Code Rood wrote:I expect major civil unrest in countries like the USA and Western European countries.
I expect some. However, I think there will be more unrest in Western Europe than in the United States.
Code Rood wrote:Many Jews living in the West will make aliyah.
Any particular faction? I'm guessing from the United States, that would involve more conservative factions.
Code Rood wrote:More censorship on social media, and thus more ghettoization of the internet.
I still watch YouTube, but primarily because I'm in my early 50s and YouTube has a television app. Unlike Millennials who will stare at their phones, I prefer a bit more comfort and a 4k 75-inch screen for that kind of fare. That said, I think censorship on YouTube is rapidly destroying the relevance of the platform. The name "You Tube" implied small scale content creators. Today, YouTube censors political content generally and forces people back to FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, etc. Yet, some of the best coverage is from independent sources. I remember when CNN had one of the best foreign desks in the business. It's pretty much worthless today.
I do think government funding for social media may dry up. You have to remember that a lot of US big tech companies got funding from CIA fronts like In-Q-Tel. My speculation is that they thought they could inject US cultural attitudes into the third world, but they did not anticipate blowback like ISIS being able to radicalize people in the West.
I don't think YouTube/Twitter/Facebook censorship will work. I never used Twitter, quit Facebook, and will dump YouTube as soon as someone comes up with a decent TV app from another platform. I think the genie is out of the bag on smaller content creators. They are competitive with major media personalities on a shoe string budget--something I think they find painfully embarassing.
Code Rood wrote:I expect more refugees and so-called refugees to come to the West.
Asylum seeking is down under Trump. Barring an economic calamity before November, I'm inclined to think Trump is going to win re-election. So I don't think he's going to open the floodgates to the US. Merkel is out next year principally because of how badly she managed the refugee situation during the Obama years--leading to populist parties throughout Europe.
Code Rood wrote:It's very likely that a major economic crash will happen very soon.
How? Where? Why? And how deep?
We're 12 years into a bull market. We SHOULD see something happen by 2021-2022 at the latest. The US has cut interest rates and the yield curve has normalized. However, with negative interest rates overseas, banks cannot make money in a negative interest rate environment. In my travels to Dubai this year, it struck me just how much of a real estate bubble there is outside of the West.
Code Rood wrote:AI technology and robotics are going to have a big impact on our lives by the late 2020's, perhaps even earlier.
Machine learning for sure. Self-driving vehicles are not far away.
Code Rood wrote:There will be significantly more electric cars on the road in the EU.
New battery technologies will start paying dividends--allowing grid storage, buffering of renewables like wind and solar, etc. I hear talk of electric planes, but the power-to-weight problem is quite a way off. I do think electric cars will be a factor, particularly if oil prices increase--Middle East instability could trigger that very easily.
Code Rood wrote:Many countries will make the decision to become fully cashless.
It will be interesting if smaller countries do this to avoid counterfeiting as a black market seignorage. I still think the US dollar and EU Euro will have large denomination bills, because the global black market runs on them.
Code Rood wrote:Middle-Eastern countries will further balkanize.
There are going to be some astonishing changes there. Women driving in Saudi Arabia is just the beginning. KSA wants to open up to the West, but it's going to be a huge culture shock.
Basically, the main country worrying Israel right now is Iran. It was interesting to see Iran back attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad only to call them off. They actually taunted Trump saying he couldn't do anything, and I'm sure Trump started talking more sanctions rather than the military response that Iran seems to be hoping for.
maz wrote:We will see protests in the west but it really won't matter if the media remains under the control of the MSM and their allies in social media.
Yeah, I'm kind of impressed by the French state's ability to repress the negative news coming out of France. It's a virtual blackout in the US too.
maz wrote:I see further violations of American's 2nd amendment.
Mass resistance to gun control could arise too. Have you seen the reporting out of Virginia?
"We have put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."
-- Joe Biden