KINGSTON, NY,
20 December 2012 — What a year 2012 was! The economic and geopolitical
problems plaguing much of the planet at the beginning of last year have,
without exception, intensified as we move into 2013.
Never in our 33 years of trend forecasting have we experienced a year
that rang out on such a downbeat note and a New Year that is ringing in
with so muted an upbeat.
Though we had forecast most of the troubling trends and are well aware
of the intransigent problems at their roots we see positive solutions
and opportunities even as the world lurches further into crisis; solutions
and opportunities that you will read about only in The Trends Journal:
1. War: Call them what you will civil wars, uprisings, protests,
Arab Spring, terrorism, rebellions when we add them up they equal the
“The First Great War of the 21stCentury.” Yet, even now, as the conflicts
proliferate, only The Trends Journalrecognizes that they are not only
connected, but also cumulative.
2. Peace: From our trends catbird seat we see the ships of
state heading on a collision course that will wreak global havoc. But
if the Captains (Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors, Kings and Emirs)
follow the course we chart, not only will much of the world escape the
worst ravages of war, we will sail toward a prosperous and peaceful future.
3. The Next Great Awakening: The American Revolution had its roots
in a powerful, little celebrated religion-inspired movement called “The
Great Awakening.” We, at The Trends Journal have already determined that
the stage has been set for a Second American Revolution that will draw
its inspiration from a new “Great Awakening.” However, while the “New
Awakening” we are forecasting will have a spiritual basis, it will not
be “Christian specific,” and the Revolution it engenders will be fought
with hearts and minds, not bullets and armies.
4. A Fracking Future: Is energy independence in store for the United States
and other nations with rich shale gas deposits? While it will certainly
create the millions of high-paying jobs that fracking proponents promise,
will it also create the environmental “Frackenstein” that opponents of
fracking fear? In an agenda-free, in-depth report, our science editor
weighs the complex pros and cons.
5. Millenials In Motion: The Millennials, born from around 1980 through
2000 and some 77 million strong, are slated to become the first American
generation to be financially worse off than their parents were. We’ve
labeled them “Generation “Eff’d." For them, the perpetual growth and abundance
once perceived as an American birthright has been replaced by a bleak
future and an economy of constraint. We analyze what they want, how to
sell them, and forecast what to expect from them.
6. Bonds Away!: The Bond Bomb is ready to explode … threatening to make
the real estate and dot-com bubbles, even the Great Recession, look like
“market corrections." Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, economist and former assistant
Secretary of the Treasury (under Ronald Reagan), sees a road to financial
collapse that will make investors wish that the Mayan Prophesy had come
true!
7. New Millennium Education: The digital revolution has clearly begun
to reshape our brick-and-mortar education system. But the New Millennium
Education trend we forecast is a megatrend in the making, one that will
entirely reconfigure our schools and our ideas about what education “looks
like” and can be. While there is general agreement that the education
system must adapt to the Digital Age, the magnitude of the coming change
is not fully appreciated. Entire new professions will develop and a range
of creative entrepreneurial opportunities will arise to meet the challenges
and profit from the opportunities.
8. Secession Progression: A year ago, we forecast secession movements
springing up around the world. The trend has grown from ripple to groundswell
as citizens become increasingly hostile to their unresponsive governments.
Following the re-election of Barack Obama in the US, over a million people
signed petitions in favor of seceding from the Union. Worldwide, there
are some 250 secessionist movements. As governments focus upon saving
only the too-big-to-fail, people will rise up against nations seen as
“too-big-to govern” and “too-broken-to fix.” The evidence for a secession
trend is obvious, but the media and politicians ignore or deride it.
Plus Top Trends 2013 in technology, the Internet, cyberspace, food, wellness
and nutrition that will present challenges for the off-trend while presenting
opportunities to the trend-savvy.
Zeke West
Media Relations, The Trends Journal
zwest@trendsresearch.com
(845) 331.3500 ext. 1
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