Hopefully Al Gore is wintering in a warm place; else even the Nobel Prize winner may find a shadow of doubt in Global Warming theory creeping over him. Of course, the vogue term is now "climate change", as it covers whichever extreme that science finally determines we are sliding toward. Even as Team Obama promises to reverse the science-muzzling policies of the Previous Occupant, adherents of the “incipient ice age” theory must deal with hostility and persecution from certain mainstream scientific quarters. With factors in play such as the disappearance of sunspots and increased cosmic radiation, a legitimate debate on climate trends still rages.

If we are lucky, the various forces in play will balance out to maintain the status quo for the next hundred years or so. Still, a solid hypothesis to explain flash-frozen wooly mammoths found in the Arctic is yet to emerge. Until it does, the specter of sudden catastrophic climate change will loom over our heads. Ice ages have repeatedly come and gone, and this is indisputable fact.

Though many cling to the hope of spring eventually returning, Paradigm Shift continues unabated across the land. Though the weather is certain to improve, the same can’t be said about the prospects for the economy. The stimulus plan being cooked up in Washington will raise hopes, and perhaps forestall some suffering, but the PTB are already planning for the angry reaction when disappointment inevitably sets in.

I’m here to make the case for Paradigm Shift being a good thing. As I’ve said before, the smart money is on those who can make sense of the transformation currently underway, and “catch the wave” of the new paradigm.

Previous articles here have outlined how the system is collapsing under weight of greed and corruption; like any organism with cancer eating through its core, this one cannot long survive.

One institution that is set for sweeping transformation is the Health Care system. Prior to the present economic collapse, health care spending was on an unsustainable growth path that consumed ever greater portions of the GDP.

The Pharmaceutical industry is a trillion dollar colossus whose business model depends on perpetuating sickness. In collusion with the FDA and FTC, any natural or affordable treatment for major disease is deep-sixed, and the doctors/researchers are hounded from their posts.

Instead, robust marketing extols the virtues of the latest high-priced drugs. Doctors are largely held captive to selective drug information that exaggerates benefits while concealing the dangers. The best representation money could buy got Medicare prescription drug legislation passed that banned any price negotiation or competition, so the government must pay whatever list prices that big Pharma sets. It’s about the money in virtually every case, with truth an early casualty.

This indictment of the broken health care system has been thoroughly documented elsewhere, (one example), suffice it to point out here that the present economic meltdown will finally seal its fate. The new administration may attempt to broaden access to health care, but the cards are really stacked against this now. The combination of massive unemployment and reduced public resources, colliding against the tremendous greed and corruption inherent in the system, will hasten a collapse that has already begun. Already, reports are appearing of layoffs in the once-secure health care sector.

I would bet heavily against universal health care coverage ever becoming a reality. The reforms that were debated during the Clinton administration offer a clue as to how the battle lines would be drawn; Big Pharma and the various health care networks will lobby to ensure their slice of the pie, while cost pressures will dictate that limits on coverage be considered. Consumer groups will join forces with the medical establishment to fight any type of "rationing" of benefits, while new technology and drug therapies threaten to bankrupt whatever system is agreed upon. The fact that the system is broken already won't be enough reason to push it through. Somehow, the concept of spending a large proportion of health care resources to extend a dubious quality of life for an extra year or two will need to get reevaluated.

As I said, Paradigm Change is a good thing, and health care is no exception. A greedy, corrupt system dedicated to keeping us sick will gradually give way to the emerging system of Alternative Health Care. This includes Naturopathy and Homeopathy, as well as more esoteric energy-based and spiritual modes of healing.

As the Human Race enters into the next Golden Age, the tremendous shortcomings in allopathic medicine will become apparent. The strictly materialistic approach to biological science will eventually be seen as woefully ignorant. This will be replaced with a general holistic understanding of life, wherein no dichotomy will persist between science and the mystical. Health will become the norm rather than the exception.

-Darkwave