The present crisis, a pattern?

History has shown that five pillars are indispensable for a stable society.

Figure 9: The five pillars for a stable society: Food, Security, Health, Prosperity, Knowledge.

At the end of every transition the pillar Prosperity is threatened. We have seen this effect after every industrial revolution.

The pillar Prosperity of a society is about to fall again. History has shown that the fall of the pillar Prosperity always results in a revolution. Because of the high level of unemployment after the second industrial revolution many societies initiated a new transition, the creation of a war economy. This type of economy flourished especially in the period 1940 – 1945.

Now, societies will have to make a choice for a new transition to be started. Without knowledge of the past there is no future.

Wim Grommen
The article "The present crisis, a pattern?" was published in March 2011 in a magazine entitled "Hermes," for the Flemish Association for Teachers of Science and History and Culture in June 2011 in the journal of economic education of the VECON, Association of Teachers in the economicsocial subjects in the Netherlands.