A Look Ahead

With the beginning of the New Year, I want to gaze into my crystal ball and look to the future. I see the economic depression getting deeper for the first half of the year with the stock market bouncing around trying to find its bottom and the recovery will not happen this year. I see unemployment steadily climbing until it peaks sometime in the fall and not declining until the fall of 2010. With raising unemployment, I see the foreclosure rate remaining high until employment picks up in late 2010. The number of bankruptcies and fraud cases will continue to climb through out the year. In addition, I see the price of gas going back up (that is a no brainer prediction) in the summer to about $2.50 a gallon. The next crisis that will happen this year is the bursting of the credit card bubble sometime during this summer. In other words, I see the depression worst than the economists forecast.

For the political front on the national level, I see the Obama presidency focusing on jobs. I see the federal government pouring billions of dollars to rebuild the infrastructure; the transportation systems, buildings, national parks, etc. I also see Congress reintroduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) but I do not think that the bill will be gender inclusive. I see the white male dominated power structure looking out for their own interests first and passing a non-inclusive bill. They will tell us not to worry because they will still push for an inclusive bill and then they will focus their energies to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) instead of the inclusive ENDA.

In Connecticut, I see the passage of the gender inclusive Anti-Discrimination legislation. It will be a battle to get the bill passed but I think it is doable this year. Now that marriage equality has been achieved, the legislature can focus on the gender inclusive Anti-Discrimination bill. Our allies can now give us their full support. It also means that our opposition, the Christian right wing conservatives, can also focus all of their attention on us, they have much deeper pocket than we do and they can preach from their pulpits to thousands people the dangers of equality. However, I do think that we can win this year and pass the legislation.

What do you see for the future this year?