I Predict Payday Loans in My Future

Elizabeth Fairchild — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:26:57 +0000

Predictions of 2008

So maybe the country’s “best” financial minds didn’t make predictions about payday loans, but they sure did try to tell the future about a few other things. As the year winds down, Peter Coy had the right idea for looking back on some of the predictions people made about this year and pointing out just how wrong they were.

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I’ve picked a few of my favorite predictions to discuss, and maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll make a few predictions of my own for 2009. After all, I can’t be more wrong than these guys.

Excuse me, Mr. President

I always think it’s funny when people say it’s unpatriotic to make fun of the president. I mean, wasn’t part of the reason he was elected because he was a “regular guy?” I say if he is a regular guy, then he is fair game for mockery, just like everyone else.

Well this year he showed just how regular he is when he said in March, “The market is in the process of correcting itself.” OK, so that is debatable, I suppose. Perhaps it is still in the process of correcting itself. Perhaps crashing, reaching record lows and recession are all part of the correction process.

Not only did he win, it was a landslide

Speaking of presidents, Shelby Steele was not alone when he predicted that Barack Obama could not be elected. I heard it from countless people — Republicans, Democrats, Whites, Hispanics, Hawaiians, you name it.

So what makes Steele’s prediction extraordinary? Well, he seems to be the only one who wrote a book about it. Wikipedia says Steele is a nonfiction author. However, after reading the title of his book published in December 2007 (”A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win”), I beg to differ.

I wonder how many copies that book sold. Perhaps Steele will have to take out payday loans to make ends meet before his next literary masterpiece hit the shelves.

How about those gas prices

Gas prices, gas prices, gas prices. For a few months there I felt like I couldn’t make it through an entire conversation about anything without gas prices coming up. It seemed the high price of gas affected so many different facets of life, it was impossible to escape.

One businessman in June predicted that the prices would continue to go up. OK, maybe not ONE businessman, but here’s what we have on record:
“I think you’ll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year.”

That quote was by T. Boone Pickens, and at that time, oil was at $135 a barrel. But I don’t think Mr. Pickens was the one person who was surprised when oil prices began dropping … and dropping and dropping. Now they have hit below $40 a barrel.

2009 is lookin’ mighty fine

So what do I predict for the year to come? I predict that more people will argue that Global Warming is a myth, Michael Moore will make a documentary about alternative fuel sources and Britney Spears will have another baby.

I predict that more people will make inaccurate predictions. But I think that, just like this year, I will be glad they were wrong. And I predict I might need payday loans to make up for all the work I missed because of the snow.