Make your predictions for 2013

I’ll venture a guess that this is the year that the EU breaks up. Not that there won’t still be an EU, but that it will have fewer members. Greece, Spain and maybe Italy and Portugal will leave. Or, nations like Finland Poland and the Balts will bolt.

I misunderestimated the staying power of Putin and/or the willingness of the Russian people to put up with his crony nationalism. I seriously wish we would get better reporting on what is happening inside Russia. I will predict though that the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia will continue to grow significantly.

Politically, I haven’t read the news this am, so I don’t know what craven capitulation the Republican leadership may have agreed to. That they will almost completely surrender without a fight is a almost 100% given. Government debt will continue to accelerate and taxes will go up for a good number of people. (Yes, this is almost a death and taxes proposition). I will go out on a limb though and say that the year that we face not only a sluggish economy but a 0 to negative growth economy coupled with the imminent financial failures of several states (California and Illinois, I’m thinking of you) which result in bailout requests to the federal government and/or an acquiescent Federal Reserve. If so, expect secession calls to grow stronger.

I also expect that the new economic policies taking place in Japan will be largely ineffectual and may actually be downright harmful leading to a collapse of the already moribund Japanese economy. Could be a fire sale on Japanese goods though. Until Korea, China, Australia and the U.S. retaliate and we have the beginnings of a series of currency wars and competitive devaluations resulting in higher inflation rates. Maybe not 2013 for that to all play out; though it may start.

The Detroit Tigers win the World Series in 7 games against the Washington Nationals. The seventh game is won 3-2 in 9 innings, with Justin Verlander out-dueling Stephan Strasbourg (the Cy Young award winners in their respective leagues; Verlander goes 20-7 on the season but finishes second in strikeouts to teammate Max Scherzer). Other baseball predictions: the Toronto Blue Jays win the AL East; neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox make the playoffs; and the Los Angeles Dodgers fail to meet expectations but still make the playoffs as a wild card.

Things…. Will… Get… Worse.

Politics:

The republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling (perhaps even multiple times) but will nevertheless complain about spending increases. The connection between these two points will be neither noticed nor discussed in the political insider media. (That’s more a statement of fact than a prediction.)

I predict that there will be another financial “crisis”that will be taken up and hyped in the media. No one will be quite sure exactly what the nature of the crisis is, but it will require another large expenditure/bailout/printing/borrowing event to fix it. This will happen over the now marginalized mewling of the conservatives and the house republicans will cave. Again. The administration will then be praised for saving the day, though there will be a shortage of information on exactly what was saved and how it was saved.

Late in the year (and far from any election cycle) the media will become critical of the administration and the continued economic recession, though the word “depression” will not be used.

The NHL will still be quibbling and will not have a season next season. Old-style TV variety shows will come back, pushing out reality shows. The debt ceiling and fiscal cliff will continue to be pushed back. Hillary Clinton will remarkably recover after Benghazi is investigated, but Bush will take a turn for the worse. A royal prince will be born in England to much media attention, leading to more mothers hoping their daughters will marry a prince.

The Denver Broncos will win the Super Bowl. That is my hope. They will play the Falcons in a rematch of Super Bowl 33.

May as well make another Supreme Court prediction, since I appear to have had some luck with that one:

-The Court will endorse gay marriage under the auspices of the Fourteenth Amendment (with some references to the Fourth Amendment a la Loving).

Also,

-The Orioles will make it to the playoffs again, but won’t win the Fall Classic.

-The Anglican Communion will fracture in some significant way, probably with the departure of one or more African provinces.

-Obama will successfully blame Republicans for the “fiscal cliff,” resulting in the marginalization of Republicans in the 2014 elections (does that count as a 2013 prediction?).

-”Fiscal cliff” will be recognized as the most misleading and overused term ever created by a cynical media executive.

-The Weather Channel will not be intimidated by the National Weather Service’s protestations: not only will ComcastNBCCantore continue to label winter snowfalls with asinine alarmist titles like “Draco,” but they’ll also begin naming thunderstorms. At the end of 2013, TWS will announce endorsement opportunities for corporate sponsorship of next winter’s snowstorms. Look forward to “Eclipse Gum Snowstorm of 2013: You’ll need fresh breath to shovel this mess!”

In a speech late in the year, the word “serfs” will slip from the President’s mouth when he meant to use the word “citizens”.

Legislation:

This will be the year of the “ban.” Restrictions will be imposed that constrain freedom in the following trifecta: Firearms, Food, and Tobacco. (Oddly enough, alcohol and marijuana will continue to be used with even greater freedom.)

I predict that the Democrats will inflict yet more stifling taxes and onerous regulations on everybody, and the Republicans will just let them do it (starting with the “fiscal clff”).

Like last year, I predict 49ers for Super Bowl, and Rangers for World Series. OK, that’s not a prediction so much as wishful thinking, but that’s all I got as far as sports prognostication goes.

I agree with SKP on the EU. I don’t see how the EU can stay together much longer with so many fiscally irresponsible member countries leeching off the rest. Either the leeches will get kicked out, or the non-leeches will drop out of the union of their own volition.

I also think that Argentina’s economy will collapse due to their federal government’s meddling. There goes our cheap beef imports.

I predict that 75 Watt incandescent light bulbs will disappear from the shelves of my local supermarket. I already bought a bunch a couple weeks ago when every single brand and variety of them were on clearance sale.

I also predict our long planned invasion of Canada will occur in late 2013 as a result of the impending financial crisis in the US that will compel our desire for more hard commodity assets. Canada will win the war.

I predict that an oil pipeline from Canada into the US will be built (or approved – I don’t’ know who long it would take to build it) thus revealing that the issue was always about the election and not the environment.

The world, and ourselves, will continue NOT to progress…but will continue being brought to an end.

And we will be continually renewed in Christ.

By the end of 2013, Patheos will be posting more than one daily topic from Cranach, and the topics will consist of more than just a title. Also, archiving will be completed up to the year 2010.

In politics: Two things will happen within American conservatism: 1) A clearer line of separation will appear between those politicians who actually are conservative and those who merely give lip service to conservative values. 2) Conservatism as a force within American politics will weaken.

In economics: The US economy will grow by no more than 1 or 1.5%. Interest rates on savings deposits, CDs, etc. will continue to be so low as to be almost nonexistent — rising at most by .5%. Unemployment will improve slightly as a percentage, but critics will continue to point out that much of that improvement is a result of people dropping out of the workforce or being underemployed. The stock market will improve overall, but only because of industries and businesses that are well-situated to weather the economic turmoil; numerous new or small companies with large debts will fail to thrive and either go under entirely or be sold off at fire-sale prices.

In religion: One of the more liberal church bodies will come right out and officially adopt a statement that separates it from any real Christian identity — not just a position statement, but a doctrinal denial.
In the LCMS, Matthew Harrison will be handily re-elected president, but the more “moderate” forces in the synod will have begun openly talking about leaving en masse to start a new church body if their positions and priorities are not “respected” more.
The Mormon church will continue to gain converts among Americans, and Islam will continue to grow at a rate eclipsing that of every Christian denomination – almost entirely by immigration and reproduction.

In climate: After two years of higher average temperatures, the US will experience a year of significantly lower average temperatures. The annual prediction of hurricane numbers and strength will again be wrong.

Following on the EU’s win in 2012, the African Union will win the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, for its peacekeeping efforts in Liberia, Burundi, Congo, Sudan, etc. The African Standby Force finally gets going when China agrees to fund and equip it, in exchange for big economic advantages on a more stable continent.

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Hillary Clinton will resign citing health reasons.

Congress will continue its fiscal bickering.

Some courts will begin dismantling the Health Care bill. Others will uphold it.

The Second installment of the Hobbit will be released.

Disney will announce that director for Episode 7 is Joss Wedon and the screen play will be adapted from 1st book of the Thrawn Trilogy. Fanboys will both rage and cheer when Nathan Fillion is cast as Han Solo, Anne Hathaway as Leia, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is cast as Luke.

Texas A&M will BTHO OU in the Cotton Bowl. Alabama will win the championship. And the Redskins will win the Superbowl.

Here goes:
1) Merkel is returned as Chancellor in 2013. The CDU/CSU either gets a majority of the seats or comes very very close.
2) Another Middle East War.
3) Another US recession.
4) Australia will give the Liberals/Nationals a majority.
5) Another Supreme Court Justice will be replaced.
6) Significant elements of Obamacare will be waived due to job losses.
7) A new Pope in 2013.
8) Senator Labrador
9) The return of Pepsi Crystal/Clear (more a hope than a prediction).

I predict that we will start to see more of the outcome from the Arab Spring in the form of intra-Arab fighting among new and previous nations.

A major cyber attack will come from Iran directed at either the US or Israel. For the sake of specificity it will target a major banking company. Cyber warfare incidents will escalate from the US, Russia, and China.

Relations between Georgia and Russian will lower even more after further incidents in South Ossetia. Georgia will be added as a NATO member.

The US will become embroiled in African conflicts as the 2nd BDE 1st ID deploys in advisor roles to African countries. The US will begin building military bases with greater access to Africa starting in Botswana.

Iceland will vote against joining the EU. The UK will withdraw, or at least have a looser association as an associate member.

A major volcanic eruption will occur in the Cascades, I’m guessing Glacier Peak.

Conservatives in the US will go back on some of their previous views and will start aggressively supporting looser copyright laws, pro-marijuana, and immigration reform.

Brazil will win the FIFA Confederation Cup

Those are my predictions, not really sure how accurate they will be (and some I don’t really want to happen) but they are mostly just my educated guesses.

Ok, I am going to go out on a limb on these in the off chance that I am right.

1. iPhone will lose its dominance in the smart phone market and be replaced with Android phones in the lead.

2. Tim Tebow will be the quarterback for an NFL team other than the Jaguars (as is commonly expected.)

3. At some point in 2013 the oil boom from the Bakken formation will lower gas prices down below $3 a gallon average for the year.

4. The second installment of the Hobbit (2) will do well at the box office but it will be critically panned and bellyached by fans even more so than the first installment.

5. Seattle pastor, Mark Driscoll, will have a public fall from grace due to pride. (this is my fear, not what I hope will happen)

6. Alabama is declared winner of the National Championship of college football by voters even before a game is played. Just kidding.

Disney will announce that director for Episode 7 is Joss Wedon … (@ 18)

Nah. The challenge facing Disney is to recapture the magic of the original trilogy. Whedon couldn’t even recapture the magic of his own Firefly series with the Serenity movie. Plus Disney needs a currently hot director on board to create a buzz that counters negative expectations. If 2013′s Gravity proves to be as incredible as all the talk says it will be, then Alfonso Cuaron will be the hot pick for a big sci-fi/fantasy directing job. (He has Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men in his resume already, i.e., tons of approval from fans and critics.) But I’m not making this a prediction, because Cuaron may not want to do another sci-fi movie right away.

Washington Nat’s beat the K.C. Royals for the Series in 7 games.
The Supremes rule in favor of same-sex marriage.
The Supremes also uphold the ACA with regards to birth control.
Hobby Lobby goes bankrupt (and I applaud), due to the above.
Les Misérables totally OWNS the Academy Awards, even though Hobbit surpasses it in box office $.
Pat Robertson dies.
Fidel Castro dies.
In light of the above, the ban is lifted on Americans traveling to Cuba.

Other Gary,

Not to hijack the thread–though I assume you are hoping for responses–but why would you applaud the bankruptcy of Hobby Lobby, particularly if such bankruptcy is due directly to a coercive federal law? Am I reading your remark correctly? That would mean the destruction of 21,000 American jobs and the deduction of $2.3 billion from the American economy. Plus, if you’re a “crafty” person, it would mean the loss of a great store, regardless of whether you agree with its leader’s religious principles. All that to prove a political point? And not even a good one: the notion that the federal government should be able to force people to violate their religious beliefs, and punish those who don’t conform!

Interesting.

I’ll make my own prediction on this front, though: SCOTUS will either strike down or amend the HHS mandate on First Amendment grounds. Though the ACA was an open question, I don’t really see constitutional grounds for upholding the HHS mandate. I could be wrong, but upholding it would represent a rather dramatic revision of our First Amendment law, methinks.

Although I wish I could predict the bankruptcy of Monsanto. At least that’s an evil company. Hobby Lobby sells affordable craft supplies while playing hymns over the speakers.

ADM is more evil than Monsanto.

The ACA will be abandoned in large part when it is determined that the federal government completely lacks the institutional capacity to administer it as written. Then again they don’t have the capacity to administer the DHS either, but that monstrosity manages to shamble on due to the sort of crony politics that the DC pols regularly engage in.

Further prediction: the DC area will be the only economic area experiencing job growth outside the red state zones in 2013.

I’ll make one more prediction, this time in foreign affairs, but it’s an either/or:
Either Iran will, before the end of 2013, announce that it has achieved nuclear capability and the leadership of the US and Europe will be shocked, shocked, that this happened despite all their “best efforts” to forestall it through diplomatic means,
OR
Before the end of 2013, a horrific “accident” will take place in Iran, wiping out the nation’s nuclear program, its top scientist, its equipment, most of a mountain, and creating between 100,000 and 1,000,000 casualties (some dying immediately, others much more slowly), and the leadership of the US and Israel will be shocked, shocked at the enormity and timing of the tragedy.

the Kings or the Red Wings will win the Stanley Cup- IF HOCKEY EVER COME BACK!!

Because of the speed and increase in cyber technology – big government will become redundant- and we will go back to the percepts of the Founders (including the Black Regiment-(Pastors))–and regain the Republic–with less government intervention…

OK- I can DREAM – Can’t I!?!

Carol-CS

1.) There will be a scandal about homeschooling due to some wacko polygamist living in the middle-of-no-where-ville with 32 kids, which will spark a media slam fest on how the “religious right” is just like the Taliban.
2.) N T Wright will release his long awaited big book on Paul, that will disappoint his readers by failing to be clear about his controversial views about imputation, justification and the Jewish nature of Paul’s writings.
3.) Rob Bell will launch his new TV series which will flop. He will then release a controversial book about homosexuality that will put him back in the limelight.
4.) Tim Tebow will play for a team that will start him, he will win the Super Bowl and be MVP
5.) NHL Hockey will come back, but only die hard fans and Canadians will notice, since everyone will be watching soccer since more American players will be going to Europe.
6.) Three huge natural disasters will strike the United States, an earthquake out west will flatten LA, followed by wildfires that will spread to San Francisco, and a giant hurricane in Florida will devastate Disney land.
7.) Child pornography will be legalized in several European countries, but will get little media attention (I don’t like it any more than you do, but I’m just being honest).

Fred Phelps will die. This will not, however, prove to be the end of the Westboro Baptist “Church”, which will continue to fund its headline-making with lawsuits. Or do they fund their lawsuits with headline-making? Whichever. The guy’s 83. It’s a reasonable guess (though not, as such, a wish).

I’m having a hard time remembering why we (or at least the I part of we) were all worked up about the EU at this time last year. Maybe it’s just the news sources I read, but there doesn’t appear to be as much agitation in that area right now. Which means it’s a better year to make predictions in that area (since 2013′s headlines will almost certainly not look like the news of late 2012, upon which most predictions are invariably based). Accordingly, I’ll postulate some sort of retaliatory action within the EU against one or more member states. Maybe military (troops massing), more likely monetary. I have no idea if the EU rules even provide for things like that, but I’m shooting for the moon here.

Other guesses of who will die in 2013: Jimmy Carter, and, I don’t know, Hu Jintao.

If Fred Phelps dies, it will be because FOX News gave him a heart attack:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/12/fox-news-westboro-baptist-church-left-wing-cult/60340/

1. The Crimson Tide will whip Notre Dame and win their third, yes third BCS championship in four years.
2. Yield on Japanese govt bonds will increase by 200 basis points by the end of the summer and the fear of default will roil the markets.
3. In a way hard to quantify we’ll see a Gospel movement in the middle east.
4. Saban stays at Bama.
5. The Tide will roll!

@#22 How can you say Joss Wedon is not currently hot? Did you completely miss the Avengers?

Please not Alfonso Cuaron Prisoner of Azkaban sucked hard. I completely stopped watching the Harry Potter movies because of that travesty.

The Avengers? Exactly. He’s going to be busy writing and directing the sequel (s). And an upcoming Marvel television series, S.H.I.E.L.D. So it looks like he’ll be caught up in comics-based projects for a while.

By “currently hot” I meant in 2013/2014, when principal photography on Episode VII will have to begin for a Summer 2015 release (because of all the post-production work). Again, Whedon will be busy with other things for a year or two, which is something you have to consider when trying to guess which director Disney will pick.

Prisoner of Azkaban has a 90% critics, 85% audience rating at Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty darn good. (People can be convinced to give an unpopular movie a try, but it’s hard to convince people that they shouldn’t bother with a popular one – just because you didn’t like it yourself.)

It’s really tough to make predictions, esply about the future!

A SCOTUS decision forces all 50 states to recognize homosexual “marriage”, as well as the federal government.

The problem with repealing the 22nd Amendment is that Clinton would wipe the floor with the sitting president in a 1-on-1 race (he enjoyed being pres the first time, and his convention speech showed just how much he towers over his successor). I doubt the current president would want to chance it.

1. Israel will gain more ground in the days ahead, and contuine to build on East jerusalem.
2. America’s East Coast will be under God’s judgment for its sinns of abortions, sins of nelgecting the poor, the widows, and orphans.
3. Obama will finish whole Second term.
4. America will have less than friendly relationship with Israel, they will pressure Israel to give up land, but Israel will refuse.
5. Christians will go cold, back slid, go out into the world, publicly blaame God for their trails, money woes, fears, and look up tp heaven and curse God to His faace.
6. If one could see Spiritually and look on the land of the U.S.; you would see a black huge cloud starting to cover the land and the strom is already hitting us.
7. Fear will be in more peoples lives for the things they see coming, and the things that are entered into their lives.
8. Famine: a lack of eveything! Spiritual, material,, and emotional support will just fade away for thos who do not draw close to God.
9.Disobedience for Chrisitans: many christians will hear from God, but give their backs instead of their face to God and obey Him, so they too will experience ruin in their family.
10. More Christians will turn away from traidtional religion to try abd find answrs, many Pastors will fare lose of memberships, and tihes, and will becaome bitter and strike out and slay the sheep that they once feeed off and got wealthy on.
Because of their loss of wealthy, their wives will have affairs with wealthy men in the chruch, and even leave them in divorce.
11. Children will become bitter t thier parents for their lies, and will trun to God to find the true Lord jesus Christ, and when they do, the parents will attack their own children for showing them up.
12. If you live on the East coast of the U.S. ; MOVE AWAY QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. EAST U.S. NEW YORK, & ALL 13 FOUNDING COLONIES WILL RECEIVE TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS.
13. The Bible Belt: Will lose more people in their chruches, some chruch building will close for lack of support.
14. Same sex marriage will gain more ground as our leaders give in and allow this to happen.

2013 will be a good year. The number 13 will play no bad luck factor. In fact, 2012 was supposed to be special because of the number 12, but it was characterized by election struggles, etc.

1. The world’s economy will continue to show marginal growth.
2. Hollande will step back from his more extreme Socialist tendencies.
3. Abortions will continue to go down, marginally as they have for the last number of years.
4. Church attendance (in the US) will fall, slightly faster than before, with the median age of attendees increasing.
5. Mandela dies.
6. Because of Keystone protests, plans proceed rapidly for a Trans-Canadian pipeline, utilizing Quebec’s refineries.
7. Huckabee and Biden say some stupid things.
8. Congressional approval ratings fall much further.