"The entire upheaval could last from 2009 to 2016, but if "we the people" strive hard, it could end sooner. When things are at their worst, greatness springs from the resilience of the human spirit. It is for us to turn the near-term adversity into lasting bliss. We will have to persevere in order to open a new chapter in the ever-flowing spring of civilization. Our success is assured, because history is about to repeat itself: after the downfall of the American business empire will come a global golden age."

Excerpts from the 2007 book:

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos ~~by Ravi Batra

"Batra has set the standard for economic analysis." -Barrons

"Dr. Batra writes about his subjects as clearly as if he were telling bedtime stories." -The New York Times

....THE BIG QUESTION NOW IS, what is in store for us...? My answer, coming in the midst of numerous omens and forebodings, will surprise you: we are headed toward a golden age, which will come after a tidal wave of public fact-finding and a subsequent voter's revolution. Unfortunately, there are rough times ahead as we tackle the social, political and economic ills of our time, but then the electorate will vote for those who favor unprecedented economic and political reform. So good times will follow bad, but the end product will be so wonderful that we will gradually forget the bad. We will come to view our struggle as the price we had to pay to rid the nation of the malaise, corruption and injustices that plague us today....

....Thus the central message of this book is that we are heading toward a time of still greater poverty, problems and chaos that could climax in a social revolution. The first decade of the new millennium started off poorly and could end in a jolt, but it will be followed by a golden age the likes of which the globe has never seen.

The Soviet Union, as I predicted in 1978, has fallen right before our eyes; the downfall of monopoly capitalism could also materialize soon. So we need to act as "We the People" did at the time of the framing of our Constitution. We need to unite, and not remain divided as Democrats and Republicans; we need to vote for honest politicians. It is this division that enables corporate interests to use the world's resources for personal gain while impoverishing others. Workable theories to alleviate poverty exist, and proper ideas are available; what is missing is a political apparatus able to effect these ideas and implement an ethical economic policy, which could end destitution around the globe. If we act in time, we could bring about this golden age without excessive suffering; if we do not, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes that led to the fall of the Soviet empire and to the revolution in Iran. For such is the dictum of history: when the elite become ruthless and neglect the downtrodden to build their own nests, natural laws are set into motion to replace the elite with a better system. The choice is ours.

Thus the crux of this book is that poverty in America today arises from the prevailing orgy of official incompetence and corruption. But what explains this orgy? It occurs because we're in the last phase of what may be called the age of acquisitors or money-grubbers, and a monumental change is due soon. It is our duty to act, to turn the current and forthcoming adversity into opportunity and bring about a better system through a ballot-box revolution....

WARRIOR'S DEMOCRACY

.....An elected government in which money plays an insignificant role can also be a warrior's democracy. A republic, where the topmost positions of the president (or prime minister) and cabinet officers go to the class of warriors, where human rights and freedoms are honored and where wealth is secondary in the electoral process, may be called a warrior's democracy. As explained in chapters 4 and 5, the warrior mentality belongs to soldiers, policemen, firefighters, professional athletes and skilled blue-collar workers. Even in a warrior's democracy the majority of legislators may spring from the class of intellectuals, because the latter are mentally equipped to formulate laws and usually do so in all eras, but the executive branch of the state is mostly in the hands of people with martial qualities.

It is interesting to note that the first president of the United States, George Washington, was an accomplished warrior, and did not need the backing of the opulent to be elected. Similarly, when General Dwight Eisenhower became the president in 1952, money had little sway in his election. All this shows that warriors can get elected in the West without any help from the wealthy, while human rights are still respected. What democracy needs are a constitution, a free press and an educated public conscious of its rights as well as duties. The mentality of the ruling class need not matter in this regard.

The coming revolution will catapult the United States into a warrior's democracy. This is because the opponents of the prevailing acquisitive regime will have to display extreme courage and valor, qualities that belong only to warriors. Nobody surrenders power on a silver platter. The acquisitors and their cronies will fight tooth and nail before surrendering to the revolution, but their defeat is preordained by the law of social cycle. My calculations indicate that the laws of nature now favor the warriors; these laws will disrupt the status quo, unite the people and goad them into a ballot-box revolt, until the acquisitive regime is deposed.

The entire upheaval could last from 2009 to 2016, but if "we the people" strive hard, it could end sooner. When things are at their worst, greatness springs from the resilience of the human spirit. It is for us to turn the near-term adversity into lasting bliss. We will have to persevere in order to open a new chapter in the ever-flowing spring of civilization. Our success is assured, because history is about to repeat itself: after the downfall of the American business empire will come a global golden age.

When the ruling elite become brutal, corrupt and exploitative, then natural laws act to bring an end to their rule and put a new class in power in accordance with the social cycle. The acquisitors' orgy of greed grinds society down to such lows that a golden age must follow. The law of social cycle, the law of supply and demand, the law of reverse justice and so on, are all laws related to human nature. Such laws interact to bring about societal change in a rhythmic pattern.

In all civilizations, the golden age usually flourished in the ascending phase of the warrior eras. In Egypt, India, Japan, China, the West and the Caliphate, the golden era appeared when men and women of martial qualities held the reins....

....Like most warrior eras in history, the U.S. warrior era will also blossom ino a golden age; it will usher in the same kind of sea change in American society as occurred in China after 1949, except that it will be far more glorious and free from extreme bloodshed. This is because China started from a very low base marred by the feudalistic age of acquisitors; it had never tasted the bittersweet fruit of capitalism, nor the freedoms enshrined in democracy.

America's warrior age, by contrast, will start off from a lofty democratic foundation built on the general observance of human rights. it will not have to go through the birth pangs that accompanied the Chinese revival following the 1949 revolution. It will be more like Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1689, in which a monumental change occurred without a shot being fired.

However, the intensity of the American renaissance will match China's recent surge. This is because in the final phase of the era of acquisitors, where the United States stands today, society sinks so low relative to its past that the upsurge has to be great.

The change will be especially beneficial to laborers and women. Today, both groups are victims of brutal economic and social discrimination. Women's wages are lower than men's; female poverty is worse than that of the general population. Whenever the warrior age replaced the era of acquisitors in the past, laborers and women breathed a sigh of relief. The living standard rose for all, while women scaled to new heights in political and social circles.

The near term is one of growing economic and political chaos, but there is a brilliant silver lining in a cloudy picture. Every new system in the past was better than the one it replaced. In fact, as described above, most eras of acquisitors were followed by a golden age. People were extremely happy after they got rid of the rule of money, and developed new economic, social, political and religious institutions.

Once money no longer dominated politics, social discipline returned; technology improved further and real wages jumped; crime and pornography receded, the old-fashioned ethical and spiritual values made a comeback, with the public becoming more honest and compassionate. Several economic reforms were instituted that trimmed the concentration of income and wealth. The tax burden of the poor and the middle class declined. This has happened all through recorded history, and will be repeated in the future as well.

The new golden age will be more effulgent than any seen before, not only because every new system has dwarfed its predecessor, but also because it will be built on a democratic pedestal. The revival of American society will be swift and stunning; soon the revival will infect the world, which is connected to the U.S. business empire.

The United States does not export much, but it does export ideas, which today mainly emit hedonism and materialism. A new standard exalting martial qualities and magnanimity will soon replace the currently dominant American ethos. It will also sound the death knell for tricklism, which is creating povery around the world. America's revolutionary ideas will quickly captivate the globe; they will spread like wild fire and eradicate poverty within a generation. The Internet will make sure that the American renaissance spreads its fragrance all over the planet. Verily, for the first time in history, there will be a global golden age.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~