Disaster
I'm of the firm belief that there is a chance that the United States is facing disaster sometime in the future. Wow, what a prediction. The US has faced many disasters, it's easy to predict some more. We've had the revolutionary war disaster, the civil war disaster, we've had several economic disasters including the Great Depression. We've had many weather disasters like Hurricanes Katrina, etc., Mississippi flood, and earth disasters like the Mt. St. Helen's eruption or California earthquakes.
So what disaster in the future do I believe might occur? The odds of a major earthquake in San Francisco and Los Angeles are probably high enough to expect in the next few decades. A large catastrophy wcould be a tsunami hitting the West Coast. It would be devastating and the odds are larger than you'd think. There is the possibiliy that Yellowstone becomes an active volcano and is in the category of super-volcano that would leave its' mark on half the US. There is also a Midwestern fault line called the Madrid and is due to shake hard in the near future.
The weather is always an unexpected disaster. We have the memory of Hurricane Katrina to know the devastation from a hurricane. Back in the 1990's we had the Mississippi River flooding. Sometimes Tornado Alley through the Midwest can have a very active year. Long droughts could wipe out farms and families.
Even pestulance, maybe locust or grasshoppers mow down wide swaths of farms. Who knows what might happen when the new genetically modified seeds end up mixed with nature. New viruses are being found as the rainforest and other remote areas of the globe meet human activity.
There's always the possibility of a meteor or asteroid hitting the Earth. History has shown that it has happened many times before. I'm not sure the odds on getting slammed by a huge rock.
Economically, we face several problems. Oil is going to run out and will increase in price. The US trade deficit is at record highs the last few years. The Federal deficit grows every year, our country owes lots of money to many nations. Our social structure is failing as the middle class shrinks as the rich get richer.
Now the fear factor. A nuclear weapon, a dirty bomb, another syncronized terrorist event, beware, danger, the possibilites are obviously real, but the odds might be extremely rare to hit. Biological accident or weapon, a chemical accident or terrorism must be considered probable. War, war, war. War kills plenty of humans every time, so they must be considered disasters.
I could assemble a smorgasborg of catastrophies from the above list and probably be correct in several of my choices. Here's my predictions for the next two decades choosing many from the above list of disasters.
I firmly believe that oil shortages and higher prices are to be a major part of the next several decades and I don't believe the US is doing even half enough to be prepared for oil problems. We will have a war or two more in oil producing countries as part of an "oil war." Several hurricanes hit major population areas in the next two decades, let's guess Miami, FL., Mobile, AL., New Orleans, LA., again. Here's one for fun, the city of Washington DC gets hit with a category 4 hurricane in the next two decades. I think the odds of a major earthquake in California are good (probably San Francisco) within the next 40 years. Within one score of years I think we'll have a major disease sweep the country. In those twenty years we will have a major industrial accident, a chemical plant blows destroying neighborhoods. In those years a record wildfire sweeps through a major city and several droughts occur. Water becomes a commodity of demand. And I'd bet some sort of terrorist attack happens within twenty years, in fact I think two major attacks. I'd like to say that aliens will land and demand to speak to a leader, but the odds are just too long. We suffer from several economic issues as our country enters a depression. And when future people read my prophesies 19 years and 364 days from now, as they discuss my successes the sun goes nova for no reason.
So what disaster in the future do I believe might occur? The odds of a major earthquake in San Francisco and Los Angeles are probably high enough to expect in the next few decades. A large catastrophy wcould be a tsunami hitting the West Coast. It would be devastating and the odds are larger than you'd think. There is the possibiliy that Yellowstone becomes an active volcano and is in the category of super-volcano that would leave its' mark on half the US. There is also a Midwestern fault line called the Madrid and is due to shake hard in the near future.
The weather is always an unexpected disaster. We have the memory of Hurricane Katrina to know the devastation from a hurricane. Back in the 1990's we had the Mississippi River flooding. Sometimes Tornado Alley through the Midwest can have a very active year. Long droughts could wipe out farms and families.
Even pestulance, maybe locust or grasshoppers mow down wide swaths of farms. Who knows what might happen when the new genetically modified seeds end up mixed with nature. New viruses are being found as the rainforest and other remote areas of the globe meet human activity.
There's always the possibility of a meteor or asteroid hitting the Earth. History has shown that it has happened many times before. I'm not sure the odds on getting slammed by a huge rock.
Economically, we face several problems. Oil is going to run out and will increase in price. The US trade deficit is at record highs the last few years. The Federal deficit grows every year, our country owes lots of money to many nations. Our social structure is failing as the middle class shrinks as the rich get richer.
Now the fear factor. A nuclear weapon, a dirty bomb, another syncronized terrorist event, beware, danger, the possibilites are obviously real, but the odds might be extremely rare to hit. Biological accident or weapon, a chemical accident or terrorism must be considered probable. War, war, war. War kills plenty of humans every time, so they must be considered disasters.
I could assemble a smorgasborg of catastrophies from the above list and probably be correct in several of my choices. Here's my predictions for the next two decades choosing many from the above list of disasters.
I firmly believe that oil shortages and higher prices are to be a major part of the next several decades and I don't believe the US is doing even half enough to be prepared for oil problems. We will have a war or two more in oil producing countries as part of an "oil war." Several hurricanes hit major population areas in the next two decades, let's guess Miami, FL., Mobile, AL., New Orleans, LA., again. Here's one for fun, the city of Washington DC gets hit with a category 4 hurricane in the next two decades. I think the odds of a major earthquake in California are good (probably San Francisco) within the next 40 years. Within one score of years I think we'll have a major disease sweep the country. In those twenty years we will have a major industrial accident, a chemical plant blows destroying neighborhoods. In those years a record wildfire sweeps through a major city and several droughts occur. Water becomes a commodity of demand. And I'd bet some sort of terrorist attack happens within twenty years, in fact I think two major attacks. I'd like to say that aliens will land and demand to speak to a leader, but the odds are just too long. We suffer from several economic issues as our country enters a depression. And when future people read my prophesies 19 years and 364 days from now, as they discuss my successes the sun goes nova for no reason.
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