Hey, we may be getting bad news from up above. The political upheaval we saw in 2008, with lots of incumbents fired by angry voters, is apt to continue big time in 2012. Not only that, it could cause a couple of political biggies -- Barack Obama and Joe Biden -- to join the nearly 26 million job seekers.
No, that's not the prediction of some political pundit, but rather the word from the stars based on the latest astrological reading of Bob Marks, one of New York City's leading astrologists. The reason: A poor horoscope for the United States -- bad in 2011 and worse in 2012..
I last caught up with Marks about a year ago when he told me 2010 would see more financial turmoil, a sharp drop in President Obama's popularity and a major political upheaval, with many incumbents being booted out of office. The stars were right on in all three cases, at least as Marks read them, although they were off the mark in their outlook for a sharply falling 2010 stock market.
Marks, a practicing astrologer who has been monitoring planetary movement for some 39 years, boasts an international clientele, no doubt aided by an unbelievable forecast he made in January of 1974. At the time, prior to any Watergate revelations, he made what seemed to be an utterly off-the-wall prediction. President Nixon (then in his second term) will be out of office by September, Marks predicted. He was off by a month. Nixon resigned that year in August.
Assessing the next two years, Marks, who has hosted a weekly TV show, "Astrology Now," on Manhattan Cable since 1979, says 2008 started a long-term trend that will turn things upside down. And that means, he said, more chaos in 2011, followed by a chaotic 2012.
Supporting this dismal outlook astronomically, Marks notes that on Tuesday Jupiter, the planet of good luck and expansion, will leave the sign of pisces, a sign of dreams and illusions, and enter aires, an aggressive and explosive sign. And that, Marks says, will break the link between Jupiter and Uranus, a planet of sudden, unexpected change and chaos, which, he observes, is the only thing that has been holding up the stock market.
After that break, he went on, a new link will form between Jupiter and Saturn, a planet of difficulties, obstacles and delays, a prelude to a renewed downturn in the economy and falling stock prices.
More bad news on March 11, according to our astrological bear, because that's when Uranus enters the sign of Aries. The last time that happened, 1928-1935, a tumultuous period followed, during which we saw a stock market crash, the Great Depression and Hitler's assumption of power in Germany.
To Marks, his latest astrological readings suggest a down U.S. economy until June 4, an abundance of financial crises here and in Europe and a great deal of pressure on stock prices.
Adding to our astronomical woes, he says, is that the planets Uranus and Pluto (a planet of extremes) will be knocking heads between 2011 and 2015.
"You don't have to be an astrologer to see world economies are falling apart," Marks says, "What's going on around us, what you read in the papers and see on TV," he observes, "tells you we're in for several years of violence, demonstrations and political upheavals which should spread to the U.S. in 2012.
How does he figure things will ease up in June, or more specifically, as he specified, by June 4? Because, he explains, that's when Jupiter enters the sign of taurus, the bull and the sign of money, which. he sasys, should temporarily help the economy. However, he tosses in a cautionary note, a danger that the U.S. could print more and more money, which would be super inflationary, to keep social upheaval at bay.
Looking to 2012, he sees continuing credit crises, a worsening of European debt woes and a down year for both the U.S. economy and the stock market. Likewise he looks for New York City to go broke next year. And New York State, he notes, won't be able to bail them out because it's also broke.
If you're about to write off all of this as a lot of gobbledygook, you may be right. But given some of Marks' excellent calls. his astrological outlook would seem to merit at the very least a respectful hearing.
His wrapup: "Some 300 years from now the history books will have really big chapters on the events of the next two years. The stars are saying it's time to pay the piper," he said, "and this is a warning no one should take lightly."
Interestingly, last week, Marks, 69, woke up in the morning with chest pains. He then did what any of us would do; he went to the hospital to have himself checked out. Luckily, he was okay. "I thought I would be alright," he says. "I had a good horoscope." Unfortunately, he adds, I can't say the same thing about the horoscope of the United States."
What do you think? E-mail me at Dandordan@aol.com