4. A View of the Global Scene

Using reports issued by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission, World Economic Forum and several consulting firms and research institutes, as well as newspaper articles, the author reviews the global political and economic scene; and concludes that the situation is bad and getting worse. Income and wealth gaps are wide and continue to widen; poverty is wide and becoming structural, unemployment is high, particularly among the youth of the world, discrimination is on the rise; despair is spreading, causing radicalism and terrorism to increase; public, private and corporate debt is high and rising; and wars and tension are overwhelming most parts of the world. All of this is crying out for attention.