Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Apocalyptic Futures...

(Selections from the Libraries, Newsblogs and some government documents)

Almanac of World Politics (London, 2037)

US Prospects for the Mid-Thirties:
As the decade reached mid-point, the US was still coping with the consequences of the 2020’s Depression. The 2010's move - (inevitable in the opinions of most economists) - in all western countries to default on the social insurance and entitlement programs created in the 20th Century had less dramatic effects in America that most places, but the side effects were still quite severe. Shantytowns inhabited by a volatile mix of destitute pensioners and unskilled immigrants rose up around the major cities. . .
. . .the huge foreign debt sapped the viability of the economy, contibuting to continued high unemployment, and American military decline. . .

. . . both major parties split over the Depression. The moderate left Labor Democrats narrowly won the election of 2036, Iowa governor William “Billy Bob” Jones prevailing on a platform of debt renegotiation with the Quartet, and more effective but humane prosecution of the war against the Aztlan insurgents. . .

New York Post-Times (Wednesday, 14 January 2037)

Alexandria, Virginia resident Jack Spratt already knew he was having a bad day, when his old 2030 Toyota Ecotemp skidded on the ice and side-swiped the spanking new Chinamot Tradewinds near the I-95 monoway yesterday. The high-end luxury synthefuel Tradewinds SUV is all the rage among the super-rich, retailing for a wallet-busting New$30,000. But local biofood processor Spratt realized a Really Bad Day was beginning for him when five non-descript GenFord sedans following the Tradewinds began disgorging heavily armed Secret Service personnel, complete with body armor and assault needlers.

“Man, I thought the war had come to town.” Spratt said.

Turns out the Tradewinds was being driven by none other than Serge Murphy, US Vice President Fred Brown’s Domestic Partner. Murphy was en route to a photo-op with the Vice President at the local Red Cross shelter near the Arlington shantytown…

Houston CyberChronicle (Tuesday, 13 January 2037)

…General Westland told the Legislature that he was unsure when convoys between Austin and San Antonio would no longer be needed but that the security posts on this route were being handed over to units of the paramilitary Texas State Guard which, the general said, “thanks to cooperation between your state government and the Army advisors, are now at the highest level of efficiency ever.” UED attacks on this route, the general also reported, had “dramatically” fallen off, with only 95 dead in all of 2036. Finally, the general said, airmobile units operating in the security zones near the Mexican border “neutralized” over 500 insurgents over the last month.
Financial Times (Monday, 12 January 2037)

The “Quartet” – the leaders and finance ministers of Australia, China, Japan and India, agreed to some of President Jones’s proposals for re-structuring of America’s staggering foreign debt. The Prime Rate charged to banks fell today to 15.5 percent, a sixteen year low, on the news. However, the Chinese government, backed by India, is believed to have insisted, as a quid pro quo, that US forces halt “hot pursuit” operations into the Mexican People’s Republic after Aztlan Liberation Front forces…President Jones’s reply is unknown, and his press secretary declined to comment. China is apparently willing to “discuss” reduction of its commitment of advisors to the Mexican Popular Army…

Central Intelligence Agency “Estimate of World Financial Trends, First Quarter 2037”

(Secretary of State’s Copy, marginal note, in the Secretary’s handwriting):

“Looks like the Quartet will let us grow a little bit, but then they will put the brakes on.”

International Herald Compu-Tribune (Friday, 16 January 2037)

The Shah opened the session of the Majlis in Tehran yesterday with the usual Speech from the Throne. The Iranian economy is booming, with exports of autos to India and China, but most of the Shah’s speech was consumed by discussions of the poor relations between Iran and the Caliphate; the still-radical Muslim/pan-Arab revolutionary regime in Bin Laden City viewing the Iranians as “apostates”…

Calgary Tribune (Friday, 16 January 2037)

The movers and shakers of the entertainment world gather in Shanghai, tomorrow, for the fifteenth annual Chinese Academy Awards…

The bash was being underwritten by ChinaCyber mogul Hu Yaobong, who just purchased most of the (New York) Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection...

American Bar Times (Friday, 16 January 2037)

The US Supreme Court today upheld a Massachusetts law banning public criticism of homosexual conduct. Writing for a 8-1 majority, Chief Justice Douglas wrote: “It is well settled that the state’s interest in public order and combating hate speech trumps the rights of radical minorities to engage in public incitement.”

Entertainment Cyber Journal (Friday, 16 January 2037)

The Internet Union reached agreement with the FCC on CompuTelVision broadcasts before 8 p.m. Consumer and religious advocates had protested live sex during sitcoms. The IU and FCC agreed that below-the-waist live sex programming would be restricted between 6 and 8 p.m…

US Naval Institute, Proceedings (January 2037)

…This year’s Estimates call for construction of six additional Kirishima class battlecruisers, which are the Imperial Japanese Navy’s reply to the Chinese LuShun class battlecruisers, presently building. Meanwhile, American naval spending continues its decline…

Daily Telegraph (London, Friday 16 January 2037).

The German Bundeschancellor denounced as a “shameful lie” the reports that Federal police used live ammunition to disperse a crowd of Muslim job-seekers in Munich last week. Given the usual tight censorship of press and internet, and the police regimes existing on the continent, independent reporting is difficult, but travelers and unnamed sources report that there was indeed some shooting…The Bundeschancellor spoke from the German Embassy in Warsaw, where he is staying during his meetings with the Russian President over the two countries' new common eastern border, and their alliance against the Caliphate…

1 comment:

Candidly Caroline said...

Well, we can all hope this doesn't come true.