2006 Predictions

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Free Wireless Internet Access covers commercial and residential areas; many skip home wired access

Hmm... I'll predict that more states will pass laws restricting or banning free WiFi access due to "security concerns" and encouragement from the DHS and large telcom companies.

Florida will take a hit from at least one major hurricane and two minor ones. Tampa will, of course, be spared. GA/SC will also see a very destructive hurricane that will run a path clear into NC. In the late summer, the southeast US will see a drought.

Housing will slide, but condos will crash. ...except in Florida, where destructive hurricanes will once again cause a housing shortage.

A new trend will emerge that sees thousands of retirees flee to Mexico and other countries where their dollar will go a greater distance than in the US. Counterfit prescription drugs will become a major blip the US radar.

More companies will decrease insurance coverage and decrease or eliminate pensions all together. The generation just behind the boomers will begin to panic and scramble to save themselves. Stocks will rise on this news, then rise even more as money allocated for retirement begins to flood into 401ks and SEPP-like accounts. Then, without warning, it will all be flushed down the toilet by bad earnings reports after the 3rd quarter. Social security will be examined and painted in a bad light, again.

More damning evidence against the Bush administration will see the light of day. The people of the United States will continue to ignore it and mostly not care.

Easter will be next to "fall under attack by the left". Abortion will hit the supreme court. Gay marriage will be permitted by some states and then banned by the federal government.

UK-like surveillance will be proposed by several states and the federal gov't under the guise of anti-terror bills and consumer convience. People will love it, critics of it will be denounced. "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about." Cameras on street corners will begin to be accepted in cities followed by neighborhoods, RFID tags will spread beyond your passport, GPS will be put in wide use by some states for toll road tracking, and ultra-secure subdivisions will explode in popularity for the middle class.

Gas will hit more than $3/gal, again.

Bird flu will be a bust while the normal flu will kill thousands as usual.