And then something began to change, and that was social mood. Now, looking back -- we talked about this on our recent podcast -- he was recently called before Congress and essentially pilloried and vilified for those very things that he was praised for previously. Now, is that because the market is down? No, it’s because social mood has been changing, really, for about eight or nine years now.

Cory Bortnicker: Let’s talk about, on that chart, the section about how we choose our leaders and that a happy society would pick a leader who at least appears to be talented. How does that reflect on the current election of Barack Obama? I mean, what does that suggest about our social mood now, or does it not suggest anything?

Kevin Depew: Well, I think clearly when you have social mood that’s deteriorating and becoming more negative, people are more open to kicking out the incumbents, choosing somebody who might at least initially be interpreted as being a dynamic new leader, somebody who is not going to represent the things that people are beginning to rebel against.

I can tell you what I think from a socionomic standpoint and that is I believe that Barack Obama will doubtfully be President four years from now, when he runs again. I think that social mood is going to become so much darker that whoever won this election was really doomed to be a one-termer, because things are going to get worse. Social mood is continuing to darken, and it’s going to get to the point where anybody who is an incumbent has a real risk of holding on to their seat. We’ll see what happens.

That’s just one view, and I’m sure that there are people that would disagree with that. But I think that it’s a very dangerous time to be a politician because we have not reached the peak bottom in social mood -- the peak in negative social mood.

Cory Bortnicker: So, just generally, and then we can move on to some specific examples of how socionomics is playing out in our everyday lives. But, generally, if the principle is that social mood is driving events in society, then what, ultimately, is going to change social mood, or what can change social mood?

Kevin Depew: Well, that’s the thing. It’s all patterned. Now, this is another controversial aspect. There are people who don’t want to believe that -- you know, it’s a bold statement to say that our behavior is somehow patterned. But if you look at herds of animals antelope, birds, for example, their migration patterns, there are herding impulses at work there that cause them to move in certain ways.