Three things I thought would happen that have come true.
Ban on all carry-on luggage on airlines
When predicted: Early 2002
When the new TSA rules went into effect after 9/11, I figured that it would be only a matter of time when the prohibition would be expanded to include all carry-ons. As of this morning, this has now happened because of fear of “the liquid bomb.” Of course, fear sells a lot of ad revenue regardless of whether the fear is reasonable or even makes any goddamn sense (quote from CNN: “Don’t use your cellphone within 50 feet of a suspicious object, you might detonate something…”) Case in point, these TSA workers who have ordered “potentially dangerous liquids” to be emptied into a tank of other “potentially dangerous liquids.” Maybe it’s just me, but don’t you think that if something is airplane-unsafe, a big container full of the stuff in an airport is, um, really unsafe?
Remember, the TSA is here to protect you.
Anyone care to take any wagers on how long this ban will stay in effect and/or when it is expanded to include domestic flights? Assuming that the terrorist plot of this morning is legitimate, you could argue that the terrorists achieved a partial success in terms of permanently disrupting passenger air traffic, given now that you’re recommended to arrive at an airport a full four hours before departing.
Also, anyone care to wager on how soon this “victory over terrorism” will be connected to a strong and vigorous domestic spying program?
Soviet-style tourism (not to be confused with Soviet-era tourism)
When predicted: Early 1991
As soon as the Berlin Wall collapsed and Germany set about reunifying, I predicted that Checkpoint Charlie would become a tourist attraction and that paintball fans would soon be re-enacting escapes with one group playing the East German military and the other group as escapees. I suppose it was a little too much for the Irvine Albertsons grocery store I was in when I was exclaiming this to friends, as some guy shouted “that’s not funny!” at me.
Apparently, the current lag time between political oppression and ironic political oppression entertainment is fifteen years. Take a trip to Club Gulag…
Care to stay the night in a former KGB prison in Latvia? How about a weekend in an abandoned gulag 100 miles above the Arctic Circle? Or do you just want to make like a Volga boatman, pulling a barge up the river? According to The Age, the night at the KGB prison is already a hot destination for masochistic tourists. “On some nights, for extra money, they call out the guard, and the shivering guests can witness a mock execution, with the ‘corpse’ being flung like a sack of potatoes into a lorry before being driven away, presumably for a reviving cuppa,” Allan Hall writes. “Once past the humiliating stripping and donning of prison garb, the gruelling physical exercise regime, the interrogation and the solitary confinement cell—for those that answer back to Ivan—there is dinner. It is a delicious melange of stale rye bread, pickled fish heads, pressed meat from some unidentifiable mammal, pickles and black, sweet Russian tea.”
Manic home buying speculators = Manic home losing foreclosings
When predicted: 2005
Home buyers in 2006 = tulip speculators
“Orange County’s foreclosures nearly doubled in June, rising to 65 property sales from 35 in May. Overall, foreclosure activity, including default warnings to delinquent homeowners, was up 60 percent last month, the report shows. The county had 639 new foreclosure filings last month, up from 399 in May.”
As one commenter noticed, a big November housing tax installment payment may put a big wet blanket on Christmas spending. Stay tuned for unexpected ripple effects coming soon to a shaky economy near you!
