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banking crisis
July 2009 
America looses its Dominant Economic Role
Posted on Sep 30th, 2008
by 
Albert
Albert
SPIEGEL ONLINE once again gives an insightful analysis from a European and German view. Its about the sinking role of America in world economy and poltics. I have bloged about this phenomenon the last 20 months. Competent global Voices like Fareed Zakaria, Parag Khanna, Mark Leonard, Gabor Steingart, Roger Cohen and lots of others are drawing for years the new picture of global realties. Putting the big Asia Pacific Area in alignement with transatlantic isssues.
So its time for world leaders from all continents to create global solutions and perspectives in really integrative manner. The current meltdown of Wall Street isnt Mainstreet. It makes clear however that US isnt the navle of the world any longer.
THE END OF ARROGANCE
America looses its Dominant Economic Role
By SPIEGEL Staff
The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat.
There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker's tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience's reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president.
Or what is left of him.
George W. Bush has grown old, erratic and rosy in the eight years of his presidency. Little remains of his combativeness or his enthusiasm for physical fitness. On this sunny Tuesday morning in New York, even his hair seemed messy and unkempt, his blue suit a little baggy around the shoulders, as Bush stepped onto the stage, for the eighth time, at the United Nations General Assembly.
He talked about terrorism and terrorist regimes, and about governments that allegedly support terror. He failed to notice that the delegates sitting in front of and below him were shaking their heads, smiling and whispering, or if he did notice, he was no longer capable of reacting. The US president gave a speech similar to the ones he gave in 2004 and 2007, mentioning the word "terror" 32 times in 22 minutes. At the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations, George W. Bush was the only one still talking about terror and not about the topic that currently has the rest of the world's attention.
"Absurd, absurd, absurd," said one German diplomat. A French woman called him "yesterday's man" over coffee on the East River. There is another way to put it, too: Bush was a laughing stock in the gray corridors of the UN.
The American president has always had enemies in these hallways and offices at the UN building on First Avenue in Manhattan. The Iranians and Syrians despise the eternal American-Israeli coalition, while many others are tired of Bush's Americans telling the world about the blessings of deregulated markets and establishing rules "that only apply to others," says the diplomat from Berlin.
But the ridicule was a new thing. It marked the end of respect.
Read more..
So its time for world leaders from all continents to create global solutions and perspectives in really integrative manner. The current meltdown of Wall Street isnt Mainstreet. It makes clear however that US isnt the navle of the world any longer.
THE END OF ARROGANCE
America looses its Dominant Economic Role
By SPIEGEL Staff
The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat.
There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker's tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience's reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president.
Or what is left of him.
George W. Bush has grown old, erratic and rosy in the eight years of his presidency. Little remains of his combativeness or his enthusiasm for physical fitness. On this sunny Tuesday morning in New York, even his hair seemed messy and unkempt, his blue suit a little baggy around the shoulders, as Bush stepped onto the stage, for the eighth time, at the United Nations General Assembly.
He talked about terrorism and terrorist regimes, and about governments that allegedly support terror. He failed to notice that the delegates sitting in front of and below him were shaking their heads, smiling and whispering, or if he did notice, he was no longer capable of reacting. The US president gave a speech similar to the ones he gave in 2004 and 2007, mentioning the word "terror" 32 times in 22 minutes. At the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations, George W. Bush was the only one still talking about terror and not about the topic that currently has the rest of the world's attention.
"Absurd, absurd, absurd," said one German diplomat. A French woman called him "yesterday's man" over coffee on the East River. There is another way to put it, too: Bush was a laughing stock in the gray corridors of the UN.
The American president has always had enemies in these hallways and offices at the UN building on First Avenue in Manhattan. The Iranians and Syrians despise the eternal American-Israeli coalition, while many others are tired of Bush's Americans telling the world about the blessings of deregulated markets and establishing rules "that only apply to others," says the diplomat from Berlin.
But the ridicule was a new thing. It marked the end of respect.
Read more..
Access: Public
IT'S ABOUT TIME…
Exactly..time for what?
Here the learning.and unlearning curves start..and integral advice comes in place.
No matter who the next US president will be. Or the next European Leaders.
And economy, poltics and global governance demand very complex perspectives and understanding.
i nominate you…
The center for Human Emergence
www.humanemergence.org
will be best equipped to develop impact and shaping power as much in Europe as in North America and worldwide. Its local nodes and global constellation is offering a big umbrella for large scale systems change worldwide.
It's absurd and criminal. The same article you quote goes on to say
“In light of the almost daily reports of losses in the financial sector, it seemed almost secondary to note that the disaster had also turned into one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is already investigating 26 large financial corporations as well as 1,400 smaller companies and private citizens for possible fraud.”
Same old story:http://doolang.gaia.com/blog/2008/10/no_bailout
We can restore the mountain harmony even with That many dead trees and dying forests.
Thanks for the insightful blogs & links Albert for they inspired me to think, feel, write AND act from within…
In money matters, WE matter more than we ever thought/knew. TIme to Emerge & BE! Darin/a :)
Ah, we've been going into twilight for some time now. I remember a conversation back in 2003 with the intl leadership of the Big Firm with whom I worked about this very subject. While I feel for any person, business or country going into economic twilight, it is a cycle like the seasons and the surge will rise somewhere else and somewhere else…
I've been kidding for a long time that Bush is a hologram. If only.
Erin..yes lots of twiligths these day…and:
There is evolution….21st century sees more epicenters of power (in all forms) than bipolar 20th century. Major shifts are occurring.
And so its basically not about one or more crisis, but a profound transformation process. Best picture in my eyes gives Fareed Zakaria with his new book.
So Bush bashing isnt interesting for me. EVERY US President has to deal with new global devlopments. AS EVERY European Leader too….and next Israeli Premier Tsipi Lvini too.
Tsipi is very , very interesting for me as she has this pragmatic, but determined style. Able to listen to all of her partners in foreign policy. And beeing bold enough to follow an invitation of the emir of Qatar to speak as Israeli Politician in Doha!
To understand this evolutionary process in world poltics is a vey important exercise.Who ever speaks about change and transformation needs to show his understanding of international poltics and basics of economy too. As these are the hardcore themes of sustainable global change.
“But the ridicule was a new thing. It marked the end of respect.”
Regardless I don't like Bush, and even kidded he is a hologram to dissociate that a man can stand for the things he does, it saddens me deeply that he is laughed at even as he is speaking at the UN, because it speaks of the nature of some people to accept it's okay. It would sadden me deeply if he were the leader of any country, not just my own.
I'm going to stop kidding about the hologram going forward.
Ah, I was leaving my comment above at the same time or I'd have answered all together!
Since the Big Firm days, I have fallen away from following world politics until just recently again (and much catching up to do). No one country, or one person, can be on top all of the time. But it is not a failure - it can be a time to reassess and work together for these transformations instead of working all the time to be no. 1 over all. I will read further!
You're an expert so I am shy to leave my less informed comments, but I will anyway :)
Bush is an idiot and he is in dire need of an AA meeting…a bunch of them…LMAO
actually, he needs more than that…he needs to be working a 12 step program…at the very least he would have to get in touch with himself….*
A very insightful and thought-provoking blog. Thank you!
But the ridicule was a new thing. It marked the end of respect.
The question is, however, the end of respect of what exactly? Does the author separate the person in the office from the office itself? Disrepect for W is without question growing, yet is this a reflection upon the US Presidency in general?
Further, is the end of respect in regards to the ideals of the democratically elected republic of the US and the embodiment of preservation of liberty? Is it that ideal that has lost respect? Or, perhaps, the respect lost for a Nation who, despite a beautiful set of espoused values, simply manages to sabotage itself in execution and application of those ideals into a bastardized, lip-service to those espoused ideals?
Finally, if the US is not the “navel” of the world - which, I wonder, if it truly ever had been to a complete extent - then that is one of the many reasons why I encouraged my Federal elected officials to vote “no” on the “bailout” package. “Let 'er fail!” I scream at the top of my lungs - since I am a person to take the opposite approach to problems, and re-test theories from many angles, in hopes at finding the truth.
In this case, if the US drug the rest of the world into an economic gutter, then perhaps the thesis that it “ain't the navel” may be a bit flawed, no?
Food for thought.
Respectfully,
Christopehr
Hi Christopher,
the article if of course relecting the view of European journalists. But its roughly balanced. It should be understood in the context and nexus of new global public spheres. Corresponding to the poltical shifts and change.
For decades the felt and declared dominance of US economy was fact.
Now we have newly emrging power structures. Simply take the books of Fareed Zakaria, Parag Khanna or next year the new one of Thomas PM Barnett.
Read the articles in THE Guardian, Washington Post, Newsweek International EDition, International Herald Tribune, NYT, The Globalist—-and some others on a regular basis—-and you will experience impressing new perspectives.and perceptions.
The economic and poltical power of US will remain that of a superpower. But there will be competition for this status in many ways. It wil be rough and tough in many ways. And new alliances will emerge.
Its THE historic opportunity for Integral Global. its only in its babysteps right now. The window of opportunity is WIDE OPEN….
US Senator Salazar is a good man; not your typical “politician.” He gets involved first-hand with his constituents and takes great interest in people as people.
Here is his perspective why he voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
How can we help our legislators adopt and act upon a more Integral Global perspective?
Its already on the way…SDi has deep connections to teh Obama Core Teams and others are acting behind the scenes already.
To understand for oneself and to devlop this understanding seems to be the most important. There is a strange silence of lots of integral folkfs about poltics. Besides the SDi Constellation which has great understanding of practical application too.
And Integral poltics does not need only professional legislators. It need impact in mainstream media. And it needs to purify itself from insane projections about THE SHIFt…
I have posted at least 30 times in the last 15 months about the variety of shifts and change. And woldwide. We have not even a god exchange between integral activists in Europe and North America. Nearly all people I am in contact with in Europe see Gaia as New Agy Lightweight and prefer to communicate elsewhere…
So massive , real time and integrated strategies f communication and constellation building is a major task in my eyes. Building meshwork foundations as Don Beck described another one. all in all its a job which needs lots of internalizing.
We are used to speak about relationship, health , meditation and self realization.
or , on the other side more outwardly directed. Activism, Poltics.etc…These realms need re-integration. And in aLL vmemetic realms. across the globe.
This needs committement of time , energy and attention. And its not always beautyful and about looking and feeeling good..it can be rough and tough…:)
Thank you, Albert, for answering my question and giving more information to help broaden my understanding. I have been curious because when I have met with various legislators' staff, of course the focus is on their constituents even before the focus is on national; this has led me to wonder how this vision can expand.
Just today I received a 125-page newsprint booklet: 2008 State Ballot Information Booklet (including information on the eighteen statewide measures and the judges on the ballot for retention in this area. I wonder, if many do not read this booklet (they don't, on the whole) for local and state matters, how can we expand awareness nationally and globally… I am speaking now of the general audience, the average citizen who may not know their own voice/vote.
I have been reading the site for the Center for Human Emergence and have tried to sign up with my email address (some kind of glitch). If I mention Intergral or Sprial Dynamics to residents within my region they say, “Huh, what?” So I am very interested to learn more so I can present some intelligent conversation and introduce people in my rural area to this material and dissolve at least, apathy.
I agree how some see Gaia! But I can handle rough and tough :) It seems so many do not realize how important they are as a part of the meshwork…
Very very best,
Erin
PS - you have the best links. I followed one around and landed here:
The Challenges of the New World Order
By Wolfgang Nowak
“America is no longer up to shouldering the world's crises. But who is going to take its place? Russia, Brazil, China and India are all rising, but they are also competing with Europe and the US for finite natural resources. Only a common future – a “change through rapprochement” and not a “clash of futures” can carry us forward […]” (my bold)
The piece of Wolfgang Novak is really very insightful as is the work of Herrhausen Society in general.
I recommend this article of Don Beck too:
A New Approach to “Giving” and Philantropy: The Meshwork Foundation
SDi needs a lots, lots of learning processes as it is a complex dyanmic framework. Many are proclaiming knowledge about it, however most are simply playing stupid color games. While I heard first time in 1996 about Spiral Dynmaics only in the last 4 years it became clear for how how much mastey is involved here and how much field experience.
So I recommend going to:
www.spiraldynamics.net
and contact the US Core group there.
Large scale systems change is special area of aplication and understanding and even in SDi very few have been engaged in it. If you go to the tag browser in my blog and give in Don Beck, Elza Maalouf or Spiral Dynamics Integral you will get all entris which have a concrete reference to i.
As I am professionally more and more active in Arab GCC Area and of course engaged in Europe too my own focus for last years was first creating values based professional connections and networks on a global level. Right now 2500 contacts of first degree and over 200.000 of second degree are in my networks.
One of the bottle necks of aproaches like SDi is -you name an example for US- that as much in top down work as in bottom up initiatives not enough innovators, leaders and pacemakers are shaping their own fingerprints. And often do not even each other! Especially when working on different continents.
This is an opportunity here on Gaia. And elsewhere. But its hard work. And it demands clear intention and sustainable attention in the biggest global context. And -not to far in the future -jobs, like social entrpreneurs at Ashoka which are PAID. And not always done by volunteers. Its very, very important work and people doing it need to be liberated from making their living additionally.
Albert, thank you.
I had been to the spiraldynamics.net first about a month ago, and enjoyed revisiting it. I will surf around the resources you mention, too.
As far as hard work, my gram (and friends) teased me, “Why don't you do things the easy way?” Meaning, the road more travelled. I don't find the “easy way” all that satisfying nor of great contribution to myself or humanity. I remember seeing a quote about there aren't a lot of people walking the extra mile…that's where you'll find me most of the time. I'm okay with it being lonely from time to time.
This SDi intrigues me very much and so I shall continue this adventure :)
Many thanks,
E.
Erin,
we are certainly conected in the heart.
Terry Patten from
http://www.integralheart.com
in many ways describes my own understanding. So its no coincidence we share the same root teacher.
In the outside worlds of poltics, economy and culture however we need applicable, field tested and clear-sighted strategic and perspective blueprints. The natural design as it is called in SDi.
Speaking from my professional experiences in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere ..Sdi is right now the ONLY integral approach for Mideast. So the work for those emerging 3rd world regions is utterly demanding .
Can be compared with driving the engine while building the railway and simultaneously improving the maps. At high speed…and sometimes brutal experiences…
So thank you too…Erin for daring to dive into the heart of loneliness…
Albert
Hi Albert,
Am enjoying Terry's article, Integral in Iran.
A sometimes lonely heart is a brave one :)
Thank you,
Erin
o yes…true loneliness requires bravery, vulnerabiltiy and and yet unshakable confidence and courage to not fake ones true heart.
Thank YOU,
Albert
…echoes of gratitude :)
Beautiful!