Conditional Predictions for 2006

What the heck; I might as well make a few:

• If it looks like the Dems will take at least 1 house of Congress, American large cap equities markets (S&P 500 and Dow) will be up at least 6%; if the Dems take both houses, they will be up at least 10%. But if neither happens, equities will drop 5-10%.
  
• The religious right will pick up some cause even more inane than Terri Schiavo, which will either cause George W. Bush supporters to collapse into irrelevance in supporting this cause or cause Bush to finally do a "Sister Souljah" moment with them.
• The US will slide into recession with a bursting of the housing bubble unless some new bubble can be found.
• Tom DeLay will cop a plea, and leave Congress.
• "Scooter" Libby will cop a plea, and Rove will be indicted.
• The domestic spying case will turn out to have been targetted on at least 2 US journalists, sending the mainstream media (finally) into a well-deserved attack on the Bush regime.
• Bernanke's tenure at the Fed will, within 6 months, be highlighted by a dramatic drop in the dollar.