My Predictions for 2014

I just looked over my predictions for 2013. Here is one I got right:

All the goldbugs will continue to predict economic collapse. They will be wrong. The strength of the economic system will continue to amaze the naysayers. The dollar is headed up. In the US things will actually improve with modest growth. What do you expect to happen with the Fed printing 1 trillion dollars? Japan will implode, but not in 2013. Europe will implode as well, also not in 2013. The can will be kicked. Buy gold anyway. (Note I am not an investment advisor, but an unpaid satirist.) 

Let me repeat this prediction for 2014. I still expect a crisis relatively soon, but there is still some life, albeit artificial, in the "old gal" yet. 

Laying aside my tongue-in-cheek  predictions in honor of the Amazing Criswell, I got one right, one wrong, and one it is too soon to tell. 

I am surprised that Obama did not invade Syria, very surprised. I guess he looked at the polls in November and decided he did not need to. I cannot see him doing it now. The same with Iran. Of course my predicting it won't happen may be the strongest indication yet that he will intervene. 

It is too early to know how the Catholic Church will react if it is forced to pay for abortions for its secular employees in its non-church arms. I thought that they would shut down, or sell the institutions to straw buyers. Most of the court cases are going in favor of allowing employers to opt out. But since the Supreme Court already ruled that ObamaCare was legal, I wonder if they will modify this. 

So for 2013 I was 1-1-1. Not very good. Well, I could include my prediction about the royal baby to increase my score! Nah. (Yes, I know my suggestion to buy Gold was not a good short term move. I bought it as a put on the economy, so my loss of 20% on my entrance price was not too troubling.) 

So I am still predicting no crash for 2014. Gold will go up modestly. There may be some preliminary signs of "the wheels coming off the bus," but no more than that.  

It will be a cold winter in North America, not so cold in Eastern Europe.  

Twitter, Facebook and all such over-hyped stocks will plummet. Other stocks will decline, but only modestly.

Interest rates will rise. 

So that makes 4 somewhat serious predictions. Now on to the really important ones. 

I predict that a reality show star will run against Mary Landau for the senate in Louisiana.  He will sell more merchandise. 

President Biden will sign a law repealing ObamaCare.  

Men will marry men, and women women. Er ..., oh wait, never mind. 

People reading my blog will lose lots of weight and get healthier. 

All the predictions about Elvis being alive will die down when Andy Kaufman appears live on Saturday Night Live. He will sing the Mighty Mouse song. 

And finally, it will be discovered that Saudi Prince Bandar supported the 9-11 hijackers. No one will care. 

The Unknown Comic

I am old ... I know who the Unknown Comic is—but I had to look up his real name.

Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts has given an interesting interview. He covers all of the themes I have been harping on. The markets are manipulated through inside knowledge. The gold market in particular by what are called the bullion banks. It can't continue, so it won't. His conclusion that the people want their illusions echoes what I said Saturday. Roberts is one of the people I will continue to follow, even as I reduce my consumption and therefore my blogging of this kind of news. 

Here is the interview. 

Recovering Pharisee

While I am not a big country fan, that does not include Bluegrass! Here is one of my favorites:

Strawberry Fields Forever

As I mentioned last Monday, I plan to blog less about politics and economics, and more about things that might be helpful. Why did I decide this? Reading a blog post by Charles Smith called "What's Real? What's Fake?" solidified it for me. 

What is real in the political sphere? Not much. There were two kinds of prophets in ancient Israel just as there are two kinds of politicians today. If you don't say what the people want, you do not get reelected, or no one pays attention to your "prophecy." It is the same in economics. If you don't say what you are supposed to say, you do not get tenure. 

Hear is what God said to Israel about such people: 

The Lord told me to write down his message for his people, so that it would be there for ever. They have turned against the Lord and can't be trusted. They have refused his teaching and have said to his messengers and prophets: Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false. Stop telling us what God has said! We don't want to hear any more about the holy God of Israel. (Isaiah 30:8-11 CEVUK00)

It is the same mindset today. The politician who knows better, yet says what will get himself elected. The economist that thinks the answer to everything is to print more money. The preacher knows that if he says what the congregation needs, they will find someone else. It's just a job, not a calling. 

Yes, the economic numbers (the point of Smith's blog post) are not real. The political speeches you hear are not real either. They are lies. Am I telling you anything you don't already know? What happens if you live in that world of liars?  The apostle Paul, talking about those that think there is no resurrection from the dead, reminds us that “Bad company ruins good manners.” (1 Corinthians 15:30-33 MSG). Politics will ruin you. As my mentor, Ron Dart, was told by his mentor, Charles Dorothy, "If Satan can't get at you any other way, he will waste your time." That is the best you can expect from politics. Economics is not much better. Are you willing to be corrupted by these things? Are you willing to waste your time? 

In the words of John Lennon:

Let me take you down
Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

The political/economic world you are living in is not real. Open your eyes.