Experts have a lot to say about America’s future—and not all of them positive. From the economy to the environment, they’re predicting things are sure to catch us off guard. Even how we interact with technology is going to be different! Let’s look at ten predictions about what the future might hold for the USA.
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Economic Inequality Keeps Growing
Right now, a minority of people hoard most of the country’s wealth while the rest of us are left with far less. Sadly, the gap between the super-rich & everyone else is predicted to get even wider. There will be numerous causes of this further wealth inequality, including work moving across borders.
Coastal Cities Taking a Swim
Scientists are majorly concerned about rising sea levels, particularly in terms of coastal cities like Miami and New Orleans. They predict many parts of these cities will be underwater by 2100. Beyond merely losing iconic boardwalks, this would also mean that homes, businesses & entire communities will face real jeopardy.
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Obesity’s Toll on Public Health
The USA is facing an obesity epidemic that’ll have serious consequences for public health. In a couple of decades, more than half of us could be obese and this will cause a surge in health problems like diabetes & heart disease. Our healthcare system is likely to be overwhelmed. It’ll struggle to keep up with us as we eat ourselves into an unhealthy future—and an early grave.
Robots Taking Over Jobs
While robots & AI are cool, they’re also getting really good at doing jobs that humans used to do. For every robot vacuum that cleans our floors, there’s another doing factory work or flipping burgers, undercutting the human workers. Who knows what all those displaced employees will do next?
Political Polarization Hits New Levels
If you think politics is a hot mess now, brace yourself—experts predict that Americans are going to keep drifting further apart in their political views. As such, there’ll be far more arguing at Thanksgiving dinner and less stuff getting accomplished in government. Each side is pulling harder than ever in this giant tug-of-war. What happens when the rope breaks?
Water, Water, Not Everywhere
Water scarcity is likely to become even more serious of an issue in the Southwest due to numerous droughts. And with all the different needs for water, like agriculture & cities, there might not be enough to go around. We’ll likely have to deal with some serious conflict over who gets to water their lawn—who gets left high & dry.
Cybersecurity Threats on the Rise
As more of our lives go on the internet, like fridges that order our groceries to watches that track our sleep, the risk of cyber attacks is increasing. Hackers may get their hands on all of our personal information. Worse still, they might gain access to things like the power grid—and these hackers could come from anywhere in the world.
More Reliance on Foreign Energy
Even though we’re drilling & fracking like there’s no tomorrow, the USA could rely on other countries more for fossil fuels. Unfortunately, when things get tense globally, Americans will feel it at the gas pump. We desperately need to find ways to become self-sufficient with our fuel options, both renewable & non-renewable.
Fewer People Going to College
The price tag of college has soared into the stratosphere, making many young people decide it’s not worth the debt. We’ll likely have fewer college grads and a wider gap between the haves & have-nots over education—and job opportunities. The ladder to success is missing a few rungs but in the future, it might be entirely non-existent.
Mental Health Challenges Grow
Last but not least, something we’re almost certain about is that the future will be tough on our collective mental health. Social media overload & economic stress alone will make life difficult for Americans. But once you factor in all the other things that could happen in the future, we’re definitely going to have it hard.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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