US intelligence seeks glimpse into the world in 2020

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,223817,00.html

McLEAN (Virginia) - It is 2020 and the United States, Europe and Japan are struggling to maintain a decent quality of life for masses of elderly people.

China faces a choice between belligerence and joining Western nations as an economic superpower. India, Brazil and Indonesia are emerging powers.

That is one future being contemplated by US intelligence officials as part of a long-range forecasting endeavour just getting under way.

The effort, called the National Intelligence Council 2020 Project, aims to come up with a range of scenarios the world could face.

The product will be unclassified, which is unusual for the US intelligence services.

<snip>

Hmmm. I wonder if they have called Madam Clara in on this.

[brainshrub]

1. I read it. It's all bushwah.

Nowhere in the report does it mention the only threat worth mentioning: Peak Oil.

[JailBush]

2. The future has never been harder to predict, because there are so many

powerful forces out there that can derail it. Ancient civilizations lasted for centuries, but the United States could fall in a few years, either as a result of extreme blowback or an economic crisis. Then again, it's possible the Neocons will succeed in conquering the world - which is an even more frightening scenario.

[davidinalameda]

3. Calling Miss Cleo

[teryang]

4. America is struggling to maintain?

...a decent quality of life for its elderly?

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Who comes up with this shit? The elderly are struggling that's for sure. If you are over fifty you can count on your employer and then the government to screw you. I see it all the time.

This is the prognosis. To those that are grandfathered in, god bless you. To the boomers, god help you because no one else will.

[htuttle]

5. At the rate we're going, it's going to look like this in 2020

Except probably a bit warmer.