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And onto 2023...
3 years ago
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And doth the Drygerskunk posteth: 2022 is behind us. We survived another one... and boy did a lot get shaken out. We finally got some tax returns, some revelations, and some disappointments.
Lets see how I did on my predictions last year:
Trump Corp is still around, but there's heavy lawsuits from New York coming around. Criminal charges were filed, although the social media platform "Trump Social" is still around. The finances got pushed to the public, so... maybe. "Presidential Privilege" for former presidents failed numerous times. The Jan 6th Committee practically marked Donald Trump as an insurrectionist, but it needs at least a full bill or Congressional Resolution to mark him as such and prevent him from running under the 14th Amendment. Everything else is still up in the air.
Fox News is still around but still had to deal with the Dominion lawsuit... and it's being drug through the courts. Fox News is trying to push up protections but Dominion's aiming at management... and it seems to be working. This has to carry over as well. (OANN is practically off the air and in danger of dying)
Entertainment wise, the Warner Bros Discovery merger resulted in a ton of shake-up. Some better industry analysts think there's a reboot for DC in the wings due to the new ownership. Disney, on the other hand, may be in even more trouble as the timing behind firing CEO Bob Chapek and bring back CEO Bob Iger close after cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy is very suspicious. That was a shock, and tells me Disney is in more trouble than expected.
Pandemic wise, we're coming back to normal. We got the Omnicron-centered booster as a separate shot. The economy has a ton of inflation, which even I am feeling. A strike was averted with train companies and their unions... but in a very unfair manner, and shows that rail companies need to lay down more track if it wants to stretch trains out...
Which gets into an opinion piece I found off the Daily Kos: Southwest's meltdown shows the Friedman Doctrine is a disaster waiting to happen. I'll give you the summary: The doctrine or practice of maximizing shareholder value (and thus return on investment) at the expense of everything else in an unregulated environment leads to so many breakdowns and eventually a regulated environment.
So what does the future hold?
With the US Government, the Republicans will be forced to change. They're being called out for numerous issues, including the mess that is Trump. They barely have a House of Representatives and can't get it's own house in order before the start of Congress. I think the next two years will be messy, and we'll get a legal requirement for the President, Vice President, Supreme Court Judges, Congress Critters (Reps and Senators), and those running for said offices to disclose their tax returns.
With Trump himself and his company, I still think the company will go into receivership or even bankruptcy. Trump's tax returns point to that, and the more the press digs deeper, the more of Trump's life will show. I still think Trump will end up jailed for financial crimes, and he'll be prevented from running for office (he'll definitely lose 2024).
I still think Fox News and OANN are on a death watch, although I also think far-side news agencies are struggling as well.
I think airlines and railroads will get more regulated. Standards for computerized routing and scheduling will be made and adopted.
Entertainment wise, I think WB Discovery's in good hands. Disney may start selling parts, like Fox Studios or ABC/ESPN, or consolidating, as there's a ton of finical problems there. There was a ton of overlap before the pandemic. The next few years will be chaotic for Disney. 2023 will be the year "force-preaching the woke" dies.
What do you say? What other predictions would you make given the evidence available to you?
Lets see how I did on my predictions last year:
Trump Corp is still around, but there's heavy lawsuits from New York coming around. Criminal charges were filed, although the social media platform "Trump Social" is still around. The finances got pushed to the public, so... maybe. "Presidential Privilege" for former presidents failed numerous times. The Jan 6th Committee practically marked Donald Trump as an insurrectionist, but it needs at least a full bill or Congressional Resolution to mark him as such and prevent him from running under the 14th Amendment. Everything else is still up in the air.
Fox News is still around but still had to deal with the Dominion lawsuit... and it's being drug through the courts. Fox News is trying to push up protections but Dominion's aiming at management... and it seems to be working. This has to carry over as well. (OANN is practically off the air and in danger of dying)
Entertainment wise, the Warner Bros Discovery merger resulted in a ton of shake-up. Some better industry analysts think there's a reboot for DC in the wings due to the new ownership. Disney, on the other hand, may be in even more trouble as the timing behind firing CEO Bob Chapek and bring back CEO Bob Iger close after cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy is very suspicious. That was a shock, and tells me Disney is in more trouble than expected.
Pandemic wise, we're coming back to normal. We got the Omnicron-centered booster as a separate shot. The economy has a ton of inflation, which even I am feeling. A strike was averted with train companies and their unions... but in a very unfair manner, and shows that rail companies need to lay down more track if it wants to stretch trains out...
Which gets into an opinion piece I found off the Daily Kos: Southwest's meltdown shows the Friedman Doctrine is a disaster waiting to happen. I'll give you the summary: The doctrine or practice of maximizing shareholder value (and thus return on investment) at the expense of everything else in an unregulated environment leads to so many breakdowns and eventually a regulated environment.
So what does the future hold?
With the US Government, the Republicans will be forced to change. They're being called out for numerous issues, including the mess that is Trump. They barely have a House of Representatives and can't get it's own house in order before the start of Congress. I think the next two years will be messy, and we'll get a legal requirement for the President, Vice President, Supreme Court Judges, Congress Critters (Reps and Senators), and those running for said offices to disclose their tax returns.
With Trump himself and his company, I still think the company will go into receivership or even bankruptcy. Trump's tax returns point to that, and the more the press digs deeper, the more of Trump's life will show. I still think Trump will end up jailed for financial crimes, and he'll be prevented from running for office (he'll definitely lose 2024).
I still think Fox News and OANN are on a death watch, although I also think far-side news agencies are struggling as well.
I think airlines and railroads will get more regulated. Standards for computerized routing and scheduling will be made and adopted.
Entertainment wise, I think WB Discovery's in good hands. Disney may start selling parts, like Fox Studios or ABC/ESPN, or consolidating, as there's a ton of finical problems there. There was a ton of overlap before the pandemic. The next few years will be chaotic for Disney. 2023 will be the year "force-preaching the woke" dies.
What do you say? What other predictions would you make given the evidence available to you?
I'm not sure there are that many people who are even aware of all the facist things DeSantis has been doing in Florida. And even if they are a percentage of them may feel like the rest of the government can keep him in check (even though this thinking didn't stop Trump from causing incredible damage to the US). Basically I don't hold the intelligence of my countrymen in high regard, and I feel they'll forget a lot of the things we learned from the Trump years.
I don't like being preached to. I stopped watching MSNBC because of that crap. It has no place in fiction when it replaces actual story telling. If there's no plot and I'm being preached to, then the movie is horri-bad beyond "so bad it's good" and deserves to bomb.
I'm pretty sure DC is dead. James Gunn is going to try to reboot it, but the money won't be there to do a shared universe thing and the first movie that bombs will cause the whole thing to fizzle out. I predict the studio will get cold feet faster than Mr. Gunn anticipates and someone will move to block him either by not granting him funds or by pulling an executive card and meddling.
I think Marvel has also jumped the shark. The addition of X-Men elements will raise interest in it again but is coming along too slow, while Avengers things are happening too fast. Marvel's stance on not re-casting could also end up blowing its foot off if someone absolutely crucial becomes injured or dies. The studio has gotten to the point where one little thing going wrong could potentially de-rail everything. It was only luck by which they were able to conclude the first arc and I'm grateful God granted us that.
I think Trump will be in jail by the end of the year, either for fraud or sedition or espionage. Twitter is going to die, and Truth Social will probably die too once Trump is in jail. I think the Republicans will cripple the United States with revenge politics aimed at the Justice Department, and our enemies will take advantage of that. There will likely be an increasing amount of terrorist attacks from right-wing groups and more fecklessness form law enforcement.
I think honestly that rail will start converting to AI. I can see Musk reaching out to them in desperation after Twitter burns. Self-Driving Cars have been past the proof-of-concept phase for a while now even though it's not completely trustworthy yet. Trains being on rails eliminates a lot of the variables. Could be the first instance we see mass firings and replacement of humans by computers. The airline industry will probably end up under government control/regulation but it's not going to be complete until 24/25 because representatives bought by the airlines will delay it.
Also, I don't think the coming recession will be quite as bad as everyone is making it out to be, unless if another international catastrophe happens.
Marvel, owned by Disney... yeah, that's on the death watch for sure.
DC though...I expect the reboot will fail and it'll get killed stone dead. Flash and Aquaman 2 will both set up stuff that isn't going to happen now (WW3 was cancelled, Henry Cavill was fired). Whatever James Gunn does will cause a disconnect with fans and even if his first few attempts manage to get past it and are great showings, the first one he promotes that flops will give investors cold feet. Mr. Zazlov can feel however he wants to about it; ultimately stuff's not going to get made if the money isn't there. I just don't see folks sticking around after they pissed away all that cash on a franchise they are now having to give up on since their lynch-pin Justice League film was such a failure.
I would like to be wrong. There's no reason why DC can't enjoy the same success Marvel has, and they have shown that they can on occasion make good movies with the material. But the realist in me is pretty sure they've blown it and that the last-ditch effort they're making now isn't going to help.