As in physics, so in life: Pressure makes things break

In physics class you learn that pressure is force applied to an area. The formula is simple, really: p= F/A (pressure equals force divided by area).

The greater the area, the less strong the pressure is per square inch, yard or acre — or on you. The smaller the area for the same force, the greater the pressure. Sometimes, however, the area, no matter how large, simply cannot dissipate the force when the force applied is of a greater order of magnitude.

Pressure can be caused by something collapsing (imagine a building collapsing: You have force — tumbling bricks at speed — falling onto a small patch of land). It can be caused by some energy being released (imagine a bullet firing: You have the force of the expanding gasses pushing the butt end of a bullet, propelling it at great speed and pressure down the barrel). And it can be caused by hot air (the whistle on your teakettle is gas under pressure forced through a tiny area).

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The world economic collapse and the discussions surrounding recovery plans exhibit all three forms of pressure — and the cracks of over-pressure continue to mount.

In the United Kingdom, the hot air in Parliament has coupled with the effects of the economic collapse to bring matters to a targeted explosion of pressure that is taking as many as 50 members of Parliament with it. Underpaid for years, working ridiculous hours, commuting between constituencies and London (one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in), any pay rise has traditionally been seen as politically undesirable by all parties.

So? The solution was simple: Increase the members’ expenses to the point of corruption or, at the very least, the point of public disbelief. After decades of this behind-the-scenes padding of members’ salaries, the real needs of today put so much pressure on Parliament that something had to give. Out of the whistling kettle sang the tune of “secret� expenses and the rest is inevitable.

Think that’s only over there? Ask what our U.S. congressmen and women are paid and then look at the expense and allowance budgets. In Britain, 50 members are on their way, with perhaps one to go: the big one, the government.

In the U.K. elections are not held on a calendar basis; they can be called if the prime minister calls an election or they can be forced if there is a vote of “no confidence� in Parliament. If 50 members are forced to stand down or, at best, not to run ever again, allegiances are broken and Parliament cannot survive. An election will be called.

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How does that affect us? Well, President Obama relied on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to set up the G20 conference in March and, indeed, the London Stock Exchange is second only to our own. Any pressure-induced wobble there comes ashore as a wave of pessimism and financial woe on Wall Street, the developed nations and Washington, D.C., — in a hurry.

The U.K. is not alone in feeling the effects of pressure. All over the world, people want, people are demanding something be done, people insist things be fixed. Sometimes, these desires elicit action (“Do something!�), not necessarily the right actions or long-term thinking.

The pressure in Saudi Arabia is increasing their internal terrorist pressures. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, America’s CIA-trained “freedom fighters� and gun smugglers of decades ago are finding pressure relief by having something to do: supporting the Taliban.

In Sri Lanka the pressure on the government to do something, anything, caused them to break their own parliamentary rules and carpet bomb the outlawed Tamil regions. Okay, the Tamil Tigers are gone (so they assure us), but tens of thousands are either missing or in what amount to concentration camps. The Sri Lankan government said public deaths were unfortunate, but to quote their spokesman, “We cannot be sorry, we had to do something.�

In Russia the military stands on alert ready to act, to provoke, to engage in conquest of the nation’s perceived enemies with Georgia again in the cross hairs.

In Israel, the new prime minister, the returned ultra-right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu has already broken with law and is opening the West Bank to settlements again. Meanwhile, the company that contracted to build their concrete 16-foot-high wall has been asked to provide a quote for more “fence,� a pressure cooker lid if ever there was one.

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The world is always faced with pressures of one sort or another. Physicists will tell you that natural calamities are never the result of one force exerting a single pressure on a finite area.

A volcano needs shifting plates deep underground, cracks in the earth’s crust and the idiocy of man’s desire to live near an active volcano to combine in overwhelming pressure to wreak destruction to people and property.

The forceful pressure of a tidal wave needs an under-ocean earthquake, shallow coastal plains and humans who cut down the natural mangrove swamps to kill hundreds of thousands.

The wind pressure of a hurricane needs weakened levee systems and a town built below high-tide marks to force millions to flee and cause billions in devastation.

Calamities are always caused by pressure of one sort or another, but man-made calamities are always caused by pressures we refuse to acknowledge until it is too late. We see the forces, we recognize the area these forces impact, but we refuse to do the math. We prefer to guesstimate dangers.

Sometimes these pressures are entirely man-made, like the economic disaster we are all facing. Sometimes the pressures are harder to recognize and calculate, but the signs are there. We need to face up to them and measure them. We need to reduce the pressure wherever we can.

How can we reduce pressure? Simple. Check out the formula. If you cannot reduce the force (for example the amount needed to fix the system) then you need to increase the area so that the pressure will be reduced on the individual.

How does a government do this? It borrows money, it prints money, it spends money, it spreads the pain around. Some would say we should not help, we should allow the system to blow, marginal companies go bankrupt, let things erupt. To them I would say, I agree that next time let’s not build on the slopes of a volcano — but for now let’s spend the money and effort to move to safer ground and avoid disaster. If this calamity blows, it will take the unhealthy and healthy alike, in a hurry. Disasters know no preferences.

Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.