2011 Hopes, 2012 Realities

2011 Hopes, 2012 Realities

I began writing an article entitled “A Christmas Retrospective” with, “The eventful year 2011 now drawing to a close may have been one filled with natural, political, and sociological disasters yet it produced unmistakable signs that all is not lost for America and the rest of humanity.”

I recounted the earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados, the Arab Spring which portended an Arab Winter and worsening national and international tensions, the Occupy upheavals suggestive of revolution supported by Barack Hussein Obama 201 and yet I decided 2011 wasn’t as much a debacle as it was a year of hope springing eternal for our beknighted planet and nation.

Scratch any suggestions of 2012 being an improvement on 2011. On re-consideration of my Chistmas-inspired attack of optimism, 2012 promises to suck big time.

In part, events occurring over the past few days forced the revisionism.

The mayhem resulting from the sale of Air Jordans, a Santa in Grapevine Texas murdering 6 relatives, riots over rappers at the Mall of America, and Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos losing all contributed to a change of perspective.

Iran taunting the U.S. Navy in the Strait of Hormuz and Obama’s public approval rating rising to 47.1 didn’t help, either.

Still, it was an article by Professor James Petras on GlobalResearch.ca that convinced me my rose-colored glasses had been clouded by my cataracts. Titled “Unrelenting Global Economic Crisis: A Doomsday View of 2012,” the article makes mincemeat of fools who detected substantial brightness in the world’s and America’s futures.

It should be noted that Petras, a retired professor of sociology, is an ardent socialist, self-described “revolutionary and anti-imperialist,” has been accused of anti-Semitism, and has taken distinctly anti-American positions. All that makes his views suspect but does not necessarily preclude the possibility he is wrong about the future.

Of course, too, one man’s opinion is just that, an opinion, but Petras’ gloomy forecast for the new year and beyond is both chilling and documented. When he writes, “The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy,” the professor doesn’t just predict, he substantiates his predictions.

Petras isn’t merely referring to economic chaos and crises as causes for concern. His prognosis for the world in general is ominously and universally dismal, which is typical for liberals.

Among his prognostications . . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=11820.)