Crystal Ball gazing for 2011-Forecast & Trends

I gazed deeply into the crystal ball and as the mists cleared here is what I saw: The Trends for 2011
Actually that a lot of old waffle but I do think we'll see a lot of this happen. I may not be a forecaster like Gerald Celente, but the markers for these trends are already in place.

1) An economy that fails to grow as quickly as forecast but still with inflation pushing up prices. The 1970s word Stagflation will become well known again.

2) The slow motion implosion of the Eurozone. The smaller countries overwhelmed with Bank debt will need further support for their still increasing debts. A two speed Eurozone may be imposed as the Germans tire of being the generous uncle who bails the smaller countries out. Debt will have to be restructured either willingly by changing the Euro rules or unwillingly by the collapse of the Euro.

3) Rising unemployment in the UK coupled with rising prices and stagnant wages will lead to more crime and more civil unrest. The rise in crime will lead to calls for "something to be done" and so more draconian police powers will be demanded and put in place.

4) Local taxes of all kinds will rise. Since the Council tax itself is fixed, car parking, planning and other usage based charges will rise by 20-50% as a ways of generating more income for the councils.

5) Local based business with low or no overheads will survive and may even prosper in the confusion of the high street. Expect to see one or more mid-range high street brands collapse. Online sales of commodity items will close those stores with no special USP.

6) Large scale volume manufacturing for many items will continue to move east. Either to Eastern Europe or to China where labour costs (even after recent Chinese wage inflation) are still much lower than in Northern Europe. Watch for more of European manufacturing to be done in North Africa as well. Special trade deals will make it easy import products from this region without duties.

7) Some politicians and media people will start to ask if the Internet needs more regulation. There will be calls for a blogging licence and additional regulation to close down 'alternative' news sources.

8) Government budgets will attempt to pull more cash from the individual through new taxes, not raising allowances and charging for services that used to be free. This may be dressed up in the language of sustainability/green taxes or environmental protection. The money will actually be used to fund the Government deficit, bank debts and to cover part of the fallout of the Eurozone implosion.

9) More people will attempt to follow the 'Good Life' by taking up smallholdings and raising their own animals. Many will revert back to an urban life because of the increasingly complex rules and regulations surrounding farming and animal keeping.

10) GM foods will be presented as the way to deal with the increased food prices. Some will resist this but crops will be planted and local organic production will be blighted by cross contamination of land and produce.

12) Broadcast TV will become increasingly fractured and of poorer quality as more channels are created. The increase in channels will decrease the advertising revenue available per channel and so expect to see more re-runs of old shows and imports of low grade shows from around the English speaking world.

13) One from left field; there will be calls for SSRI anti-depressants to come off prescription, so that they can be used more widely. This will be in response to a huge increase in those diagnosed with some form of depression as a consequence of other major changes outlined above.

Well what do you think of these? Let me know.