This is exciting. I feel like the dreams of the internet are coming to life. It is allowing us to self-organise and hold democracy to account. These movements are happening everywhere.
My dad and his fellow surgeons were able to bend their private health-insurer over a barrel with large CC'd email. The insurer kept claiming that other surgeons they worked with were lowering their prices so one surgeon just emailed all the others and a movement was started. Every time the insurer tried to pressure one surgeon into buckling he would email the encounter to the list and instantly receive messages of support (The south-east is strong! - Scotland will not let the side down etc..). None of these surgeons are particularly computer-literate or internet-aware and yet they found a really convenient and powerful way to self-organise and beat a profit-focussed insurer. Win.
My interpretation was that the insurance company was making progress individually, but once all the surgeons started communicating freely, they realized that it would be in their best interest (more profit) if they colluded.
There's also the fact that government is a huge player in the health care space, spending more on Medicare & Medicaid in 2010 than on the Department of Defense (simply making the comparison, as everyone understands that we spend a huge amount of money on war).
As the State and its guilds scheme to reduce supply, which dantheman noted, the State also increases demand. This, of course, also raises costs.
I don't believe the Mayans, but I do think that 2012 is going to be a huge year.
For one, the Occupy movement is going to rise back up in some form in the spring and will be an interesting juxtaposition to the campaign fever in the U.S. I don't know if the social network idea is going to catch fire, but something on the internet interesting is going to happen in this regard.
Also, the Reddit/SOPA idea is an interesting one (Paul Ryan is great choice). A lot of people have learned from the GoDaddy fiasco that boycotts organized on the internet can work. This year we've also seen people moving their money to credit unions and now a boycott of Comcast.
Next year there may also be a conclusion to the Assange case that may jump off another round of hacktivism and let's see how far the Stratfor hack goes.
Overall I'd say 2012 is the year that the internet really becomes more than talking to your friends, email and buying and consuming crap. Two generations of people that grew up on the 'net will overwhelm the rest that don't understand it.
Only Reddit would be goofy enough to target a congressman that regularly pulls in two-thirds of the popular vote in his district, outperformed his party's own presidential candidate by ~20%, and is already targeted by single-issue groups with a lot more prominence than SOPA. Most likely they fail, and if they succeed they won't get the credit.
If they had a clue they'd pick a) someone already pretty wobbly, b) someone who won't be automatically riding the coattails of dissatisfaction with the current president, and c) someone they can take credit for bumping if they actually manage to pull it off.
They are planning to Occupy Congress starting January 17th( the 1 Million Tents movement). Maybe this will help make the politicians considering voting for SOPA and PIPA (January 24th vote) more fearful of backlash, too.
December 2012 is when the world ends, so really, it's practically 2013.
Occupy will be dead as soon as jobs kick back up or whenever the government actually puts up a fight to these camp-outs. I don't think anyone needs another social network; a forum perhaps, but Facebook/Twitter works just as well for organizing Occupy crap.
I don't know why GoDaddy got into this in the first place but it's obvious they didn't have much to gain at all which is why they bailed. Try getting a music company or a police fraternity to bail on SOPA by protest, see how far it gets you. SOPA will live on.
The Stratfor hack is complete and utter bullshit, it's a goddamn news wire service. Nothing will come from it.
The only thing you can say with certainty is America will be full of excess [political] bullshit until November 2012, and then it'll be business as usual.
(Also, you know the OP's post is a troll when he suggests Ron Paul could win)
> Occupy will be dead as soon as jobs kick back up or whenever the government actually puts up a fight to these camp-outs. I don't think anyone needs another social network; a forum perhaps, but Facebook/Twitter works just as well for organizing Occupy crap.
As the articles state, the Occupy movement is making another social network because Facebook and Twitter don't work nearly efficient enough for "organizing Occupy crap". Nor have any major government attacks on Occupy Boston (for example) managed to stop the movement.
The parallel thing I see happing is the strengthening of subcultures. Although the internet is bringing the world closer together, it also seems to be allowing like minded people to build lasting subcultures. Reddit has several of these. This is a pattern I have seen a lot. These subcultures might have sprung up before but after the initial enthusiasm dies out, the subculture moves on. Now, it seems that these subcultures persist and keep growing, building group identity, language, and camaraderie. The Ron Paul supporters have stuck around for years because of this and now they have the growing organization to push through to the mainstream, but it is the lingering subculture behind it , this strong foundation, that is allowing them to push through the normal barriers that would have prevented this in the past.
One bullet point missing I think that is important is the democratization of education I think started in earnest this year. Khan Academy has entered the zeitgeist and Stanford and MIT are now opening up classes to the public. If this continues we could see a much more educated and informed public, which obviously is healthy for democracy in the same way these movements are.
My dad and his fellow surgeons were able to bend their private health-insurer over a barrel with large CC'd email. The insurer kept claiming that other surgeons they worked with were lowering their prices so one surgeon just emailed all the others and a movement was started. Every time the insurer tried to pressure one surgeon into buckling he would email the encounter to the list and instantly receive messages of support (The south-east is strong! - Scotland will not let the side down etc..). None of these surgeons are particularly computer-literate or internet-aware and yet they found a really convenient and powerful way to self-organise and beat a profit-focussed insurer. Win.
This is really exciting.