<p>Are you brave enough to make a prediction for 2008? Remember we can all check to see whether you were a genius or a fool or somewhere in between.</p>
<p>Here are my predictions.</p>
<p>Romney beats Edwards for President
Troop numbers in Iraq drop to 75 percent of current levels.
Colts win superbowl again. (New England Patriots cry like babies after perfect regular season)
Economic slow down does not reach definition of recession.</p>
<p>Tom Brady>Eli Manning
Al Gore is canonized
My clutch needs to be replaced</p>
<p>In a stunning development (and a sad testament to our pop media-addicted society), the Lindsey Lohan / Britany Spears independent ticket wins the presidency by a land-slide. Unfortunately, both are injured and can not assume their offices when Lindsey, with Britney passed out in the back from their mutual 3-day victory binge, drives the lead car of the motorcade into a crowd of papparozzi during the inagural parade.</p>
<p>25,000 of the 600,000 Iraqis ethnically cleansed by General Betrayus and living in Syria die of malnutrition and disease.</p>
<p>Waiting lists for surgery in the U.S. grow to triple that in British Columbia (it’s not far from that now.)</p>
<p>Democrats vote for more money for the hostile, aggressive occupation. </p>
<p>The Karzai gov’t in Afghanistan falls to a group of warlords. </p>
<p>Jewish immigration to Israel drops to an all-time low. </p>
<p>Halliburton boasts record profits. </p>
<p>Barry Bonds is found not-guilty.</p>
<p>Optimistic as always, Mini…</p>
<p>Hey, Barry goes free! 
(maybe he moves to Israel?)</p>
<p>In a stunning follow-up to his first tell all book, Jose Canseco reveales that every professional ball player since Joe Dimaggio has been juiced on experimental human growth hormones. Congress, in it’s only legislative act of the year, decides to ignore every other problem going on in this country and has 16 weeks of congressional hearings in order to “fix America’ past-time”. Discovering it is true that everyone is juiced, even the bat-boys, every ball player suspended. Play is resumed 5 weeks later using local little league teams, until it is discovered that the kool-aid pouches the kids are drinking from contain horse steriods. The season is cancelled, and ESPN is forced to air the Japanese World Series.</p>
<p>Rosie O’Donnell announces she was “just confused”, and announces that she is leaving her life partner Kelly because she realizes she is hetero. Donald Trump buries the hatchet and congratulates her for her “courage”. A whirl-wind romance between the two commences shortly after “The Apprentice – the Girls from My Super Sweet 16” finishes it’s run (every one is fired, no one wins, America is the loser for watching this trite piece of dribble). They have a December wedding, with Elizabeth Hasslebeck acting as the Matron of Honor. Barara Walters is not invited.</p>
<p>I finally get a traffic ticket!</p>
<p>Bloomberg enters the race as an independent and throws the election into the Electoral College where no one gets a majority. The House ends up electing Bloomberg after a deal is struck with the Democrats. Real Estate continues to fall and the recession lasts longer than the pundits predicted. Iraq is finally abandoned and Iraq partitions itself off into three distinct countries “a la” Yugoslavia but forms an oil syndicate to share the royalties. Gas prices hit $5/gallon and major advancements unfold on electric cars.</p>
<p>Some pop icon goes into rehab.</p>
<p>Some CEO is fired for losing a gazillion dollars, collecting a severance package of a bazillion dollars.
Markets go up, then down, then up, then down, then up…</p>
<p>Congress spends money, blames Bush.
Bush administration spends money, blames Congress.
Everyone in the country ‘supports’ the troops.</p>
<p>C.C. consensus definition of a decent GPA goes up to 4.3 and decent SAT to 2380.
HYP acceptance rates fall to below 5%.</p>
<p>I’m going to be paying large tuition bills.</p>
<p>My son (Mr. Root Canal) will exceed the maximum coverage on our dental insurance again.</p>
<p>My daughter will end up with a disappointing summer job (again) and will complain about it so much all summer that I will be relieved when she goes back to college in the fall (even though I miss her greatly when she’s gone).</p>
<p>I will dislike both presidential candidates and end up voting for the one I consider the lesser evil.</p>
<p>And like BandTenHut, I will probably get at least one traffic ticket. I only hope it isn’t on the same road where I’ve been caught speeding twice in the past year!</p>
<p>Pinky: “Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?”
The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky—Try to take over the world.”</p>
<p>attribution: [Pinky</a> and the Brain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_and_the_brain]Pinky”>Pinky and the Brain - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Economy</p>
<p>Mixed signals keep the Fed from cutting rates as much as many people would like.
Housing prices/sales continue to decline.
Sell-off in stocks.
Jobless claims/unemployment rate goes up.
State and local budgets are stressed and some services are cut back.</p>
<p>Politics</p>
<p>Clinton over Romney. Close electoral vote, Dems don’t get a majority of popular vote due to some 3rd party candidacy. Some state in the middle of the country is the new Ohio/Florida.</p>
<p>Both parties have VP candidates from the prairie or Rocky Mountain states to balance the ticket. The South is considered so solidly GOP that there’s not much campaigning there and no need to pick a Southerner for the ticket.</p>
<p>Net pick-up for Dems in both Houses, but is more significant in the Senate.</p>
<p>Other</p>
<p>Global warming as a becomes less of a political issue. The focus moves from preventing it to adopting to it.</p>
<p>No progress on any other issue, unfortunately.</p>
<p>my predictions:
<p>And lastly my kid gets in to college!</p>
<p>Economy craps out and thousands lose jobs regularly, country goes into recession.</p>
<p>Immigration Backlash</p>
<p>States like Arizona will see their economy tank with its new draconian illegal laws. Jobs will go begging in agriculture, construction, and hospitality. People will realize that they are not saving American jobs but are hurting themselves when no one is willing to drywall their condos and pick their lettuce. Hopefully, pragmatism will bring the pendulum back to allow a guest worker program with a chance for citizenship. The US needs people at the bottom of the economic food chain who are willing to work.</p>
<p>1.Google tops 1000</p>
<p>2.Obama wins</p>
<p>3.Start of talk about reinstating draft, which will occur 2009</p>
<p>4.Recession, no one is able to predict how bad </p>
<p>5.Mid-East conflict escalates</p>
<p>6.Nothing is done to lower health care costs - in fact, they continue to increase</p>
<p>Overconfident from their unbeaten regular season and from reading too much praise of their talents in the press, the Patriots lose the AFC title game and do not advance to the Super Bowl. </p>
<p>Not a prediction, but my hope is that the team that takes them down will be the resurgent Chargers, who will pay the Patriots back for the play-off upset last year.</p>
<p>I spend many, many hours watching the Summer Olympics.</p>
<p>S completes freshman year of college. H complains that 3.6 isn’t a very good freshman GPA.</p>
<p>H and I celebrate silver wedding anniversary.</p>
<p>I have head examined.</p>