We opened the vault!
Our predictions made back in 2021 were finally evaluated..
The exhaustive deep concentration we phase into on an annual basis is back as well.

Before we move on to the top ten prognostications for 2023, let’s go back and see how we fared with 2022 ..

So here is what we said would happen in normal text. BOLD text is written to review our predictions. We looked in the mirror and had a burst of self-reflection.

The predictions for ’22.. sealed in the Coal Speaker vault until the final week of December 2022 when we will unveil how we did, along with new predictions for 2023.

  1. The midterm elections are going to be disastrous for Democrats nationwide. While there may a few bright spots such as a Senate race or Governor’s race in Pennsylvania, the Senate will go solidly red and so will the House. Joe Biden’s presidency will suddenly feature a crucial test: Pull the Clinton 1990s strategy of triangulation or go the most progressive route. He will triangulate in 2023 before announcing he will not run for reelection—but we will save the rest of that prediction to December 2022. Ok.. so we were right about PA! Both the Senate and Governor went Democratic. But we were wrong about how disastrous it would be. Democrats held the Senate and then, in the end, lost the House by an edge… Biden already went the triangulation route. That was so 2000 and late.
  2. Gas prices will reach $4.10 a gallon on average by Memorial Day 2022. We were right. Sorta. But wrong. It went high. But even higher than we thought. Memorial Day 2022 had an average of $4.77… We can count this as a win.
  3. This is broad.. but it’s how we feel: There will be massive advancements of robotics in replacing human workforces in 2022. Even more than before. Along with that a huge increase in the use of crypto currency. The markets will become less of a place to make loads of cash, but more of a place to replace cash with new forms of online digital payments. Governments will hail this possibility as a way to regulate underground cash payments in economic sectors that are untaxed. Eh.. so-so prediction, this was an easy way out. It was too broad. We will NOT judge accordingly.
  4. COVID-19 will become endemic. It will not go away, but Omicron will pave the way for normalcy. There is going to be a massive surge of cases in the United States and globe in January through potentially March. Just as quick as the cases rise they will fall. Hospitalizations will never reach the capacity they did during Delta. As a result of the dramatic herd immunity, vaccine rates will fall and will cause a briefer but serious autumn surge. It will pave the way for an endemic virus that will become seasonal from this point on. Vaccine rates have fallen. People are treating it as endemic.. and LOTS of people are getting COVID as we write this but death rates are not seemingly soaring.. SO maybe .. just maybe, we are learning to “live with COVID” ??
  5. Things don’t reopen again after 9 or 10pm. Through the COVID experience, understaffed businesses have ditched the late night model or 24/7 hours. At times that has been a hinderance. But it will continue. Staffing issues will continue through the year and changing economic times will place us back a few decades when it comes to the old “blue laws.” We did not go blue but yes, this was an issue.. We have not recovered from the great 2020 blues. Instead we close early.. Half-win since things are still open on Sundays.
  6. The economic changes in 2022 will be voluminous. Along with gas prices as predicted in number 2, we are going to have a stock market “correction” that at times will look like a tragedy. Inflation will be constant.. a large number of people will just cease looking for employment. Yes to all. And even more, the textbooks on economics are being re-written because of the time we are in. The old rules don’t apply anymore.
  7. Joe Biden will continue to push school loan payments off until after the November election. At that point due to the sea change of Republican victories, total school loan forgiveness will not occur and repayments will begin again around the end of December 2022 or the beginning of January 2023. Yes! Agreed.. in part. The delay of school loan repayments occurred again, but courts struck down forgiveness. We will however claim victory on this prediction.
  8. Americans will replace privacy with security. Over the past year, we have shed our fears of technology.. at one time people who said that wellness chips would be inserted under the skin were conspiracy theorists. In 2022 those theorists are going to be proven to be accurate… Another easy way out prediction. We win. But there was no denying this would occur..
  9. It will be the hottest year on record. The months of June through September will be particularly cruel. the fall will be nonexistent. And by winter we will wonder if it will ever snow on Christmas again.. Well… June was one of the hottest on record. But we lost.. 2022 has been the sixth-warmest year on record from January through August, with a global average temperature 1.55 degrees higher than the 20th-century average. Of the annual records, 2016 remains the warmest.. And Christmas 2022 ended up being one of the coldest in history for much of the nation.
  10. Space: There will be something big. It could come in the form of an announcement about life on another planet, a distant moon, or ancient Martian life. It could also come in the form of an announcement of a foreboding space rock that NASA will need to try pushing out of the way of the planet… Depending on who you listen to.. maybe? Great year for James Webb photographs.. but nothing really earth shattering in the announcement department. So .. maybe next year. Disclosure just HAS to be coming soon, right!?

All that 2022 stuff aside.. the year has ended. It’s time to move on!!! 2023 is upon us.
And with it comes predictions on what we are about to face…
For better or worse.

  1. The Ukraine/Russia war will drag on until about April or May.. at that time serious discussions will occur to bring a truce. This will be inspired by House Republicans becoming increasingly reluctant to give more aid to Zelenskky.. Russia may end up getting a piece carved from Ukraine for its territory as a result. Before that occurs there will be at least 2 or 3 potentials that it develops into what looks like World War III..
  2. Before said war comes to a truce, an atrocity will occur in Ukraine. It will cause global outrage, but will not cause world leaders to intervene despite the horrors the world sees..
  3. 2023 will be a troubling year for world figures. At least 3 or more world leaders will succumb to their fate. It could be Putin. It could be Biden, It could be the Pope. Troublesome events will emerge in some nations.
  4. We are banking on a Papal change, and with it ‘the end.’ That was predicted by old prophecy.. Peter the Roman would be last. That does not mean the Church and the Pope are gone forever, it means something weird and new happens. A great new schism of modern time may be upon us.
  5. There will be serious litigation considered about how to reign in AI art. It is busy stealing copyrighted images.. it is creating a strange legal conundrum. Who do you prosecute. How. And when. The future is happening faster than law can keep up with it. When the first AI art gets to court, there is a good chance the judge won’t even understand the concept of what is being dealt with!
  6. Inflation will ease–slightly. But also will be a total collapse of certain markets. Automobiles, housing, and pensions will have a bad 2023. Bright silver linings will emerge. A new economy is coming. But so many parts of the old will die first and cause true economic pain in 2023.
  7. COVID lockdowns are a thing of the past. But we will be sicker and as a whole more and more ‘sudden deaths’ will occur. Living with COVID will mean living with a weaker immune system, more disease, and more snake oil salesmen. We think we are ready to ‘live with COVID’ mentally, but physically we will be living with stronger viruses and less viral and bacterial medication. Life expectancy will drop either in 2023 or 2024 as a result.
  8. House Republicans will attempt to launch investigations of the Biden Administration. Everything will just be a mess. Few legislative *if any* victories will be had by either part due to a divided legislative branch.
  9. Everything will seem unstable. Institutions. Governments. Banks. Jobs. Everything we have come to accept will look weird as events change quickly.
  10. Space travel will be filled with hope.. until it is not. Events will occur that will make Mars and even Moon explorations look implausible in 2023.