Job Market: Transitions In 2010

Here we all are now, in the winter of our discontent in the winter of 2010, and just ahead of all of us is the year of 2010.

As many of you know, just ahead is the Cardinal Crisis transits of July and August, then a long, active, emotional fall season that leads into another winter, then, the new astrological year of March 2011, which officially opens, in my view, this new decade.

The inclinations of global transits has shown me that the world economic crisis is far from over, and that the effects will be long-lasting in the lives of billions of people who have had their destinies altered by others who do not ask before they decide the fate of the populations of many nations.

From the looks of what policymakers are doing (as opposed to what they are saying) it appears that most of them have their heads in the sand - hoping that somehow - the world economy will recover fast enough so their own heads will not be chopped off by populations seething for revenge after the worse economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Consider this: the U.S. economy has lost 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, according to official figures.

New figures show that the pace of the recovery is slowing. According to the Conference Board's index leading economic indicators went up for a 10th straight month in January 2010, but the rate is easing.

Economists continue to be concerned that economic growth will stagnate in 2010 with government support programs winding down but with unemployment rates still in double digits.

The key message from all economic indicators is that the desired economic recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is just limping along — "stumbling at times, but it is moving forward," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist.

Overall, the jobs outlook remains grim. Most people under the age of 50 are proportionally out of work. This constitutes the majority of workers required to get the economy back on the road towards recovery. So, until those 50 and under are employed we will not see a recovery. It is that simple.

So, with all this dandy economic news, how are things going with the fellows who started it all?

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi says in his article, Wall Street's Bailout Hustle, that "The bottom line is that banks like Goldman have learned absolutely nothing from the global economic meltdown.

"In fact, they're back conniving and playing speculative long shots in force — only this time with the full financial support of the U.S. government. In the process, they're rapidly re-creating the conditions for another crash, with the same actors once again playing the same crazy games of financial chicken with the same toxic assets as before.

Taibbi continues making his point -

“The nation’s six largest banks set aside a whopping $140 billion for executive compensation last year, a sum only slightly less than the $164 billion they paid themselves in the pre-crash year of 2007.”

The question everyone should be asking, as one bailout recipient after another posts massive profits — Goldman reported $13.4 billion in profits last year, after paying out that $16.2 billion in bonuses and compensation — is this:

In an economy as horrible as ours, with every factory town between New York and Los Angeles looking like those hollowed-out ghost ships we see on History Channel documentaries like Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, where in the hell did Wall Street’s eye-popping profits come from, exactly?

Did Goldman go from bailout city to $13.4 billion in the black because, as Blankfein suggests, its “performance” was just that awesome? A year and a half after they were minutes away from bankruptcy, how are these assholes not only back on their feet again, but hauling in bonuses at the same rate they were during the bubble?

The answer to that question is basically twofold: They raped the taxpayer, and they raped their clients.”

For more, see - http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32255149/wall_streets_bailout_hustle

Dustin Ensinger says globalization, like any other free-market reliant economic system, produces both winners and losers. "In America, the winners have been the haves while the have-nots have gotten the short end of the stick, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute.

In its State of Working America 2008/2009 Report, Ensinger says the EPI found that 34.6 percent of all income growth over the past three decades went to Americans whom make up the top one-tenth of one percent of all wage earners. Over the same time period, the bottom 90% of wage earners realized just 15.9 percent income growth.

"The social stratification of America is at least partially a result of the era of globalization and the free trade policies that it ushered in, which have caused the decline of manufacturing jobs in the country.

“Until the 1970s, the productive core of the country burned with such a fiery light that it illuminated the entire world,” says author Gabor Steingart in World War for Wealth: The Global Grab for Power and Prosperity.

“The United States provided dollars and products for everyone. The American empire's nuclear power helped in the reconstruction of war-torn Europe and Japan. The United States was the world's greatest net exporter and greatest creditor for four decades.”

This loss of manufacturing prowess caused the American middle-class to fall behind. Today, top executives earn, on average, 100 times more than their employees! In the 1960s, that gap was just 30 times as much. It is no coincidence that since the 1960s, the United States added roughly 46 million jobs, while shedding over two million manufacturing jobs.

“For many blue- and white-collar workers, this decline is already absolute because they have less of everything than they used to,” Steingart writes.

“They possess less money, they are shown less respect in society and their chances for climbing up the social ladder have deteriorated dramatically. They're the losers in the world war for wealth.”

According to the EPI, this gap between people at the very top and those at the very bottom of the socioeconomic scale is even more pronounced.

For instance, in 2006, the 400 highest earning taxpayers in America made $105 billion in total adjusted gross income, for an average of $263 million each. Those making minimum wage in 2006 made approximately $13,100 for a difference of 20,000 to one.

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found the American wage gap between rich and the poor is greater than that of 30 other developed nations - including the United Kingdom, well known for its class system that allows little upward mobility.

The OECD study also found that America's wage gap is more fitting for an economically downtrodden nation like Russia or Turkey.

It says that the top 10 percent of earners in America made roughly $93,000 per year, while the 10 percent on the low end of the scale made only $5,800 per year.

Americans have witnessed their wages stagnate, their purchasing power drop and their upward mobility virtually disappear because of a growing lack of manufacturing capacity. Manufacturing jobs pay-well, create wealth and are a tide that allow all boats to rise.

If the U.S. is to close this gap between rich and poor, then the nation must focus on manufacturing. To do that, America will need to refocus its economic polices to emphasize production and exporting rather than the failed polices of today that emphasize "free trade" and importing goods.

“The United States has promoted the worldwide exchange of commodities like no other nation, and the result is that their local industry has begun to be eroded,” Steingart writes.

“Some production sectors have left the country for good. In the recent past, free trade has primarily benefited the very rival states that are now mounting an economic offensive on the United States - and which have cut off a large slice of America’s global market share for themselves."

Navigate Well Or Bury Your Head In The Sand

So, here we are, in mid-February 2010, and wondering: what to do now? Double-digit unemployment, business contraction, rising foreclosures, deteriorating communities, and a weak economy caused by malfeasance at the highest levels of the financial community has led to emotional depression which has been underway since early 2009.

I have some ideas about how to navigate.

One idea is this: understand that global transits show 2010 to be a transitional year. This will give you one key element in how to approach the year, and, how to prepare for the proactive year of 2011.

The main global configurations involve the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto, which will form a T-square which peaks during July and August 2010.

This T-square, especially involving Saturn, Uranus and Pluto, hearken back to the early 1930s, which was at the height of the Great Depression. The massive business contraction and societal impacts ultimately led to geopolitical tensions that then led to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The new T-square has the same power to cause enough disruptions during the 2010s that the world could regress back into the bad habits known to inflict human beings under negative economic conditions.

Much depends on the ability of a new generation to alter the present course the outgoing generation of Baby Boomers has put us all on; however, only time will tell if this new generation has enough clout and courage to make the right decisions to alter the dark path the Boomer generation has placed much of the world on.

Personal Considerations

Many people feel stuck. Out of work, tired, and frustrated with the lack of progress so emotions by spring 2010 begin to peak with the warmer weather. By July 2010, people feel that they have had enough of sitting on their hands with empty pockets and they will want action.

The economic contraction continues. The year and a half of waiting for the economy to recover will have people emotionally involved; seeking change, but not feeling the kind of change they want.

Under this cloud of uncertainty, one thing is certain - nothing is going to be the same. The sooner people accept this, the better.

In order to navigate the new decade, it is essential for anyone who wants to get ahead of the transits of the 2010s to make preparations to make changes in their own lives so that the world transits.

Transiting Jupiter moves quickly through to July 2010, but then takes part in the Cardinal T-square involving Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. This will cause the public mentality to slow down, but to demand action.

Because of the lack of action, and the building frustrations since 2008, inclinations force many people to react impulsively. This is the Cardinal Crisis transits in motion during July and August 2010.

Use the months of February through June 2010 to make progress:

• Relocate & Move if desired
• Reorient your career & personal life for 2011
• Make emotional, mental, and spiritual adjustments
• Use July, August & September to revise goals & objectives

World transits are useful until July, so navigating into one's goals and objectives in 2010 will primarily be all about making a transition from one's old lifestyle into a new one. Most transitions are not easy; but can be made easier if one accepts the realities of change by taking the lead.

Opportunities are plenty between March through late June 2010 for those who want to get ahead of the transitions in personal and professional matters. It is essential therefore to be ready for the opportunities that present themselves and to take them before the strong cardinal transits of summer in the northern hemisphere.

July, August & September 2010

The inclinations are quite strong with the T-square involving Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Pluto with transiting Mars in the mix as well. Energies are impulsive, action-oriented and can be dangerous.

Travel is not favored. Summer activities in and around bodies of water are also unfavorable as accidents which involve the head and feet are widespread during these months because of the powerful cardinal inclinations.

The thing about the Cardinal Crisis transits is the fact that too many people are trying to make things happen within too short period of time after wasting the winter, and spring months of 2010. Those who fail to take advantage of opportunities, or erect barriers on others are doing themselves the worst kind of damage that will extend far into the new decade.

Obviously, the warmer weather in the northern hemisphere has much to do with this, so, after the cabin fever of a cold and snowy winter, expect most people want action during the summer months that traditionally is a time for vacations.

However, this particular summer is one for staying close to home, to relax, and not to travel, nor to take chances due to the powerful cardinal inclinations. It is not a time to be part of crowds, as the cardinal energies are simply too impulsive, with temperamental people acting out of frustrations rather than tolerance and patience.

As the summer wanes into September with both Jupiter and Uranus back in tropical Pisces for their second conjunction in three months (and first in Pisces) the coming autumn season bodes well for those who made time to relax over July and August and who, by mid-November, are ready to once again be ready for Jupiter's direct station.

The Spring of 2011 will follow the months of July & August as very active astrologically. Spring 2011 is a significant time period that allows active progress for those who have been patient in applying 2010's global transits.

No matter what you do - stay on target with your personal goals and professional objectives despite the need to carefully navigate barriers erected by others; especially those who are unbalanced, and not quite in their right minds.

You may observe that some people who have personal emotional and mental issues may cause disruptions in the lives of others leading up to the Cardinal Crisis transits. It is best to navigate very well around these people so as to not have them waste your valuable time.

Be very careful to check out people in positions who have to make choices that affect you and others, such as those who run companies, are "leaders" in the community, or who operate vehicles/vessels, but who exhibit signs of impulsiveness, confusion, and being unbalanced. Avoid them like the plague or you will be sorry in 2010.

These uncertain times indicate that it is time for an aging generation to retire, as younger generation steps in to take charge. However, during transitions such as these which come every 18 years or so, expect to notice that those who have overstayed their welcome will not be the most balanced individuals who are able to make common sense decisions. They will require more attention than you would normally prefer to give them.

The year of March 2010 to March 2011 features transitions for many people. How one uses this solar year will greatly determine who is ready by March 2011 for the new global era that will have started in earnest.

Economic Crisis: What is Coming & How To Survive

For over a year now I have been swamped with requests from desperate people seeking a way out of the effects of the global economic crisis.

Since 2009, I've been working non-stop on astrological reports helping individuals and groups to map out their strategies for this new decade.

I continue to state that there is hope for the future; however, in the near and medium term, people must realize that everything is changing and many things will never be the same.

Those who understand this, and begin to make progress towards creating new lives for themselves will do much better in the 2010s than those who are slower in seeing taking the changes to heart.

Previously, I had been warning about massive levels of corruption in the markets, but to no avail, as people continued excessive spending and failed to notice that "forecasts" from pundits and self-interested groups and individuals of an ever prosperous future were full of it.

By 2007 it had become obvious that the economies of nations were slowing, and by September 2008, when the economic "panic" became real in the United States as the first Saturn/Uranus opposition was within orb - the crisis struck worldwide.

The Banking Crisis of 2007-2010 that was sparked by the collapse of the U.S. Housing Bubble is now taking its peak toll on the country and the world. Stories continue to pour in from all directions of the depression that has set in on people from all classes, cultures and stations of life.

Millions of jobs were lost in the year 2009 with a spate of companies shedding workers: 20,000 jobs cut at Caterpillar; 8,000 jobs cut by Sprint Nextel; 7,000 at Home Depot; 8,000 job cuts from the merger of Pfizer and Wyeth; 2,000 jobs lost at GM plants in Michigan and Ohio with many more clusters of thousands of jobs lost throughout the country.

Over 3 million American homes will be be lost to foreclosure this year. Unemployment is closer to 20% with millions out of work and giving up trying to find jobs. States are going broke with a huge pension crisis on the horizon and cannot meet their public budgets to provide basic services.

Schools are falling apart, families are living in their cars while ideology and political correctness dominated while massive corruption was allowed to run rampant under the direction of a generation who can only be called the "worst generation" in the history of the world.

It is said that 60% of all student loans in the U.S. are in default with an estimated $730 billion dollars in private and government student debt. the remaining 40% that is being paid leaves 60% in "forbearance" while interests continues to add up on top of the principle.

College tuition has been blown up into the stratosphere - beyond all proportion over the last 18 years. So much so that many university students are forced to start their careers hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt before they reach the age of 30.

Europe is suffering as well. Millions of Europeans are suffering as their economies continue to drag along in the wake of the international banking crisis and bursting of the corrupted commercial and residential real estate markets.

This new Depression may outdo the last one and is just the tip of an iceberg says Guy Hands, a private equity analyst who estimates that as much as $4.2 trillion of loans will default over the next five years in Europe and the United States.

"That is equivalent to almost three times the annual output of the British economy!"

In the England alone, some £530 billion pounds of debt is due to be refinanced by the year 2015, according to data provided by Reuters.

Even if huge volumes of debt issued by banks are written off corporations in the UK still must find about £180 billion over the same period. That is enough to run the National Health Service for nearly two years, Hands says.

"It is also roughly twice as much as has resulted from equity fund raising in the London market this year, despite the enormous share issues by Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Rio Tinto."

"Unless the loans can be replaced, hundreds more companies will go bust, thousands more jobs will be lost and the green shoots of economic recovery will be trampled into the ground.

"Even where the finance can be extended, companies could be saddled with tough new terms that force them into savage cost-cutting plans to stay alive.

“We have a huge ticking time bomb consisting of lots of little explosions that occur every day and are slipping under the radar,” said Hands.

“The UK and the US are likely to end up with stagflation, with the real human cost being a lost generation who will not find the jobs they have the skills to do.”

People have had enough, and with the start of the Cardinal Crisis transits, with more on tap in the decade of the 2010s - I continue to forecast social disarray, rebellions, revolts, and possible revolutions over the coming years.

"The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 sub-prime credit meltdown combined," says Paul Farrell, a financial writer and analyst. "A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."

Farrell says that after the global debt bomb explodes everyone should not expect to bear market correction to followed by a new bull market. "Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding," he says.

"Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead."

What's Coming Next:
Crime Rise, Commercial Defaults & Social Discontent

Last year I forecasted a rise in crime globally as a result of the deep Banking Crisis. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that a prolonged economic crisis ultimately leads to upsets in communities and society in general with geopolitical consequences. This was seen during the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression of that era and under a Saturn/Uranus/Pluto T-square.

There is another T-Square forming now in 2010 and one of the many features of this T-square is a rise in crime.

This is occurring in nations such as Spain, where a 20% increase in bank robberies have taken place since summer 2009, according to the British newspaper Telegraph:

Bank robbery surge as Spaniards turn to crime to beat economic crisis

Amateur criminals resort to over-the-counter stick-ups to solve their money problems. Spain's banking association has reported a 20 per cent increase in the number of robberies carried out at high street branches in the last two years.

"With Spain suffering the highest level of unemployment in Europe and banks denying credit, the trend is towards first time offenders attempting heists usually reserved for hardened criminals.

"In recent months, it has become apparent that Spain is suffering from an increase in bank robberies," Francisco Perez Abellan, the head of criminology at Camilo Jose Cela University in Madrid, told the New York Times

"We are seeing people committing offences through necessity, first-time offenders who can no longer continue to maintain their lifestyle and so turn to crime," he said.

Among those recently apprehended is a building contractor who allegedly held up four banks around Barcelona stealing 80,000 euros (£69,000) before he was caught attempting his fifth heist.

The 52 year-old man, identified as Ausencio CG, told police he used the money to pay his creditors and employees and fund his daughter's studies when his business started to fail with the collapse of Spain's decade long construction boom last year.

Jose Manuel Murcia, of the Workers' Commissions union federation, said such stories were not unusual. "There's unemployment, there's hunger and there's money in the banks, and the three factors combine," he said.

"Banks are denying credit, so companies are having problems ... People can't pay their mortgages. So it's ... logical to rob a bank."

The illogical propensity to rob a bank to pay one's mortgage seems to be spreading to other nations. In Tampa, Florida on February 12, 2010, a 73-year pensioner robbed two banks, according to the Telegraph -

"Un-armed pensioner James Bruce stole $600 (£380) from each of banks. Mr Bruce, who owns a garden center in Tampa, Florida, committed three robberies on separate days in January and February.

He admitted robbing the banks but said he planned to pay back the money, Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "He called it a repayable loan," she added.

At all three banks, he handed a note to a cashier which said he was carrying out a robbery and demanded six $100 bills. Police said they believed the staff gave up the money because it was bank policy not to have staff resist robbers in case they were armed.

Steve Judeh, a friend of Mr Bruce's, told the South Tampa News and Tribune that Mr Bruce had suffered financial problems. "Everybody you talk to these days, it's about the economy, everything is about the economy," he said.

"I know he had a good job once. He was making a lot of money with the ships on the port and all that. He was taking his wife on a cruise and all that, but the last couple of years, I noticed things change a little."

Mr Bruce is being held in Hillsborough County Jail, and if convicted of the three charges of robbery faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for each charge.

"He's trying to keep his family in their home, but you can't go about it by robbing a bank," Tampa Police Detective Rachel Cholnik said.

Social Discontent

With the advent of the coming Cardinal Crisis transits of mid-2010 I am forecasting that the popular discontent with high unemployment, foreclosures, and the continued corruption and credit freezes among banks and lending firms will lead to a violent summer in the northern hemisphere.

The gridlock in solving the economic crisis continues to lead towards common people committing such acts. Austerity measures in countries like Greece will certainly see mass protests turning violent. Unless the market problems are solved, I'm afraid we will see more events of this nature in many other nations.

I cannot stress the extend to which the economic crisis today is like the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are similar transits, and I expect more failures to come - especially in the commercial sector, which is vital to employment and economic recovery.

However, I cannot forecast a recovery to come in the medium term. Sadly, I do not see a full recovery until after the mid-2020s and surely not until at least the year 2018.

This means that the next seven to eight years will feature a time of increasing desperation among nations as populations struggle with massive levels of debt and decreased incomes.

The global transits I've analyzed for years continue to show that populations around the world will become ever more angry and violent because of the obvious corruption and mismanagement that led to it all.

The social discontent is something that everyone is going to have to deal with, but it is not being faced by policymakers, bankers, and those responsible for the economic crisis.

I continue to state that this is a very serious mistake under the coming world transits of the 2010s and that projections made for the rise in anger are much lower than I would set them.

The Cardinal Crisis transits of this year is extended into the 2010s by the Uranus/Pluto square of the decade. There are seven (7) exact squares in a three-year period (2012-2015) that features increasingly violent reactions to the economic crisis worldwide.

People have discovered that they have been tricked: by investment banks, credit card companies, bankers, the real estate community, the financial media, insurance companies, politicians, and policy-makers.

People are very, very angry, and these are the people who were customers.

Those who are responsible for the economic collapse only have one planet where to hide out - and the world is a much smaller place in the 21st century.

Simply put: there is no place to hide.

Small Bank Failures & Commercial Loan Defaults

This is something I have been warning about for years, but, with few people heeding my forecasts until it was too late.

The bubble years of the last decade has seen small and medium-sized banks failing at the fastest rate since the banking crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s. The failures are due to bad loans made for commercial and development projects.

These kinds of banks lent too much money for land and commercial buildings where the prices were highly inflated by the real estate bubble.

Falling all over themselves in the rush to gain fantastic profits, these banks and their management depended on pie-in-the-sky outlooks that told them that the future was bright and billions were to be made off the retail and office project developments.

However, these "forecasts" were based on nothing but hot air. The potential of failure did not even enter the equation, nor did the very real potential of a recession.

Consider this fact: In the United States, commercial property values have dived more than 40 percent since 2007. My forecast calls for another 30-40% drop between now and 2015.

That means that commercial property values will see huge falls in their values somewhere between 80-90% over the next 3-4 years when all is said and done.

An historic decline to say the least.

The real swamp of defaults will begin in the year 2011. This is the year when most of the refinancing comes due. However, in 2010, owners and developers are unable to pay on their loans.

Many have simply stopped paying altogether because they owe more money than the properties are worth. Losses in early 2010 continue to mount on the books of banks and this will lead to failures with these banks being forced to close between 2011-2014.

What makes the commercial mortgage sector different than the residential sector is that commercial loans are refinanced every three to five years. It is estimated that from now to the year 2014 that $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will have come due for refinancing.

Fifty-percent of these borrowers will struggle to receive any new financing because they will owe more than the properties are worth.

Over the next several years, it is estimated that commercial real estate loans will default and therefore litter U.S. cities with empty stores and office complexes which will cause hundreds of small and medium-sized banks to fail.

It is further estimated that some banks could face at least $300 billion dollars in losses on commercial property and development loans that were made during the bubble years of the late 1990s and 2000s.

Because of the coming defaults it is also expected that banks will reduce lending even further and the bank failures will delay any recovery due to the increase in job losses.

Read Report On the coming Commercial sector disaster from The Congressional Oversight Panel - http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-021110-report.pdf

How To Survive

One of the ways toward surviving the current and future times is simply to accept that things are changing. This is something that the generation responsible for the economic crash has never done, and so, the advent of the Panic of 2008 has led to a global economic meltdown that continues into 2010.

While ideology and political wrangling goes on with this aging generation conditions on the ground continue to spiral out of control. The Cardinal Crisis transits of 2010 is just the start of a contentious decade at least into the mid-2010s from my astrological analysis of the celestial inclinations ahead.

For most of 2010, the generation of the Baby Boomers will be looking back. This is due in part to the position of Venus as "evening star" through October 2010.

However, the world transits of 2010 also clearly reveal that looking and planning ahead should be the goal, despite the retrospectives on the past that have little effect on providing a way into the future.

That future, in my perspective, is rougher than this generation could imagine for itself. It isn't pretty at all.

"America's already descending into economic anarchy," Farrell says. "We're all trapped in a historic economic super cycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge.

"Investors tell me they "feel" it at a deep level, "know" it's happening. They keep asking: 'What's the best investment strategy to prepare now?'"

"You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink," Farrell believes.

"Multiply that many times over and see a world in total disarray. Ignore it now, tomorrow will be too late."

Farrell says this is no joke. "Are you prepared? Or preparing? Will your family survive in a post-apocalyptic world, when anarchy is rampant in America? Look at Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America today. You know it's already begun"

The anger that has been building since late 2008 and into early 2010 will seek release with the strong cardinal energies of July, August and September 2010.

As the temperatures warm with the advent of spring, then summer, people everywhere who have been affected by the Banking Crisis will seek revenge on those they feel are responsible for the mess that has struck society

So, how to survive?

One sure way is to apply strategies that see new opportunities on the horizon. It will not be long before the banks and their leaders responsible for the economic crisis are relieved of their positions, while remaining banks that are healthy will reach out towards communities and customers to lend money to those in need of starting or sustaining their businesses.

One problem will be the move toward becoming frugal. Although saving is a good thing, and is mainly for seniors, the issue with cutting back on spending is that it increases unemployment, reduces the activity of consumers, decreases sales, and thus makes economic recovery impossible.

Media sites are full of "advice" on being frugal, but the deflationary economy that has run rampant since 2007 will continue to deflate until all the hot air is out of the markets.

In the meantime, people will continue to suffer as they search for employment and delay starting new companies and running small businesses that are at the heart of true economic recovery.

The economy has deflated enough. We can see this through double-digit unemployment, commercial and residential foreclosures, and business contraction. The point is that until the generation that brought all this negativity are removed from their positions - a full recovery will not happen.

Some steps to Take:

• Look at making transitions in 2010
• Make Plans for 2011's transits
  
• Know Your Own Personal Transits
• Avoid reactionary impulses
  
• Network with others
• Avoid emotional depression
• Avoid Anger
• Avoid Complacency
  
• Take advantage of Opportunities
• Avoid ideology
  

One of the things that will be an excellent strategy for anyone is to use 2010 to relaunch your personal and professional aspirations into the spring of 2011.

Transits are very active after the long year of 2010 and by March 2011, anyone who is ready to take advantage of opportunities will be ready to make things happen after the stagnation of 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Economic times will continue to be very challenging in 2010 and through to the mid-2010s. This is because of the failures of the generation and policymakers of the 1990s and 2000s to plan for the future. They did not.

What they did was sacrifice medium and long-term growth for short-term gains. Those "gains" were made by few people who squandered massive amounts of money and resources to satisfy their own greed.

Make no mistake - these are historic times, and there will come radical changes in society, in business, in politics, in society: worldwide in the years ahead.

However, those who are not of the generation that led the world into economic depression will be able to envision, and implement economic recovery, but it will take time as the generational transition begins to speed up.

In Farrell's perspective, this is not a war about ideology he says, but it is an economic game changer.

"This is a war to control 299 million American taxpayers. A war waged by the "Happy Conspiracy" that Jack Bogle profiled in his 2004 "Battle for the Soul of Capitalism," a war machine of Fat Cat Bankers, CEOs, 42,000 mercenary lobbyists and a Congress held hostage to unlimited campaign donations."

Their conspiracy has been waging war against Americans for decades, long before the Supreme Court exposed their dirty secret, Farrell says.

"Yes, your enemy is that Happy Conspiracy. It has degraded into a pseudo-capitalism with no conscience, no sense of the public good, hell-bent on controlling America's mind, your money and the global markets for its own selfish ends.

He believes it will trigger a game-changing global-debt bomb a third global meltdown of the century that finally ignites a Second Great Depression - plunging the world into an era of anarchy.

Farrell says investors keep asking: 'If it is coming, how do I invest? Buy gold? Commodities? Hedge? Short trading? TIPS? Hoard cash? Buy and hold? What if the Dow sinks below 5,000?'"

"Maybe its a worst-case scenario. A deeper plunge to the 1,000 range? Imagine a global depression, a bear market dragging on for decades: "How do I protect my family? Can I ever retire? What do I invest in? How can anyone prepare?"

The fear is real and palatable considering the lack of transparency and honesty over a wide spectrum of public and private institutions, banks, schools, and government.

And it is this very real fear that awaits the inclinations of the Cardinal Crisis transits of July, August, and September 2010, on top of the Uranus/Pluto squares ahead to the mid-2010s.

I wish my own forecasts could be more hopeful, but, seeing the continued greed and corruption of the financial community and the coming global transits; I am forecasting upheavals of the likes not seen for many, many years since the last Great Depression.

So, while waiting for the overall economy to recover, be creative, and ready and willing to take advantage of the positive opportunities transits will bring to those who look to the future.

Not with angst as aged Baby Boomers do - but with hope, so that the future of this new century, and new decade can be used much better than the last two decades.

Prepare For the Worst: Can We Go Now?

I know what some people will say.

Back in 2006 when I warned several of my clients, and astrologers online about all the corruption rampant in the markets - especially the housing market - I was derided as a "gloom and doomer," as if my forecast and warnings were meant to make people feel bad on purpose.

I always wondered about this, as if seeing what was happening, and warning about it somehow meant that I wanted it to actually occur? Nope. That's not me. I did not want it to happen, but, as a mundane astrologer, I knew that it surely would.

Most generations are that predictable.

So, I continued to warn throughout 2006, and 2007, and again in 2008, but few listened even as the signs continued to show that things were going to get bad. I remembered telling a friend in the heady days of the year 1999 that the Baby Boomers were going to ruin not only the information technology and dot.com markets, but, also the housing market.

People who heard this from me back during those wild days of economic growth thought I had lost my mind.

As always, an astrologer looking far ahead at global transits knows how to separate the lies from the truth, and mundane astrologers always follows the truth - no matter where it may lead.

Today, it has led to this -

• Millions of foreclosures
• Unemployment rates in double digits
• Whole nations bankrupted
• Societal disruptions

Can we go now?

The loss of national sovereignty - effectively being held at the bankers' gunpoint - will see populations hit the streets en mass demanding the heads of bankers of all stripes. Things have gotten so bad that even the Archbishop of Canterbury has been slamming the international banking cartels who caused the global economic crisis.

I mean, come on. Bankers, Wall Street types, and politicians everywhere are in the sights of the masses. If anyone remembers the end of the film Frankenstein, one might like to not forget those pissed off and formerly ignorant masses who just wanted to go on living their lives in peace.

Pissing off the little people who are voters as well as torch bearers isn't exactly wise you know.

As in my past forecasts on global transits I continue to warn of transference from social acrimony to populist unrest and then to geopolitical conflicts. If history has taught the world anything its that any kind of popular uprising that focuses on the rejection of wealth can easily lead to class wars.

These are the after-effects common to the dynamic of human history. With inclining world transits which the powers-that-be think do not affect them only proves the fact they do not know what they are doing. If they did, then that would make them mad.

Would it not?

Severe economic crisis and social unrest are precursors to rebellions, revolts, revolutions, and sometimes war. That is how wars usually starts. Those trying to lead the world into another war through economic crisis should also be the first to run point on the front lines if they feel so strongly about making trouble.

There's nothing like putting your own ass on the line if you are truly committed to the "cause" of running the world into the ground.

Global transits of this time look an awful like those that preceded the Great Depression of the 1930s. I've known this for years. Back at the start of that decade a Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-Square in cardinal signs typified the economic disaster of that era. We have another now setting up which will peak later this year, and my forecast is of tougher times ahead.

Saying this, President Barack Obama could turn out to be more like Herbert Hoover rather than Franklin Roosevelt. During the start of the Great Depression years of 1929-1933, the Saturn/Uranus/Pluto T-Square ushered in an unprecedented era of economic collapse that was not fully ended until the early to mid-1950s, and after the Second World War and Korean War.

Should President Obama not see the light and truths about the root causes of the current economic depression, he will not only see just one-term as U.S. president, but he could be blamed for the entire mess which he surely did not start himself, but has to face with daring, and courage in our present age.

Will he see the light? Perhaps, however, the global economic crisis is really about generational change, and until that generation is given its walking papers from public and private policy and management we will not see anything resembling positive change, but, we will see "change" yes, and it will not be positive if the current generation continues to have its way.

Here are some insights from the British Telegraph newspaper -

"History repeating itself? President Obama has been accused by some economists of making the same mistakes policymakers in the US made in the Great Depression, which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929.

The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters.

Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism.

The home foreclosure guillotine usually drops a year or so after people lose their job, and exhaust their savings. The local sheriff will escort them out of the door, often with some sympathy –– just like the police in 1932, mostly Irish Catholics who tithed 1pc of their pay for soup kitchens.

Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody's Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.

Judges are finding ways to block evictions. One magistrate in Minnesota halted a case calling the creditor "harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive". We are not far from a de facto moratorium in some areas.

This is how it ended between 1932 and 1934, when half the US states declared moratorium or "Farm Holidays". Such flexibility inoculated America's democracy against the appeal of Red Unions and Coughlin Fascists. The home seizures are occurring despite frantic efforts by the Obama administration to delay the process.

This policy is entirely justified given the scale of the social crisis. But it also masks the continued rot in the housing market, allows lenders to hide losses, and stores up an ever larger overhang of unsold properties. It takes heroic naivety to think the US housing market has turned the corner (apologies to Goldman Sachs, as always). The fuse has yet to detonate on the next mortgage bomb, $134bn (£83bn) of "option ARM" contracts due to reset violently upwards this year and next.

US house prices have eked out five months of gains on the Case-Shiller index, but momentum stalled in October in half the cities even before the latest surge of 40 basis points in mortgage rates. Karl Case (of the index) says prices may sink another 15pc. "If the 2008 and 2009 loans go bad, then we're back where we were before – in a nightmare."

David Rosenberg from Gluskin Sheff said it is remarkable how little traction has been achieved by zero rates and the greatest fiscal blitz of all time. The US economy grew at a 2.2pc rate in the third quarter (entirely due to Obama stimulus). This compares to an average of 7.3pc in the first quarter of every recovery since the Second World War.

Fed hawks are playing with fire by talking up about exit strategies, not for the first time. This is what they did in June 2008. We know what happened three months later. For the record, manufacturing capacity use at 67.2pc, and "auto-buying intentions" are the lowest ever.

The Fed's own Monetary Multiplier crashed to an all-time low of 0.809 in mid-December. Commercial paper has shrunk by $280bn ($175bn) in since October. Bank credit has been racing down a hair-raising black run since June. It has dropped from $10.844 trillion to $9.013 trillion since November 25. The MZM money supply is contracting at a 3pc annual rate. Broad M3 money is contracting at over 5pc.

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said the Fed is baking deflation into the pie later this year, and perhaps a double-dip recession. Europe is even worse.

This has not stopped an army of commentators is trying to bounce the Fed into early rate rises. They accuse Ben Bernanke of repeating the error of 2004 when the Fed waited too long. Sometimes you just want to scream. In 2004 there was no housing collapse, unemployment was 5.5pc, banks were in rude good health, and the Fed Multiplier was 1.73.

How anybody can see imminent inflation in the dying embers of core PCE, just 0.1pc in November, is beyond me.

Mr Rosenberg is asked by clients why Wall Street does not seem to agree with his grim analysis.

His answer is that this is the same Mr Market that bought stocks in October 1987 when they were 25pc overvalued on Shiller "10-year normalized earnings basis" – exactly as they are today – and bought them at even more overvalued prices in 2007, long after the property crash had begun, Bear Stearns funds had imploded, and credit had its August heart attack. The stock market has become a lagging indicator. Tear up the textbooks."

It appears that the Obama administration, now a year into office has some transitions and changes of its own to start if the new administration is going to truly tackle the economic crisis and resulting social chaos that is now underway.

According to the Telegraph, "Doug Wilder, who was elected Virginia governor in 1989, launched a broadside against the man he supported in the Democratic primaries when most senior party figures were championing Hillary Clinton.

He had backed Mr Obama because of his promise of "change", he wrote in an article for Politico.

"Now, across many fronts – in public policy and politics alike – people have rightly been questioning whether the change has been for the better. Unfortunately, the answer so far is clear: not yet."

The former governor continued: "The need is becoming more obvious by the day: He must overhaul his own team, replacing the admittedly brilliant advisers who helped elect him with others more capable of helping him govern. Getting elected and getting things done for the people are two different jobs."

Mr Wilder's surprise intervention came as a Washington Post poll delivered further bad news for Mr Obama. The survey found Republicans have significantly narrowed the gap with Democrats on who is trusted to deal with America's problems – a sign that Republicans are set to make major gains in the midterm elections.

When asked how would vote in November's midterms, 46 per cent said they would back Democrats and 46 per cent Republicans. Just four months ago, Democrats held a 12-point advantage.

On all the big domestic issues such as economy, health care, employment and the budget – where Democrats hold traditional advantages – slim majorities of Americans disapproved of the job Mr Obama is doing.

Thus far, Mr Obama had made no changes to his inner circle. Since Democrats lost a Senate seat last month in a bombshell defeat in liberal Massachusetts, calls for the dismissal of his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago congressman, have increased.

Mr Wilder said Mr Obama had to fire people, starting with Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor and the current chair of the Democratic National Committee – the party's political operation.

"The changes must go much deeper," Mr Wilder wrote. "Obama's West Wing is filled with people who are in their jobs because of their Chicago connections or because they signed on with Obama early during his presidential campaign.

"One problem is that they do not have sufficient experience at governing at the executive branch level. The deeper problem is that they are not listening to the people. Hearing is one thing; listening is another."

What's Next?

With the crew of policymakers worldwide - your guess is as good as mine, but here are my insights.

It does not look good.

I am not bullish on global recovery in 2010, mainly because the same generation of people that started the whole mess are still in many of the same positions, making the same trouble, while gulping as much money as they can to support and save themselves. They care nothing about the future, or, you and me.

Now, saying this, I am not a doom and gloomer, but a realist who also happens to be a professional astrologer.

From the looks of global transits this year, and in the years ahead, we all are in for some fantastic sights - and all of it will be because a generation of incompetent and corrupted ways led the world down the dark slippery slope it is now careening down at breakneck speeds.

Is there hope? Always. Is there a way out? There are many. Can we fix the system? Perhaps, but not with the same crew of bumblers that began it all.

There are some strange things going on, such as the fact that China has ordered managers of its vast currency reserves to withdraw from risky dollar assets and retreat into core debt guaranteed by the United States. This is a clear sign that Beijing is battening down the hatches for fresh trouble on global markets, according to economists.

Now, we have this headline in February 2010 -

China Orders Retreat From Risky Assets

"A Communist Party directive leaked to the Chinese-language edition of the Asia Times said dollar reserves should be limited to US Treasuries or agency mortgage debt such as Freddie Mac that enjoys Washington's implicit backing.

BNP Paribas said the move has major implications for global risk assets. "The message from Beijing is that we don't like this environment," said Hans Redeker, the bank's currency chief.

"When the world's biggest investor turns risk-averse, that is something you take notice of. We think this could become the new theme for the markets in the medium-term," he said.

The directive covers both the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and China's state-controlled commercial banks. Together they have an estimated $3 trillion (£1.9 trillion) of foreign holdings.

The exact break-down of China's holdings are a state secret but it is understood that SAFE bought large amounts of corporate debt as well as municipal and state bonds during the boom years of 2006 and 2007. Any move to liquidate holding of California debt at this crucial juncture could have serious implications.

The exact motives for China's shift of strategy are unclear. Analysts say the authorities may fear that the end of quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve could cause risk spreads to widen sharply, triggering heavy losses. The shift in policy appears unrelated to the US spat with China over Taiwan.

SAFE has some very sophisticated economists. The chief investment officer of its reserve management department is Changhong Zhu, until recently head of derivatives for the hedge fund operations of the giant US financial group PIMCO, and viewed as one of the 'rock stars' of the global hedge fund industry.

The move by Beijing comes at a time when China's current account surplus is falling. This reduces reserve growth, reducing the supply of global liquidity.

Mr Redeker said this will have the paradoxical result of boosting the dollar. Flight from risk can lead to an automatic rise as hedge funds, banks, and investors across the world cut back leverage on dollar balance sheets.

David Bloom, head of currencies at HSBC, said the explosive dollar rally over the last six weeks has been the reversal of the dollar carry trade. "It has been short, sharp, and vicious. People borrowed in US dollars to invest in places like Brazil, Turkey, and New Zealand and now it is unwinding."

"We don't think the dollar rally is going to last much beyond the first quarter because we're in a new world of rotating sovereign crises where politics matters again. It's Greece right now but it could be the UK next, and then US which has yet to take any steps at all to tackle it fiscal deficit," he said.

Hope, Fear & Forecasts

Global transits of 2010 clearly show that if anything is for certain, it is change. The question is just what kind of change? If left to the pundits, things will return to "normal" - that is pre-2008 levels, which we all know will never happen - then not much will be done except to continue the kind of lip-service that has been emanating from Washington D.C., Wall Street, and the international banking community.

The "hope" is that things will get better. The "fear" is that things will get worse. So, what is the forecast?

A little bit of all of the above I'm afraid. For 18 years, the establishment that is now on its way out of power has deluded itself, and the world, that it knew what it was doing when it de-regulated the banking, insurance and real estate systems in the 1990s.

This led to massive levels of derivative speculation through hedge fund betting, and zoom, we were all off to bubble land. The causalities of the bubble's burst continue to add up with tens of millions of unemployed, millions of residential and commercial foreclosures, and societal turmoil building to a crescendo.

This year's Cardinal Crisis transits will surely bring the Panic of 2008 to its peak with powerful anger directed at those responsible.

However, even if the anger is fully expressed, and the evil players brought to justice for starting the mess to gain wealth for themselves; there still is the little problem of what do to next?

How do we fix the mess? Can it be fixed? If not, then what is next?

I support a progressive movement into the future. This means setting course ahead, with new crews, and leave the generation whom caused the mess behind on their Lost Gilligan's Island, because this is Star Trek, and the world has got new realms to explore and problems to solve.

However, the problems will not be solved with Gilligans running around the bridge of the Enterprise.

So, staying put in the current generational stagnation along with their outworn political correctness and rampant cynicism is a recipe for disaster. We've been fed that bloated crap since 2001 and its time to dine elsewhere. The Panic of 2008 and Banking Crisis proves that the last 17-18 years have been a failure.

My forecast is not positive, at least not for the near to medium term. I have been forecasting this for years, and my forecast has not changed. I wish it would, but then again, people of a certain generation continue to be all too predictable.

The thing is this: Until the generation that created this mess gets out of the way, or is removed out of the way - things will not improve in the least.

In fact, things will get worse. That constitutes the short version of my long-range forecast.

There are plenty of opportunities that, if used effectively by the incoming new generation, can help to lead many countries, including the United States, out of this economic mess; however, the outgoing establishment that played the major roles in starting, supporting and expanding the crisis cannot be allowed to remain where they are.

That much is sure.

Astrology Guide For 2010

Making Your Way Through 2010

This astrology guide can be used to gain a general understanding of the global transits of 2010. If you need to know more in detail about your own personalized astrological transits, can contact me via email at astro730@yahoo.com

Winter weather in the northern hemisphere this season has been very active. Blizzards with record amounts of snow and cold temperatures have been inclined by global transits to such an extent that most regions across the hemisphere will have experienced the best winter in four years when all is said and done.

Winter will give way to Spring 2010, I am forecasting an early spring season to erupt across North America with threats of flooding in the Midwest. The Mississippi River is highlighted.

Temperatures will be above average during the spring season, so much so, that my late April, much of the United States will experience near summer-like temperatures, and by mid-May, it will feel as if summer has already arrived.

This year of 2010 features many changes and transitions in the lives of people everywhere. The climate for the most part will see above average temperatures during the spring, summer and autumn months. Global transits are quite powerful during the months of July & August, which feature the Cardinal Cross transits.

For several years I had been forecasting that the current era were are now in was coming. It was difficult for some to believe what I forecasted back in 2006 & 2007 when I warned about the coming economic crisis, and the resulting social tensions.

After the Panic of 2008, which is really the Banking Crisis that came about after years of wild speculation in a rigged real estate market bubble that imploded; many people have found themselves drowning in debt.

Now, in February 2010, it has become obvious to most people that the world is now deep in economic crisis. As winter wanes in the northern hemisphere and gives way to spring, and then summer, the celestial transits show intense energies at work with the Cardinal Cross transits involving Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto.

We can see popular anger building in some countries already. For instance, in the bankrupted nation of Greece, tensions were already evident on the streets of Athens February 9 when citizens chanted "traitors" outside the Greek Parliament.

Outraged at austerity measures and cuts dictated by the European Parliament in Brussels, striking workers from Greece's public sector brought the country to a standstill, effectively down shutting airports, schools and hospitals. Another general strike is planned for February 24.

Greek Strikes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5esi-wvnIY

This is a preview of the larger strikes and clashes to come during the summer months of 2010, and the inclinations of the Cardinal Crisis transits. I am forecasting such scenes as we are seeing in Greece to take hold in many other nations.

If we look at current global trends, we can easily assess that humanity has challenges, crisis, and choices to make in order to blunt most of the celestial inclinations -

• Challenges - To face the future with hope rather than angst
• Crisis - To overcome the outworn, the negative, that which does not work
• Choices - To form & act on positive visions for the future without angst and fear

Key Transits Of The Cardinal Cross -

• April 6-7 - Pluto stations retrograde at 5-Capricorn
• April 7, 2010 - Saturn re-enters tropical Virgo
• April 26, 2010 - Saturn opposes Uranus (4th opposition)
• May 23, 2010 - Jupiter opposes Saturn (first time since 1990-91)
• May 27-28, 2010 - Uranus enters tropical Aries
• May 30th, 2010 - Saturn stations direct motion
• June 5-6, 2010 - Jupiter enters tropical Aries
• June 6-7, 2010 - Mars enters tropical Virgo
• June 8, 2010 - Jupiter conjoins Uranus

• July 5, 2010 - Uranus stations retrograde at 0-Aries
• July 8, 2010 - Jupiter turns North in declination
• July 11, 2010 - New Moon total eclipse at 19-Cancer (not seen in N. America)
• July 21, 2010 - Saturn re-enters tropical Libra for good
• July 23, 2010 - Jupiter stations retrograde
• July 25, 2010 - Jupiter Squares Pluto
• July 26, 2010 - Fifth Saturn/Uranus opposition
• July 31, 2010 - Mars & Jupiter turn S in Declination

• August 3, 2010 - Jupiter, retrograde, Squares Pluto again
• August 6, 2010 - Venus turns South in Declination
• August 13-14, 2010 - Uranus re-enters tropical Pisces
• August 16, 2010 - Jupiter Opposes Saturn
• August 20, 2010 - Mercury retrogrades in Virgo
• August 21, 2010 - Saturn Squares Pluto

• September 8, 2010 - Saturn turns South in declination
• September 8, 2010 - New Moon at 15-Virgo
• September 8, 2010 - Venus enters Scorpio
• September 8-9, 2010 - Jupiter re-enters tropical Pisces
• September 12, 2010 - Mercury stations direct
• September 14, 2010 - Pluto stations direct
• September 14, 2010 - Mars enters Scorpio
• September 19, 2010 - Jupiter conjoins Uranus in Pisces
• October 8, 2010 - Venus stations retrograde in Scorpio

The transits above show that the energies from late spring through to early autumn will be tense for much of the world. I have forecasted a wide-range of events -

• Disasters on the high seas
• Problems with Sea-going vessels
• Global Weather Events, El Nino/La Nina
• Contraction of China’s bubble economy, Asian economic crisis
• General Transportation accidents, snafus & crashes
• Generational transition & resentments
• Economic stress leading to disruptions in Society-at-large
• Frequency of rebellions, riots & increasing acts of violence
• Criminal and underworld activity
• Hints of coming revolutionary forces

My mundane forecast briefly outlined above shows a world clearly in transition. That much is certain. What will define this new decade will be the ability of a new bold generation to take the mantle of leadership while accepting the mess that has been left behind.

How this is accomplished practically will depend in great part on the ability of people to accept the things that they cannot change, and to change the things that they can. A simple enough philosophy, yes, but how to do so in a world given daily to disruption, disorder and confusion?

How To Navigate 2010

Try to see 2010 as a special year of opportunities, transitions and changes. The year is very active, and reflects the ending of one era, and the opening of another - a truly historic year.

Of course, the economy and employment will be the top issues. However, many people at this time are also considering a total change in careers, and relationships in 2010. There is so much happening at the same time it seems that some people may be overwhelmed by it all.

The best ways to navigate is to use the favorable transits of Jupiter from February to late June 2010. Jupiter will emerge from the far side of the Sun on Feb. 28, 2010, and will begin to rise in the early dawn skies throughout March and April.

The inclinations of Jupiter's transit in Pisces from now to mid-July (when its retrograde occurs) and then from mid-November to late August 2011 allows for significant progress to be made in personal, professional and business affairs.

There is rapid change on all levels, and those who accept the changes in society will be able to make the most out of the transits up to the months of July & August 2010, when I advise people to then take it easy, relax, and not allow the fiercely cardinal energies of that time to dominate.

Remember, the summer months of the Cardinal Cross transits of July & August will be very active, tempers flare; nor do world transits favor travel, or activity in and around bodies of water. This simply will not be your average summer - the T-square involving Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto are powerful, heady, impulsive, reactionary, and very tense for the most part.

People will emerge from the cold and snowy winter months in the northern hemisphere into spring 2010. By March 20, 2010, when the vernal equinox occurs, we see the start of a new astrological year that truly kicks off what will also be an historic year worldwide.

Ten days earlier, transiting Mars will have stationed direct at 0-Leo, after a retrograde that began Dec. 20, 2009. Then, on April 7, 2010, Saturn re-enters Virgo, and by April 26, conducts its fourth opposition to Uranus in Pisces. All of this indicates that the unresolved issues from the Panic of 2008, and the economic crisis have not been really addressed.

So, by the time the weather clears, and warm temperatures arrive with spring, then summer, the high unemployment rate, hot temperatures add to the seething public anger at banker bonus types, Wall Street, realtors, insurance companies, politicians - any and all who are blamed for the economic crisis. The cardinal inclinations, by summer 2010, will have caused populations worldwide to become even more pissed off.

If policymakers would have heeded astrological advice, they would never have been able to get themselves (and everyone else) into the global economic mess.

Now, there is no way to put the genie back into the bottle.

So, by the time of the Cardinal Cross transits of July & August 2010 arrive - people have had it. And this is just the beginning of several more years of cardinal inclinations. The summer months of 2010 feature so much running around, reactionary sentiments, and impulsiveness, that it is better to take the summer off and stay away from crowds. The energies are simply too strong for many to handle.

Saying this, of course, does not mean people will take it easy. My forecast for the Cardinal Climax, Cross, or Cardinal Crisis transits (depending on what one's point of view about these transits are) remains the same as it has been for years - it is not a time to get all worked up - however, millions of people will do just that and we will all see it reflected in the world news of summer 2010.

Those reading this forecast should seriously consider exactly what they will be doing this summer. Plan ahead, and do not engage in impulsive trips, especially overseas.

Travel is not favored in the months of July, August, and September 2010. This is a summer to stay home, and to wait until mid-September, when things calm down a bit more.

Parents should pay special attention to their children this summer, and keep them close to home. Accidents are forecasted for July & August 2010 because of the highly compulsive cardinal inclinations towards impulsive behavior. Caution should be used around all bodies of water, and accidents that affect the feet and the head are forecasted.

The best way to get around the inclinations and stresses of 2010 is to understand that the cycle from March 2010 to March features a world in transition. These changes should be welcomed as long as one is able to take advantage of the most favorable periods.

These periods are -

February to mid-July 2010: Jupiter will be direct until July 23, when Jupiter stations retrograde at 3-Aries, and continues its retrograde to November 18, 2010, when Jupiter turns direct in motion at 23-Pisces.

The cycle from February to late June 2010 is best to work on transitions and changes before the coming of the Cardinal Cross transits from July through September 2010. Use February through late June 2010 to take action on new opportunities that will come swiftly with Jupiter's transit. Be aware of the need to be ready to identify opportunities and take action not later than late June, early July 2010.

November 18, 2010 through August 29, 2011: After stationing direct in mid-November 2010, Jupiter races through tropical Aries, and by early June 2011, will have entered Taurus, before stationing retrograde at 10-Taurus on August 29, 2011.

From the time Jupiter turns direct in November 2010 to late August 2011, Jupiter will again be moving rapidly across the skies. This is another excellent time to make good on opportunities and to complete projects, transitions and changes started in early 2010.

The astrological year of March 2010 to March 2011 truly is a time of great shifts, transitions and changes for billions of people worldwide.

Understanding how to navigate this special year will determine, in large part, how the following years to the middle of the decade will succeed or not on many levels. Therefore, use the time now through to mid-April 2010 to outline how one will use this year to make way into the new decade just ahead.

Game's Up: Time For Generation X To Take The Driver's Seat

Can the world recover from the worst economic slump since the Great Depression?

Can the globe rebound into a new decade and leave behind the outworn and useless ways that have left tens of millions of people in economic and social despair into this new year of 2010?

The answers to these questions depends greatly on the ability of the United States and developed nations to make the historic generational transition now underway as Baby Boomers walk out the backdoor as the outgoing establishment as Generation X walks in through the front door as the new establishment.

The arrival of the new astrological year on March 20, 2010, sees the world at crossroads. The main themes will be the Bank Crisis, the global economic impact, and the effects on populations. In my forecast, things are going to get more dicey as the economic atmosphere darkens, and leads into the Cardinal Crisis Transits of summer 2010.

The news from around the world in the wake the Bank Crisis and resulting world economic recession is not good. The celestial signs continue to point to increasingly heated and hostile protests and strikes leading into the Cardinal Crisis transits that peak in July & August 2010.

In Greece, a country teetering on bankruptcy, the country's leadership has embarked on a austerity budget that reduces spending in attempts to emerge out of basically being broke.

We hear that the nation's service employees will participate in a two-day strike that will be followed next week by a one-day strike by Greece's doctors and civil servants. On top of that, on February 24, Greece's largest union will strike for 24 hours.

The countries that were once heralded as shining examples of the European Union, are now fighting for their nation's future. Not only is Greece is serious trouble, but so is Austria, Ireland, Italy, and Spain - all showing signs of a bleak future in this new decade because of the losses of tens of billions of euros, and the collapse of global markets in 2007-2010.

The 16 nations that make up the European Union, and the 10-year-old Euro could recover from the economy crisis. However, a strong U.S. dollar, and mountains of debt among some of the nations of the EU show that the economic crisis is far from over.

Both Greece and Ireland try to slash national spending as they battle runaway deficits. Austria has seized control of a bank in December 2009 partly because of its bad loans in Eastern Europe, which is already in a near economic depression-like state.

Nations, and their governments are struggling to find ways to stave off mounting massive unemployment, whether or not to further stimulate their economies with declining tax bases because of the lack of jobs and income, and declining consumer confidence The revenues of poorer governments are declining rapidly, such as the situation in Greece, which worsens by the day in winter 2010.

"As a result, these poorer nations will not be able to even meet their previous programs that they had in place let alone be able to step up to the plate to meet the additional demands being made upon them," say economist Andrew Burns."

Burns, the lead author of Global Economic Prospects 2010 states that the most recent global economic prospects report from the World Bank says although the world economy appears to be slowly recovering from the financial crisis, a much tougher financial landscape with scarce financing and high unemployment awaits in the new decade.

"This is one of the big challenges facing developing and high income countries," Burns says. "How to withdraw the fiscal stimulus, withdraw the monetary stimulus that's been put into the global economy without killing the recovery."

Burns is manager of the Global Macroeconomic Trends Team of the Development Prospects Group at the World Bank. He is also a lead author and task manager of Global Economic Prospects, the Bank's annual report that examines trends in the global economy and how they affect developing countries.

According to the World Bank, worldwide, economies of nations is expected to grow about 2.7 percent in 2010. Economic projections for 2011 range from 2.6 percent growth to near 4 percent growth because economists say it is difficult to predict when stimulus packages will be withdrawn, and how confident businesses and consumers will be about recovery.

What is becoming more certain is the economic crisis is taking a huge toll not just on developed nations, but on developing countries. It is estimated that this year, 64 million people living in developing nations will sink into extreme levels of poverty.

It may not be until the year 2017 before many nations recover from massive losses since 2007. This means those 64 million people living in deep poverty will struggle to exist on less than $1.25 a day this year, than would have been the case if the Banking Crisis had never happened.

By the year 2020, it is further estimated that 826 million people, or 12.8 percent of developing-nation citizens, will be living on $1.25 a day or less. The shocking numbers reveal that there will be nearly 2 billion people living on less than $2 a day ten years from now.

Amazing figures for a so-called "enlightened" humanity in the early 21st century.

"Unfortunately, we cannot expect an overnight recovery from this deep and painful crisis because it will take many years for economies and jobs to be rebuilt, says Justin Lin, the World Banks' chief economist.

"The toll on the poor will be very real and the poorest countries, those that rely on grants or subsidized lending, may require an additional $35-$50 billion in funding just to sustain pre-crisis social programs."

Global transits show that it is more than probable that a double dip recession will hit developed and developing nations this year.

"It is entirely possible in these kinds of conditions - non-performing loans, growing companies having difficulties meeting their balance sheets, for there to be a secondary crisis," Burns said.

The World Bank argues that although cyclical factors are clearly at play with the deep decline and the global economic imbalances, they are unlikely to return to past economic peaks of the mid-2000s. That assessment is based on four (4) assumptions about future developments.

First - Household savings rates in the United States is likely to remain high.

Second - Public savings in the U.S. is likely to increase (fiscal stimulus will begin to be withdrawn as the recovery takes hold.)

Third - Oil prices likely to remain close to current levels.

Fourth - China will have some success in stimulating domestic demand and overcoming the imbalance between domestic savings and investment that has increasingly characterized its economy in recent years---most notably since 2006.

Global Economic Prospects - Regional Outlooks For 2010

The East Asia & Pacific region led the rebound in the global economy last year, reflecting robust fiscal policy steps and strong domestic demand. China, with 8.4 percent growth last year, was an engine for regional growth, a pattern expected to continue this year, with Chinese GDP projected to grow 9 percent. GDP in the region is estimated to have increased 6.8 percent in 2009 and is forecast to edge up 8.1 percent this year. Capital flows to the region are returning and local financial market developments have provided further impetus to the recovery. Continuing excess capacity in manufacturing and only moderate advances in world trade growth will restrain GDP growth from accelerating much faster than 8.2 percent in 2011.

Reflecting pre-existing vulnerabilities in many countries (in particular current account deficits arising from large private sector savings-investment imbalances), developing Europe & Central Asia was hardest hit by the crisis, with GDP falling by an estimated 6.2 percent in 2009. Although GDP is projected to rise by 2.7 percent in 2010 and 3.6 percent in 2011, growth rates in most economies will remain below potential and unemployment and bank restructuring will continue to be pervasive. Much higher non-performing loans, higher interest rates and weak international capital flows will remain key challenges in the near term.

Compared to the pre-crisis period, high non-performing loans, weak public finances and low international capital flows are likely to dampen investment growth in many countries. Moreover, significant downside risks persist, including the possibility of a double-dip recession or increased financial difficulties for banks in the region. Despite better international financing conditions and domestic adjustments, the region’s external financing needs are expected to exceed inflows by as much as $54 billion in 2010.

Stronger fundamentals helped the Latin America & Caribbean region weather this crisis much better than in the past. Following an estimated 2.6 percent drop in GDP last year, regional output is projected to increase by 3.1 percent in 2010 and 3.6 percent in 2011, but weaker investment will keep growth from attaining boom year levels. Remittances and to some extent tourism (both important sources of external finance for Caribbean countries) are expected to recover only modestly in the 2010–11 period, undermined by weak labor market conditions in the United States and other high-income countries. Key challenges include the winding down of stimulus measures; providing for the unemployed in a fiscally sustainable manner; and maintaining openness towards international trade and investment.

The Middle East & North Africa region was less sharply impacted by the crisis than other regions, with overall GDP growth slowing to 2.9 percent in 2009. Growth among oil-importing developing countries was an estimated 4.7 percent in 2009. Among developing oil-exporters, growth eased to 1.6 percent, reflecting production restraint and reduced oil revenues. For the region as a whole, GDP is projected to grow 3.7 percent in 2010 and 4.4 percent by 2011. The forecast for recovery is premised on a revival in global oil demand, stabilizing oil prices and a rebound in key export markets. Despite a gradual withdrawal of fiscal stimulus measures, moderate advances in consumer and capital spending are expected to underpin firmer growth.

South Asia appears to have escaped the worst effects of the crisis. Nevertheless, its estimated 5.7 percent GDP growth in 2009 (the same growth rate as in 2008) represents a marked deceleration from the boom period, largely driven by a pronounced fall-off in investment growth. Private capital inflows—a key transmission channel of the crisis—are less significant as a share of South Asia’s GDP (particularly foreign direct investment), compared with most other regions. Also, domestic demand in the region was relatively resilient, having been cushioned by counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies. Growth is expected to rebound to 6.9 and 7.4 percent in 2010 and 2011.

Sub Saharan Africa was also hard hit. It initially felt the crisis through trade, foreign direct investment, tourism, remittances, and official assistance channels. Regional GDP is estimated to have increased by only 1.1 percent last year. Oil exporters and middle income countries were hit more severely than low-income, fragile and less integrated countries – at least initially. In 2010 GDP is expected to grow by 4.8 percent in Sub-Saharan African countries excluding South Africa, with growth of 4.2 percent in fragile countries and 4.8 percent in low-income countries. South Africa is expected to grow by 2 percent this year after having contracted by 1.8 percent in 2009, while middle-income countries growth will accelerate to 3.5 percent. The overall regional outlook remains uncertain and the strength of the recovery will largely depend on demand from key export markets.

World Transits
Generation X On Deck

All of this strongly suggests that the world is entering a crisis decade in 2010 that will result in very unstable regions of the world because of the poverty and lack of economic development and investment from richer countries, who themselves, have been victims of corruption, greed, and massive levels of financial fraud.

Serious times are ahead in the decade of the 2010s. The resulting cynicism, despair and anger in the wake of the global economic crisis will undoubtedly spread across many nations.

Populations, such as the people of a now bankrupted Greece, will witness an early series of national strikes as they contend not only with generational change, but reduced standards of living because of the losses of trillions in equities. Disturbances in Italy, and eastern European nations reminds some of the fanatical political movements spawned under the gloomy economic climate of the 1930s.

The global economic crisis surely will affect countries to the point of geopolitical breakdowns as populations struggle with poverty and the socio-economic crisis that has ensued.

The psychological impact of increasing social breakdown were seen in 2009 in a series of suicides, acts of violence, and overall despair. Unemployment continues unabated, as do debt demands, and with this comes seething resentment and public anger at international bankers and Wall Street which will persist in early 2010s.

We should see the first signs of trouble in spring 2010, then, with mounting stresses during the summer of 2010, we will have the first real tests of the inclinations of the Jupiter/Uranus, Saturn, and Pluto cardinal T-square - the Cardinal Cross transits.

Summer's events: protests, rising crime, depression, social & political tensions all based from mounting economic inequalities, will force governments to make hard choices between austerity measures that would exacerbate matters worse, while deciding just how much more stimulus can be achieved without feeding into fears of inflation in the after effects of a deflationary economy.

These events foretell what I forecast may be coming later down the road - rebellions, revolts and revolutions taking place under the inclinations of seven (7) exact Uranus/Pluto squares between 2012 to 2015 - heightening tensions already now building in 2010.

Meanwhile, the generational transition calls upon Generation X to formulate a new vision and action plans not only get the U.S. economy back into healthy territory, but to deal with the raging anger of populations looking for the heads of those to blame for the Banking Crisis that started it all.

The beginning of the Astrological New Year arrives Saturday, March 20, 2010. This kicks off a special year that extends to March 2011, and sees Uranus enter tropical Aries for good - starting a new orbital period that ends one which began in 1927-28. This officially closes the era of the 20th century.

Jupiter's motion in 2010, and its conjunction to Uranus in Pisces/Aries calls into question the ability of the outgoing establishment to make any significant changes that will lead to a sustainable recovery in my view.

The Baby Boomer generation, which has been resistant to change, while attempting to recover major financial losses by remaining in the workforce, simply will deepen the economic crisis because the generation has lost its ability to plan for the future.

When first-wave Generation X President Barack Obama first took office in mid-January 2009, financial markets were on the brink of collapse, jobs were disappearing at breakneck speeds, and the world's economic activity was sinking fast. A depression seemed imminent.

All that, we are told, was staved off, thanks to one of the largest and boldest global government interventions in world history. Now, in early 2010, the world stands at a crossroads.

The abysmal failures of the Baby Boomer generation across a wide spectrum of public and private institutions, financially, culturally, socially, and politically, threatens to cast the United States, and the world, directly into the pit of economic depression we were all told was coming in 2008-09.

This mess, left by the Boomer generation onto the three generations (Gen X, Gen Y & Millennial) could easily make the decades of the 2010s and 2020s much more challenging than they would have been without the Banking Crisis.

During the 2010s, all of this will fall on the laps of Generation X, the first waves of those born between 1961-66 will have to step up to the plate to replace the Boomers who caused the economic crisis, and remove them from policy-making positions that have been egregiously abused over the last 18 years of their time as the establishment.

Trends reveal that jobs, of course, will be the political mantra of 2010 in advance of the American mid-term elections. However, political promises and proclamations of jobs, and the actual creation of enough of them - to hire over 10 million American now out of work - is daunting to say the least.

There can be no other way but for the Obama Administration to initiate and guide a second, and larger economic stimulus package to get Americans back to work.

President Obama cannot pull back economic stimulus too quickly, despite concerns about rising deficits, because that could kill a fragile recovery. If the president pushes hard on the throttle to create more jobs, responding to voter sentiment, he then risks future inflation and a very dangerous new kind of recessionary cycle.

Yet, in Washington D.C., what is most obvious is that all these problems fall under the umbrella of generation differences within both major political parties.

The Democrats have their portion of Baby Boomers on the Left, and the Republican Party has their portion filled of aging Boomers on the Right. What's missing, and what the 2010 mid-terms and 2012 General Election is going to prove, is the Progressive Middle (that would be the American public) is going to surprise everyone.

People are pissed off, they are hungry, want shelter for their families, jobs, safety, and they want the bad bankers and speculators out of the way.

In effect, Americans want to get back to work. Yes, and back to business.

This is one of those times when a kind of magic - coming straight from voters, and on the heels of the American public who are those voters - these are the times when that magic can turn an era.

We are now nearing that time.

You know, this kind of reminds me of one of my favorite early 1980s commercial that sums up our present times when the elder lady repeatedly asks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0

So, what we have here, to quote another famous line, "is a failure to communicate." It has been proven in the past that to do this, and ignore the American public is a huge mistake, and very unwise indeed.

We see the tired, outworn methods and manners of a Baby Boomer establishment confusingly curmudgeon contrasted to the enterprise, energy and vision of 40-something Generation X and the young generations - this is the major theme in our present era. These are not only the workers whom the economy recovery will fully depend on, but these are also your voters.

This is observed in the current battles on Capitol Hill about President's Obama's plan to convert $30 billion dollars from the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into a new small-business lending program via community banks.

Heralded by a wide majority of businesspeople and their workers suffering greatly in this economic recession, the plan has been met with doubt and foot-dragging by aging Baby Boomer Washington lawmakers.

However, transits reveal 2010 is going to be the year when that famous rubber meets that equally famous road. This is the time when those who played key roles in deregulating the financial markets in the 1990s and 2000s will be forced to leave Washington and public life for the sake of the future of the nation.

Many people express concerns that those who caused the economic crisis cannot be allowed to continue in their positions, not only because of the failure to any due diligence, but to their obvious incompetence in managing the American economy, and, some say, the future of entire nation itself.

"You have to understand," says economist Max Keiser, "That the global economy is roughly worth $60 trillion dollars, but the global derivative markets are worth more to the tune of $700 trillion dollars."

"So the speculators who are able to control the derivatives markets... they control them and manipulate them, and trade on inside information," Keiser says.

"They are still in control, they still have an agenda, which is to bankrupt most of the major economies of the world, and to pocket much of the money for themselves. There is no political power in the world that is willing to stand up to the financial terrorists."

If what Keiser says is true, then, the global transits of the early 2010s will witness a sea-change with violence spreading across many nations that continue to struggle to survive while whole communities fall apart because of the corruption, greed, and refusal to change to the realities of a new century.

The choices made must reflect these realities, and the world transits are inclining towards negative outcomes should the short-term gains, and the games of exploitation, continue to be preferred over our collective medium and long-term future.

The challenge for Generation X will be to take a firm hold of the driver's seat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFwcmU6Ql0A - and to lead the country, and the world, into this new era without the heavy weight of gloomy angst, the outdated & outworn methods, along with the irrational fears of the outgoing Baby Boomer establishment.

This soon-to-be era will be among the few brighter opportunities the world must grasp to avoid falling ever deeper into a bleak economic, social and political chaos of another Great Depression, but rather, to turn the manifest tides, and enter into the era of The Great Progression.