Year in Review, 2011

As the year comes to a close, many writers try to list the most important events of the year. Some include such things as royal weddings, personal scandals, deaths of famous people...my list leaves most of those things out because in ten years, they probably won't matter. I think, though, that the following events will have a lasting impact.

• This year we said a thankful goodbye to three dreadful people: al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi, and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Yes, other terrorists and dictators will follow in their wake, but at least those three are gone.
• Middle East protests erupted as a result of a disastrous economy, government corruption, and a lack of political freedom. In January, President Ben Ali was forced to resign and fled Tunisia, where he had held power for 23 years. As protests spread, Hosni Mubarak was ousted from Egypt, and Gadhafi fled and was eventually killed after 42 years of tyranny in Libya. Other protests continue in Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, and Morocco.
• The world economy reached crisis levels in 2011 and the outlook for improvement is grim. Sovereign debt is out of control, fewer people are working and the result is the beginning rumbling of class warfare. As fewer people contribute to economic production and an increasing number of people are consuming, the middle class is expected to pay an unreasonable proportion of their income as taxes. In the U.S., political leaders are calling for greater "taxes on the rich" to pay down the national debt, support ineffective welfare programs, and pay for astronomical federal budget demands. They seem to have forgotten the wise words of Margaret Thatcher: the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

So the word of the year is turmoil - political, economic, and social. I know, you can't make an omelette without cracking some eggs, but right now it's unclear who the cook is.