Crappy New Year? Maybe For You, Not Me
Dec. 31, 2006 — -- If Americans are right about what's ahead in 2007, it's going to be a tough year.
Americans are expecting natural disasters and terrorist attacks, according to a poll by the Associated Press and AOL. One in four also reported they are ready for the second coming of Christ.
Most of the misery is fated for others. Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed said they are feeling good about what 2007 holds for themselves and their families, according to the telephone poll of 1,000 adults that was conducted Dec. 12-14 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.
As for the nation, 60 percent think America will suffer another terrorist attack; more than 70 percent say Iraq will stay the same or get worse; less than one in three believe U.S. troops will leave the war zone; and about the same number expect the draft to be reinstated.
Psychic Matilda Meints, a card reader and Navy veteran, thinks the amateurs got it right.
"Iraq will get worse before it gets better," she said.
The growing awareness of global warming also looms large. After a year with unseasonably warm weather and warnings from Al Gore and others, 70 percent expect 2007 to be even warmer than 2006. And a year and a half after Katrina, the same number expect another natural disaster.
If the Old Farmer's Almanac is correct, that disaster could be another hurricane.
"A major hurricane will threaten the Northeast in late September," the Almanac predicts.
The Almanac also sees an early spring and mild summer, and continued drought across the nation bringing more wildfires.
The risks of attacks and fires haven't soured stockbrokers, still gleeful after the Dow hit 12,000. A recent survey of investment managers by the Russell Investment Group found an overwhelming 80 percent expect positive returns from the markets next year.
The rich may continue to get richer in 2007, but Meints does not see a rosy financial future for the rest of us.
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