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Dec. 30, 2011 by Lynn Ketelsen, Linder Farm Network Lynn's Fearless Forecast If you thought 2011 was eventful year, you ain't seen nothing yet. Europe will continue to have major problems with their overall economy. The citizens of Germany will tire of bailing out the other problem economies in Europe, and that will lead to chaos in a number of defaulting countries. This will create economic turmoil in Europe, thus impacting their biggest trading partner, China. Countries around the world will pull in their horns, and you will see less cooperation, not more on bailouts. For the U.S. in the short-term this is not good news, but long-term it will force the United States to get its economic house in order. The Presidential Election will pit Mitt Romney-Condoliza Rice against Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton. It will be the most expensive campaign in history, with close to a billion dollars spend by each side. The election will be close, and in the end will be decided by one state...you guessed it, Florida. Romney will win, but not without controversy. On the Congressional side, the Republican Party will control both the House and Senate after the elections. The farm economy will be impacted by the situation in Europe; with China cutting it's purchase of American grain. This will put pressure on grain prices, but problems in South American production will offset the pressure somewhat, and prices will stay just above break-even levels. But they will be far from the high levels of 2011. Green Bay will beat New England in the Super Bowl, but the surprise of the playoffs will be Denver losing a close one to the Patriots and just missing a Tebow Superbowl. College football will continue to see the big get bigger with the announcement of the Big 10 and Pac 10 cooperating on scheduling. This will lead to the Big 12 and SEC doing a similar arrangement, and possibly an inter league Championship game. Farmland prices will finally level off after an unprecedented climb the past five years, with commodity prices leveling off. The price of used equipment will continue strong as farmers look for more affordable late model equipment. A major story of 2012 will be the first rolling blackouts of electricity across the country. The EPA will push hard to shut down coal plants in the United States, and that will tax the countries ability to meet demand. More and more U.S. coal will be exported to China because of this. The pipeline from Canada to the U.S. to send oil will be a major political issue in the upcoming election, with Canada giving the U.S. a December 1 deadline to begin construction, or they will sell to China. 2012 will be a challenging year for our economy, and with an election on the horizon, it will be anything but calm. Tweet |
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