Predictions from UA experts include how we will deal with natural disasters, emergence of doomsday groups, changes in fuel prices, business with Cuba, and more from the Occupy Movement.
The past year went on record as the year of extreme weather. “The U.S. can no longer afford to ignore the management of catastrophic losses at the state and federal levels,” said Dr. William Rabel, professor of finance and head of the insurance program at UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, in a press release.
According to Rabel, the US government “will have to identify and evaluate exposures and then select the optimum tools for controlling and financing losses. Every state and the federal government will need a chief risk officer.”
Prophecies left from history the world over have predicted an ending to the world, or a new world beginning. The prediction getting the most attention is from the Mayans. The Mayan calendar stops at 2012. While scholars think this means a new beginning, some think the world will end in 2012. Dr. Rosanna Guadagno, assistant professor of psychology and Internet scholar, UA, said in a phone interview, “Doomsday groups are going to form, if not already.” Guadagno noted how quickly information spreads on the Internet. According to Guadagno, a tech savvy doomsday group could create hysteria.
“Do not believe everything you read on the Internet,” advises Guadagno.
Fuel prices may subtly go up and down, according to Dr. Peter Clark, professor of chemical engineering at UA who follows the petroleum market. “In the spring, the refineries shut down for maintenance across the county and the summertime is more expensive for air quality reasons,” said Clark in a phone interview. According to Clark, gas prices are cycling like this: spring prices go up and when things settle down in the summer prices will stop going up and may even go down.
“Political, economic, supply and demand, unstable factors in the Middle East, nervous oil spectators, and the drop of the euro or dollar are factors that could cause gas prices to jump significantly,” said Clark.
According to Dr. Jase Ramsey, assistant professor of marketing at UA, the U.S. will look to trade with Cuba and businesses may visit Cuba on “state-sponsored trade missions to size up market potential,” according to the UA press release. “A key component that will determine who gets access to Cuba is prior relationships with the Castro regime and with Cuban politicians,” said Ramsey. Concerns remain high about building relationships with a communist Cuba that suppress people’s rights and imprisons more journalists in the world, second only to China, according to Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Occupy Movement is also expected to continue. Dr. Gary Hoover, a UA economics professor, said in a statement, “I predict that we have not heard the last of the Occupy Movement. In fact, I think they will be heard again and re-emerge on the political and economic landscape more determined and forceful than ever.”
Dr. Matthew D. Bunker, Reese Phifer Professor of Journalism, UA, said “Public places such as parks and streets have traditionally been considered public forums for the expression of ideas, but the government retains the ability to impose reasonable restrictions based on the time, place or manner of the speech,” in a press release. Bunker predicts there may be more courtroom action with Occupiers defending their First Amendment rights.
