Recap

Future Trends

"We're all architects of our future because of decisions we've made along the way," said Gerald Celente (trendsresearch), the main guest on Tuesday's show. The founder of the Trends Research Institute, Celente described himself as a "political atheist" who sees the possibility of either a renaissance or a decline in America's future.

On the dire side, he believes the U.S. economy would be hugely impacted by another terrorist attack and that the nation still hasn't recovered economically from 9-11. Missing weapons of mass destruction from the former Soviet Union, which may have been sold on the black market, could be used in such an attack. "I don't call it terrorism, I call it warfare," Celente stated.

On the plus side, he said "I think we're going to go to a global age where people redefine their purpose," and the United States with its great diversity and freedom could be the epicenter of such change. Other forecasts he cited were the continued growth of the health field, the dark horse candidacy of Howard Dean potentially taking hold in the 2004 election, and the eventual move to a completely new form of alternative energy.

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Middle Class Revolt?

Tonight's guest, Gerald Celente, believes there could be a middle class revolt brewing in the near future of the United States. Last year, when I interviewed him for After Dark, he told me that a mounting dissatisfaction of the populace could boil over into a widespread protest, that would cut across all ages and ethnicities.

"They were the jobless Gen X-ers, the tax protestors, retirees with devalued pensions, the underemployed, the working poor, the downsized and out, the aware and the unbuffaloed from every state of society. It should have come as no surprise when the 90% of the nation who said they wanted change, demanded change," writes Celente in his book Trends 2000.

"The country has been hijacked from us," Celente told me, commenting that people increasingly view our two-party political system as actually a one party system, offering no real choice. While the recent anti-war movement had strong numbers, it's hard to imagine how a more massive revolt could get rolling. "The pain hasn't set in yet. All of a sudden we're starting to read about the 68-70 year olds who have to go back to work because their pensions have been lost. We're not in the heat of a political race right now…It's an in-between time; the denial is still rampant," said Celente. "But all we need is a catalyzing factor and (it) will happen. It's hard to tell. It may be a war, it may be an environmental disaster, it may be an economic depression."

--L.L.