What kind of year will 2013 be? It is predicted that there will be crises all over the world. Despite having avoided the fiscal cliff in January, the fiscal crisis ahead will continue to be a topic of conversation.

If things continue as they are, America’s eight trillion yen national defense budget will be scaled back. The U.S. will retire two aircraft carrier fleets, and they will reduce their air force fighters by a third. In addition, the government plan to cut to the nuclear weapons maintenance budget. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “Pivot to Asia” and containment of China will hang in the balance.

The prolonged E.U. crisis will ultimately depend on whether Germany will continue to provide capital and aid to countries like Greece and Spain. Germany is noticeably weary of providing assistance, and the withdrawal of southern European nations’ from the Euro may become a real possibility.

China Will Become the World’s Leading Military Power

At the present moment, China is making a good showing. General Secretary Xi Jinping said at a military inspection, “engaging in battle and engaging in a triumphant battle is the purpose of a strong military,” and is already poised to start a war. In fact, two days after that remark, China set about entering the airspace of Japan’s Senkaku Islands, so Xi Jinping appears to mean what he said.

Forecasts exist that claim China’s economy will overtake America’s in terms of buying power in 2016; and in the 2020s, the nation will become the world’s greatest military power with a $600 billion (approx. 50 trillion yen) budget. Xi Jinping emphasizes the fact that a great revival for the Chinese people has never been closer than it is now, and his declarations are not just empty or self-praising.

America will not be in good form . One of its own intelligence agencies (see the NIC’s Global Trends 2030) recently revealed their weakened situation. “By 2030, the rise of nations such as China will bring to an end an era where America was the only super power”.

A Scenario Where Japan, the U.S. and Europe Decline From the Burden of Social Security

The cause of America’s fiscal crisis and the debt of nations such as Greece are the swelling costs of social security. Their aged pension systems are an example. In the latter half of this decade, America’s pension program expenditures will account for half of its national finances, and Greek citizens are continuing to protest against pension reductions.

For the same reason, the swelling of the Japanese government’s budget deficit was a result of responding to the calls of ordinary citizens to increase the aged pension and health care services.

America, Europe, and Japan pleased their people and threw money around; but you can’t spend more than you earn. Thus, they can now only paint a declining scenario.

Meanwhile, China is formulating a plan to annex Taiwan in 2020, control six aircraft carriers by 2030, and drive the U.S. military out from the Western Pacific by 2040.

Unfortunately, it appears we can see who the winners and losers will be based on China’s clear vision and the gloomy futures of Japan, the U.S., and Europe.

Happy Science is Sharing a Prosperous Vision of the World

Notwithstanding the flow of the current period, Happy Science is sharing a prosperous vision of Japan and the world. Master Ryuho Okawa is formulating values for a new era, and the evidence is his publication of nearly a hundred books this year.

In the spiritual message of Ishida Baigan, a thinker in the Tokugawa period and founder of the Sekimon Shingaku religious movement, (recorded on November 29, 2012), he wrote off the ideal of a modern welfare state.

Baigan said that the idea of courteously treating people who are in a position to work, but don’t, basically ‘leads to the degradation of humans and the collapse of society’.

The mountains of Japanese, American, and European debt are a result of people relying on the government instead of making preparations for old age. Yet, when we say that the government shouldn’t be in the caring pension business, it tends to be taken as an opinion in support of the idea of survival of the fittest, but we are only saying that individual citizens shouldn’t be treated like cattle.

Creating True Prosperity

A period of time has never existed before where it has been as difficult to formulate sound, value judgments as it is in this current era. How will the “righteous” of the time come determine a response to issues between the sciences and bioethics, the conflicts and wars between religions, or the tendency to consider material possessions and comforts more important than spiritual values, which is now responsible for the expansion of China’s national policy?

In the past, religion gave rise to the values of new periods. In the religious revolution that became the start of this modern era, Martin Luther set out the thinking of his mission, as “each occupation is something from God”. John Calvin then went even further, and connected occupational success with the glory of God.

A new “righteousness” was then established in the Christian countries that once viewed wealth negatively, and Western society later created prosperity on a global scale.

Whether we can dispel the crises in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, as well as create true prosperity, involves a firm belief in the vision of Master Okawa and a true exchange of the values that Happy Science actively promotes. It will also depend upon how many people actually emerge to take action with us.

(Jiro Ayaori)