The Future

There are two crystal balls. One shows the future if evil defeats good. The other shows the future if good defeats evil. I will tell you what I see in the crystal ball that shows the future in 2050, twenty-five years from today's 2025 - if good defeats evil.

The year is 2050. Good won. In the United States, homelessness does not exist anymore. Every adult citizen over the age of 18 is granted the bare minimum of housing which is a studio apartment. This was accomplished in the "End Homelessness" Act of 2026 where a constitutional right to housing was added into the Amendments. Those who do not wish to live in a studio apartment (also called an efficiency) may purchase other residential options if they can afford to do so, but no American citizens are homeless in 2050.

Education has changed dramatically. Public education decreased as private education increased. Church schools, private tutors, and homeschooling became the norm around 2029. Public schools still exist, but they are rare and considered an eyesore and a threat to the peace and harmony of the new and improved civilization. Tax payers are often voting against public education and continually proving how tax money is wasted on those antiquated institutions.

Entertainment and Sports have also changed along with technology. Adults who receive a studio apartment are also granted a free flip phone as a communication and emergency assistance device. Television, Computers, (including laptops and tablets) are not free. Channels are purchased a la carte on most devices. Old records, cassettes, dvds, and cds, are considered antiques at high prices. Movie theaters closed down and theaters came up. All movie creators now send their new creations directly to the various channels (for television or computer) for viewing. Airwave Radio made a comeback, but attendance for live concerts is usually low because people began to frown upon large gatherings and the costs of concert venues. Football was replaced with Soccer. Basketball is more popular than Hockey. Baseball is gone with the exception of the schools and private groups that still have games. The Olympics changed also. They only occur every 10 years in Greece. The Games are always in Greece now and they have very limited categories, mostly individuals, very few teams. Coffee Houses and Bookstores made a comeback and the open mic nights are a big hit in the small towns and big cities.

Environmentalists are the new wave. Everybody recycles and those who don't are looked at as the bad guys. Thrift Stores are more popular than the Mall. There are more buffet restaurants in a typical city than fast food chains. Most of the fast food chains left the towns and cities and are strategically placed at the exits of major highways. Gas stations include gas and electric power sources, and Gas Attendants are required in every state now. People don't pump their own gas anymore. Full tank of gas gets a customer full service which includes windshield clean, air in the tires, and a fluids check.

Crime is down in most states. Bullying rarely occurs at the private schools and gang violence started fading out a few years after homelessness had been solved. There are a few jails and prisons, but almost half of them were closed and transformed into runaway shelters for lost children or stray animals. The few jails and prisons that do exist are run more like psych wards as they truly strive for reformation and mental health healing.

Healthcare remains a concern. The politics of 2050 are all about Healthcare, Hospitals, Doctors, Choice, and people are still debating about what is good and what should be done. There never seems to be a majority opinion about the subject of healthcare. However, since homelessness is gone, and crime rates have never been lower, most of the citizens are happy and still striving to improve the healthcare system. In 2049, statistics reported that there were more graduates of Nursing programs than any other programs of higher education.

Besides gas and electric cars and busses, trains have become more popular than airplanes. Most of the travel trains are run on electric, but there are a few specialty trains that reverted back to steam engines. Riverboat transportation also became popular and there are trips on Riverboats on most of the major rivers such as the Mississippi, Colorado, Missouri, Yukon, Cimmaron, and St. Lawrence. Most people only travel by airplane if they are leaving the country as the process to get on an airplane has very difficult red tape and extremely intense security policies. As a result of less airplanes coming and going, the environmentalists noticed that the ozone layer recovered and healed in many areas of the global atmosphere and global warming began showing reversed effects around 2040. The polar bears were taken off the "Endangered Species" list that same year when the ice regions started to normalize.

Overall, life in the United States in 2050 is very good. Various regions have created a flavor or style of culture and citizens who travel about are aware of the cultural variables within the nation. The nation does not have a national debt or a war with any other nation. The nation allows foreigners to come for a visit or to work here with a green card; However any foreigner who comes to the United States to create havoc or destruction is shipped immediately back to their country and that country is fined for our inconvenience. Good won. The U.S. in 2050 is celebrating the best times of peace and prosperity that was ever recorded in the history books.