Diggapredictions for 2011

Digganomics
US GDP will grow by 4% in 2011
Unemployment will drop to a still unacceptable 8.5%
By Q4 the Federal Reserve will be seriously considering a rate hike

Diggapolitics
Darrel Issa (R-CA) will appear on the Sunday Talk Shows more often any other Republican with the exception of Boehner and McConnell.
Without an Omnibus spending bill in place and with funding only in place to run the government through March, expect the incoming Tea Party and pro-business Republicans to begin their assault on defunding key elements of the Affordable Healthcare and Financial Reform Acts.
Thirteen Republicans will announce Presidential intentions: Barbour, Pence, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Daniels, Thune, Huckabee, Romney, Ron Paul, Greenspon, Karger, Santorum, and Cain.  Palin will NOT.

Diggasports
Patriots defeat Falcons 37 – 31 in Super Bowl XLV in Texas.
Auburn defeats Oregon for national championship 35-34.  Cam Newton drafted by Carolina Panthers in April.
Red Sox defeat Phillies 4-3.  Adrian Gonzalez is Series MVP.
Jack Del Rio, Gary Kubiak, Tom Coughlin, John Fox, Mike Singletary, Norv Turner, Marvin Lewis will be seeking new work.

Digganews
Realizing Karzai isn’t a reliable partner and Pakistan will not clamp down on the Taliban, US switches it’s Afghanistan strategy to containment of Al Qaeda similar to approach in the Arabian peninsula and begins troop drawdown on schedule.
More South Asian nations embrace the US as regional fears of China’s increasingly nationalistic actions.
Sanctions against Iran bolstered by Russian support lead increased civil unrest as prices skyrocket and Ahmadinejad and his security forces clamp down harder.
The UN Special Tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri will release its findings and will implicate Hezbollah and Iran.  Secretary of State Clinton will earn her salary as she tries to prevent a new Lebanese Civil War.
Credit crises in Europe will lead to further austerity measures and protests in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.  This will drive further anti-immigration rhetoric and legislation across the continent, increased  neo-nazi and nationalistic activities, and new terrorist attacks in European cities.
Russia will continue on its course of human rights violations, private property seizures, corruption, and suppression of all opposition voices.  Worse, this approach will foment similar totalitarian governments in Hungary and Ukraine.

Diggatainment
Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Social Network, Hailee Steinfeld, and Christian Bale walk away with Oscars.
Kanye West will say something stupid.
AMC, FX, HBO, and Showtime will air the best dramas on TV because network serial drama is dead.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Secular American Jew and a Love for Israel

As many of you know, I have dedicated many postings to the State of Israel on a range of topics including: it’s history, the present day government, the Jewish-Palestinian question, and the region in general.   Growing up in a liberal conservative Jewish household (the oxymoron is quite common as American Jews were almost exclusively political liberals and the conservative branch of Judaism the most common) and attending Hebrew school as a kid you obviously build an affinity for the State of Israel.   I do not remember the Six-Day War of 1967, but I have vivid memories of celebrating Israel’s 25 th anniversary in 1973 and the Yom Kippur War later that year.   As a ten year old attending Yom Kippur services I saw the worried looks on my parents and the other adults at the shul as members of the congregation would periodically step outside to get news reports from car radios and transistor radios (We still drove and used electrical appliances during the high holidays, though several fam
Read more

September 10, 2001 was a Monday

Where were you on September 10, 2001?   What were you worried about?   What occupied your thoughts, worries, hopes, and dreams?   What were you excited about?   What were you interested in? September 10, 2001 was a Monday. Cindy and I were still laughing about the recent visit from the Three Amigas: Leah, Roseanne, and Valerie, and the adventures of Sedona, a certain screen door, a forgotten carrot cake, and breakfast for champions.   We were also dealing with a 1995 Chevy Blazer that seemed to be on its last legs, surviving our first Arizona summer, thinking about what to remodel in the house, dealing with the concept of a Home Owners Association, thinking that my best shot at a World Series game maybe with the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks, and looking forward to a visit from Scott, Lori, and the boys. But what about America?   We knew nothing about a tiny town in Pennsylvania called Shanksville; Guantanamo Bay was the setting for A Few Good Men, and we still taped shows and listene
Read more

Sunni and Shia: So who are the bad guys again?

Baby faces vs. heals?   Cowboys vs Indians?   Good guy always where the white hat.   “Dig is he a good guy or bad guy?”   Bad guys always, looked, well, bad. You’re either with us or you’re against us.   Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the axis of evil. Americans, for the most part, have a pretty simple outlook on conflict: just tell us who the bad guys are and we’ll know who to root against.   We tend to lump similar races and peoples into larger buckets, mostly due to the media’s inclination to treat us like potential Jeff Foxworthy competitors.   But the world is anything but simple and as I have written previously, the Middle East is as confusing and confounding place as you can find.   During the Iran and Iraq war of the 1980’s most Americans took the position that “…as long as they kill each other, I’m good.”   When civil war ravaged Afghanistan, we joined the side of the Mujahedeen because they were fighting the Soviets and the Soviets were our archenemy, a position they occupie
Read more