There Is Reason for Qualified Optimism
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Speaking at a private luncheon in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 21, Lyndon LaRouche provided the following evaluation of the current strategic situation.
If this Presidency decides to conduct the kind of reform, going back to our Constitution, and entering into a treaty agreement with Russia, China, India, and other countries for this purpose, we can organize a reform which can allow for a recovery of the world economy. Without such a reform, under the present conditions, any attempt to maintain the present monetary system, will mean an absolute catastrophe for all humanity. If that catastrophe occurs, it will be a global Dark Age for all humanity.
By Dark Age, I mean, presently, we estimate the world population at 6.5 billion people: Under these conditions, the population of the planet will collapse rapidly to 1 billion people, with entire cultures disappearing from the planet.
We've had Dark Ages in the remote past of humanity. We had them in the 14th Century in Europe. We have never had a true Dark Age, since the emergence of modern Europe, in the 15th Century. So, but this is the situation.
Now, in terms of the U.S. government: Some of the advisors, teams of advisors, who have been gathered to assist the current President, the newly incumbent President, are intelligent people, but often they're stubbornly mistaken. But it's better to have to fight policy with stubbornly intelligent people, than it is to fight policy with stupid people, or corrupt people. And therefore, these people will be well-meaning, in the sense that they will feel responsible to advise the President on actions which will be remedies for the world's problems—and we can not be concerned just with the United States' problems, we have to be concerned with the world's problems. Because we're not going to get out of this mess, without long-term international agreements among nations.
These people will be stubborn. They've been badly trained in economics. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, the economic profession of every nation in the world, from my experience, is incompetent. That is, its theory is incompetent, its doctrine is incompetent. And the reason we're in a mess today, is because we've accepted incompetent monetarist theories, to run monetary economies. We have to go back to a credit system, as opposed to a monetary system. But under those conditions, we can create cooperation among nation-states, to prevent this thing from becoming a permanent collapse, and to start immediately on the road toward recovery.
I believe that the intention of the President, as I have been able to determine it, the new President, will be good, in that direction. Whether his ideas on all subjects are correct or not, I can not assure you. I think in some areas, yes, and some areas I don't know. But we're going to have to fight that out inside the United States and with others, to make sure we get to the right policies.
But we should approach this situation with optimism, in the sense that, if we decide as nations to unite to find a solution, recognizing that it is the monetary system that must be replaced, without which there's no solution to this world crisis, I think we can succeed. And I think that the United States government, under Obama, as it stands now, is the indispensable instrument by which this can be brought about. So therefore, I have qualified optimism. We have a new situation, in which we can talk to one another, as we could not for some years. And this is a good situation.
