The Future of Markets

Questions arose as to what the future will be in regard to who it shall be who has the power?  Well, we know the answer already and it has been the same for many thousands of years:  those who have the ability to control buying and selling have the power.  Those who control markets have power.  Those who don't have none.  What has changed in those thousands of years are the nature of what is bought and sold, from commodities to services.  What will be sold in the future?  That answer is obvious also: promises of physical immortality.  Those persons and firms who shall have control of the markets for the buying and the selling of the promises of physical immortality shall have great power in the future.  Non-mortality is the prime future market.

Prediction No. 15

Municipalities with unemployment rates above twenty-five percent shall be filing for Chapter 9 protection under the Bankruptcy Code. The problem such municipalities face is indebtedness on municipal bonds against which future tax receipts were pledged. Those receipts shall not be paid as most municipalities rely upon its property taxes for daily operational revenue. Property taxes are based upon assessments of value for structures. Any municipality that has experienced high unemployment has also experienced a corresponding decline in the valuations of property. In a municipality experiencing twenty-five percent unemployment, decline in its property values has been far more than fifty percent. It means a municipality can't pay non-discretionary expenses, such as the pensions and medial insurance premiums for its retirees, in addition to those interest payments due upon its debt obligations. Municipalities shall therefore begin filing for protection under the bankruptcy code, beginning with those cities and towns situated in Michigan (Detroit). Those cities and towns which had depended upon manufacturing and construction and mining as sources of income for residents shall eventually follow Detroit's example by filing for bankruptcy. For every position that is lost in manufacturing, or in construction, or in mining; there are seven positions lost in service related occupations. The US has over fifty thousand municipalities which issue obligations secured by future tax revenue from property tax receipts, totaling almost three trillion in municipal bonds. Most of the bonds are held in public pension plans for retiree benefits. When the municipalities fail so do the bonds of the municipalities and pensions holding the bonds.

Prediction No. 14

As we've stated before, some individual states, starting with the non-contiguous ones; shall be petitioning Congress for secession from the US. But what we didn't state clearly is why this shall happen. It's easy to predict the future when you do have visions. It's less easy to state why the future shall happen as it will. That's a separate ability. Anyone after all can make a prediction. Well, obviously, a state wishes secession because it's necessary for its survival as a state. States want to survive. What single event shall be the cause for such secession then? Well what would trigger the need, and it would have to be a necessity, for petitioning for secession? Health care costs! This is ironic, since normally a state thrives when its populace is healthy. When the US Congress passes its health care bill, America's Affordable Health Choices Act, as it shall do; its costs to the combined states shall exceed an additional quarter-trillion annually. The reason is: enormous expansion of medicaid (the bill mandates that any American not enrolled in another health care plan because he or she cannot afford the cost of premiums shall automatically be eligible for enrollment under Medicaid) to cover all the uninsured indigent and those who are nearly-indigent, whose numbers were greatly increased by the current credit crisis to more than forty million Americans, the same number currently receiving food-stamp assistance (many of whom suffer from chronic obesity-related diseases---again ironic, as they are receiving food-stamps). One-third of all Americans are obese, and amongst them are these uninsured indigent, and two hundred and fifty billion is spent each year on their obesity related chronic conditions. The Federal Government, mainly because of large increases in its military spending to cover its foreign wars, is broke. The USA runs trillion dollar deficits every fiscal year and can't pay for any additional costs for its medicaid programs; so it shall be passing the costs to the individual states, which will bankrupt the states. Of course, the solution is obvious---impose an excise tax of ten percent on all compensation in excess of $250,000. Since three-quarter trillion is already being spent on all health care in United States, each and every year, mainly paid by individuals and by businesses; these additional medicaid costs, to be borne by the states, is far too much to impose on the states' taxpayers (who because they are not indigent---they're taxpayers---won't benefit from expanded medicaid). They'll simply refuse to pay additional taxes. Although a rejection of additional taxation for the benefit of others shall be the nominal reason for taxpayers refusal to pay, the actual reasons for rejection will be religious, will be ethnic and cultural: many medicaid beneficiaries are of Hispanic (a quarter of Latinos in the USA are not insured now and as restrictions upon Latino emigration are lessened, the number of uninsured Latinos eligible for Medicaid enrollment increases) and/or African descent, and some practice Islam. The US Federal Government can't afford to make up for loss revenues to the states, as once the interest due to be paid on the USA's national debt equals or exceeds ten percent of any nation's GDP, interest on government debt becomes very difficult, almost impossible, to pay out to the owners of that debt---and in the US case, it's the Chinese and the Japanese sovereign wealth funds who own the federal US government's debt. It's not Americans. So, any state, if it wishes to survive as a state, hasn't any choice but to petition for secession from the union of all the states in order to remain solvent.

Prediction No. 13

States, which are artificial entities, survive as long as they serve their function of conserving the privileges of the elites which created them. Usually the state's elite consists of a single ethnic or cultural group which shares a common set of values, customs and beliefs. When the interests of the founding elite is no longer served by the state, or when another state more strongly serves the interests of the founding elite, the original purpose of the state has failed, and without that founding purpose, the state will also fail. If a new elite shall rise to replace the old, a new state arises with that new elite. It may well claim to be a continuance of the original state and might even use the same name; but, in reality, a new state has been formed to service the interests of a new oligarchy that has managed to replace the old. Such is the fate of all states and of all elites.

Prediction No. 12

Humanity happens to be a very boring species, and boring species may survive and might thrive for a while; but eventually they'll become extinct. Extinction is the fate for humanity, as it must be for all species. No species is immortal, although some might continue for a very long time. As we've pointed out, humanity is now splitting into two separate species: one, which lives a very short lifespan, but remains quite fertile, the majority of men; and one, which has a quite long lifespan, but is not as fertile, the minority of men. Now both of these groups do exist presently, but not as separate species (not yet anyway); yet the time is coming within the next twenty-five years when they shall split off from each other. What happens then? Those who are long-lived (having a life span in excess of a hundred, without any sign of either physical or psychological impairment or decrepitude) have very different attitudes and outlooks than those others, those who are short-lived. The concerns of the short-lived seem absolutely absurd and even frivolous to any who are long-lived. This is why the long-lived tend to abstain from the pursuits of those that don't live as long as they: they'll frankly find those pursuits, not only silly; but also boring.

Prediction No. 11

The United States spends over a half-trillion each fiscal year upon its military, despite having an annual trillion dollar deficit; regardless of which political party happens to be currently in power. Because of this vast difference in what the US spends on its military (a half-trillion), compared to the discretionary funds available to be spent (nothing), the primary mission of the armed forces of United States has been drastically shifted from its original purpose of protecting the domestic US citizenry from foreign attack and encroachment to one of serving and catering to the needs and ambitions of the principal creditors of America; in effect, making its military into a foreign mercenary legionary force.

Prediction No, 10

Some of the programs that governments run to meet their citizens' health needs are already now bankrupt. For instance, in the United States, the medicare and medicaid funds have no monies because monies allotted to those funds have already been fully expended to meet the interest payments due on treasury obligations. Payments from these funds go to meet long-term chronic care needs of the elderly, disabled and the indigent. Payments are especially high for those who are in their final year of life due to some terminal illness. Because there are no longer any funds to expend, society shall attempt to shorten the final period of terminal illness of dying patients through fostering assisted suicide for the terminally ill: no patient---no payment. Gradually the impetus towards voluntary assisted suicide, which exists now, shall be shifting from a voluntary decision initiated by the patient to states mandating compulsory suicide for all those deemed terminally ill. For those who have long-term chronic debilitating diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, state pressure to terminate life through suicide will be immense as the state shall have no monies available to pay for the extended care of those who are afflicted with these conditions.

Prediction No. 9

Because of the coming vast demographic changes, migration from the south to the north, the primary language spoken in the United States will have switched from American English to Mexican Spanish within twenty-five years. Many English speakers shall have already moved northward into Canada; so that Canadian English, with all of its spelling and pronunciation differences, will be the primary language for those Americans who do continue to speak English. Since, for all intents and purposes, the Chinese government will have ownership of America and of American assets (China is America's principal creditor and America will have defaulted on its treasury obligations), Mandarin will be taught in all public schools as a necessary part of the business curriculum. Naturally, in time, all three languages shall become synthesized; with a combination of Mandarin, Spanish and English becoming the common language for commerce.

Prediction No. 8

Once any nation's yearly fiscal deficit exceeds 120% of its yearly GDP, which would result in the interest to be paid on that government's total debt obligations exceeding twenty percent of its yearly GDP, that nation technically shall go into default. This is so because the interest on the nation's total debt can no longer be paid timely to all of the known owners of the nation's debt. And if this condition continues for several fiscal years, the country itself will have to go bankrupt, declaring its insolvency to all its debt owners, because the nation could never be able to pay off the entire principal on its obligations when they shall become due, and none would be willing to purchase any more of that nation's future debt obligations. This bankruptcy situation shall be happening in the US within the next twenty-five years. But because the owners of the US debt obligations won't be citizens of the United States (they'll be the sovereign funds controlled by other nations), the owners of US debt in default will effectively own the US and shall have an unobstructed access to all of the US A's national assets. USA assets will be auctioned off to pay these foreign creditors.

Prediction No. 7

People are fearful of liberty; they do desire immortality; however, fear of liberty and desire for immortality are directly contradictory. This contradiction will cause a divide amongst humanity; between those who desire security and those who desire immortality. The reason that some people, a very few, are not afraid of freedom is that they can see the future and this ability for foresight gives to them the opportunity to shape their own destiny, although they might choose not to exercise it for some reason (this is why religions and spiritual systems relying upon the will of a creator deity are inherently evil--there is no creator deity and the will that they are following is actually that of the clerics of this non-existent deity). It is also one reason why all socialistic systems of government are inherently evil. Even though a socialist state actually can exist (unlike the creator deity), total reliance upon any state for one's survival causes a loss to the individual immune response (literally, as the individual has not had an opportunity to protect himself or herself from destructive ideas, those consensus ideas of the socialist state. Since ideas do affect the brain and can cause lessening of immune responses, this loss can affect the body's ability to withstand future invasions by harmful virions and bacteria). Those who wish to live long then will migrate to states that give an individual greater liberty. This means a mass migration from some states, the socialist ones, to those of a more libertarian government. The result then is health administrating costs in socialistic states drastically rise, because more members of these states have poor immune systems. Costs skyrocket up, as most healthy members have already left, leaving the more vulnerable members remaining; resulting in state bankruptcy. Liberty is the necessary companion to life; they form a marriage: If you would live long; seek those states which are most free.

Prediction No. 6

Mixed martial arts, a misnomer as it doesn't contain all of the numerous weapons' techniques which had originally caused the origination of martial arts (boxing and wrestling having come from the usages of spear, staff and sword), will dominate world sports in the future. Families will be encouraged and subsidized to have children specifically bred and trained, so as to have ample numbers of participants willing to compete and to die within these simple contests, which shall become more and more dangerous to the lives and limbs of the contestants. Mixed martial arts contests shall become increasingly brutal, with many deaths occurring, because of government sanctioned public legal betting upon the outcomes of the contests, with a portion of that gambling revenue accruing and going to the state.

Prediction No. 5

Long term unemployment, people out of work five months or more, shall continue to rise in the United States; although it will level off in those other industrial nations whose primary language happens to be English. This rise in long term unemployment means that those with employable skills shall be seeking employment in countries other than the United States. The population of the United States shall continue to rise, particularly amongst those residents of America who are unable to converse in standard English and who are also unemployable. So, there shall be both a net migration leaving the United States of those employable and English speaking, and also a net immigration into the United States of those who're unemployable and are non-English speaking. In twenty-five years, a majority of those persons actually living in America shall be unemployed non-English speakers.

Prediction No.4

In a quarter century, most of the smarter people will have moved out from United States and up into Canada. This shall cause a drastic diminution in the mean score for intellectual ability in the United States (the average American will be dumber) and shall further accelerate the USA's economic decline, while simultaneously raising the status of Canada amongst the nations of the world. Because of its shale-nat-gas reserves, Canada will be the major exporter of natural gas in the world; not the middle eastern countries, as they are now. Natural gas is easily converted to hydrogen gas for further conversion for usage in transportation fuel cells, and Canada will be the main source for most natural gas. Alaska will have become an independent country in 25 years.

Prediction No. 3

In twenty-five years, most energy distribution will be accomplished through hybrid technology. There never was any energy shortage problem, but there was an energy distribution problem. The specific technology that will be employed is "thermal solar nat gas." Dynegy (DYN) and FPL Group (FPL) shall be the main wholesalers of this hybrid energy source in what will remain of the former America (states shall begin petitioning Congress to separate themselves off from the late United States). Both DYN and FPL are very good buys for all those interested in investing.

Prediction No. 2

In twenty-five years, a very small percentage of humanity (one percent of one percent) will have attained the age of 115 and above, and still be vigorous physically with all their mental faculties still intact. This will be due to tremendous advances in immunology. They will be acquiring the organs of others and shall be able to do so because of their affluence. In effect, they'll be in charge. They will be able to run for political office despite their advanced ages. The only advantage of age is experience, which gives one the ability to recognize recurring patterns; but because mental faculties decline so rapidly with age, experience is never any guarantee for wisdom. Now it can be.

Prediction No. 1

The world will look entirely different in twenty-five years. There will be many more wars over religion and over ethnicity. The United States will lose those states that are not continguous and a few that are. Canada will emerge as a dominant nation. United States will become increasingly poorer and far less influential. States will be petitioning for separation from the USA. Poverty shall be the norm there.