At the end of 2007, I offered that we were ending the Age of Aspiration. And recently I have read several commentaries suggesting that we are now entering an Age of Austerity. While it doesn't have the alliteration (or is it the assonance?) of either periods, as I look around the globe, I would offer that while austerity is occurring, what we are entering is something much more primitive - and that is an Age of Self-Preservation.

Whether it is at an individual, corporate, municipal or national level, I am seeing actions that are fraught with raw survival instincts. Whether it is individuals and corporations hoarding cash, or Iceland not guaranteeing the deposits of overseas investors, what I see happening at alarming pace is the migration of "all for one and one for all" to "every man for himself."

Fear does that. And not just to individuals, but to corporations and governments.

I don't profess to know where this goes. Protectionism? Foreign exchange controls? Immigration reform? Export tariffs? Choose your issue.

As I offered last week, self-preservation introduces new risks related to "collective" organizations, whether they be the EU, Basel II, GATT, NAFTA or even NATO. And even within our own economy, I expect that the tension between national and local interests and the divisions between the haves and the have nots will only become more pronounced.

I share all of this, not to be an alarmist, but rather to suggest that the rules are changing - and quickly. And prior assumptions no longer hold.

If others are going to focus on self-preservation, then the sooner we realize this, the better prepared we can be.

And again, austerity is far too nice. Austerity is me spending less at my own expense. Self-preservation is fundamentally different. Self-preservation is me keeping as much as I can for me - even if it means at your expense.

And unfortunately that's where it feels like we are headed, as individuals, as a nation, and as a globe.