My 2012 Predictions

Before I begin dragging out the big crystal ball, I must address an issue that arose after my last post.  I received a message asking what the point of it was.  Let me explain the nature of this blog.  This blog is like a giant puzzle with many hundreds (possibly thousands) of pieces in content.  Many of the pieces may not look like they belong right now, but many of them will fit in when the story advances.  Please understand that not all will fit together nicely right now and some of it may be hard to understand even later.  This is what the comment section is for along with my other forms of contact located on the right side of this blog.  Feel free to contact me with any questions and I will answer them either here or privately through my contacts.  Please note that any and all questions can be posted here if it is relevant or of broad base interest. 

Now onto the crystal ball predictions:

• Sears will try to sell off Kmart, but with no takers the long-on-life support chain will go out of business completely.  Sears will also close half of their named stores as the company struggles to survive.
• After years of declines, both OfficeMax and Office Depot will go completely out of business.  Sadly, Staples buys the remains of both companies including their websites and thus gets scrutinized for such an act.
• Staples itself will downsize by about 1/3 therefore closing many low-performing stores and stores that have issues that need to be addressed and cannot be solved.  Ironically, the store that I was previously employed at will be one of the ones that will be closed down by mid 2013 because of too many structural problems and bad management.
• RadioShack will close about ½ of their locations that are underperformers by year’s end and by 2014 be completely out of business.
• Dow Jones will fall to 8000 points by year end with at least 2 weeks of 1000 point drops.
• Gold will drop to under $1000/oz.
• Apple will close many of its stores after protestors wreak havoc because of the overpricing of their products.  Apple stocks sink to under $100 by year’s end.
• After months of primaries, no clear winner of the Republicans is found, thus the candidate will be chosen in face-off at the convention.  The winning candidate, however, won’t have a chance against Obama by losing by a large margin.
• Maine governor Paul LePage will have an assassination attempt on him, but he will suffer other health problems forcing him out of office for good.
• A major hurricane will strike Florida causing significant damage in and around the Orlando area, destroying about a quarter of the famed Disneyworld park.  The park will remain open, but sections will not be accessible.  It will be at least 3 years to bring the park back to its original form.
• Books-A-Million exits the New England area by closing all of its locations it had previously taken over from Borders.  It can only be assumed they only had a one-year lease and wasn’t happy with the result.
• Barnes and Noble closes about 1/3 of its stores after the cost of buying the remainder of Borders’ assets was too much cost and very little reward.
• and finally, the world will supposedly end on May 21 of this year.  Ironically this also happens to be my birthday as well, therefore I believe I am the Doomsday character.

 

So enjoy the year and hopefully maybe some of these predictions will not happen, then again any or all of them could very well happen.  

Up Next:  The Cash Register (Friend or Foe?)