By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee
Happy New Year. Here is my 10th annual list of predictions for 2012 (and beyond):
Prediction: The ancient Chinese proverb says, “May you live in interesting times.” Well, we’re here! 2012 will be the most interesting, significant, exciting and frightening year in U.S. and perhaps world history.
Prediction: The EU economic collapse will accelerate. Not only are most major European banks insolvent, but so are entire EU countries. Throughout 2012, the EU will teeter from crisis to crisis. Eventually this will lead to a massive European economic depression, which will eventually lead to the breakup of the EU and the end of the Euro. No longer is this a question of “if,” but only of “when.”
Prediction: Proving that a country can’t spend itself into prosperity, the day of reckoning will come to Japan, where even a slight increase in their interest rates will consume their budget and cause them to default on their bonds. The markets will panic upon the recognition that Japan is like Italy, only much bigger.
Prediction: Here in America we will see dramatic economic crisis as well. Our country can no longer afford to spend trillions on bailouts, stimulus, entitlements, or government employee pensions. The gravy train is over. The sad and frightening reality of all of this will sink in, in 2012.
Prediction: A series of economic tragedies and unprecedented crises will shake America. All of this will lead to bank runs, civil unrest, rising levels of violence, unprecedented middle class fear and panic, and record sales of guns, ammo, gold & silver — just as I predicted over a year ago in my commentary titled “The Gold, Silver & Bullet economy.
Prediction: The Fed and central banks across the globe react to crisis and deteriorating economic conditions with massive money-printing and “quantitative easing.” The result is inflation and the best investment opportunity in a generation — Gold, Silver and precious metals.
Prediction: Commercial real estate will decline dramatically, just as residential real estate already has. Landlords will hand the keys back to banks for empty shopping centers, strip malls, and office buildings.
Prediction: U.S. States, counties and cities will announce insolvency and bankruptcy in record numbers, creating a loss of faith in municipal and government bonds. California will be Exhibit A for how bankrupt states truly are.
Prediction: Unemployment will remain the #1 unsolvable problem for the U.S. economy, with potential for increases to double digits due to Obama’s climate of fear and loathing towards business owners; more offshoring of jobs to lower wage and lower tax countries; anti-business regulations imposed by government; the threat of higher taxes; and the continued failure of the public education system (producing millions of graduates incapable of performing skilled 21st century jobs).
Prediction: China, the one bright light in the world economy, goes dark in 2012, as the great Chinese fraud unravels. The Chinese economy will be unmasked as on the verge of economic collapse.
Prediction: The so-called “Arab Spring” continues its descent towards a “Radical Muslim winter.” Across the Arab world, new “progressive” governments turn out to be far worse, far more radical, far more violent, far more despotic than the regimes they replaced. All of this “hope and change” becomes a nightmare for the U.S. and Israel.
Prediction: Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination in a landslide, and selects Chris Christie or Marco Rubio as his running mate.
Prediction: Barack Obama dumps Joe Biden from his Presidential ticket and chooses Hillary Clinton as his new running mate. Biden becomes Secretary of State.
Prediction: A third party candidate changes the dynamics of the 2012 election — either Gary Johnson for the Libertarian Party, Ron Paul, Donald Trump, or New York Mayor Bloomberg as independents.
Prediction: Just before the election the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the individual mandate, thereby killing Obamacare. Even with a total failure of his progressive/socialist agenda, Obama’s class warfare appeal to the 50% who pay no income taxes makes him a formidable opponent.
Prediction: The much maligned Tea Party (which is more a belief in the American dream than a political movement) springs to life, and just as in 2010, leads the GOP to major gains, including majority control of both the House and Senate.
Prediction: The election follows the same pattern as the 1980 Reagan/Carter election — with the race remaining razor close until the last week. Just as with Jimmy Carter in 1980, voters enter the voting booth asking “Can we survive four more years of Barack Obama?” The answer to that question is a resounding “NO!” Like Reagan, Romney wins in a late-breaking landslide.
Prediction: The GOP Presidential victory will prove too little, too late. Romney will turn out to be a tax raiser and spending raiser. He will compromise on core Tea Party values. High income Americans and retirees will react to the economic malaise by leaving the country in record numbers looking for a safe haven. (God Forbid: If Obama’s class warfare campaign is able to win him a second term, America will quickly fall into a full fledged depression and plunge the world into a ‘dark age’.)
Prediction: By 2016, it will become clear that neither Republicans nor Democrats have the solutions to save America from a death spiral of massive debt, inflation, unemployment, and rising interest rates. U.S. voters will finally consider a new path — a third party that truly desires to cut spending and the size of government dramatically.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Congressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
