Dubai And Its Future

An Astrological Forecast

Today, after U.S. stock markets opened following Thanksgiving Day the news that some had known about for at least nine months - the extension of the global banking crisis to the city of Dubai - has hit the mainstream.

Markets continue to fall as financial news reports on Dubai, the Persian Gulf City built by migrants, is close to economic collapse, according to a majority of news reports.

See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKr7TP8t9Qk&feature=related

On Wednesday, November 25, 2009, the government of this semi-autonomous city-state with the world's tallest tower announced to the world that it needed time to restructure its $60+ billion debt, and asked creditors to delay debt repayments until May 2010.

Early exchanges fell on the news as the U.S. markets closed for Thanksgiving Day. Those markets, which opened Friday, continue to down slide in stocks.

Stocks fell Friday, Nov. 27th with investors worried that a major government-backed investment company in Dubai risked defaulting on $60 billion in debt. The fears ripped through world markets and served as a reminder of how fragile the financial system remains a year after it nearly collapsed.

The Dow fell 154.48, or 1.5 percent, to 10,464.40.

The S&P fell 19.14, or 1.7 percent, to 1,091.49.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 37.61, or 1.7 percent, to 2,138.44.

For the week:

The Dow is down 8.24, or 0.1 percent.

The S&P is up 0.11, or less than 0.1 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 7.60, or 0.4 percent.

For 2009:

The Dow is up 1,533.53, or 17.5 percent.

The S&P is up 188.24, or 20.8 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 561.41, or 35.6 percent.

So, what is really happening here?

Simply put: tens of millions and billions in defaults on massive debt repayments amid a banking crisis started by bankers, and into late 2009, continued by bankers.

Dubai is nothing new, as entire nations who took part in huge debt financing schemes over the past 12 years are seeing major reversals based on the fact that the banks are hording cash from the public's till to save themselves.

Dubai, for 20 years, has led a feverish rush to construct the world most expensive hotels, bejeweled with technology-rich gold-plated suites, condos and homes, along with its huge shopping malls for the wealthy - has now come to an end.

The city-state known as the westernized oasis of the Middle East is about to see a radical personality change as it deals with being $60-80 billion in the red.

Dubai, oasis in the desert -

See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUW9MWLIQYw&feature=related

In my mundane forecast, there are forces operating now that in the years ahead will turn Dubai from its western-style "Las Vegas in the desert" personality to another far-more conservative and right-wing religious personality - one of strict Saudi control with devastating consequences for the city-state of Dubai and its people.

Not much has been heard from Dubai's ruler, the billionaire mover and shaker, HH Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, since the bank crisis set in late last year. Rumors emerged that thousands of migrant construction workers and foreign support staffs were being deported out of the city as construction projects ground to a halt and hotels empty out.

Tourism is down substantially while a majority of Dubai's workers have not been paid. Dubai, which has had a reported 500,000 migrant workers, have been paid as little as $1 an hour to build at speeds unheard of in modern times.

At one time, Dubai's migrant workers were building condos at a rate of one new floor every four days; working day and night in two 12-hour shifts, six days a week. Round the clock construction. It is no wonder that Dubai sprouted from the desert into the gleaming city now billions in debt.

Now, the government is hunting down these workers, deporting many of them while some migrant workers who incurred debts during their time in the United Arab Emirates are seeing time in Dubai's debtor's prisons - that are filling up according to reports.

The worldwide Bank Crisis is one that was manufactured by very greedy, corrupt and inept financiers, and their workers, who, since the heady days of the 1990s and 2000s gambled huge amounts of money on debt finance - only to leave countries, states, and cities in the lurch as their populations struggle to make ends meet.

What is also not being so easily seen is that while most wait for recovery is the fact that tens of millions of lives are changed and that little will remain the same after the Bank Crisis of 2007-2010 is over.

"I think this is a sign of things to come," said Dave Rovelli, a managing director of trading at brokerage Canaccord Adams in New York. "Commercial real estate continues to go lower. People are going to continue to default on debt payments."

The problem with Wall Street, from an astrological point of view, is uncertainty. It is either good news or bad news - but never uncertainty. The eight-month rally in U.S. stocks now depends on the mood of investors and traders as the Bank Crisis sees no end in sight going into 2010.

Dubai is yet another example of wasted resources, built on debt, and gambling on a future that was not forecasted astrologically. This is what happens when one tries to make one's way in the dark without knowledge and action on the global transits.

Dubai In Crisis

See recent CNN International interview: [length: 7 minutes] -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM5h6r2I_64&feature=related

On November 27, the AP reported - "The latest trouble on Wall Street come as the U.S. kicks off the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season. Investors will be tracking news from retailers for insights into how much consumers will spend in the coming month. Consumer spending is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 174.35, or 1.7 percent, to $10,290.05.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 22.58, or 2 percent, to 1,088.05, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 41.77, or 1.9 percent, to $2,134.28.

Energy, materials and financial stocks posted some of the biggest losses as commodities fell and investors worried about bank balance sheets.

Investors rushed into the safety of U.S. government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.23 percent from 3.28 percent late Wednesday.

The yield on the three-month T-bill, which is considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.04 percent from 0.03 percent.

The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, jumped 0.8 percent. The yen rose to a 14-year high against the dollar.

Commodities, which are priced in dollars, fell as the dollar gained. The move reflected an unwinding of trades that relied on a weak dollar to finance purchases of higher-yielding assets.

Spooked traders reversing the so-called "carry trade" were demanding safe-haven assets.

Investors have been pushing into riskier assets for months as they seek higher returns. U.S. interest rates are at record lows, making riskier investments like stocks an enticing alternative to the paltry earnings of safer investments like government debt.

Trading volume in November has been light as many professional investors have pulled back from markets in hopes of locking in the big gains for 2009.

Rovelli said investors have been too quick to assume that the financial markets are on the mend.

"We're way ahead of ourselves in this market. We're in the eye of the storm now and we've been in it since March," he said. "Now we're in the back end of the storm."

This report was published in February 2009 on Dubai, and shows that the signs were around as late as 2008 -

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai's fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse.

I'm really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here, said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. If I cant pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors prison.

With Dubai's economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield.

The government says the real number is much lower. But the stories contain at least a grain of truth: jobless people here lose their work visas and then must leave the country within a month.

That in turn reduces spending, creates housing vacancies and lowers real estate prices, in a downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town.

No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai's major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.

Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country's reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis.

Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubais Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher.

At the moment there is a readiness to believe the worst, said Simon Williams, HSBC banks chief economist in Dubai. And the limits on data make it difficult to counter the rumors.

Some things are clear: real estate prices, which rose dramatically during Dubai's six-year boom, have dropped 30 percent or more over the past two or three months in some parts of the city.

Last week [February 2009] Moody's Investors Service announced that it might downgrade its ratings on six of Dubai's most prominent state-owned companies, citing a deterioration in the economic outlook.

So many used luxury cars are for sale , they are sometimes sold for 40 percent less than the asking price two months ago, car dealers say. Dubai's roads, usually thick with traffic at this time of year, are now mostly clear.

Some analysts say the crisis is likely to have long-lasting effects on the seven-member emirates federation, where Dubai has long played rebellious younger brother to oil-rich and more conservative Abu Dhabi.

Dubai officials, swallowing their pride, have made clear that they would be open to a bailout, but so far Abu Dhabi has offered assistance only to its own banks.

Why is Abu Dhabi allowing its neighbor to have its international reputation trashed, when it could bail out Dubais banks and restore confidence?

Author Christopher M. Davidson, who predicted the current crisis in his 2008 book: The Vulnerability of Success, said that perhaps the plan is to centralize the U.A.E. under Abu Dhabi's control. This, he surmised, would sharply curtail Dubai's independence and perhaps change its signature free-wheeling style."

The impacts will be many: already societies around the world who are suffering because of the Bank Crisis will enter into their second or third year by 2010 of economic distress.

Burdened with speculators' hiked-prices, outrageous interest rates, corruption, greed, and mountains of debt - it should not be a surprise to anyone that the year 2010 will see great changes and transitions that will significantly mark the decade of the 2010s.

Global Transits

The Dubai situation is a classic one of "see no evil, hear no evil." For years, the HH Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum could have easily invested in detailed astrological reports designed to maximize the success of Dubai.

His highness, and his city-state administration would have been counseled that rather than house a half-million migrant worker force a mile or more away from the city they were building and pack these men six to a room living basically in shacks, why not serve the best interests of construction and growth to do the right things?

Astrologically, the advice would have been the opposite to what was done. It would have been better to house the entire construction force in the city. Why not house these hard working men in the very opulent hotels they built - with the best service given to them?

Would not these working men also provide you with the best they have, rather than subjecting them to low wages, threats, debt prisons, and no safety standards?

By doing what is right - giving the best service to the working men building on deadline, and housing these men in nearby luxury hotels they themselves formed, giving them benefits, rest, peace of mind, safety, and inclusion - then would not the Sheik and his staff be fulfilling the word of Allah?

If God's spirit lives within Man, then is it a bad thing to house the spirits of the workers in the best rooms, provided with the best service, and to reward the very men building the great city of Dubai as they rested from 12-hour day and night shifts six days a week?

If the sheik had done this - the U.A.E. surely would not be on the verge of collapse that it is today. And, it goes to show, that even billionaires must gain astrological counsel before attempting ventures.

Now that the global Saturn/Pluto square is here, and, just months from the T-square configuration of the Cardinal Crisis transits, it appears unlikely that Dubai will emerge out of the mess it finds itself.

The pressures to make due on $60+ billion in debt, the losses amounting in Dubai's residential and commercial real estate, and the fact that many construction projects are in limbo or being canceled outright shows just how poor the strategic planning for Dubai has been.

Responses by Dubai's government to bad publicity has backfired. Now, with the Saturn/Pluto square, and next year's cardinal Crisis transits, it is more than likely that the poor strategic social planning, news, and backroom international finance and business deals that cover Dubai's recent history will emerge into the light, placing even more pressure on Dubai to repay its massive debt load in a global recession.

This is a direct result of the total lack of practical strategic planning that first must be done astrologically and humanly to be successful. Dubai is yet another sad example of how little high finance power players know about forecasting the future. The costs for this, as we have seen, are very high.

As the world enters into the cycle from December 2009 to August 2010 - a nine-month period that will feature, according to my calculations, the start of a new more serious phase of the global bank crisis, it is expected that the major transition from the post-modern world of the late 20th century into the technological world of the second decade of the 21st century will speed up.

What is happening to the city-state of Dubai is a crisis of massive proportions. Unless the city-state acts prudently, the economic woes will last for longer than many would like. The debt crisis in Dubai will continue into 2010 and early into the next decade until there is a strong practical shift away from the fallacies, the poor treatment of workers, and the high cost of living in the city.

Most would not listen to the forecasts during the 1990s and 2000s about the global transits, and the coming impact at the end of the decade of the 2000s. It was too far away, most said. Now, that time is here, and all the preparation time of the last 10-12 years have been lost.

The current transit of Saturn square Pluto from November 2009 through April 2010 sees increasing power struggles around finance, politics and ideology. Then, in summer 2010, the planets Jupiter, and Uranus will come into the mix - filling out the Cardinal Crisis.

We should see this occurring in Dubai at this time, and these internal power struggles will change the "personality" of Dubai to the point of those who have invested and remained in the city-state may have to face the growing hard-line ideology of the powers that be in Abu Dhabi.

In the past 20 years, Dubai's great physical growth should have arrived at the same time as its growth in common humanity, but, sadly, it has not. The city-state now faces global transits that require navigation to return the city to what its own public relations desired to show the rest of the world.

Can it be done? Yes, nothing is impossible if what has been done is undone. First, the debt of the workers must be paid, benefits paid, and the city given to them to live in the splendor of what their own hands built. Stop forcing workers to sign 10-year contracts, and stop confiscating the passports of the family men who build your city. This will save Dubai.

Release those who are Dubai's debtors' prison. Forgive their debts, and shower the workers with housing, and gifts. If this is done, Dubai will be saved and shall emerge from its debt, and the city will thrive once again. Let the workers continue to complete the work while their debts are forgiven, their benefits and rewards increased - and Dubai will be saved.

It this too much to ask? If Allah can forgive many times over, is it no less for the leaders of the U.A.E. to forgive one another, to do good, and to not repeat the errors of their former ways?

What will save Dubai is a "change of heart" - not change from $80 billion. What goes around comes around. Astrologically, there is still a little time left, but without a change of heart, and, by definition, a change of mind and attitude, Dubai will continue to head in very much the wrong direction.

I can tell you from astrological knowledge - that that direction - if it continues, does not have a happy ending. Not at all.

There are two ways this can end - either a love story or a disaster film. The choice is up to the ones writing that book. And transits just keep on moving...

Jupiter/Uranus Conjunction Of 2010

Jupiter-Uranus Conjunction of 2010

By Theodore White; judicial Astrolog.S

As of late autumn in the northern hemisphere, the world is about to enter an historic age.

No where is this seen most than by the coming Jupiter/Uranus Conjunction in tropical Pisces and Aries in 2010.

Beginning soon, many people can expect great transformations to begin to take shape in their lives and throughout the mundane world we all inhabit. I continue to forecast that the year 2010 will be seen as one of the most unique and eventful years of the early 21st century.

Few astrologers doubt this considering the signs already evident throughout the globe that significant world changes are ahead for the decade of the 2010s.

One astrologer who has written on the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction of February 1997 is the Scottish astrologer Anne Whitaker, whose April 2009 book, "Jupiter Meets Uranus: From Erotic Bathing To Stargazing,: contains a wealth of valuable insights from the personal to the mundane on the historic conjunction of Jupiter/Uranus in tropical Aquarius in 1997.

I urge anyone who desires a deeper look into the personal impacts and mundane influences of such important conjunctions to read Ms. Whitaker's ground-breaking book.

For More, See - http://anne-whitaker.com/favourite-quotes/

History On The Horizon

As I've written before here, the coming global transits of 2010 reveal that the world is about to undergo a long transformation that will truly usher in the 21st century and bring a close to the very bloody, but transformative history of the modern and post-modern era of the 20th century.

At the time of writing, the world is now experiencing the first of 2010's Cardinal Crisis in the form of a Saturn/Pluto square between the first 4 degrees of tropical Libra and Capricorn. The influences are seen in the mundane events now taking place in autumn 2009, and will continue into the early months of 2010 before Uranus re-enters the configuration to form a Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-Square with Jupiter in the mix - thus forming the Cardinal Crisis T-square of mid-2010.

These energies indicate that a wealth of emotional complexity among the world's populations - from the personal to the mundane: tolerance/intolerance, wise actions/rash sudden actions, power struggles, revolutionary sentiments and innovations, international intrigues, and above all - transformations - are highlighted especially by Jupiter's conjunction to Uranus.

The mundane events developing touch upon many areas:

• The Domestic Economy
• Society & Personal Transformations
• International Politics
• Science & Technology
• Discoveries
• Religion

This particular Jupiter/Uranus conjunction of 2010 is very special because it marks a time just before the ending of one era and the beginning of another.

Jupiter and Uranus will meet first by exact conjunction at 0-Aries on June 8, 2010, and then, via retrograde motion, will return into tropical Pisces during the months from August 2010 to March 2011 - when finally, transiting Uranus will end its long sojourn and begin a new orbital period when it re-enters tropical Aries for a seven-year transit starting March 11-12, 2011.

The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces/Aries is a "marker point in history," as I see it and reveals that the Earth is about to see a transformation the likes not seen since the end of the Second World War.

Mundane events will certainly be a cause for wonder and alarm as Jupiter is the Business Innovator, and Uranus works as the Radical Disruptor - these modes of both planets will function as one in the tropical signs of Pisces and Aries in 2010 and 2011 clearly showing that after the conjunction, the world as we have lived it since the last conjunction 1997 will rise to a new level exceeding the expectations of many.

History is surely on the horizon for 2010 and 2011. One of the things we all can be certain about is the fact that during, and after such Jupiter/Uranus conjunctions - our lives will be transformed and we all will have to choose how we want to evolve as human beings into a mundane world that features challenges in the decade ahead.

Jupiter/Uranus & Scheat: Dangers On The High Seas

One of my major concerns regarding the conjoining of personal and mundane events is the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus to the fixed star Scheat that sits at the very last degree of tropical Pisces. This points to major catastrophes at sea as well as accidents leading to death around bodies of water, large, medium and small bodies of water.

While Jupiter will conjoin Scheat in 2010, and early 2011 before moving out of orb of Scheat, we will see transiting Uranus remain well within orb of Scheat from 2009 to 2014.

Scheat is a dangerous fixed star, and is well known by mundane astrologers for its malefic influences, particularly around bodies of water. I continue to forecast that the world will see major accidents at sea with global implications for the health of the world's oceans. Already, there are signs that the world's oceans are stressed to their limits.

From 2010 through 2014 - expect the oceans of the world to be a top news maker along with the world's weather conditions particularly from the transit of Uranus within orb of this fixed star.

In 2010, because of the nearness of transiting Jupiter in Pisces to Scheat, which sits in the constellation of Pegasus, the problems at sea will be due to poor navigation and misuse of judgment along with sudden changes in weather conditions.

Jupiter's transit in Pisces, and its conjunction to Uranus also shows a great many voyages being planned to take place in 2010 by great numbers of people around the world.

My forecast for 2010-2011 is for several well known ships and vessels of many forms to be the subject of attacks, losses, accidents, and lead to many casualties that could have been prevented with proper planning, and advance foresight.

The Jupiter/Uranus/Scheat conjunction is opposed by transiting Saturn in tropical Virgo in June, July and August 2010 - these months are among the most dangerous for those traveling below or over the oceans.

• June - negative
• July - negative
• August - very negative for travel over water

The month of August 2010 is noteworthy for unfavorable and dangerous transits involving Jupiter, Uranus, Scheat and the opposition of Saturn, which, in early August 2010, is joined by transiting Mars, and soon to be followed by transiting Venus in Virgo. In addition, transiting Pluto in Capricorn squares Jupiter and Uranus in Aries in the month of August 2010.

I continue to urge anyone who plans on spending time in, or around water in 2010/2011 to be extra cautious and to practice full safety techniques. Do not go out on the water without having lifeboats, life-preservers, and maintain vigilance when planning to take extensive cruise ship vacations.

It is also essential for parents to carefully monitor the activity of children around pools during the summer of 2010, particularly in the months of July & August, which have the most powerful transits related directly to accidents that involve drowning in and around public and private pools and around beaches.

Collective Transits, 2010-2012

The year 2010 into 2011 will be remembered as a time that changed the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus will have released energies that will have caused people to seriously reconsider the direction that their lives have taken since the year 2000.

The Cardinal Crisis Transits of mid-2010 will bring to the forefront the need to adapt personally to the economic transformations brought about as a result of the Banking Crisis of 2007-2010 and the consequences for tens of millions of people and their respective nations will undoubtedly be transformational indeed.

The most stressing celestial configuration for millions of people has been the Saturn/Uranus opposition along the mutable Virgo/Pisces axis.

This one opposition has been the inclination for the massive changes now underway throughout most of the world and will continue into the year 2010 as part of the Cardinal Crisis Transits.

Most individuals under the global transits of 2008-2009 have been in a state of shock as their personal lives have been turned upside down as a result of the global economic crisis. The loss of homes, jobs, relationships, and plans for the future has caused an unnerving feeling for the future. Moreover, the popular culture fear-mongering of the year 2012 has not helped many people feel a sense of security about the near future.

See - http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/

The collective consciousness behind such fear-mongering does not help the misunderstandings and general lack of knowledge about the celestial events of a single day - in this case, December 21, 2012.

The personal transformations now underway throughout the world marks a time where each one of us can take comfort in the fact that humanity is evolving past the lost hopes and aspirations of the 20th century.

What is really happening is that when humanity does not share a common hope for the future, it often falls to those who would mix myth with fiction to shape that vision in their own ways. We have been witnessing this concerning the year 2012.

Astrologically, the year 2012 is significant, but not for the "end of the world" as we know it, but the end of an era of the post-modern world. The transformations are personal, but also mundane, as the world is affected by celestial transits that bring to a close one era, and begins another in the years 2010 through 2017.

The irresponsibility of those who cause alarm with "end of the world" documentaries, films, and Internet postings reflects a generation at ill ease with their own aging at the expense of the young, who are being taught not to value the future because there "isn't any future."

This is unforgivable considering the fact that the majority of those who say that 2012 is the "end of the world" cannot even note the planetary positions of any day of the week, much less read those of 2012 to state that the world will come to an end.

The world will not come to an end on December 21, 2012, that much is certain by mundane astrologers in the know. What is happening is that a major transformation of the world is occurring within the lives of people and is mixing with the negative collective consciousness of a generation that fears aging, and, subsequently death, to the point of not wanting the future of the world to progress simply because of generational angst and disenchantment with their own lives.

This has a detrimental effect on the world at large, particularly on the young, who should not be burdened with such dangerous fallacies like the December 2012 "end of the world" myth at such tender ages in their own lives.

There is nothing for younger generations to fear about the so-called end of the world in 2012. After the date December 21, 2012 passes, there will be a strong distrust and dissatisfaction with the older generation that promoted such silliness. One can see it in the transits of the year 2013.

What is occurring is that an aging generation that has long worshiped its own youth continues to falsely believe that there is no spiritual meaning in own their lives as today's seniors.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It says much about post modern society when an older generation cannot come to terms with the natural facts of human life that have been with the Earth from its very genesis.

The personal transits of individuals - mainly in the early degrees of the cardinal signs of Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn, and the degrees of the mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, will be touched most by the transits of the outer planets from Jupiter to Pluto in 2010-2012.

A Jupiter/Uranus conjunction can also be used to promote tolerance, understanding, and positive action within all of us - person by person, group by group, and nation by nation. The entry into the decade of the 2010s will be challenging, but only to the points of our own limitations, virtues and vices.

Human beings always have choices. We can chose to envision futures of transformative growth that seeks to learn the lessons of history - not repeat them - and to promote a generous, visionary and positive future where the wisdom of the transits of Jupiter and the innovations of the transits of Uranus are joined together to help all of us reach out towards the future with friendly, welcoming open hands and bright smiles on our faces - not with closed fists, disaster films, dark grimaces and grunts from a graying generation unhappy with itself.

We are the masters of our own lives. We can accept the limitations of our world with unlimited joy because what exists within us all is a boundless universe that can point the way to a future designed by those who know that happiness comes from within ourselves.

Sharing it with others means spreading that joy further on to insure that the future we make is of our own choosing and reflects a inner world that is at peace with itself - not at war.

The collective generational angst that has consumed the world for far too long is what is coming to an end - all you have to do is to look around to see the truth of this.

I choose to look ahead with brighter eyes because humanity has better options than to fake itself out because a generation fears something that happens to all natural beings on this planet - and that is growing older.

So, I am planning for a new era in a world past the year 2012. I know as an astrologer that the world will still be here in 2013 and beyond.

Those who make the error of believing that the world will end in 2012 are making a great mistake because the decade of the 2010s will lead into the decade of the 2020s, and it is very valuable to live and think ahead of the world era that is to come.

The future is ours for the making. We are the drivers of our own destinies, for the planets only incline - they do not compel.

Saturn In Libra: Changes On The Horizon

There's a sense of historic change that most people can feel taking place in the world these days. This sense, of course, coincides with the continuing banking crisis, which has brought many nations to their knees, as hundreds of millions of people worldwide attempt to recover from what has been called the worst economic recession since the 1930s.

In these challenging times, it is important to understand the bigger picture, and for this to happen, we need mundane astrology to map out what the potentials and possibilities of the future may be to make preparations and form strategies to adjust to what surely is a new era about to dawn.

In my forecast on the times ahead, I see a general climate of revolt in many nations as a result of the banking crisis, and the acts of corrupted groups and organizations that has caused the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression.

One sign of the revolt can be read here:

See - http://www.alternet.org/story/143813/as_foreclosure_nightmares_increase%2C_will_more_homeowners_pay_off_their_bankers_in_violence?page=entire

Saturn, a planet of essential importance to the Earth, crystallizes its energies into matter, and as such, its energies are transmuted into the thoughts and forms of the sign it transits over a two-and-a-half year period.

Saturn entered tropical Libra on October 29, 2009, and will transit in the early degrees of Libra until April 7, 2010, when Saturn re-enters Virgo, after stationing retrograde several months earlier at 4-degrees Libra on January 13, 2010.

Saturn's current transit through the first four (4) degrees of Libra is a kind of "preview" to its coming 2.5-year transit through tropical Libra from July 21, 2010 to October 5, 2012. During this period of time, Saturn will take part in a series of aspects, mainly squares and oppositions, to and from the other outer planets.

Though some astrologers see Saturn in Libra as a positive influence, as Saturn is exalted in Libra, we must look at the combined global transits of this era - July 2010 to October 12, 2012 to see how Saturn will behave during its "exalted" transit through the Seventh Mundane House of Libra, which is ruled traditionally by Venus.

Planets that are "exalted" are those planets that act powerfully in signs that they do not rule. Saturn rules of the signs of Capricorn and Aquarius traditionally, and is exalted in Libra.

Libra is a cardinal sign, of the air element, and ruled by Venus. This sign begins a "cardinal" initiating movement that leads into the next sign of Scorpio, a fixed sign, of the water element, that then is followed by Sagittarius, a mutable sign, of the fire element.

Saturn will transit through each of the above tropical signs from July 2010 to mid-December 2017 - a 7.5-year transit - from the western equinox point to the southern solstice point, when, by December 19-20, 2017, Saturn will enter tropical Capricorn.

This transit of Saturn over 7.5 years will be the first half of the time of a new generation of leaders who were born in the 1960s, attempting to relieve and fix the massive damages in global society that resulted from massive corruption, misuse of resources and lack of vision for the future.

To understand Saturn's impact on this period of time from 2010 to 2017, it is important to note the areas that will be highlighted over this 7.5-year cycle of time during the 2010s.

The 8th Mundane House Of Scorpio
Saturn Transits -> October 5, 2012 to September 17-18, 2015

• Mortality, death rates
• Sexual Matters
• Privy Councils

The 9th Mundane House of Sagittarius
Saturn Transits -> September 18, 2015 to December 19-20, 2017

• Commercial Powers
• Global Trade & Shipping
• Laws, courts, Judges,
• Clergy & Religions

The 7th Mundane House Of Libra

• International/Foreign Affairs
• Treaties
• Global Trade
• Rules of Law/New Laws
• Relationships/Marriages/Divorces

The Seventh Mundane House is very important in mundane astrology. As one of the angular houses, this sector of the Zodiac is seen to govern all matters relating to international relations, laws, disputes, wars, etc. All the matters relating to diplomacy and relations between one nation to another is ruled by the 7th Mundane House.

This house also governs society in general through professional and personal relationships that are directly connected to marriages, divorces, and laws pertaining to relationships of all kinds, as ruled by Venus.

Saturn's transit in Libra, and the aspects Saturn makes to the outer planets of Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto from 2010 to 2012 clearly shows many important changes are ahead.

What is most important about Saturn's transit in Libra will be the T-Square alignment it makes during July/August 2010 that is called the Cardinal Climax, or, the Cardinal Crisis transits. This configuration has Saturn opposed to Jupiter/Uranus with all three planets squared by Pluto in Capricorn during the northern hemispheric summer of 2010.

This T-square was last seen in cardinal signs during the early 1930s during the deepest years of th Great Depression and the 2010 Saturn/Uranus/Pluto T-Square will play a role in the economic crisis of this era.

The cardinal T-square forces long-standing situations to come to an end. It also demands that new ideals and visions meet in the real world. Saturn's previous transit through Virgo and its opposition to Uranus in Pisces crystallized the old world against the rising new world and in Libra, Saturn brings sees that the outdated ways comes to a sure end.

Saturn In Libra: International Relations

There are international issues that are crystallized into negative form as a result of the misapplication of prior laws, institutions and agencies that threaten peace within nations and between them. This is an unfavorable position for Saturn when it comes to foreign affairs and international relations.

The inability to come to agreements on a wide spectrum of global and international trade matters will extend into other areas of foreign affairs. The battles between the "old" ways of doing things, and new ways are highlighted.

The economic stresses that have impacted trade between nations is exacerbated to the point of sometimes severe international problems that will require extraordinary acts of diplomacy to achieve balance between nations.

Saturn Square Pluto: Out With The Old & In With The New

Saturn's transit as regards to the political/professional/business infrastructure shows that prior old contacts and relationships will be ended, and force workers, particularly older workers to discover new ways to navigate in a world changed.

Pluto's transit in the early degrees of Capricorn, and its late 2009/early 2010 square to Saturn's transit in the early degrees of Libra show that there are intense internal battles around political, professional and business infrastructures run by the ruling generational establishment.

The crisis that is now underway during the late autumn months of 2009 will continue into the winter of 2010, and extend into the summer and fall months of 2010 leading to a near complete ousting of long-standing political and business establishments.

The political structure is seen transformed by Pluto's transit in Capricorn. The square to Saturn, and the coming square of Pluto to Uranus in the early to mid-2010s reveals radical changes associated with repeals of political insider networks and establishments replaced by watchdog organizations and groups who have been fed up with corruption within many political and corporate entities.

Patronage issues, a part of the generational transition, is now coming to an end and will lead to investigations of individuals, groups and political parties who for years have been involved in wide-ranging activities that violated the rules of law.

Saturn's square to Pluto sheds light on the internal battles now raging from outside investigations of those who have long held the power over people through insider activities hidden from sunshine laws.

The Saturn/Pluto square is now active. There are three (3) exact partile squares:

• November 15, 2009
• January 31, 2010
• August 20-21, 2010

The general influences of these Saturn/Pluto squares shows an extended cycle of competing egos and will power struggles within business, political and professional organizations. Acts of coercion, blackmail, scandals, and paranoia are quite common under this square aspect between Saturn & Pluto.

The main influences are those that feature rigid and cold attitudes; especially from those in positions of power. The outbursts that are directed under this Saturn/Pluto square are directed from, and towards those who are seen to have caused the economic crisis are highlighted through sometimes sinister acts where some may have to fight against dishonest and corrupt persons and organizations.

Those who are involved in using dishonorable means to gain advantage will discover that their acts will backfire under the global transits that affects many people from the celestial conditions now building.

What is happening is that the generational angst of the ruling establishment has become negatively crystallized in the physical world. However, what is revealed by the global transits is that those who have for nearly 20 years refused to envision change are beginning to have to face the consequences of their actions.

Saturn's opposition to Jupiter from 2010 to 2012, mainly on the Aries/Libra axis reveals that the general climate business contraction will continue; especially for existing companies and institutions that have outlived their purposes.

I am forecasting that large job cuts will continue as an aging generation of executives and managers continue to lay off workers en mass in order to make up for very bad business decisions to enter the debt markets, in effect, gambling the life-blood of their firms but now slashing multiple positions with hiring freezes so as to keep drawing excessive pay for themselves before their own retirements.

The banking crisis, at the heart of the economic depression, will continue to be in force during the early years of the 2010s. High unemployment will be a drag on the economy and businesses will continue to contract until the generational transition is complete.

This means several more years of a tight labor market until finally the negative climate is relieved by a new generation of leaders, executives, managers, boards, and owners who will need to hire millions of new workers to meet the challenges of the 2010s.

Personal Relationships

The anxieties and stresses from children to adults from nearly 18 years of widespread abuse and dysfunction in society will have reached its peak by the year 2010. Losses of homes, jobs, and high personal debt will brought many personal relationships to their highest stress points by 2010-2012.

The transit of Saturn in Libra from 2010 to 2012 and its impact on society, families, personal relationships, and marriages shows a rise in divorce rates; mainly as a result of the banking and economic crisis. The stresses on marriages in the years 2007-2010 will have led to a rise in the divorce rate.

Currently, the divorce rate has fallen dramatically because of the economic crisis. "It is very hard to refinance right now and many people are being forced to just stay on," said a divorce lawyer. "That's where I have seen the change. People may think twice about getting divorced and just separate."

This will continue through the year 2010, until Saturn re-enters Libra, and then turns south by declination in early September 2010. As Saturn begins its 2.5-year transit in Libra, separations, annulments and divorces will rise after being delayed since 2007.

The "fear" factor also plays a role: fear of aging, fear of change, the fear of the future - all these fears are associated with a generation that has been generally fearful of anything that appears to threaten the need for things to remain exactly the same.

The problem for the aging generation is simply of "letting go" of those material things in life that have been given much more importance than they really contain. Uranus' transit opposed to Saturn shows that the "new" will win out over the "old" and that in order to discover balance, one must work with Saturn's lessons to simply and strengthen relationships on all levels.

For many years the ego-based "I" has been given precedence over the "us" or the "we" - and learning to form a happy foundation will mean to discover what one really requires for personal happiness that is not a means to "entitlement."

This culture of "fear" has been in effect since the late 1990s and after a decade of "fear" - the peak of which will be reached by the year 2012 - society will say "enough is enough" and take the mantle of change into their own hands.

What can help to counter this will be the ability to achieve a level of "downtime" for children and adults to return to slowing down the pace of daily life and the demands of society in order to re-discover one's personal values for oneself and one's families.

Reducing the amount of clutter and distraction in one's life plays an important role with the transits of the 2010s. By taking more time off the Internet, from watching too much television, from becoming distracted by one's Ipod and cell phone and personal digital organizer can lead to achieving more depth in life under the global transits just ahead.

Creativity, relaxation and a sense of humor can do wonders to counter the overexposure to television, technology that has quickened the faster pace of life that has become more intrusive on the lives of people since the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Personal relationships will suffer under Saturn's Libra transit for those who have found that their relationships have outlived their own coming needs and desires. Therefore, the most important thing to do during 2010 is to focus on relationships that feature common sense and a return to the core values that make human relationships enjoyable.

This will be especially important during Saturn's transit in Libra as the effects of the economic crisis will continue to have maximum impact on millions of individuals and families who will seek to recover from the economic, social, professional and personal damage that has resulted from internal fears of the collective that has been projected negatively into the outer world.

Times are changing. It cannot be stopped, but should be embraced as Saturn begins a new series of transits in the 2010s.

Banks, Baby Boomers & Generational War

A Triple Whammy:
Banks, Baby Boomers & Business Bust

This is a long post, so settle back into your chair and take in all that is considered here. There's a definite sense that something is truly wrong with the state of the world these days.

Two years into what has been called the most severe economic downturn since the 1930s, the Great Recession of 2007-2009 has been declared "over" in the autumn of 2009 by government officials, Wall Street, and media pundits alike.

I ask, you cannot be serious?

Nowhere does it appear that the economic recession of 2007-09 is over except in the fantasies of those who would dare say such a thing in light of the true facts:

• One of every six Americans are unemployed/underemployed
• There are eight+ million Americans out of work & growing
• Business contraction expands
• Economic output continues to contract
• There will have been 5,900 bankruptcy filings a day for 2009
• Foreclosures continue with residential housing weak
• Commercial real estate bubble is bursting
• Lending by banks remains frozen
• Entrepreneurs & new businesses cannot gain funding

What is clear is this: the generation that has produced the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression does not know what it is doing, and has to move on and retire, or the future of the country is going to put at even greater risk.

For instance, a September report from the International Monetary Fund showed that the type of recession that the United States is having, one caused by politicians, lobbyists and the financial community, is known to lead to longer term damage to a nation's growth prospects. "the path of output tends to be depressed substantially and persistently following banking crises," the IMF report said.

In short - the future of the country is at stake.

Economic recessions in general often result in lower wages, incomes, higher unemployment, and lost opportunities for the development of human capital - the most important capital of all.

This is called, "economic scarring" and is the feature of this important 2009 study by the Economic Policy Institute.

See - http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp243/

Bad Banks, Desperate Fed & The Screwed American Saver

According to my calculations, the world transits from now to the spring of 2011 indicate that unless great shifts are made to infuse younger workers into the economy that the long-term impacts will undoubtedly be so severe that it will take until the late 2020s and early 2030s to correct.

This is because that the generation shift that is now underway is happening too slow, and, as a result, is keeping a greater number of people out of the job markets, forcing the non-creation of new companies, to meet the demands of an aging generation that is consuming ever more resources with massive levels of debt, but creating less - leaving very little for the next generation to build on.

In addition, the policies of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury shows that the push is to force American's to spend and consume rather than to save, which has been the direction of most Americans since the economic crisis began. High inventories from unsold products continue to be a drag on the overall economy, and this over capacity is behind the Fed's moves to keep the "bubble" alive for short term gain.

It will not work.

Amazingly, some large banks, like Wells Fargo, is betting on yet another housing bubble by issuing new thousands of "interest-only" loans deferring the balance of its borrowers between six to 10 years. This bank - the fourth largest in the country - has more than $107 billion dollars in debt of the dreaded "option-adjustable" rate mortgages. "we're banking on the fact the economy will improve and recover over time," says Michael Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

The housing market has tanked, unemployment continues to skyrocket into double-digits and the world has seen about $50 trillion of global wealth evaporate. Just where is the money going to come that will see people rush out to buy houses and commercial properties that were priced much too high relative to their real value?

The reason why banks are not lending is simple: they are scared to reveal the true losses from the folly of investing in the derivatives market over the last 15 years. If the banks return to lending they will have to face the truth behind the immense losses on their books, so, rather than do this, they have tightened lending standards - which is zero - and using the bailout funds from the American people to cushion themselves while Americans on Main Street suffer as Wall Street hands out billions in bonuses to the very people who caused the economic crisis.

Let's be clear: this economic crisis is really a banking crisis, and it started with the banks; especially big banks, whose executives, and lackeys in Congress, initiated the most expensive experiment in the history of the world - with other people's money.

Now that the banks will not lend, the only lender left is the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury - both entities are now becoming the largest lender of non-prime loans in the history of the world.

Not many Americans know that over the last seven (7) years the U.S. Dollar has fallen 33 percent, and continues to drop. One economist put it this way:

"In global terms we are steadily getting poorer and poorer and the Fed and U.S. Treasury are happy to oblige. You need to remember that it would be very easy for the Fed to strengthen the dollar. All they need to do is increase the federal funds rate to encourage saving. Yet, the only people that are saving right now are foreigners and many are happy to invest at zero percent rates of return."

Is this a good thing?

"It depends," the economist says. "If you enjoy a weak dollar that is systematically being attacked."

What is happening is that the Federal Reserve is desperately trying to create inflation to get the country out of its massive debt since in a deflationary climate having debt is not a good thing at all. One reason is that asset values are falling as the value of the note stays the same.

"Housing is a perfect example of the problem," the economist said. "Say you bought a home for $500,000 and took out a $450,000 mortgage. That home is now worth $300,000. Say a current buyer purchases a similar house for $300,000 today and takes out a $250,000 notes. You then still have a $450,000 mortgage and the new buyer has a mortgage that is $200,000 cheaper than yours."

So, you can multiply this over a thousands times, and see why there's a housing crisis in this country.

At this time, the Federal Reserve is pulling out all the stops trying to get credit flowing again, but the banks are not biting.

So what will work?

Some economists say that radical means are required to take the reins away from the same bankers who brought us the Great Depression.2:

Nationalize all banks to enforce lending standards - The rational behind this is that by doing so, lending standards can be greatly eased and at the same time the government can directly oversee just how the money is being dispersed. If this is not done, then banks who continue to receive bailout money will continue not to lend at all as they look for banks to consume who can add to their bottom line - making it "appear" as if their bank is healthy while other banks that do receive bailout money continue to dissolve, as is happening now.

It appears that in these times those who are the losers are those who save another economist says.

"If you look at the savings rates at your local banks you are looking at another zero interest rate policy. The notion of dollar cost averaging into the stock market has gone out the window for probably a generation.

"If we were to go back to historical rates of 5 or 6 percent many savers would start storing money especially given the current economic shock. Yet we are doing the opposite. The Fed now is trying to make rates so low that bankers would be forced to lend."

But here is the bad news from the banks: They would rather have a zero percent rate return than face certain losses to bad borrowers who are in debt, foreclosed on, and unemployed.

Back in 2007, I read an unusual fictional novel titled Discipline, written by Paco Ahlgren, a financial analyst who studied quantum physics and spiritualism. In the novel, Ahlgren predicts a "Soviet-style breakup of the U.S.," he says may result from the simultaneous collapse of the equity markets, the failure of the U.S. dollar, and its replacement by competing private global currencies.

What does he think about the current state of monetary affairs?

"There are so many factors at play here," Ahlgren says. "Let's say the Fed makes good on its threat to buy the long end, to hold rates steady at these levels, or even bring them down further. How are they going to do that?

"They're going to have to print dollars and that's just inflationary. I don't care what kind of spin the Keynesians try to put on it. It's inflationary. We're getting into a situation where our government is printing currency and then loaning it to itself. It's just laughable.

"A lot of the TARP money went to institutions that dumped them into Treasuries, but how long will that last?" Ahlgren asks. "How long are managers going to accept these absurd rates of return from a bankrupt government? And how long are they going to perceive Treasuries as safe?

"The U.S. has pledged $8.5 trillion to bailouts -- more than all other programs and wars in our history, in real dollars, combined! We've gone from being the biggest creditor nation to the biggest debtor nation on earth. We're consuming everything, and we're not making anything! We're a nation of spoiled rich kids who sit around and watch television all day. How long do you think the rest of the world is going to continue to lend us money?

"I mourn for the U.S. Dollar," the economist said. "It is a very tough time to be a saver with our current Fed and U.S. Treasury destined to annihilate our once mighty greenback."

A Coming Generational War?

A situation of immense proportions after the economic madness since the early 1990s has come home to roost just before the start of the second decade of the 21st century begins as a aging generation not only consumes huge amounts of current resources for its own enjoyment, but also the future resources of others - at the same time.

What is most interesting in late 2009 is the fact that some of the same people of the establishment who played significant roles in the economic crisis continue to influence policy with incredible levels of ignorance designed to satisfy the current aging generation at the expense of younger generations who will inherit this mess.

Many younger people are very angry with Baby Boomers because they say that not only has this generation created the economic mess, but that they are taking jobs away from Generation X and Generation Y - refusing to retire at a time when most younger people need to get into their own careers to build equity for the future and to lead the country out of economic crisis.

See - http://samueljscott.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/why-my-generation-is-pissed-off/

"When an older generation dies off, its wealth, jobs, and responsibilities are transferred, through inheritance and other means, to the young generation. The next generation uses this capital to obtain jobs, get married, buy homes, raise families, and create more wealth. Then they will die off, and the circle continues. This is how society must function."

See - http://samueljscott.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/the-upcoming-generational-war/

What is amazing about this is that many Baby Boomers, now in their early 70s, 60s, and late 50s, do not seem to be clued in to the immense amount of anger from younger people that is felt about their time as the establishment. Anytime this issue is brought up it is met with immediate defensiveness to evade the issue by any means necessary.

There is the immediate response from among many Boomers that it is not right to "blame all the woes of the world" on one generation, or, will refute the concerns of younger generations with comments designed to avoid all responsibility for their years as the ruling establishment.

A typical defensive response from a Baby Boomer is seen here:

"I am sick of the crap spewing from the mouths of immature children on the Internet. I deal with many of these kids on a daily basis and the vast majority of them are wonderful but every now one pops up tells me, literally, that I need to retire, or better yet, die. These same piss ants living in mom's basement infest the Internet and somehow believe that their one year of college and Mickey D's experience entitles them to a $40k managerial job drinking diet sodas and smoking weed. I'll quit now else I really start ranting-- I'll close with Rambo's great line, the heart of Vietnam veteran breaks here, 'All we ever wanted was for our country to love us as much as we loved it.' "

It's as if there is a need to deny the obvious; allowing little insight about this generation's failures personally, while casting blame not where it is due, but onto those who have not been holding any of the reins of of power at the Establishment during the last 17 years. This attempt to deny that any generation is responsible and held accountable is typical of many Boomers today, and it is frightening.

The reason why it is scary is because it feeds into a general denial of nearly everything that is important in these times. Many people have noticed that the Baby Boomers generation is in denial about their own aging, as if it is not happening and feel entitled to not only remain in the same positions they've held for 30 years, but intending on staying put - yet every generation ages. Not one single generation has ever lived forever.

Trend watchers are very concerned about all this as it is estimated that 10 million Baby Boomers will come down with Alzheimer's disease as well as suffering from a host of maladies associated with aging and not prepared to deal with the realities of being elderly.

We find that there are shrinking amounts of primary care physicians able to meet the challenges of the Baby Boomer generation's aging population, and elder care facilities are nowhere near capable of meeting the expected influx of tens of millions of Baby Boomers about to swamp the healthcare system. Little is being said about this, but the time is growing near where reality will set in and these matters must be faced. Time is a very formidable opponent for those who deny it and do not prepare for the passages of life.

We find most Baby Boomers entirely unprepared for aging, and for retirement - stating that they will work until they drop when no other generation in the history of the world has ever done this.

What to make of all this denial?

One non-Boomer put it like this:

"The word “entitlement” has picked up a negative connotation it shouldn’t have. If you go to the bank and deposit $20, you are entitled to get your $20 from the bank. If you fulfill your half of a contract, you are entitled to the other party’s performance.

"Sure, its a problem when you feel you deserve something you don’t deserve—but there is nothing wrong with acknowledging a legitimate debt. So let’s ask why some people in their 20s might feel the older generation hasn’t kept its end of the bargain…

"For those who just graduated, there was no job. That’s not technically true. There was a job—but somebody older has it and isn’t letting go. It turns out the whole system is rigged. Education and intelligence and everything we were told was important turn out to be worth nothing next to seniority and experience…

"Take health insurance. Decades of pressure to lower wages for new hires and cut benefits means that the employer-provided system means that even if you can find a job, it probably won’t offer health insurance.

"Paying for insurance out of pocket is prohibitively expensive if you’re healthy and coverage is entirely unavailable if you’re not. And if you have a minimum-wage job serving coffee, you’re still getting a chunk taken out of your paycheck to finance a program that won’t be solvent by the time you’re old enough to use it.

"But any effort to change this system is met with seniors screaming about communists taking away their medicare. And if 20-somethings back a legislative initiative that would help them obtain coverage, they’re slackers living in their parents basements. And let’s not even get into the individual mandate in the health-reform bill that will require the healthy and young to subsidize the health-care of their older and generally wealthier parents.

"Should twenty-somethings who have done everything asked of them their entire lives feel like somebody pulled one over on them? Probably—but bad things happen. And hopefully all those years of education taught us enough empathy not to be vindictive.

"Call us gullible—but don’t call us lazy or selfish. If some of us push for a few reforms that could help us succeed even when our parents have dropped the ball—back them, and be thankful that we’re not talking outright revolution."

If any generation should be very keen on what is happening in this light - it should be Baby Boomers, considering the history of this generation in their own establishment wars of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It is important for Baby Boomers to clearly understand that the generations that follow them - Generation X and Generation Y - are seething with anger at the mess that is being left behind and of the immense resources that have been squandered by a generation that should have clearly known better.

World Transits

All of the above is a serious problem because it foreshadows trends that will become front and center in the 2010s. This is seen by the global transits that show strong radicalism rising among the younger generations and seething anger at those deemed responsible for creating the mess.

The world transits of 2010s are very challenging. It will be this decade that will be the decade where the aftereffects of the 18 prior years of the Boomer establishment will be felt most. It will be a painful, radical, and stomach-turning decade filled with revelations and seething with anger at the truths behind the economic depression along with its causes, promoters, and authenticators.

The most powerful of the global transits will be those of the outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - as these celestial bodies in mundane astrology reflect the effects of generational incompetence, corruption, greed and ideological wars that will, when all is said, and done, be shown to have led to the crisis of the next decade.

It has started already, and is now in its early stages. The year 2010 sees the Cardinal Crisis transits that will continue into 2011, and by 2012 through 2015, there will be seven (7) exact squares between Uranus and Pluto that reflect revolutionary and radical battles that originated back in the 1990s and 2000s.

The year 2010 is the great transitional year where many hidden truths begin to be revealed and causes many who would have been more understanding and friendly to become even more outraged at the tremendous wealth and future resources that have been squandered, stolen, and misused to support a generation that sought only their own personal fulfillment - with massive consumption on itself in the short-term - at the expense of the futures of their own children.

All this will come down as the Baby Boomers will have since been shown the door and retired; yet, the tremendous burdens placed on next establishment, Generation X, as well as on the children of the Boomers - Generation Y - will be so great as to usher in a generational war that demands accountability from an elderly generation that is no longer holding all the cards under the mantle of the reins of power.

Each generation has its own time as the ruling establishment, and as such, each generation is judged by its own time in power, its own actions as a generation. This time usually lasts about 17-18 years, and, under this astrological cycle, the establishment of the Baby Boomers, which began in 1993, and that is now coming to an end; indicates that it will be impossible for the Boomer generation to even consider undoing the catastrophic damage it has done to the country, and the world over those years.

Even some Baby Boomers themselves realize this:

See - http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=44881

See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpNZi9UjmhQ&feature=channel

Another Baby Boomer put it this way about his own generation:

"Some generations are better than others. I think my generation dropped the ball completely, and yeah, I'm sorry. We were supposed to be the generation that learned the lessons of Vietnam, and Watergate amongst other things and yet here we are, in Iraq, here we are in Panama, Grenada, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Kuwait. Here we are after 8 years of corruption and abuse of executive power that makes Nixon look like a boy scout.

We abdicated our responsibilities as citizens while we focused on personal fulfillment. We turned the economy over to the greediest and most corrupt people in our country while we went shopping and focused on our kids resumes.

We watched one corporate crime wave after another inflate and burst bubbles dragging us into one recession after another; and we learned absolutely nothing from any of these experiences.

Now our kids are graduating into an economy in shambles, albeit with impressive resumes. Not only do they inherit a war, they inherit two wars.

We're the only generation in US history to pass two wars on to the next generation.

And now we stand in front of them at graduation and say what exactly? The excuses offered are so banal they're beneath contempt. The only advice we can offer with a straight face is: "don't do what did."

Baby Boomers & The 2010s

The Aging Bubble About To Burst

For nearly 17 years I have been warning those of the Baby Boomer generation born between 1939-1953 to prepare for the future. It was a very difficult thing to do considering that this generation of "youth" had been in denial about aging to the point of attempting to "turn back time" with pills, liposuction and Viagra, all to no avail.

The majority of all Baby Boomers are now in the 60s, while the oldest Baby Boomers have turned 70 years old in 2009 and the last of this generation will turn 60 years old by the year 2013.

What is most amazing about this generation is the fact that with all the denial of aging that has been a part of the Boomer "consciousness" that the passage of time itself continues to show that along with the denial of aging has come the lack of any preparation for the realities of aging which is now upon the Boomer generation.

Many Boomers have been fighting aging, and the knowledge of it with a passion. One would have witnessed this with the emergence in the late 1990s and 2000s with the rise of the anti-aging industry and pharmaceutical drugs that swarmed into the public consciousness via 24-hour a day commercials/infomercials hawking everything from Viagra, Botox, pills for nearly every malady known to humanity along with the potions and lotions to hide the effects of the passage of natural time.

From injecting toxic strains of bacillus into one's face to unwrinkle skin to having multiple plastic surgeries and liposuction to improve physical appearance, the generation of the Baby Boomers have been on a very expensive quest over the last 17 years in their efforts to turn back the hands of time.

And we all know that Time cannot be "turned" back.

What has emerged as the world enters the second decade of the 21st century is a large generation wholly unprepared for the future, and for their own care as senior citizens.

Attending to the use of drugs while avoiding becoming naturally healthier has led to increasing rises in obesity, heart disease and type II diabetes, among other maladies that will swarm the health care system of the 2010s and 2020s with elderly Baby Boomers wholly unprepared for retirement.

An "aging bubble" has been quietly taking shape since the end of the 20th century. I say "quietly" because from the time that Boomer generation became the establishment in 1993 to the time this generation leaves the reins of power as the establishment in 2010 there has nary been a public call from amongst Baby Boomers to prepare for old age.

The very word "senior citizen" is not used by Boomers, who have long admired their own youth from a far and up close without looking down the road to make preparations for becoming senior citizens themselves.

Much of this can be attributed to the positions of the outer generational planets, especially those of Neptune, and Pluto, that, during the era the Boomers were born into (1939-1953) shows a generation obsessed with ego reflection, drugs and youth.

Troubles Ahead

Most of the problems ahead that the Baby Boomers and society faces is that this "aging bubble" comes at a time when the world will be dealing with the after-effects of the global economic crisis that will linger into the decade of the 2010s.

Coming just prior to the time that Baby Boomers as a generation will retire, the healthcare demands and costs of this generation easily outstrips all budget concerns and frightens the few politicians who had seen this disaster int he making build year after year with little to no attention to making preparations.

Looking ahead to the next decade, we can see that by the year 2010, during the start of the Cardinal Crisis transits that begin in mid-summer of that year, that from this time onwards into the decade of the 2010s, there are signs everywhere that the Baby Boomer generation is in serious trouble based on not providing for their own care as the new elderly, simply because of denial of aging, which happens to all generations.

The troubles ahead is a long list, but here are some highlights of what to expect:

Shortage of Doctors

There is a severe shortage of physicians worldwide, as many doctors are also Baby Boomers who are aging. It is estimated that the United States will need as many as 125,000 new doctors by the year 2025.

Figures show that there are only 700,000 active doctors in the U.S. in 2009-2010, but by 2025 the population of people who are over the age of 65 will have increased by an astounding 75% - from 37 million people in 2010 to 64 million by the year 2025!

From my calculations of astrological transits over this period of time, this is confirmed, and means that the number of doctors will fall dramatically at the same time that demand for doctors will increase.

This is a disaster that has been building for some time, and comes as a direct result of a generation that has been in complete denial about aging and the facts of life.

The problem comes from the Baby Boomers themselves, which is amazing, considering that this generation will be the most hard pressed to find adequate medical professionals to support them in old age.

"We're not producing enough primary-care physicians," President Barack Obama said at one forum on health care. "The costs of medical education are so high that people feel that they've got to specialize."

• Over the last 5 years, a declining number of US medical school graduates have been choosing careers in internal medicine and family medicine - the two fields that are the source of applicants for geriatric fellowship programs
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• Physicians in internal medicine, family medicine - and geriatrics - earn significantly less and have less predictable work schedules than those in other medical and surgical specialties, especially disciplines such as dermatology, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, radiation oncology, and emergency medicine
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• A career focused on caring for older adults can be particularly financially unattractive for physicians who carry increasingly large medical school loan debts
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• Over 86% of medical school graduates carry educational debt and the median debt burden for graduates of medical institutions is over $100,000
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• The median salary for a geriatrician in private practice in 2005 was $162,977 - significantly lower than that of most other medical and surgical specialties
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• In many parts of the U.S., Medicare payment rates for physicians are lower than commercial insurance rates
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• Medicare reimbursement rates for mental health services are discounted even further than rates for geriatric medical services
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• Medicare reimbursement is the major source of income for most geriatricians and, as a result, community-based geriatricians have lower incomes than most other physician specialists.
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• Doctors who are trained in general internal medicine are the the physicians who are on the front line of primary care. However, because of pressure from Boomer administrators and the artificially -raised costs of healthcare to meet the demands of corporations many doctors have been swarming into entire ranges of sub-specialties of internalized medicine, like cardiology and oncology - and have left primary care to fewer and fewer physicians who are low paid.
  

It is estimated that newly trained physicians owe more than $140,000+ in student loans by the time they graduate. Moreover, the two decades of pressure from Baby Boomer administrators to "specialize" in medical areas has squeezed out training for primary care physicians, the very medical professionals who will be needed in droves to service millions of aging Baby Boomer elderly.

Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from the state of Montana complained that Medicare payments were directed against primary-care doctors. These are the very physicians required to care for older people who have chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. "Primary-care physicians are grossly underpaid compared with many specialists," Baucus said.

Nowhere is this problem observed more than in the field that the Baby Boomer generation will increasing depend, and one that this generation itself has caused a severe shortage in - Geriatric medicine.

Geriatric Medicine

When I give counseling advice to clients interested in the medical field, I always point them to primary care and Geriatric medicine, for these are the growth areas in healthcare for the next 40-50 years.

What is amazing about the coming shortages of doctors, is that it is already here; especially in the very medical sector that deals with the primary care of the elderly.

Some facts:

• According to a recent JAGS editorial, 30 percent of the most frail Medicare beneficiaries will need to be cared for by a geriatrician and because of the frailty, one geriatrician can care for a patient panel of 700.
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• Primary care internists and family physicians would manage the healthier and better functioning 70% of older adults
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• There are only 7,345 certified geriatricians practicing in the US -- a 5.4 percent decrease from the year 2000 and roughly half the number currently needed
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• That said, currently about 1.1 million 65 and older Americans would benefit from the care of a geriatrician - a shortfall of 8,421 geriatricians.
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• There are far fewer geriatric psychiatrists. Currently there are 1,596 - one for every 11,372 older Americans. That ratio is projected to decrease by 2030 to one geriatric psychiatrist for every 20,195 Americans 75 and older.
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• In 2007, 91 residents who graduated from U.S. medical schools (USMDs) entered geriatric medicine fellowship programs (slightly more than 0.5% of all medical students in that graduating class), down from 167 in 2003. In 2007, 24 USMDs entered geriatric psychiatry fellowship programs (less than 0.2% of all medical students in that graduating class), down from 30 in 2003.

Shortage of Care Facilities

There are severe shortages in nursing home, or assisted-living, facilities across the country. There are also shortages in home health care companies and staff to provide even independent services to the elderly.

In addition, the current training capacity for geriatrics faculty cannot even sustain the current level of faculty over the next 10 years. To correct the current and future deficit, substantial increases in both geriatrics fellowship positions and mid-career training positions will be necessary.

A 2008 study prepared by Florida's insurance underwriters' of elderly care assisted-living facilities and nursing homes states that:

"Our medical industry cannot handle the onslaught of all these new patients at once. Therefore, nurses will be even in higher demand than they are right now.

Due to the higher demands there will be fewer people that are qualified to work in in-home care situations, or assisted living facilities to help the elderly Generation.

"The long-term care industry will have to change with the changing demands of an escalating senior population. Liability insurance products also will have to change.

"Shorter nursing home stays with most residents requiring more than custodial care will expose operators to more risks that require liability coverage.

"Agents will be expected to increase liability protection to home health care workers and hospice facilities impacted by the expanding population, as well as to the full range of long-term care environments including nursing homes, assisted / independent living, and continuing care retirement communities."

Baby Boomers & Old Age

From the looks of the global transits of the 2010s and 2020s it clearly reveals that the Baby Boomer generation will want to live independently until they can no longer care for themselves. This presents a serious problem because of the shortages of doctors, nurses, assisted-living facilities, and home health care personnel a crisis is surely in the making.

This mounting problem comes from the Baby Boomer generation with little to no funding for expansion of assisted-living facilities, while at the same time cutting these services while encouraging physicians over two decades to avoid primary care and to specialize, which has left the primary care sector gasping for air, and facing severe shortages.

Another 2007-08 study reveals just how serious this problem will become in the 2010s, 2020s and into the 2030s:

"Baby Boomers whose parents may have been satisfied with nursing home care will opt for independent or assisted living until they can no longer care for themselves. The study projects a need for nearly 160,000 new assisted living units, as 60 percent of residents who would have chosen nursing homes can be served in assisted living facilities.

"Demand for independent living facilities also is expected to increase sharply, creating a need for an additional 260,000 units. Skilled home care services funded by Medicare, Medicaid, and other governmental sources are expected to more than double by 2030.

"The wide range of health care options surely will increase professional and general liability risks and create a need for increased liability insurance in an uncertain market.

Perhaps the most daunting challenge facing the industry over the next couple of decades is the expected shortage of professional healthcare workers. This threatens to reduce the quality of care available to meet demand from the rapidly mounting population of senior citizens.

Demand for Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) is expected to grow by 30,000 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) over the next 22 years. Demand for nursing assistants, home health aides, and personal-care attendants is expected to grow by 122,000 FTEs.

However, the study predicts a severe shortage of RNs by 2030. As of June, 2007, 43 percent of licensed RNs were over 50 years old, and 15 percent were over 60 years old. Academic programs are not producing enough nurses to replace those retiring.

The salary differential is growing between nurses employed by hospitals and those serving in long-term care. Long-term care RN salaries in some Florida markets are not considered as generous as hospitals or other settings, which will result in even greater shortages for skilled care, home care, and assisted living.

"Informal care givers will be the key to managing the explosion in demand for aging services. Approximately 40 percent of women and 19 percent of men over 65 in 2005 lived alone.

"As the population ages, the numbers living alone are expected to increase. Without informal family help, it’s more likely they will require support to meet their daily needs.

"The study concluded that dramatic growth is required in home care, much of it to be funded through public programs and Medicare. The problem is that availability of home-care givers, including family and other informal providers, is expected to decline 41 percent by 2030.

"This means that 420,000 more seniors 85 years and older may be without help at home or moved into already burdened nursing homes and assisted living facilities."

The challenges of the future of the Baby Boomer generation as they become the new elderly will require an massive expansion in all phases of health care: from assisted living, to primary care and support needs of a size that is nowhere being prepared for at this time.

It is already too late to make up for the last 25 years that could have solved these problems. Rather, the problems have been kicked further down the road, and now, that road is coming to a dead end.

As with crumbling infrastructures, the traditional nursing care system has fallen apart. Therefore, we can expect the aging bubble to become a crisis of huge proportions in the 2010s and 2020s that will seek to consume resources that are, at this time, are limited, and not available to even meet the existing demands that are now on the horizon.