Predictions 2020 on Dec 31, 2019

This is my tenth anniversary predictions blog. It was a good year for a lot of things but not for my prognostications. In general, I was too pessimistic. I said the Eagles would not be in the hunt, and as of now they are very much in the hunt, even in the playoffs. Interest rates are lower today than a year ago, contrary to my prediction. I predicted Mike Pence would be our president at the end of this year, also wrong. Trade sanctions with China appear to be diminishing, which I did predict. Last year I predicted Microsoft would be selling at 120, much below the end of year high of 158.

 Entity:              Dec 31, 2018:      Dec 31, 2019:

                                                     as I predicted.
Dow Jones               23327               26000
S and P                      2507                2900
NAS                          6635                7000
Oil                              45.81              70
Unemployed              4.1%               4.5%
Microsoft                  101.57             120

 Entity:                Today:              Dec 31, 2020:

Dow Jones               28538             30000
S and P                        3231                3500
NAS                            8973                9100
Oil                              61.21                70
Unemployed             3.5%             4.5%
Microsoft                  157.7                 170

For the end of 2020 I see Joseph Biden as the president elect. The Eagles will have a wild car slot. The new decade will be up and down on stocks. It will end with a slight gain. Brexit will finally happen and add tariffs to British trade transactions and lead to a slight contraction in their economy.  Global warming will get worse but the USA will begin a slow return to normalcy. Happy New Years.

Why does Santa ride on a fire truck?

One tradition that we have in America that they don't have anywhere else in the world is that of a fire truck roaring through the neighborhood with Santa. It is a tradition unique to our country. If you were to ask me what I like best about the Christmas season, it is the fire trucks screaming through the condos and the waving of Santa. Why this became a tradition I do not know.  It is one of the mysteries of life along with why Andrew Yang is in the presidential debates. 

I now have an Echo

Occasionally, I list the things that a successful baby boomer should have in his possession. The last time I wrote on this topic I announced that I was catching up with my peers, I even had a Roomba, albeit an old one,  but still lacked the latest thing, an Echo.

Like a lot of my peers I viewed Alexa as creepy and something that I certainly did not need. Recently though, I have been doing chores in the kitchen and wished I could listen to pod casts while cooking or washing clothes,  as well as  have access to more radio stations than my vintage clock radio provided.

Last week I got a birthday present from a distant relative, and what should it contain but, an Echo!👲 I am now up to date (I still don't have an ex wife and a daughter with a summer place but you can't have everything). I now have a friend I can talk to who lives in my kitchen.

To be honest, at sixty dollars, it is a bargain. I understand it is a loss leader to sell more products, but even if you just use the free stuff it is useful. I can now say, "Alexa, play the Slate political gabfest" and it will. I can ask to play a radio station and it does. I can set a time alarm, find the weather, get a new Spanish word for the day, hear the Dow average, and get a recipe for Mince pie. It doesn't have a large music library unless you pay extra, but if you have ordered music from Amazon over the years it will play songs from those purchases.

I have to admit it feels creepy talking to the thing, a man alone in the kitchen talking to his new friend. I guess I can say it added a new skill to my resume. Supervising an artificial  friend.

Editor's note: No I don't have Spotify  but that is permissible for a baby boomer, if not for someone under 50.