The speaker discusses several facets of the current financial instability of the United States. He claims the recent oil shortages cannot be blamed on the Yom Kippur War, but rather on fuel policies coming from Washington, D.C. Shortages are rampant in a multitude of U.S. businesses, and interest rates continue to rise. The U.S. cannot afford to be isolationist any longer and is "irrevocably part of the world of finance."