Every year, the world gets weirder. What will 2024 bring?

The year is 2008. The president is George W. Bush. The vice president is Dick Cheney. The world is largely at peace with the exception of Iraq, where America has been occupying and propping up a new government since 2003. The stock market is high, jobs are abundant, and the economy is strong. In the morning, we collectively watch Jim Cramer, the sock puppet of Wall Street institutional investors, bark at us to buy high and sell low. The American people are being lulled to sleep. We wouldn’t wake up until three months before the election. <br><br>When the financial system collapsed, the world was sent into a tailspin. The stock market fell 39% from its peak and with it went American jobs and the housing market. I don’t have a single friend who wasn’t concerned for our collective future and the fate of our economy. It was the first time I saw how a singular event could cause a massive ripple effect felt by hundreds of millions of people.<br><br>Then the next year, swine flu ravaged the world, killing up to 400,000 people. This is the first time in my thirty-seven years that I have seen the entire world shut down. States shut down bars and restaurants. Entertainment venues were closed. The world shut down for a month and then a second wave hit in November.<br><br>In 2010, the Tea Party rose to power, revolutionizing theGOP and ushering in the most divisive era of American politics. While the Tea Party was short-lived, it ushered in the MAGA era, which has transformed politics forever. It’s the first time that I can remember seeing a large number of Americans who have complete and utter disdain for the mainstream media. In fact, MAGA supporters are being warned by media not to wear their attire in public in certain areas because they might be shot. We are living in a time when politicians who undermine the media are celebrated.<br><br>Then the world was rocked to its very core by COVID. I have no idea how to even describe it. The world was shut down. Countries were shut down. The global economy was shut down. In the United States, we largely went into lockdown in March and stayed at home for about two months. The global economy fell by 3.5% in 2020 and the US GDP fell by 3.4%. The virus has killed more than 6.5 million people worldwide and more than 900,000 in the US. The world continues to struggle to proclaim that we are back to normal. <br><br>Then in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, sending the world into a panic. The war in Ukraine has sent America and Europe into hyperinflation. The rate of inflation in the US has gone from 1.4% to 9.1%. Gas prices are soaring, and the American people are seeing their wages decline by up to 12% over the past two years. Suddenly, the global economy is on the verge of collapse. The world is struggling with the idea of a multipolar world, and everything about our economy and institutions are being challenged. <br><br>Every year, the world gets weirder and crazier. What will 2024 bring?<br><br>**PS.** Please stay civil. I am trying to gauge the sentiment of Chambers, not to inflame it.