to help Americans understand their way of life in terms of how they understood God.
The writer observes: "Our views of God have been fundamental to the nation's past, help explain many of the conflicts in our society and worldwide, and could offer a hint of what the future holds" (Cathy Lynn Grossman, "How America Sees God," Oct. 8-10, 2010). According to the article, America's national understanding of God affects "how we see daily life and world events."
To briefly summarize the primary viewpoints, the authoritative category pictures God as meting out specific punishments for mankind's transgressions of His moral law, broadly represented by events in the distant past such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Noah's Flood.
The benevolent category looks at God as a positive influence in the world, but one who does not judge human beings, hearing the prayers of saints and sinners alike.
The distant category pictures God as setting nature in motion, but then withdrawing from the world with little further interest in our human activities.
The critical category views God as very judgmental of our human conduct, but primarily reserving His wrath for the final judgment in the afterlife.
One or two of these viewpoints are more accurate than the others, but none fully represents "the whole [or complete] counsel of God" concerning Himself (Acts 20:27). Although God reveals crucial, saving knowledge about Himself to those who obey Him (Psalm 111:10), there are limits to human understanding of God (see 1 Corinthians 13:12; Deuteronomy 29:29).
His divine attributes cannot be conveniently categorized into neat, distinctive labels. Certainly Jesus Christ did speak with authority (Mark 1:22). And although God's infinite mercy remains beyond human comprehension (see Psalm 136), He will ultimately judge persistently stubborn, unrepentant sinners after having given them opportunity to repent of sin and be saved.
Our Creator is mercifully benevolent as expressed by Christ's wishes
to impart an abundant life (John 10:10). He does, however, distance
Himself from sinners (Isaiah 59:1-2), while patiently looking for repentance
and reconciliation (Matthew 9:13;
2 Peter 3:9). The age to come and the second resurrection to judgment
are much more about offering the overwhelming majority of human beings
a wonderful opportunity to repent and be saved than punishing sinners
per se.
The USA Today article observes that political scientists specializing in the religious scene conclude that "Americans of every stripe overwhelmingly believe that all good people go to heaven, that many faiths contain truth and that religious diversity is good for the nation."
While many may hold to this manifestly liberal view, it simply is not based on or found in the Bible. Further, it may come as a surprise to some that Scripture does not teach that the saved go to heaven when they die (Acts 2:29,34). It does, however, teach that salvation can be obtained only by and through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12), as He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). To see what the Bible actually says on these matters, request or download our free booklets Heaven and Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach? and The Road to Eternal Life.
To understand much more about the true nature and character of our Creator, ask for or download our free booklets Who Is God? and Jesus Christ: The Real Story. You can also freely access the article "Ten Things You Should Know About God" in the online version of the November-December 2008 issue of The Good News at www.GNmagazine.org. (Source: USA Today.)
The Oct. 4, 2010, issue of National Review shared an insight about incongruity in the Palestinian peace process: "Each time the dying embers of the peace process with the Palestinians rekindle, some Israelis are sure to lose their lives" (p. 10).
Human history confirms that human beings rarely come to peace on their own, though both sides might have good intentions.
"So while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington doing his best to dance to President Obama's tune and reach some accord with Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinians, gunmen on a highway in the West Bank were ready to ambush Israelis. They shot and killed Talia and Yitzhak Ames, parents of six children with a seventh near to term, and two [other] people.
"The gunmen have got a lock on the situation. If they force Netanyahu to break off negotiations, they have achieved what they want, and if he plows on regardless, he looks desperately weak. And either way, there's another reason for them to celebrate more dead Israelis" (ibid).
The roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict go back 4,000 years. Your Bible shows that there will never be true peace in the Middle East until after the second coming of Jesus Christ, when God's peace will pervade the Middle East and the entire world. At that time the reins of government will no longer be in the hands of human beings (Daniel 2:44). (Source: National Review.)
The Financial Times recently issued a wakeup call about global
food supplies. It stated: "Fears of a food crisis swept the world's
commodity markets as prices for staples such as corn, rice and wheat
spiralled after the US warned of 'dramatically' lower supplies. A hot
summer in the US, droughts in countries including Russia and Brazil
and heavy rain in Canada and Europe have hit many grain and oilseed
crops this year" (Gregory Meyer and Javier Blas, "Fears of Worldwide
Food Crisis as US Issues
Warning on Poor Harvests," Oct. 9-10, 2010).
The United States has been the world's largest corn grower for a very long time. But this year the American crop was predicted to drop to its lowest level in 14 years. Russia and Ukraine have now imposed severe instructions on grain exports. Also, biofuels programs convert food into fuel, further reducing supplies. Bible prophecy foretells an increase in famines-represented by the third of the four horseman of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6).
To learn more, read the World News and Prophecy article, "Coming Food Crises Threaten Mankind" in our March-April 2010 issue at www.WNPonline.org. (Source: Financial Times [London].)
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Keywords: U.S. economy U.S. power Chinese currency Americans and God world food supply
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