2009 was a bastard firehose of crap for just about everyone. I’m still baffled how Betsy and I came out unscathed by it’s fury. Well, okay, we had our share of poopy situations, but nothing like some people we know.

Everyone knows someone who lost their job, took a pay-cut or furloughs. Everything went downhill fast.

If you weren’t one of the many who was drenched by the firehose of 2009, you may be wondering to yourself – ‘will 2010 be the year I get hosed?’

The answer is probably a resounding ‘yes’.

Few, other than successful business owners and critical staff, are going to be immune from the fire hose of 2010. The difference is, I don’t think there’s as much crap loaded up in the tank this time.

If people are smart (I know I’m going out on a bit of a limb here), they’ll start working on their strategies for either maintaining what they have or reinventing what they need and want. Christmas this year I saw more examples of families with long traditions of buying presents change over to new (perhaps temporary) traditions of buying few if any gifts and focusing on craft made gifts instead. It’s not a bad thing, frankly.

When I think about sustainable economies, the first thing that comes to mind is micro-economies – cities, metropolitan areas, small towns, etc. There was a time when almost everything you needed came from within your community. Now, most of the businesses we patronize are part of large conglomerated companies that are not community driven. A Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, McDonalds, Texaco – these are all big business. Yet, for some reason or another, we rely on them in ways that would never happened even 80 years ago.

It’s scary to think that we’re likely to see new horrors in 2010 come out of that fire hose. My predictions:

• A major food supplier/chain will systematically close up and cut off a significant part of the nation from food. After a government bailout that lines the pockets of the debtors and owners, the supplier/chain will still go out of business only to have the pieces picked up by many smaller entities.
• One of the big auto manufacturers will shut down, not be acquired, for good. My bet is on Ford.
• Healthcare workers will be in demand in ways we’ve never seen.
• Taxes will skyrocket for everyone, including well-to-do companies adept at avoiding taxation. Many will move overseas. Others will simply cease to exist.
• Medical insurance costs will shock and surprise everyone. A violent uprising against the largest insurance companies will lead to several deaths and calls to congress for immediate action to fix the failed medical bill.
• The US will invade Iran, despite the promises made by President Obama in his election campaign.

That’s just what I’m more than 50% certain about. It’s all just guesses, anyway.

Gregsta’