Guesswork. 2025 Approaches. Is This Love?
Quote of the Week: “Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of ordinary people.” – Charles Kettering
- Last year at this time I took a stab at some 2024 predictions. Though some of these may have been MOTO (Master of the Obvious), here is what I predicted one year ago:
The global economy will improve, and the U.S. will lead the way with a slow recovery led by the Fed methodically lowering EFFR, better known as the Fed rate. I would say that this prediction came true (based on your definition of the economy).
Continued regulation regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not get in the way of this technology being part of our everyday lives. This prediction was valid with AI now part of everyone’s everyday lives.
The continued severity of global climate events will dictate governments stepping in with more regulation, specifically surrounding carbon emissions. Though some countries have strengthened their carbon emission standards, this prediction was wrong.
Further advancements with healthcare technology and research will lead the way to breakthroughs helping to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, only to a small degree.
Accessible commercial space travel to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere becomes available this year. True, via Virgin Galactic and Space Perspective.
United States astronauts will return to the moon – including the first woman to step on that surface. False, as NASA has postponed the Artemis II mission to ensure crew safety.
The Israel-Hamas conflict will wage on through the end of the year. True, unfortunately.
The Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl and France will be the Euro 2024 champion. False. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl and Spain claimed the Euro 2024 title.
The U.S. presidential election. Nope, I am not going there. :) One year ago, how many of you really thought that Donald Trump would be reelected?
2025 promises to be an interesting year for many reasons. Instead of me providing a few predictions for next year, it would be great for each of you to provide me with one prediction for 2025. Any subject matter is okay with me, as it is your take, not mine. I will roll up the predictions I receive, publish them in January, and then we can look at them again at year-end 2025. You can email me or put your prediction in the Comments section. Thanks.
What I am thinking as we head into the new year:
- Does Bashar al-Assad’s departure as Syria’s president change the political landscape of Syria and the Middle East?
- The legacy of President Joseph Biden.
- Will the universities of Texas and Georgia meet for the third time this season, this time in the January 20th college football playoff final?
- Three years of warfare as of February 2025. Will the Russia-Ukraine war ever end?
- Completely forgetting everything watching Billy Bob Thornton in the series “Landman.” As they say in some parts of America: “he ayent rite.”
- Will mortgage rates continue to drop through Q1 of 2025?
- The drone syndrome everyone is too over-the-top about is good fun…until NORAD or the U.S. Air Force discovers that they are not actually drones. 🙂
- De’Vondre Campbell – I am not condoning his actions last Thursday night as he refused to enter the field and play for the San Francisco 49ers. With that said, let’s remember that professional athletes could have some of the same issues as anyone else. Before his coach, teammates, fans, and the media bash him completely, it might be a good idea to find out how we might help him.
- The holiday stars have aligned as Christmas day is December 25th, Hanukkah starts December 25th, and Kwanzaa starts December 26th. I know little about Kwanzaa and found this description of the holiday from The National Museum of African American History and Culture: “During the week of Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture,” read the museum’s Kwanzaa guide. “Each day they light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities, such as reciting the sayings or writings of great Black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing a meal of African diaspora-inspired foods.”
- Whether you celebrate a holiday or not, I hope that your 2025 brings health and happiness.
Pure Talent. The band Whitesnake was put together in the late 1970’s as a backup band for singer David Coverdale, who had cut his teeth with the band Deep Purple. Many people pigeonholed Whitesnake as a ‘hair band’, but in reality, their music was blues rock, or as some music pundits called it, “bluesy, sexed-up pub-rock.” Coverdale’s voice, the lyrics, and the music reinforces my ever-lasting belief that the 1980’s were the best time for music. It does not get much better than the guitar riff at the 2:40 mark.
A friend gives me grief for my description of “Is This Love” as a rock ballad, but there is no doubt that David Coverdale and Whitesnake are Pure Talent.