Via Barefoot Bum, word on Digg is that one Gerald Celente, who’s predicted the fall of the Soviet Union plus a number of economic crises, is predicted food riots and tax rebellion in 2012. Presently unable to determine whether his record is as good as he claims, anyone who can provide info on whether his previous predictions have been vaguer than presented or whether he’s gotten major things wrong and swept them under the carpet appreciated. As a matter of general heuristics, I haven’t see the extraordinary evidence for his extraordinary claims, and the smart people I trust on economic matters aren’t saying what he’s saying. At a more basic level, my thinking is that the financial world doesn’t really matter, what matters is technology and skilled workers, and while we may not be doing as good as we could be on that front, we basically have it. Financial SNAFUS can hurt, but they aren’t the end of the world. On the other hand, Yankeeland’s being a semi-functional 21st century society is compatible with the occasional food riot.