Pundit

As an ornery curmudgeon, i predict : 2006 brings a personal return to confidence and a total collapse of the country's economy and government. Like 1986 USSR - Congress goes the way of the poliburo. they have lost their jurisdiction by inaction and utter contempt for everybody else - time to shove washington into the potomac! The popular press is totally discredited and finally the lemmings start trying to add two plus two. But they can't, they're lemmings and so we will have more patriot act rammed down our throat. The third totally discredited institution will be the federal reserve and with it the banking system. As we collectively reassess our premises and decide what really is of value to hold onto during the collapse of 'civilization as we know it', most people will go on with their lives without the access to the fruits of others labors. Then it becomes a do it or don't do it world. Some people prefer to stand in lines and wait for what is coming to them - so be it.
So - prediction one - congress loses jurisdiction - power returns to states because that is what the constitution is all about. prediction two - people stop believing what they read and start evaluating what the material says in relation to what they really know - the big media loses more influence. prediction three - people change their personal howdtlook and reconfigure their expectations in light of the burst of reality that we all face when the props used by the greenspan behind the economic oz curtain fall into the hands of bernanke.