Well, here we are in a brand new year. Forgive me if I do not feel a sense of renewal and anticipation as we head into 2023. The best thing I can say about 2023 is that it isn’t 2022.
Last year, my predictions were about half right. I said, “Inflation looks like it will continue to rise for most of the year. Food prices will be much higher.” I also said “global conflicts will worsen.” Both turned out to be true. Unfortunately, my predictions about a Republican sweep in the midterms didn’t turn out quite as well as I had predicted.
This year, my prediction is being less specific but more pessimistic: things are going to get worse.
War and Suffering
Fighting will continue and likely expand. This applies not only to the Ukraine but to other parts of the world. For example, there’s a war brewing between Serbia and Kosovo. I think we remain close to war between Israel and Iran. North Korea is acting belligerent, and China still wants to invade Taiwan. Lots of flashpoints, plenty of tension, and possibly not enough cool heads in the room.
We seem to be growing dangerously close to using nuclear weapons, and by “we” I mean the world, not the U.S. While Russia has been threatening to use them, we should not underestimate the hubris and stupidity of North Korea.
Worst case is global nuclear war. Mid-case is World War III, a conventional conflict that involves Europe, Asia and possibly the Middle East. Best case, we could see an increase of tensions leading to a new cold war with the U.S. and its allies on one side and China, Russia and their satellites on the other.
In 2023, I expect the poor will get poorer, some of the rich will get richer, and the elite will remain influential and protected. There will be hunger and suffering in much of the developing world. The supply chain will take more hits, food shortages will crop up, energy supply will be below demand, and the lack of fertilizer will be felt. Global inflation will grow, and the economy will suffer. Even China will feel the economic pinch.
Domestic Doom and Gloom
Here at home, inflation will head higher, a recession will hit, and people will lose jobs, careers, cars and houses. Homelessness will grow and large cities will be powerless to control it, leading to more flight by those with money out of large, democratic-run cities. The government will continue to spend billions of dollars on important-sounding projects that drain our coffers and increase the debt while doing little or nothing to improve life for citizens.
Fentanyl will continue to flood across our borders, as will illegal aliens, and the number of deaths attributed to drugs will climb. Recreational use of legalized drugs will increase and lead to the use of harder drugs and overdoses will go higher.
So will crime, as liberal laws and district attorneys release yet more criminals to re-offend. We’re seeing a recent trend in Houston where carjackers, robbers and other criminals are being killed by concealed carry permit holders. I expect this trend will spread beyond Houston as citizens who can no longer rely on their elected leaders to provide a safe environment and the police to protect them and must take matters into their own hands to save their lives. I can’t think of a time in the past 100 years when carrying a gun for self-defense has been more important.
There will be Further Encroachments on our Rights
Biden and the ATF will continue to attack our gun rights, alienating a growing segment of the population. The courts, led by the Supreme Court, will continue to be the only check on these illegal encroachments on our constitutional rights.
The government will move closer towards socialism and attempt to force you into a socialist mold in which you own nothing and are happy. Attempts to control how and where you earn and spend your money will increase. Taxes will rise, savings will drop, Social Security will become even less secure, but they will tell you “it is for your own good.”
Your right to privacy will continue to diminish. A coalition of private companies (like social media) and public institutions (Like the FBI and NSA) will continue to spy on Americans (violating their Fourth Amendment rights) and censor their speech (violating their First Amendment rights) by limiting the audience or branding it “hate speech” and therefore illegal. Attempts to control the message will grow, as will lies by our hapless president and his spokesperson. By doubling down on Orwellian tactics like newspeak, doublethink, and the thought police, leftists will attempt to prevent free thought and free will. The regime will try to repress ideas, concepts and people with whom it disagrees by canceling them, limiting their reach, or even branding people “domestic terrorists” and arresting them, not for what they have done but for what they have said or thought.
A Glimmer of Hope
The only glimmer of hope is that wokeness is reaching such an extreme that even some moderate democrats are rebelling. We’ve seen this rebellion begin on school boards with parents who do not want their five-year-olds taught about gender fluidity and cross dressing. With any luck, the “go woke go broke” trend, the failure of democrats in many local elections, and the release of the Twitter Files will result in less acceptance of wokeness, cancel culture, and the censorship of ideas.
It’s a good time to be a prepper because there’s a wide swath of things that can go wrong on a local, regional, national, and global level. Keep prepping friends, it may never be more important than in the year ahead.
