Trendz for 2012

[Dover]

Okay, I just watched a video posted here at DU featuring someone named Gerald Celente. I've never heard of him before and so I just did a quick google, finding a bit about him on Wikipedia. It seems he has appeared on Fox News & Glenn Beck's show among other rightwing-ding programs. But he's also apparently appeared on Oprah.
Quite a resume...lol! So at the risk of embarassing myself for posting something by someone I know little about, just thought I'd share a little of
what I found about his thoughts on 2010-12 on the Wikipedia page. If anyone has info or opinions about him and his thoughts I'd like to know more. I think some of it is probably accurate, but it seems to ignore several things like the effects of OWS. I do think people are working on imagining alternatives to our current lifestyle and overall system, so maybe we'll begin to see some experimental 'test' communities here and around the world.

By the way, I've been seeing the "ghost malls" he mentions. Very eery to be in those huge indoor spaces when there are so few people. Up until a year ago I could proudly say I hadn't been in a mall for shopping purposes for over 6 years. But due to unusual circumstances (such as some foreign friends wanting to visit an American mall) I've recently been in two malls in two different states and both were almost completely empty in the middle of the day.


2010

Some areas of the U.S. are experiencing resurgences in real estate values due to highly localized factors, and some investors profit from this. However, the rises will almost all stop and reverse with time, and the overall national trend in real estate values is downward. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 8)

Ghost malls have become a common sight across America. Especially hard-hit are big chain stores (Sears, Home Depot, etc.). (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 8)

2012

The economic policies of the U.S. government over the past few years have failed to fix America's fundamental problems and have merely papered over them and in fact made them worse. By 2012, the "American Empire" is collapsing. In the U.S., basic staple goods like quality food and water are too expensive for most people to afford,(T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) and "food riots" happen across the country (T.J. Summer 09, pg.1). Major American cities look like disaster zones, and mass homelessness exists across the country. Crime is rampant, with much of it being directed at the rich. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) Kidnappings and ransomings of rich people are on the rise. Average people fed up with big government, high taxes and out-of-control spending join tax revolts. (T.J. Summer 09, pg. 1) The world is also experiencing major environmental problems and "the blackest of plagues." The global financial system has also "melted down" and the situation is very bad outside the U.S.(T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) The advanced industrial economies collapse first, and their sagging consumer spending drags down the export-based economies of emerging economies next.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 2) The economy is as bad as it was during the Great Depression in many ways. In spite of all this, the U.S. government, power elites, and mainstream media continue to insist that the fundamentals of the world economy are sound, and that official policies can lead to a recovery. A growing number of average people, however, doubt this. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1)

While the Mayan and Hopi prophecies of global destruction do not come to pass, 2012 is indeed a watershed year that sees the death of an ailing and unsustainable global economic system and lifestyle and its replacement with something better. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 2)

By 2012, Obama is viewed by most as a stale president who sold himself as a fresh, visionary candidate in 2008 and instead proved to be a servant of the big corporations and the military-industrial complex like his predecessors.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 5) His economic policies only delayed disaster and in fact have made the situation worse: Expansionary monetary policy and the various government bailouts and stimulus programs create a "Bailout Bubble" that invariably bursts in a cataclysm for the U.S. and world economy.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 11) Obama blames other factors for this and might have even tried to start a war by 2012 to distract attention from the domestic misery.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 12) Obama's foreign policy has also failed to accomplish anything significant on the world stage, and Pakistan is a mess and the Afghan war continues to drag on without hope of conclusion.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 12)

In the 2012 U.S. elections, online news sites, bloggers and independent journalists wield as much influence on voters as mainstream media outlets (TV, cable, magazines, newspapers) for the first time. This breaks the corporate and moneyed stranglehold on American politics and allows a third party to attain nation-level recognition. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 5)

Broad future trends

Americans will adapt to lower standards of living and will travel less, both on a daily basis and for vacations. Higher fuel costs, advances in telecommuting and an aging American population will push many more people to work from home or close to home. Walking-distance communities will be constructed and will become popular. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 7)

Geographically isolated resort destinations like Las Vegas will wither due to higher fuel costs, lower American incomes and increased overseas competition while vacation spots closer to population centers will revive. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 9)

Government-run lotteries, on the other hand, will thrive. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 9)

In America and to a lesser extent overseas, consumer spending habits will be motivated out of fear and escapism. Businesses that capitalize upon this will succeed. (T.J. Summer 09, pg. 24)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Celente

[AngkorWot]

1. Sounds like the Amazing Criswell.

"I predict that Rhode Island will be the center of a new movement of the youth of the nation that will make the hippie movement look normal. The next movement will be youth's rebellion through nudism. And this movement will begin in Rhode Island and spread throughout the land."

[okieinpain]

2. he had me until he said president obama would start a war to provide cover.

[Dover]

3. Yeah. If he did start a war, it wouldn't be for cover.... n/t