Dear Sir/Madam, 

With unintended irony, the six (independent) economics institutes whose most recent report on the German economy you report in today's NYT ("Fears Mount That Germany Faces Recession") are often referred to in the German media as the "Six Wise Ones" (die 6 Weisen). The idea of having 6 is to ensure as objective and accurate a picture of the German economy as possible.

However, it might be compared with the 17th Century Catholic church having six "independent" experts advising it on the true nature of the universe, but with all 6 basing their views on the Earth-centred Ptolemaic world system.

Copernicus's heliocentric world system doesn't even qualify for serious consideration, 1. because it contradicts the experience of one's senses, and 2. because it contradicts the Holy Bible.

The "six wise ones" all make the same mistake of placing the economy (the household of man) at the centre of things, when it should be ecology (the household of our planet).

The reason they do so is, 1. because to do otherwise would contradict experience (the individual's greater apparent dependency on the socio-economic, rather than the natural environment), and 2. because it would contradict the holy scriptures of accepted economic theory.

We managed to live with the Earth-centred, Ptolemaic world system for more than 1500 years, but unless we change from an economy-centred to an ecology-centred world view within the next 15 years we will probably be extinct before the end of this century.

When Germans look back at their Nazi past they often refer to its insane racial ideology as "Rassenwahn". One day (hopefully) they will look back at the present, not just in their own country, and apply the term "Wirtschaftswahn" to its insane economic ideology.

Yours sincerely

Roger Hicks

www.spaceship-earth.org