Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 186
186 islam’s response to contemporary issues economic base the sooner it reaches the end of the blind alley. The larger the economic base, the longer will be the period of ultimate realisation of the impending crisis. Let us turn to the USA to see how things may work there. Without doubt, it is a country with the largest home-market to support its industry, so much so that some economists believe that even if America is cut off from the international community, the broad base of the home-market would guarantee the survival of its industry. But such economists do not take account of other related factors. If you apply, for instance, the case discussed earlier to the America scenario, you will certainly begin to see that there can be no logical conclusion other than the one drawn earlier. It is only a question of time. With a huge budget deficit and trillions of dollars in outstanding debts, the USA as a whole has already overspent and the American public is under very heavy debt to its own future. The buying power of the nation as a whole is bound to slow down or lending houses will have to go bankrupt. It is only a question of size. But the inevitable laws of nature must operate and apply equally to all similar situations. In a hot summer, pools and ponds warm up quickly to the ambient situation but it takes a bit longer for the lakes. Likewise, smaller seas get warmed up sooner than the larger ones. Yet, they all follow the same inevitable fate. It takes the Pacific Ocean so long to warm up that by the time it reaches that stage, winter is already set in most of the countries bordering on this gigantic mass of water. That is why the climate is more temperate than that of land bordering smaller oceans. Such also is the case of the oceans of the economy. The very philosophy of spending from borrowed money is basically so crooked that to expect straightforward honest results would be madness.