(DV) Skog: What Will Happen in 2004?

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What Will Happen in 2004?
Safe Predictions for the New Year and Years to Come
by Jerre Skog
www.dissidentvoice.org
December 31, 2003

Nostradamus was a man who could write a sentence in a way that could apply to an unlimited number of occasions, events, times and persons. If you really try, you can read anything into one of his prophesies. On the other hand Nostradamus was cunning. Most things he foretold were perfectly logical even if outrageous. And old Nosty was nothing if not a shrewd observer of human psychology.

George W. Bush, Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney just aren't of that caliber. Those fumbling soothsayers told the American people and the world how the Iraqi people would embrace the "liberating" American forces, covering the soldiers with flowers, wetting their faces with kisses after they had won the war and settled down to occupational oil-stealing duties. Now it turned out that the flowers were more of the exploding device type and the kisses became more like slugs from AK47s. Suspicious individuals might believe that Bush & Co knew this all along -- they just lied -- but let's be generous and credit it to stupidity. The only ones who will write poems and symphonies for the "liberators" will be the new rulers, handpicked for obedience and corruptibility, by the invaders. Mr Ahmed Chalabi must be overwhelmed. Convicted criminals of his stature usually can't get a job even at McDonald's, much less as president. But it's nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you have backers who got it because they got it from friends in the Supreme Court.

So far not only the future but also the present and the past are either eluding the American ruling junta, or else their combined intellectual capacity -- OR their combined personal integrity -- is below allowing for the correct description of reality. We can expect to hear the comments from Bush "the Sillier" in 2004 to be on the same level as those in the year gone by. Not one digit correct!

So, as a service to all those who want to know what will really happen next year (and further on), here's a short glimpse. Out of necessity, details will not be given, so as not to induce investors to run and sell or buy certain stock, but the probability that in general the following things are going to happen can be estimated to be between 65.37% to 99.99% -- many predictions are sort of surgical swipes. Many of them will no doubt come true in 2004 but some others might take a few years longer. Some might even not come true! The predictions are conjecture but based, I hasten to add, on human and specifically American psychology, observed strong trends and previously demonstrated and solidly evidenced developments that show no signs of slowing down or reversing.

Be the first to know!! Don't follow CNN! Don't read CIA briefings!!

Just read this:

Since much of the world follows US trends, voluntarily, indoctrinated by US movies and TV shows or forced by economic and military necessity (bribes and bombs), this will be mostly about America. Occasionally some other areas may be specifically mentioned. What happens in the US usually hits Europe and other places in the world with a delay of 10 to 20 years -- the speed depends on so many factors that it's impossible to determine each variable and its ultimate effect on a specific area. What is important to know is that nobody is safe; there's always a McDonald's or a FBI/CIA agent lurking somewhere in the shadows. Knowing the course America takes aids the strength of the resistance against it. The one factor that the greedy baddies always forget is that human pride, power and integrity still exist.

Let's take it bit by bit like a pharma company swallows its competition.

The Markets and Economy.

Business will move forward in its old tracks, meaning more, new and bigger (con)fusions, amalgamations, buy-overs, steal-overs and friendly gobbling up. All of it accompanied by lower wages for those who do the job and excessive salaries for those who try to figure out how it could've been done when they were on holiday, the CEOs. The number of independent small businesses will shrink with a percentage even higher than the tax cuts for Bush's millionaire friends. If not in 2004, very soon; we can expect 91.83% (in round figures, give or take a few 0,000001s) of all industry, restaurants, shops, service establishments, health services, police departments, prisons and universities to be either owned or run by big corporations, possibly on a franchise basis. The military forces under Halliburton control (and profit) will go up at least by 18.3% and will have to accept wage cuts and inferior material to speed up hardware turnover. The forces under Halliburton command will receive their salaries in old Iraqi Dinars (there's a lot of those found in Iraq and the picture of Saddam can be manipulated to look like Cheney).

In a number of big corporations some CEOs will fiddle the figures, massage the statistics and cook the books to secure a heretofore unheard of number of millions for themselves, and after delaying tactics (until all the courts are run by McDonald franchises) nobody will do hard time.

The Dollar will continue its losing game against the Euro, thereby giving the world a glimmer of hope for the future as the printing of Dollars will no longer ensure American military superiority. More of world trade, including oil, will be done in Euro. The housing and loan bubbles will be close to bursting but will hold a little longer. Public attention to the disastrous economy will be diverted by patriotic speeches, flag waving and allegations that Gambia, Sudan and the Cayman Islands have weapons of mass destruction.

The judicial and penitentiary systems

McDonald's will in due time take over the courts and prisons, franchising areas where turnover is too slow. McCourts will decide who is guilty, McSentence will be passed and the guilty will be sent to McJail. In Texas and some other backward areas, selected black and poor white convicts will be served a Happy Meal before they get to meet McDeath. In jails the uniforms will in the future really be uniform. Same size all! Prisoners will be expected to serve as long as there are vacancies and do their time in a way that is most profitable for the company. If death row is empty, prisoners are expected to volunteer without pay. Lawyers will only be allowed arguments from a menu of 18, the 793-page work manual regulates the judge's decisions, and to speed up procedures each case will be allotted 6 min and 27 sec. before a verdict will be passed from a menu of the 12 top-sellers.

The Administration

This is an area where the predictions are 100% failsafe. At least 49 times the administration will refuse to disclose information to the US public or international community, invoking "national security" -- meaning that it's just too incriminating for the administration. Karl Rove will, once a month at a minimum, dream up a speech or a scheme which Bush will repeat, not understanding the meaning but presenting a patriotic image convincing at least 56% of the American voters to back him. Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell will over the following weeks echo Bush and still not risk being replaced by much cuter parrots. Paul Wolfowitz will at lest twice formulate a convincing excuse for US military incompetence but each time Donald Rumsfeld will confuse the issue and resort to confused ranting. Like: "The probability that we certainly will overcome resistance in Iraq is probably more uncertain than it was when we certainly thought that a probable cause for uncertain probability was more probable than certain. Probably!" The probability that Mr. Rumsfeld switches off his brain before opening his mouth in 2004 will be 98%. Mr. Bush will not find the "on" switch next year either and if he does he'll find it's connected to nothing.

The deregulation of everything that limit eternal profits for major businesses will be speeded up and federal schemes, supposed to benefit the citizens, that somehow don't end up lining the pockets of industry, will be cunningly restructured.

Jobs

Only people who vote for the Republicans will be able to live on one job only (the new voting machines know who they are!). But, BOY, how well some of them will live!! New job opportunities for the lower classes will be created by a concerned administration; such as doormats on uneven pavements, targets at gun-ranges, stamp-lickers and Republican fan clubs.

Agriculture

Mad Cow Disease will be found in a lot of places once the control covers every animal and not just one in a thousand. As a result beef, previously containing too high levels of E. coli bacteria, will either 1) continue to be sold to the public after the test results, as usual, are falsified (while those who matter eat imported and tested beef) OR, possibly 2) treated with depleted uranium and converted to artillery shells. The loss from beef exports will be amply covered by the gain in exporting USMooh-grenades.

Or both! Alternative #1 is most likely.

Subsidies to agrobusiness continues to rise at the same speed that quality plummets and farmers lose their land to giant corporations.

The last independent farmer in Iowa will be jailed for allowing a few of his sows to be raped by a runaway boar from a Monsanto site and coming down with pre-slaughtered turkeys.

Health

Good health and free medicines will be allowed for people above middle manager level. Workers are supposed to endure in silence, and burden the medical profession only when low turnover threatens profitability. And obesity makes for great sales of expensive lose-weight pills!

Religion

While Christianity continues to be, officially and theoretically, the dominant faith in the west, Mammon continues to gain followers since it is believed that this god can be worshipped, in practice, simultaneously.

In 2004 this mistaken assumption will be held by 17.6% more people than the year before!

CIA

New attempts to destabilize Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez will take place but fail as the disgruntled local help is incompetent.

The administration, via the CIA, will continue to fund, arm and support 73 dictators that are considered "our kind of guy".

(The new rules allowing CIA operatives to shoot anyone who looks suspicious or eat potato chips in movie theaters can not be mentioned due to national security!)

Iraq

There's a 120% chance that insurgence, resistance and rebellion against the occupation will continue (and grow) with every "heart and soul-winning" effort from the coalition that involves indiscriminate bombing and humiliating searches at 3.00 a.m.

A "democratic" new puppet government will be installed in 2004 and will have to be protected from the people for the foreseeable future as the electorate backing it will in reality be the Bush neocons only. Risk for a civil war builds up and the outbreak may come late 2004, timed to coincide with the American elections.

Saddam Trial

Saddam Hussein will definitely not receive a fair trial as defined by the U.N. and most law-abiding nations. Reason: National Security. Meaning: Major embarrassment. But he'll hang while his old US friends will not!!

Wars

One more oil-rich country will either be attacked by the US or suffer preventive strikes and destabilization. Primary targets are Iran, Syria, Norway, Somalia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Most likely candidate is, however, the Bahamas as the climate is very suitable, Americans know where it is located and it's close to home. Oil can always be brought there and there's always the good old "they are a threat to us, WMD etc".

Presidential elections

Mr. Bush will bag next year's elections following intense TV coverage of him saving wounded American soldiers from evildoers in Iraq. The networks will not mention it's all a fake staged at Camp David, and the approval rates will reach 67%. To make reelection certain terror-alerts will occur just before elections and if no attack takes place by itself, the reelection committee will soon make sure it does. If Bush is reelected, his first bill will be the repayment to his bribers and funders and an answer to corporate America's prayers; trade unions will be declared illegal, unpatriotic and a danger to national security! His second will be to introduce X-Mas five more times a year to boost sales for his retail friends.

In the unlikely event, 30% against 70% chance, that all Bush's conjuring tricks will fail and the war on terror crumbles (Bin Laden goes public assuring 9-11 was all a silly mistake), there is a possibility that Howard Dean might win. The American public in general will see this as a major change. The world will see it as "Bush light" taking over and many countries will anyway speed up their efforts to get weapons of mass destruction because that's the only guarantee against American aggression whoever the president might be.

The chance that a candidate working for the people and not corporations will live in the White House in 2005 is less than 0.027%.

The Colonies

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will finally assume the full consequences of his politics and retitle himself Il Duce II.

Pakistan's dictator Musharraf will fall victim to the 23rd rebel attack and be replaced by some other military dictator willing to obey US dictates.

Tony Blair will have to retire after overworking himself sucking up to the American president.

One more of the British queen's corgis will fall victim to terrier attack by princess Anne's pitbull Dotty. CIA and British Intelligence will again fail to predict or prevent the attack.

Luxemburg will buy large parts of Germany with all the money that rich Germans have stashed in its banks to avoid taxation.

Major telecom companies all over Europe will admit to falsifying records. Five will go bust and CEOs will have disappeared together with 18-year old secretaries and 2.78 bn Euro.

Intelligence levels in all countries with commercial TV will continue to fall at a rate that boggles the mind of those who don't watch TV.

"New Europe" will ask itself where all the dollars are that Powell promised in small unmarked bills to get support for the Iraq adventure. They might get their dollars when the value falls a further 50% against the Euro.

Costa Rica will introduce sharia law to protest against the worldwide war on everything Muslim. Will be bombed to sanity five weeks later.

"Old Europe" will continue dismantling its welfare systems and give tax cuts to companies and the wealthy in a futile try to out-America the US. (Should it ever come close to succeeding, the US will out-America itself by reintroducing slavery, burning the constitution and abolishing education.)

Rule Britannia, the old praise to British Empire, will finally be brought up to date and appropriately retitled Fool Britannia in honor of the puppet regime of Blair.

Bornholm, a little island in the Baltic between Poland and Sweden, will declare its independence from Denmark and introduce the first state ruled by Newton's law of gravity.

Global Forecast for 2004 and the future (that is bound to come true).

The inequalities will continue to grow between rich and poor, locally, nationally and globally, and the widening gaps will continue to create tensions, violence and terrorism, which the ruling classes everywhere will refuse to understand, accept or do something about as long as they can delude themselves that they, personally, are safe.

And Possibly...

A growing number of pessimists fear that only a victory for Osama bin Laden's followers over the forces of McAmerican corporate dictatorship can save the world from being sold to the highest bidder.

A growing number of optimists searching for a peaceful and safe area will try to resettle in the next galaxy.

Jerre Skog is a Swedish writer, musician and independent observer living in Germany. His writings, politics and satire, can be found on www.skog.de and comments are welcome at jerre@skog.de.

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