This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

2012, Hopefully a Year of Leaps and Bounds

2012, A Great Leap Forward or "Four More Years?"

Now that the holidays have run their course, it is time for those New Year Predictions. 

A New Year always represents a rebirth of sorts with hope springing eternal.  It is time for the United States to break out from four years of economic malaise.  We have a Presidential election which has been going on for over a year now as the Republicans try to unseat Mr. Obama. 

The race has taken all sorts of twists à la Herman Cain as well as some turns à la Newt.  The issue raised by many is ABR, "Anyone but Romney," given that the former governor is really a moderate and is a RINO to many, notwithstanding the religious issue.  One may recall that his father was the Republican to unseat LBJ and then got shot down by his "I was brainwashed in Vietnam speech."  This speech gave us Richard Nixon, who we got to kick around again. 

Find out what's happening in Northridge-Chatsworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The hard core Republicans seem to want someone other than Romney but are dissatisfied with Newt, who deftly served his last wife with divorce papers as she was receiving cancer treatments.  The candidate du jour will change quite a bit between now and "Super Tuesday."

The economy will be the issue once more despite record low interest rates and now record low mortgage rates, which the banks really do not want to accept.  The good news is that many adjustable rate mortgages will be in the 2-3 percent category as the Wall Street Journal has cast doubts about the LIBOR being a reliable index.  The facts are that unless the housing market rebounds and consumers start consuming big ticket items, the economy will move along thanks to Apple and their i-TV, and hopefully, iPad 3 as well as iPhone 5.  Their newest patent and wireless charging should be a big crowdpleaser, one would think.

Find out what's happening in Northridge-Chatsworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On the local level we will have our own battle of the Dems in Berman vs. Sherman as well as the beginning of the battle for Los Angeles as we look to elect a new mayor in 2013. I suspect Eric Garcetti is the leading candidate, but again it is too soon.  The city still has to deal with pension issues as well as limited tax revenues.  Perhaps the city should have its own lotto to supplement all these lost revenue sources. Locally Courts in Simi will cease to exist for the most part as Ventura County deals with its budget shortfalls. Windows will close at 3 p.m.

As 2012 approaches and we look at another leap year, those of us in the Baby Boomer generation can only hope for more than .6 per cent on our returns.  We will work until we are 70 and will squeeze out those behind us.  Education will be at a premium as tuitions escalate and schools face their own pension issues.  Gold will jump up again as we cross our fingers and hope France and Germany can keep "The Continent," together. Meanwhile, we will see if any of those prophecies come true.  So stay at home, don't drink or drive, and don't forget those radon detectors for 2012. 

Ciao for Now.....

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?