Ruth asked me about predictions. A lot of people are making them so we might as well join in. Anyone willing to embarrass themselves is welcome to join in and make a few. If you made some last year that were accurate – tell us about them.
I’ll review predictions I made the first of last year.
Prediction:
First, let us take a look at President Obama.
The big democratic defeat has done nothing to change his mind on his basic goals. He wants a single payer, government controlled health care system and as much redistribution of the wealth as possible by 2012.
However, the Republican victory has for the first time caused him to modify his approach. He realizes he must now make some adjustments if he and his party are going to have any power over the next few years.
Here is his strategy.
He plunged ahead with his leftist agenda unapologetically for the first two years thinking this was the time of opportunity which may not come again. Now the backlash has come he will attempt to create the illusion that he is listening to the people and moderating his position. He will present himself as the common sense guy in the middle whereas the Republicans, especially the newly elected tea party supporters, are right wing extremists unwilling to cooperate.
The term “reaching across the aisle” will be stressed many times while doing very little reaching but lots of condemning the other side as being inflexible.
JJ Comment:
This seems to have been very accurate. One good example is Obama presenting himself as the champion of tax cutting by cutting he payroll tax and making the Republicans look like they are against tax cuts. Instead of presenting big socialist programs this last year he is attempting to appear more like Reagan than the Republicans. Of course, not everyone is buying this.
Prediction:
Obama thought that his big spending practices would make him beloved of the many and he would be hailed as greater than FDR. This has backfired on him, but not changed his mind. Some economic advisers are still telling him that the problem is that he has not spent enough. Now he is not personally sure what to do, but is addicted to spending and will continue to spend all that is possible to further his goals and win the next election.
JJ Response:
This has certainly come true. Obama has not backed down on the spending and even now wants to borrow another trillion. He is determined to spend himself to victory by throwing the money at the voters.
Also he recently compared himself to FDR.
Prediction
The whole country is shifting toward the conservative view of financial responsibility and even some of the liberal mainstream media will shift and be more supportive in the direction of economic common sense. This will put pressure on Obama to follow and by the end of the year some will think he has gown while in office and is now able to govern more from the center than before.
JJ Response:
Many in the media are showing concern for the high spending, but many also think Obama is becoming more sensible.
Prediction:
This shift of perception will make Obama harder to beat even if the economy declines. Mitt Romney and Chris Christie are the only Republicans that are a sure bet to beat him. But Christie will not run and Mitt may or may not get the nomination. Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee have a 50/50 chance of beating him and Ron Paul has a slimmer chance because of the attacks that would come from the media if he gets the nomination.
JJ Response:
Christie didn’t run as predicted and Huckabee and Palin did not enter. For the rest we’ll have to wait and see.
Prediction:
One of Obama’s advisors has, or shortly will, place an ingenious idea into his head in hope of turning public support in his direction again. The idea is to get Michelle pregnant again and have a new baby in the White House just before the election of 2012 takes place.
Since most view Obama as a great Dad a new cute cuddly baby will be just the ticket to draw attention to Obama in a positive way and take the public’s mind off his shortcomings. The only problem is that Michelle isn’t excited about having another kid right now and may not cooperate, but could give in if the right incentives are given her.
JJ Comment:
I’m sure this idea has been discussed. Since the prediction a number of rumors have been circulating about her being pregnant. Time will tell. Here are a couple of the latest:
Prediction:
Obama’s health care plan will face serious challenges. It will not be repealed by 2012 but there will be a growing dissatisfaction and the Republicans will slow its implementation through defunding and other means.
The requirement that everyone has to purchase health insurance will continue to be challenged by the courts and go all the way to the Supreme Court where it will be declared unconstitutional. This will not discourage liberal Democrats though who will still attempt to give us universal health care through every back door possible. They correctly believe that once a give-away program is implemented that it will be almost impossible to eliminate.
JJ Comment;
This was right on and the health care mandate is on its way to the Supreme Court.
Prediction:
Rumors of Obama having an affair will circulate and some type of another scandal will surface that he will be linked to but not destroyed by it.
JJ Comment
Obama has been linked several times this year to a past affair in 2004 to a lady named Vera Baker but the friendly media hasn’t been investigating it.
The Solinda scandal surfaced but the media has been going soft on Obama over it so it has not done him a lot of damage.
Prediction:
Wiki and other leakers will embarrass the administration and world leaders and give them an excuse to push for internet regulation. Most of the media will work to smooth over the damage to Obama that could have destroyed a conservative president.
JJ Comment:
Wikileaks did embarrass Obama several times the last year. It revealed that Obama gave Russia Britain’s nuclear secrets and exposed the lies about the gun sales to Mexican Drug dealers.
Prediction:
Now let’s look at the new Republican Congress.
Overall the results of this will be predictable. The Democrats will find them very frustrating as well as many on the Right who do not see as much reform as they desire.
Obama will try the divide and conquer approach by befriending some who he sees as cooperative to entice them to opposing those who he will label as far right.
On the other hand, there will be Democrats who will side with the Tea Party views in the hope this will secure re-election. Then there are a handful who see that overspending must be curtailed.
The Left and the mainstream media will attempt to blame all that goes wrong on the new Congress but, even though this will have some effect, it will not take hold as it did in the days of Newt Gingrich.
JJ Comment:
This seems to have been quite accurate.
Prediction:
The greatest short term threats to the economy for this year will be from outside influences such as natural or manmade disaster and the threat of new conflict.
JJ Comment;
2011 was reported as the costliest year in history from natural disasters.
Prediction:
Outside of this the economy will actually show some improvement due to business optimism because of the new Republican Congress. This will not produce a miracle but it will hold a shaky economy together for one more year.
JJ Comment:
Again, this seems to be accurate.
Prediction:
Possible Conflicts
North Korea and Iran will both rattle their sabers but we will not go to war this year. One of the reasons is that China warns us against it and they are becoming so powerful that we are afraid to stir up a possible conflict with them. There will be growing concern that they could turn aggressive, but on the positive side there is a growing number of Chinese who desire a peaceful Democracy. We can only hope that this aspect of the people will prevail.
JJ Comment:
This appears again to be accurate and there are growing movements in China in support of democracy. Too bad I didn’t predict the death of Kim Jong il. That would have been impressive.
Prediction:
There will be a number of medical advances related to technology such as artificial eyesight, artificial limbs and nano technology.
JJ Comment:
I’m sure advancements have been made but haven’t taken the time to investigate.
Prediction:
UFO sightings will be up and one in particular will be difficult to explain away.
JJ Comment:
2011 is said to have more UFO sightings than any other year in history. One in Jerusalem is particularly interesting.
UFO Link
Prediction:
New particle discoveries will be made at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern but they will not find the Higgs particle this year.
JJ Comment:
They have been searching like crazy for the Higgs particle and think they have found some evidence but haven’t found it yet. They hope to prove its existence this year sometime.
Prediction:
Lady Gaga will make even stranger attempts to get attention causing some to think she is not stable.
JJ Comment;So true but this was a no brainer prediction. If you thought she was weird before take a look at this:
Lady Gaga Link
Prediction:
Reality TV will finally begin to lose some of its popularity, thank God.
JJ Comment:
This seems to be the first prediction so far that didn’t come true. I think I was having wishful thinking as I do not like the reality shows.
Prediction:
Apple will continue to put out innovative products that will keep it on the cutting edge and its popularity will increase when it markets a 3-D monitor.
JJ Comment:
Apple is still doing great. Apple’s working on a 3D monitor but hasn’t released it yet:
3D Link
It is also working on reinventing the television:
Apple Television link
Prediction:
Obama will work toward normalizing relations with Cuba whether Congress cooperates or not.
JJ Comment:
This started to come true a couple weeks after the prediction:
Cuba Link
Also see:
Cuba Link#2
Prediction:
There will be several weather related disasters and flooding will be a problem. Problems will be worse than usual but not cataclysmic.
JJ Comment:
The Japan Tsunami was pretty bad but not cataclysmic. There were much more than average weather related disasters and lots of flooding throughout the world.
Prediction:
With the high price of gold staying up there and unemployment high more people will prospect and mine for gold. There will be a gold rush in several parts of the world and gold production will go up.
JJ Comment:
The price of Gold has stayed up there. When the prediction was made it was around $1400 an ounce and it is now $1610. There are lots of stories from the past year about the modern gold rush. Here is one:
Gold Rush Link
Prediction:
The danger of China having a monopoly on rare earth elements will finally dawn on the public consciousness and there will develop a push to mine theses elements in the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries.
JJ Comment:
This was right on. Check this out:
Rare Earth Link
Prediction:
Prices of essentials such as food, fuel and power will go up and many non essentials will go down. This will create the illusion that there is not as much inflation as there really is affecting he average household.
JJ Comment:
This seems to be true as far as I can tell.
Prediction:
Talk of global warming will become a joke except during the summer when it does truly get warm.
JJ Comment:
Seems that way. Jay Leno and others joke about it increasingly.
Prediction:
The Patriots will win the Superbowl.
JJ Comment:
Ooops… Wishful thinking on that one.
Prediction:
Academy Awards
: The King’s Speech will win best Picture and Colin Firth who stars in it will receive Best Actor
Natalie Portman will receive best actress for Black Swan.
JJ Comment:
This makes up for my Superbowl miss. I was 100% correct on the Academy Awards.
Prediction:
On July 26 I made this prediction in response to all the alarm over Comet Elenin:
“By January of next year the memory of disaster warnings over Elenin will fade into the background as has the alarm over Y2K and Past Nibiru warnings. We will have other things to worry about.”
JJ Comment;
After the sun destroyed Eleinin it is now out of mind and out of sight.
Overall my accuracy was much better than the psychics I know of out there and I do not claim to be psychic.
Copyright 2012 by J J Dewey
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