A look into the future of America (insurance, buying)

[jetgraphics]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Go back 25 years and find a prediction for 2009. Pretty laughable. Very little has changed since 1985. Almost nothing that was predicted has come true. Same for this piece of foolishness. If a person stepped out of a 1985 time machine today, there would be no surprises. Except maybe a lot of people talking on cell phones.

Really?
You don't think millions of personal computers, or the internet, have changed things?
Hmmmm - - - ask the newspaper companies what their opinion is regarding future profitability.

I took up your challenge and found one prediction (http://newspapers.umsystem.edu/default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?BaseHRef=CMN/1985/02/05&EntityId=Ar00504&Skin=Google&ViewMode=GIF - broken link) from 1985 that was quite on-point.
"A futurist taking a look into the 21 st century believes suicides among the elderly will be up, internal family violence will increase and lifestyles are in for rapid change. Marriage rates will go down. Single parent households will increase. Working from home will increase. Homosexual couples will increase."

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by jetgraphics

Really?
You don't think millions of personal computers, or the internet, have changed things?
Hmmmm - - - ask the newspaper companies what their opinion is regarding future profitability.

Yes, the world has changed tremendously in the last 25 years...maybe it's hard to see all the change being a part of it. I've heard it said that there have been more inventions, discoveries, quality of life improvements, and new technological conveniences in the past 40 years than in the previous 500 years combined - or something to that effect.

A couple to add to yours above:

1. Who had a cell phone in 1985? And who thought that EVERYONE would have them in 2009?
2. The U.S. has progressed enough socially to elect a black president...who could have predicted that in 1985?
3. My parents had just purchased our family's first VCR in the early 1980s...25 years later VCRs are obsolete.
4. Where were companies like Starbucks and Home Depot in 1985?

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

While this is an interesting read and I've always got a kick out of doomsday scenarios, I'm just not sure how realistic this is. But with the way things are going at an accelerating rate downhill, who knows.

[Hendu]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Go back 25 years and find a prediction for 2009. Pretty laughable. Very little has changed since 1985. Almost nothing that was predicted has come true. Same for this piece of foolishness. If a person stepped out of a 1985 time machine today, there would be no surprises. Except maybe a lot of people talking on cell phones.

You've been watching Back to the Future 2?

[jetgraphics]

Originally Posted by HighPlainsDrifter73

While this is an interesting read and I've always got a kick out of doomsday scenarios, I'm just not sure how realistic this is. But with the way things are going at an accelerating rate downhill, who knows.

Disguised in the fictional prose were the following points:

• Consolidation of population, rural and urban
• Transition to electrified rail land transport
• Conservation and recycling
• Decentralized local food production
• Decentralized local manufacturing
• Transition from professional police / military to grassroots law enforcement
• Decline of high fuel consumption transportation
• Collapse of international finance
• Erosion of government authority
• Alternative fuel and energy sources - but not sufficient to maintain current consumption levels
• Local monetary systems, not controlled by a central bank
• Interruption in international trade
• Decline in petroleum consumption overall

If these conditions come to pass, it would be wise to relocate to areas where one is close to food production, ports, rail hubs, hydropower, or other alternative power supplies. Investing in mass production equipment and tooling might be prudent, too. And let us not forget the home, and its transformation into an energy efficient shelter.

Though we're encouraged to invest in financial instruments, recent events cast a dim light on such usury based investments.

[jtur88]

I've been through enough 25 year cycles to know that things change very slowly. 50 years ago, I was an adult with a young family, working for a living, and I would occasionally reflect on the fact that my retirement would take place in a the 2000's. It was mind-boggling to think about, but in fact, very little has changed in the world. We assumed then that there would be world peace and cures for dread diseases and shorter work weeks enabled by technology. Didn't happen. Several moronic wars, people dying of new diseases and living with old ones, and every family needs two wage earners instead of one. Some details have changed, but the general picture of daily life is still the same. People still watch TV, but the screen is bigger. People still clog the roads with cars, but they have less chrome. Kids still go to school, but learn less.. People still gab on the phone, but they don't have to go home to do it.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I've been through enough 25 year cycles to know that things change very slowly. 50 years ago, I was an adult with a young family, working for a living, and I would occasionally reflect on the fact that my retirement would take place in a the 2000's. It was mind-boggling to think about, but in fact, very little has changed in the world. We assumed then that there would be world peace and cures for dread diseases and shorter work weeks enabled by technology. Didn't happen. Several moronic wars, people dying of new diseases and living with old ones, and every family needs two wage earners instead of one. Some details have changed, but the general picture of daily life is still the same. People still watch TV, but the screen is bigger. People still clog the roads with cars, but they have less chrome. Kids still go to school, but learn less.. People still gab on the phone, but they don't have to go home to do it.

Yes...people still do a lot of the same things they did 50 years ago - but the way they do them has changed dramatically.

[GraniteStater]

The world will continue to get much smaller as globalization marches onward.

[Gaffer]

And the US economy is rapidly becoming a world economy or more accurately the world economy is vacuuming the US economy into it.
I wonder how many people consider changes of the last 25 years as progress and contributing to a better life style or is it just more stressful?

[Galounger]

I predict economically the U.S. will become one big coast to coast hospital with a few tech companies here and there and plenty of malls and shopping centers. People from all over the world will come here for medical attention and we will mostly use the money from this to buy and import all the things we need (with the exception of software and some other tech products) from overseas.

I paint this picture because America is happily abandoning all its industries except for medical and certain high tech industries. We basically have given up producing steel, ships, textiles, clothing, machine tools, industrial equipment, and are barely holding on with producing automobiles, aircraft and electronics.

So you'd better go after that LPN or RN certification learn CISCO are get a real estate license (the real estate sector was the other hot sector of the U.S. economy until the credit crunch but it's bound to bounch back because the one thing god is not making anymore of is land). And of course the retail sector is strong as long as we keep spending more than we can afford which helps keep our banking and real estate sector propped up until recently.

I hope I'm wrong. Really I do.