- Barack Obama will win relection for a 2nd term and do so by a somewhat comfortable margin. Voter turnout will be unenthusiastic, as people will realize it’s a race between two politicians who won’t really change anything.
- Vladimir Putin will win Russia’s election due to a lack of a defined opposition leader. More protests will occur, which will get the media to report endlessly, but the more important question of reform and a viable opponent for the future will yet to be determined.
- World markets will sell off harshly, prompting fears of impending doom, with few financial news sources able to explain why except “up market good, down market bad”. The cause will be due to worldwide potential for conflict, and continued instability from Europe debt fears.
- Accordingly, several banks throughout Europe will fail, and more cases of bank fraud will emerge. American banks will cry for help due to the liquidity crunch and continued bad behavior for degenerate gambling/financial practices.
- In reaction, the Federal Reserve will institute yet another round of quantitative easing, sending stock prices higher and gold and silver to all time highs after sharp selloffs lasting months.
- Due to money printing, the price of oil will continue to spike based on speculation and trader demand, not actual demand. Food, clothes and necessities will then go higher in price while wages stay stagnant for the average worker. However, financial news networks will begin reporting “good economic news” because stock market up = good economy (/facepalm).
- Home prices throughout will continue to stagnate or will slowly bleed lower and lower, as our overbuilding and easy lending continues to catch up.
- More occupy movements and its counterpart tea party movements will emerge, with several erupting in violence. Apart from expressing discontent, no leaders, policies or meaningful platforms will emerge, but it will be a great opportunity for pundits and figureheads to make a killing selling books.
- Hollywood, television and internet entertainment will make loads of money and enjoy overall great ratings, in part to the relative low cost of the platforms to consumers and because everyone is broke and can’t go out.
- In turn, mainstream news organizations will suffer ratings and will become more irrelevant, because people don’t want to be reminded that things suck, and would rather hear what they already believe, whether rational or not.
- The world will not end in 2012, but Mexico will make a tidy profit from tourism.
- Colorado will become the first state in the United States to fully legalize marijuana.
- Suicides, rates of depression and other similar mental conditions will be at all time highs or close to all time highs throughout the world.
- Bizarre murders and mass killings will be on the rise, particularly murder suicides.
- Corruption in government will become more pervasive, as offices and authority become mere excuses to extract money and peddle influence.
- Cute pet videos will become more popular than ever.