Are we into hard times?

The entire world, if it has a worthwhile ethic at all, should have leapt to the defence of the Icelanders and the Greeks. It should do the same for others who may suffer in similar ways at the hands of the moneymen.

The Greeks have trade unions and others determined at least to express their unhappiness on the streets. In a referendum for which a more courageous President was responsible, the Icelanders have now said “No” to the current deal of the moneymen and their supporters.

We can still only guess at the final outcome in Greece and Iceland. Sovereign debt problems loom in other European countries including the United Kingdom. They are severe also in the States of the United States.

The solution currently being imposed on Greece and until now demanded of Iceland will, if persisted with, intensify Depression and spread it more widely. It is not a solution. Instead, it will breed ever greater problems, not only economic and financial but also social, political and strategic.

In an already unstable, violent and heavily armed world, revolution and armed conflict are likely to spread.

For Greece, as for other European countries who may face the same dilemma, the choice should not be to pay off the moneymen or face destruction of the European Union or the Eurozone. Rather we should find solutions fair to the parties, creditors and debtors, which do not leave behind features which will threaten regional and global stability.

Particular study needs to be made urgently of the processes by which the indebtedness of Greece, Iceland and several other countries came about. Was there unqualified fraud on the part of the creditors, as well as perhaps the debtors? Alternatively, was there such reckless risk-taking and/or culpable negligence on the part of the creditors that they must share the burden of guilt rather the debtors or those citizens of the debtor's country who played no part in the negotiation or acceptance of the liability?

In any event, the impact of the liability should be moderated by extinguishing the debt entirely or in part or by easing the terms of payment.

Above all, we need to adopt measures which will moderate the intense threats to global stability. We need a clearer acknowledgement of the depth of the domestic and global economic and financial crisis. There will be catastrophic consequences if we do not get our policies to manage, moderate and reform the financial situation rationally.

Through a fundamental re-appraisal of domestic and global issues, we must free ourselves from the fatal embrace of the financial institutions which have operated with such deadly menace, especially over the last decade but in effect over the whole of the four decades since 1970.

If we do not do this, “times” will certainly be “hard” and will get harder.

It is not yet absolutely too late; but we cannot afford to fritter away further time in purposeless pretences or kowtowing to the moneymen.

Not only Obama and other world “leaders”, but all of us must contribute whatever we can to resolving what could prove to be the most challenging global crisis in human history.