#10 is my favorite:
Prediction ten. As an economy is never independent of the society within which it functions, the next few paragraphs will focus on social and political factors. These factors will have as much of an impact on market and consumer confidence as any developments in the financial sector.
Whether rightly or not, President Obama, having come to power at the dawn of this crisis, will be blamed for it by over 50 percent of the population. He will be a one-term president. In response to his perceived socialization of America, there will be a swarm of secessionist and extremist activity, much of it violent. Militias and armed sects will be more prominent than in the early 1990s. Stand-off dramas, violent score-settlings, and going-out-with-a-bang attacks by laid-off workers and bankrupted investors—already a national plague—will become an everyday occurrence.
For both economic and social reasons, millions of immigrants and guest workers will return to their home countries, taking their assets and skills with them. The flow of skilled immigrants will slow to a trickle. Birth rates will plummet as families struggle with uncertainty and reduced (or no) income.
America long ago left the free market economic system, but most recently has been running full tilt towards command and control government style take over. Just this last week, America's two biggest car companies were re-organized by the government in a way that will handsomely benefit the unions and other special interest groups. While we have seen this power grab before-in the 30's and 70's, government control is just beginning to surface under this new administration. President Obama's three main points: Cap & Tax Carbon Regulations, Socialized Health Care, & Union Card-Check will only increase the government's control on our lives. Socialized Car Companies, Higher Taxes, Socialized Health Care, and other government run industries are blow after blow to the average working class American.
I wonder whether this current grab may the final blow to an already beleaguered middle class.
Rome fell largely due to its middle class being oppressed and run out of town. Currently, just about 40% of American's pay no income tax at all while the top 5% pay over 60%. Populist outcry often leads to government designed outcomes from bureaucrats that favor the 'oppressed minority' which often turn out to be the biggest welfare receipts of large government largess. America is sitting precipitously close to the edge of fascist dictatorship. As Alex Hamilton once said, "A nation that preserves disgrace to danger is in need of a master, and deserves one."
