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Society appears to be exiting the age of extreme economic competition and entering the transformation to a culture of cooperation. Nature and humanity must start getting along together, as our ancestors did for so many millennia before the dominant order started its relentless take-over several thousand years ago.

But before we can reach a new equilibrium and attain a sustainable coexistence, our civilization seems to have guaranteed a transition from orderly competition to desperate individual and small band competition. This phase is temporary, but will feel like a long dark night of unspeakable troubles. An indication is this week’s cleaning out of iodine supplies in much of the U.S. West Coast stores and online sources. The phenomenon points to the desperation and inevitable breakdown of the relatively false calm we have heretofore known.

In addition to the public health and ecological catastrophe brought to us by the technocrats and our own complicity in using nuclear power, the global financial system is taking a hit that will rock the average consumer. The debt that Japan will be taking on to try to repair and reconstruct after its earthquake, tsunami and nuke explosions will make debt more costly elsewhere such as for U.S. seekers of loans for houses and cars. This is a body blow to hoped-for economic growth. Consider this headline from the New York Times in its Breaking News Alert, March 15th: U.S. “Stocks Off Sharply at Open After Slide in Tokyo; Dow Falls 2% in First Minutes”