A new year and new predictions

Shannon Bohrer

(1/2021) Normally in January of each year, I, not unlike other non-experts, give my predictions for the coming year. This year is no different, but first, it is important to write a few words about 2020. This past year was unlike anything most of us have ever experienced, and much of what occurred will affect us not just this New Year but for many years.

Saying the year 2020 was different might be the epitome of what different means. We expected the divide over the election, but Covid-19 and everything else related to the pandemic were unexpected. When I say unexpected, it is because no one was told of the virus in January 2020. Yes, Covid-19 already existed, but we did not know that it was already a pandemic in China, much less that it landed in America. Our government knew but never disseminated the information. When the information was disseminated, it was left to each state to create a strategy. The federal government was generally absent. Our wartime president closed his eyes and surrendered before the war started.

Before the vaccine is widely available and distributed, the pandemic will continue to grow. In just one year, by February 2021, the deaths from Covid-19 will exceed 400,000, and possibly close to 450,000. In all of WWII, we lost 418,000 service members, and that was over four years. According to the experts, the primary cause of the high number of deaths is the lack of a national strategy, reflecting our federal government's lack of involvement. When a country has less than 5 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the pandemic deaths that is a large clue that problems exist.

Many experts from major medical organizations have said that at least two-thirds of all our Covid-19 fatalities could have been prevented with a national coordinated response. While facts, truth, and science were often ignored in 2020, to really fight the pandemic, facts, truth, and science are needed in 2021.

While last year was unexpectedly different, examining my predictions from last January's paper finds some of them accurate. This proves that we can all be right - sometimes. Then again, when we are wrong, how often do we tell others?

My prediction for last year was "the truth will out." I said that if Trump were acquitted of his impeachment, he would lose the presidential election. He was acquitted, and he did lose. Additionally, the prediction stated that he would not escape the consequences of his actions. Either before he leaves office or shortly thereafter, we would know the extent of our president's corrupt practices. We would find out why he is beholding to Russia, that he has cheated on his taxes, and he will face multiple criminal charges after leaving office. So far, my predictions have been correct for 2020, but he still has time to pardon - himself. Of course, we must wait to see if the after-election predictions are accurate.

I also predicted if he lost the election that he will still have a strong following. Convincing a solid Trump supporter that his presidency was a disaster is like giving a blind man a pair of glasses and expecting him to see. A large segment of his voters will believe that the "deep state set him up," or maybe it was Q. President Nixon still has followers, some people still believe that the holocaust never occurred, and there are those people who still believe that we will find "Big Foot." Only time will tell if the predictions of Trump holding on to his loyal believers is true.

My predictions this year are about the new administration. President-elect Biden says he wants to work across the aisle; he wants to cooperate with the intent of moving forward. He believes that our divisions impede any progress, which does have merit. I applaud his intentions, but I predict he will encounter resistance. Most of the resistance will be in the senate. The party that is the majority in the Senate will not have been decided when you read this, but it does not matter.

The Senate has been the resistance of any democratic proposals for many years. The day after Obama's inauguration, Senator Mitch McConnell said, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." When he publicly said those words, he set the stage for intensified partisan politics for the next twelve years. He did not care that we were in a recession, he did not look out for you, but he lived up to his words by blocking and obstructing everything the democrats put forth.

In 2017 when the tax cuts were enacted, Mitch McConnel said that the "Tax Cuts won't increase the deficit" However, shortly after the 2017 tax cuts, Mitch McConnel suggested that the government may want to reduce entitlement programs. The reason for this was the increase in annual deficits. Before Covid-19, we were running record annual deficits. The forecast was an extra 5 trillion before 2025 and 30 trillion before 2030. In 2016, before the tax cuts, the deficit was 13 trillion. The entitlements mentioned were Social Security and Medicare.

Before the midterms, 2018, the Star-Ledger Editorial Board reported that "Mitch McConnel… offered up another issue for voters to ponder…If the Republicans hold on to both houses of Congress, the preferred GOP fix for the massive deficit created by their tax plan is to take a meat axe to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid." I am thankful that the republicans did not hold onto the house since I am on Social Security and Medicare.

For too many years, the Republicans have called themselves the conservative party. The behavior of the conservative party does not align with what we think of as conservative values. The republicans are the big spenders' party; the massive deficits, eliminating regulations, and lower taxes. Oh, and they want to reduce social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is their record for the last 40 years. However, they always espouse conservatism when a Democrat occupies the white house.

My prediction is that the Republicans will again call themselves conservatives and fight any new administration's spending efforts. They will also fight any attempts to roll back the tax breaks for the wealthy while saying the exploding deficit is "very distrubing, and it's driven by Medicare, Social Security and Medicade."