Prediction #4 — Bitcoin stays crazy until traders learn it is not a currency

2017 was a wild ride for cryptocurrencies and for Bitcoin in particular, rising in price at one point above $19,000 only to drop back to a bit over half of that number now. But which number is correct? If only the market can tell for sure — and these numbers are coming straight from the market, remember — what the heck does it all mean? It means Bitcoin isn’t a currency at all but traders are pretending that it is. 2018 will see investors finally figure this out.

Confusion abounds, so let’s cut through the crap with an analogy. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and a ton […]

By |January 24th, 2018|2018, Business, Finance, investing, Predictions, Uncategorized|72 Comments
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Prediction #3 — 2018 foreign profit repatriation is a $591.8 BILLION taxpayer ripoff

When I started this series of 2018 predictions I said the recently passed U.S. tax law was going to have a profound impact on upcoming events. Having had a chance to look closer at the issue I am even more convinced that this seismic financial event is, as I wrote above, a $591.8 billion taxpayer ripoff. This is not to say there aren’t some possible public benefits from the repatriation, but it’s fairly clear that the public loses more than it will ever gain.

In case you don’t follow these things, multinational U.S. companies have, since 2005, squirreled away about $2.5 TRILLION in profits overseas because U.S. tax law […]

By |January 19th, 2018|2018, Business, Economy, Government, Predictions|44 Comments
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Why do I do this to myself? Bob’s first predictions for 2018

About 20 years ago, when I started publishing a list of annual technology predictions, it just made sense to look back to see how I had done the year before. Alas, I made that decision without looking to see that nobody else in my line of work actually does that. But I was stuck and have found since that by being deliberately vague and putting a fair amount of thought into this stuff I’ve been able to keep my long-term stats at about 70 percent correct. We’ll shortly see if that trend continues, but first I want to discuss how this year is so different from all those others.

Nothing seems the […]

By |January 16th, 2018|2018, Predictions, Uncategorized|57 Comments
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After surgery, a visionary finally sneaks back to work

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to return to this page. My eye surgery is finally complete and I am more or less fully recovered. I can probably see better than at any other time in my life, though it is still far from perfect, but so what? I can see! I can drive! I can fly! Best of all, I am still alive.

During my first try at surgery in early November, they said my blood pressure was too high and sent me home with an extra pill (my fourth) to take for that condition. Two days later I was suffering horrible back pain and passed out. My kidneys had gone into overdrive and […]

By |January 2nd, 2018|2018, Family, Health, Television|98 Comments
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Net Neutrality will die, so let’s take the profit out of killing it.

The U.S. Federal Communication Commission, under the leadership of chairman Ajit Pai, will next week set in motion the end of Net Neutrality in the USA. This is an unfortunate situation that will cause lots of news stories to be written in the days ahead, but I’m pretty sure the fix is in and this change is going to happen. No matter how many protesters merge on their local Verizon store, no matter how many impassioned editorials are written, it’s going to happen. The real question is what can be done in response to take the profit out of killing it?  I have a plan.

The concept of Net […]

By |November 22nd, 2017|2017, Government, Internet, Privacy and Security|133 Comments
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