2018 PREDICTIONS OUT ON A LIMB

Every year in February, a hog emerges from his hole to see if he can visualize a shadow. Or at least that’s what the men in top hats compel us to believe.

And this time of year, as Christmas feelings of warmth wane down and turn into cold winds of a new year, I review the predictions I made one year back and delve deep into the coal mine crystal ball to come up with a new set.

A trying year deserves people to try a bit harder.

First, a link to last year’s predictions page: http://coalspeaker.com/2016/12/28/my-predictions-for-2017/   The page was created the final week of December. No cheating took place. It is what I said then, listed here, with commentary on accuracy in red.

1. Donald Trump is going to have a much more difficult time than expected. At least initially.  He will be besieged by protests and also by people within his own party. By the middle of the year, he will realize that by going directly to people above party leaders can motivate the electorate to accept some if his policies. I expect rallies by the end of the year to be a normal course of White House business.
   I think this turned to be extremely accurate.  It was a year if chaos! Russian intrigue! Monumental failures of public perception and legislation… followed by rallies held by Trump and a sense of ‘normalcy.’  The tax cut bill just passed… This prediction was the best I made in ages.
2. The stock market will hit 20,000 and stay within that range. By August we will be speculating when the market will hit 25,000.
   Again, this prediction is beyond accurate. NO ONE, and I mean no one, really believed this could happen. And just this month, CNN was writing articles about what DOW 25,000 really means,
3. Vladimir Putin will either visit the United States or Donald Trump will visit Russia. Either way a more united front will emerge.
   Accurate again. Trump gave information to Putin, Putin and Trump both showed love for each other at public venues. Putin did not visit the United States. But his entire team did on more than one occasion.
4. The weather in 2017 will be hot. As hot as 2016.. there may be slick spots of winter that emerge from time to time sporadically throughout the world, but the majority of the months to come will feature hotter than normal temperatures.
   Yes. 
5. The British Royal family will have to decide how to move forward after a tragic scenario.. there may be a new queen before 2018.
   The situation was not tragic. There was Royal news. A marriage is coming in 2018. And another baby. But no death.
6. Stephen Colbert may be facing cancellation in 2017. There is going to be a dramatic realignment of late night TV. People are tired of an obsessive amount of politics during the daytime hours. The nighttime should be sacred for comedy. People may turn on political version of such by rebelling against the Colbert program on CBS.
   I was completely, totally, and morbidly wrong on this ... I thought people would get sick of politics. Instead Colbert ended up being one of the TOP figures on TV in 2017..
7. BREXIT. Trump. I think France and Germany will have upheaval in 2017. The world is shaking like a post-earthquake atmosphere from the changes in 2016. Transitions something are sloppy. And we have somehow transitioned into something very different than we were in 16..
   Yes there was. But not earthquake nightmare status. Just your normal run of the crisis. I will say I got this one wrong.
8. Major hacking will reveal something in 2017. Either from Wikileaks, or a source not yet to be named. Secrets will become revealed in 2017 to make us question what type of reality we live in.
   Nothing more than usual. Half-right.
9. Though everyone seems to predict it, Donald Trump will be aggressive in NOT declaring war or bombing other nations. (This is a prediction, but also a prayer)
   A prayer came through in 2017. Maybe not 18. Yes, there were comments of ‘fire and fury’ but bombs, besides the typical daily drone strikes, did not occur. 
10. Virtual reality! All the rage in 2016! …..but just wait. I predict the opposite for 2017.
    I think I am half-correct here. The rage became more normal. It’s now a part of our daily existence.

And with that! We move on..
We move on to the new list. The great top ten predictions for 2018.

I don’t write what I hope or don’t hope what happens. It’s just what I think will happen.

1.  Donald Trump will not be impeached. He will not resign. He will not be placed into jail.  But he may be facing a crisis of epic proportions as the Russian investigation closes in on allies and friends. By the end the year we will be discussing who Trump will pardon.
2. The mid-term elections will be strange. The voter turnout will not be as high as some predict. Instead, in many states, Democrats will sweep. But in the reddest of states, Republicans will hold their base. The base, as small as it is becoming, will vote.  The Senate will go Democrat but the House will stay red.
3. CHINA is going to become the world superpower in 2018. Not ‘almost become.’ But become. They will thrive economically and be a major factor in the actions taken in North Korea.
4. The United States will continue to close in on Kim Jong UN. Action will not occur until Kim goes too far. The action taken will initially be defensive. However, a bombing campaign may take place in pinpointed locations in North Korea, with the goal to cause chaos for his ruling leaders, but not death.
5. Unfortunately a continuation of mass shootings and terror attacks will not only be less shocking but as normal as car accidents and heroin overdoses. We are living in an age of terror..
6. The Olympics in South Korea will be fine. Security will be tight. But there will also be a global lack of interest in the games.
7. There will be a revelation about life in space that could change and alter the course of humanity and earthly religions.
8. 2018 will be colder! It will be a marked change from the previous two decades. But 2018 will not end up being the hottest year in history. Maybe just the tenth or twelfth.
9. There may be a new King of England by year’s end.
10. The DOW will surge to 29,000. It will not hit 30,000. But then will fall. In the mean time, various new forms of bit currency will change the landscape of money as we know it.

And that’s a wrap!
We’ll check next year as the year changes to 2019 to see just how well, or unwell, I did.