Top Eleven Predictions For 2011

For those of you worrying and wondering what the New Year will bring, you have come to the right place. It is time for your favorite scribe to reveal his Top Eleven Predictions for 2011. After consulting a crystal ball, here's what you can expect in the coming months:

1. The unemployment number hits 10 percent by the end of February after thousands of out-of-work job seekers, who previously have been uncounted, now try to find work in the new year.

2. After a brief year-end rally, home sales tank as mortgage firms and banks reach settlements with state attorneys general, unleashing hundreds of thousands of foreclosures that had been suspended by legal wrangling.

3. A spate of defaults by local municipalities send bond prices tumbling as states wrestle with ballooning budget deficits caused by public employee pension costs and faltering tax receipts.

4. The Volt, GM's much ballyhooed entry into the electric market, fizzles after initial sales driven by corporate purchases from the likes of GE fuel breathless media coverage about the robust market for alternative fuel cars.

5. The economy inches ahead as some industry sectors begin slow recovery but the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) falls short of the 3.5 percent growth rate needed to boost employment to post-recession levels.

6. Inflation briefly creeps up to two percent as prices for gasoline and food drive up consumer costs, but the Federal Reserve decides not to adjust interest rates for fear of crimping business lending.

7. Telecommunications firm Verizon finally offers Apple's IPhone on its 4G network after years of teasing customers, shareholders and financial analysts about its imminent introduction.

8. Before the primaries, at least one politician emerges from the Democratic party to challenge President Obama, while the crowded Republican field produces a clear front runner before the year ends.

9. After suffering one bitter defeat after another, Nancy Pelosi decides to give up her role as minority leader for the Democrats, avoiding an embarrassing revolt by more moderate Congressmen and women chafing under her leadership.

10. Despite millions of dollars in American social and military aid, Yemen becomes the powder keg of the Mideast, exploding in violence as the country becomes a haven for the export of terrorism, particularly to the U.S.

11. After federal court challenges produced mixed results, the final legal test for Obama Care lands at the U.S. Supreme Court, as the President and Democrats stave off Republican attempts to neuter the health care overhaul.

For those of you looking for happy news predictions, these forecasts are sobering, especially in light of your scribe's past record for success. But let not your heart be troubled. Good news is just around corner in 2012. You can bank on it.