Ethics in trend forecasting

Shaun, your humble servant here just read The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant, a husband and wife team of historians, who are "giants" of 20th-century historiography. Their "Lessons" - published in 1968 - sums up what they learned about history and human behavior because of their 11-volume historical study of Western civilization that leads up to their "Lessons," the twelfth, final book in their definitive study of the history of Western civilization. Here is what the have observed. When government regulation of bad behavior is lax, non-existant, look for a growth in the emphasis in society on ethics and religions to fill this vacuum. Boomo, bango, bingo! This is exactly what has happend in the USA. We have stopped enforcing laws against economic terrorism; as a result, we have a renewed interest in ethics as a way to "fight back." It is amazing to see how acurate the Durants are with their assessment of human behaviors; trend forecasters would say, yes, their model is a valid, reliable way to test current trends today. Trend forecasting does utilize historical models as ways to test current trends and project probable, possible future scenarios. When "ethics" and religion do not do the job, we can look for a swing back to governmental reuglation, maybe even law enforcement and punishment of business vampires and their zombie political allies. Durants suggest this could be the pattern in the future, for it has been the pattern in the past.