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AN EPOCH OF PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM

We are like a big fish that has been pulled from the water and is flopping wildly to find its way back in. In such a condition the fish never asks where the next flip or flop will bring it. It senses only that its present position is intolerable and that something else must be tried.

- Anonymous Chinese saying, quoted by Perry Link in China in Transformation, Daedalus (Spring 1993).

When Technology and ideology don't smoothly mix, the economic magna fluxes. Tectonic plates are violently thrust into each other - volcanoes erupt, earthquakes shatter the earth's crust, mountains rise, valleys fall. What has been a top-of-the-food-chain, survival-of-the-fittest species madly flips and flops its way into extinction trying to get back into a stream that is no longer there. The banks of the river move; water flows in new directions. A period of punctuated equilibrium comes into existence.

The economic surface of the earth, the distribution of income and wealth, is now being fundamentally remade. The economic losers are spewed out in a social volcano called religious fundamentalism. An economic earthquake shatters the Mexican economy. China's economy rises; Japan's economy falls. World growth slows dramatically. Real wages fall for most Americans. Europe cannot create jobs for its young. Old successful business strategies (focused on the wants of the middle class), fail. No one knows what the consumer is going to want to buy, and not buy, using electronic shopping. Chief executive officers of major corporations lose their jobs at rates never before seen. A period of economic punctuated equilibrium comes into existence.

A brand-new world with brand-new opportunities has arrived. While the economic plates cannot be pushed back to re-create the old environment, their irresistible movements can be understood , and our actions and institutions modified to allow us to thrive.

This book is an attempt to understand the movement of the economic plates that lie below the visible surface of our economic earth so that it will be possible for those who understand what is happening to them to chart a new direction that enables them to survive and thrive. Periods of punctuated equilibrium offer many new, as yet unexplored territories. They are exciting times. In normal times, when almost everything that can be explored has been explored, the topology is not so interesting.

Perhaps the best way to think of what lies ahead is to imagine that you are Columbus. There is a fortune to be made in the East Indies and you believe that you have a new, better way to get there - by sailing west rather than walking east. Like Columbus, you have a map but like his, half the territory on it is marked "terra incognita." The world to the west is to a substantial extent unknown, but a ship still has to be built to survive storms of unknown ferocity; equipped with sails that will speed it to its not so clear destination, and provisioned with the right amounts of water and food for a journey of unknown length.

What will be the dynamics of the new world into which we are about to sail?

All of the above excerpted from:

Chapter 1 - New Game, New Rules, New Strategies P 19

THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM

How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World

Penguin Books

Lester C. Thurow Copyright © Lester C. Thurow, 1996 All rights Reserved.

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Peroxide

This was written by Becky Ransey of Indiana "I would like to tell you of the benefits of that plain little old bottle of 3% peroxide you can get for about $1.00 at any drug store. My husband has been in the medical field for over 36 years, and most doctors don't tell you about peroxide, or they would lose thousands of dollars." 1. Take one capful (the little white cap that comes with the bottle) and hold in your mouth for 10 minutes daily, then spit it out. (I do it when I bathe) No more canker sores and your teeth will be whiter without expensive pastes. Use it instead of mouthwash. (Small print says mouth wash and gargle right on the bottle) 2. Let your toothbrushes soak in a cup of "Peroxide" to keep them free of germs. 3. Clean your counters, table tops with peroxide to kill germs and leave a fresh smell. Simply put a little on your dishcloth when you wipe, or spray it on the counters. 4. After rinsing off your wooden cutting board, pour peroxide on it to kill salmonella and other bacteria. 5. I had fungus on my feet; I sprayed a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and water on them (especially the toes) every night and let dry to totally kill the fungus. 6. Soak any infections or cuts in 3% peroxide for five to ten minutes several times a day. My husband has seen gangrene that would not heal with any medicine, but was healed by soaking in peroxide. 7. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and water and keep it in every bathroom to disinfect without harming your septic system like bleach or most other disinfectants will. 8. Tilt your head back and spray into nostrils with your 50/50 mixture whenever you have a cold, or plugged sinuses. It will bubble and help to kill the bacteria. Hold for a few minutes then blow your nose into a tissue. 9. If you have a terrible toothache and cannot get to a dentist right away, put a capful of 3% peroxide into your mouth and hold it for ten minutes several times a day. The pain will lessen greatly. 10. And of course, if you like a natural look to your hair, spray the 50/50 solution on your wet hair after a shower and comb it through. You will not have the peroxide burnt blonde hair like the hair dye packages, but more natural highlights if your hair is a light brown, reddish, or dirty blonde. It also lightens gradually so it's not a drastic change. 11. Put half a bottle of peroxide in your bath to help rid boils, fungus, or other skin infections. 12. You can also add a cup of peroxide instead of bleach to a load of whites in your laundry to whiten them. If there is blood on clothing, pour directly on the soiled spot. Let it sit for a minute, then rub it and rinse with cold water. Repeat if necessary. 13. I use peroxide to clean my mirrors. There is no smearing, which is why I love it so much. I could go on and on. It is a little brown bottle no home should be without! With prices of most necessities rising, I'm glad there's a way to save money in such a simple, healthy manner.