The Hill News

Well, between now and the close of the year all of our intellectual and insightful prognosticators will once again share their fortunetelling for 2011 and beyond. Prepare yourself for their well-thought-out social, economic and global predictions for our nation and abroad.

The invention of science and statistics has replaced old-school fortunetelling in very insidious ways. Now, while careful to disclaim â€" past performance is no guarantee of future results â€" hucksters of all sorts try to sell us stuff by pointing to long-term trends. In fact, America’s current state of economic recession was caused by a confidence born of scientific analysis. Supposedly, we all believed, housing prices would never fall. After all, they had risen steadily for over 80 years. Very few people alive and relevant today remembered the last time when the U.S. housing market went bust. Those people who lost their homes in 1933 are no longer around to deliver any cautionary tales.

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