OPINION:
Rather than worry about resolutions, let’s think about predictions about what the new year might hold.
By the Fourth of July, everyone who is going to be vaccinated will have been vaccinated. There will be minor setbacks with the various COVID-19 vaccines, ranging from distribution kerfuffles to issues with physical responses. In the end, about half the United States will wind up taking a vaccine in 2021.
The New York Yankees will finally win the World Series. The Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will challenge New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer in a primary, unless the Biden administration gives Kirsten Gillibrand (the other senator from New York) an administration post, which would allow Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appoint the congresswoman to the vacant spot.
Employment will pick up in the second half of 2021 as COVID-related deaths plummet and lockdowns give way to re-openings.
Students from kindergarteners to graduate students will be back in school by the fall.
Most workers will be back in the office by September, perhaps for two or three days a week through the remainder of 2021.
Public school attendance will not return to its previous percentage of school-age children (more than 85%). The lockdowns have made people wary of relying on government-run schools.
Irrespective of what the new president does or doesn’t do, Israel will continue to integrate into the greater Middle East and Iran will continue to be isolated. Both of these developments will lead to greater harmony and peace.
Irrespective of what the new president does or doesn’t do, conflict with China will increase and become embedded in the thinking and planning of institutions and businesses.
Crime will increase the most in cities that have defunded the police.
Mercifully, coverage of former President Trump will decrease, and the ratings and financial outlook of outlets associated with him (CNN, The New York Times) will suffer.
The need for a health care think tank on the right will become more urgent as health care wanders onto center stage in the second half of President Joseph R. Biden’s first term.
Mr. Biden will try to get a bigger relief package passed in the first half of 2021. He will fail at first but will realize eventually that there is plenty of cash floating around the federal government waiting to be repurposed.
An infrastructure/climate/whatever package will pass in the second half of 2021. It will wind up being less aggressive than either hoped for or feared — depending on what side you find yourself.
Taylor Swift will win album of the year at the Grammy’s but not receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame. Megan Thee Stallion will win best new artist.
Some colleges will start to pay their football and basketball student-athletes, but college football will not fix its playoff problem for another few years.
The stock market will close around 35,000 at the end of next year, mostly because the Federal Reserve has driven everyone to equities.
The nationwide average cost of a gallon of gasoline at the height of summer will be $2.50.
Despite the best efforts of public health overseers, human beings will continue to hug, kiss and shake hands.
Republicans will win both Senate seats in Georgia on Jan. 5, but it won’t matter as much as everyone anticipates because Republicans in Congress will continue to vote for legislation such as the coronavirus relief bill.
The Trump commercial-industrial complex will move to Florida and counter-program Washington in general and the Biden administration in particular. That said, its political power will wane slowly over time, dissipating almost entirely by 2024.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
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