In just under 48 hours, we will be celebrating the arrival of 2014. 2013 will finally be behind us as we all look ahead with hope and optimism for a new year. 2014 will no doubt have its share of good news and bad news, wins and losses, but it will give us all a fresh start feeling. Here are 10 things/people that/who will definitely be the subjects of many discussions and news stories in 2014.
1. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): The Obama administration may have botched the roll out of this major healthcare initiative back in October. But with enrollments surging after most if not all wrinkles were ironed out, The President may very well be vindicated in his push to ensure all Americans have affordable healthcare. To date, over 1 million enrollments have been recorded and it continues to increase. 2014 will no doubt change to tune of many when it comes to this controversial new program.
2. Bill de Blasio: Bill de Blasio wasn't supposed to win the race to be New York City's next mayor. But he came from behind and won the title in a landslide. All eyes are already on him as he puts together his administration and clears the path to roll out policies he ran on. Will the highly controversial "Stop and Frisk" law continue under de Blasio and his police commissioner Bill Bratton? Or will he scrap it? This question and many more hangs over the new Mayor's head as he prepares to officially take office on January 1st.
3. Twitter: Twitter's IPO was so smooth, we are sure there were green faces at Facebook. The micro blogging site carries a market cap of about $36 billion and continues to be a leading destination for breaking news, photos, and brands looking to connect with consumers. Twitter can only do two things in 2014, It can tank, or surge. Our money is on the latter.
4. The United States Congress: The worst congress ever in the history of the United States Government may get a chance to redeem itself with the coming midterm elections in 2014. Will we see the removal of extreme tea party supported members or will we see a surge within this group? One thing we are sure of is that 2014 is the start of the 2016 presidential election and the new year will give us a clearer picture of who is in, and who is out in the race to the White House.
6: Music Industry: The music industry which has suffered for a few years thanks to piracy and their slow move to embrace all digital formats, is on an up tick thanks to smash releases from some of its top artists. We all witnessed Beyonce shifting the industry once again, raising the bar with the surprise release of her self titled digital visual album. The music industry took notes and will no doubt try this formula on other major artists.
7: Marijuana Legalization: With the fight to legalize marijuana slowly being won, we may see more states follow other marijuana loving states like Colorado with the the legal sale of the green stuff. However, the Federal government doesn't seem to want to embrace the inevitable.
8: P Diddy and Jay Z: The two richest men in Hip Hop continue to be competitive with their business ventures and growing net worths. It is estimated that Diddy may very well end up being Hip Hop's first billionaire, but Jay Z is right on his tail. We predict that Diddy will be at or over the $600 million mark and Jay Z will finally arrive at the $500 million mark when Forbes releases its 2014 "Hip Hop Cash Kings" list.
9: Facebook: The mighty social network once limited to college students is at a crossroads. It is seeing an exodus of its main demo of teens as they spend more time on other social media sites. Teens are using the site less as their moms and dads hop on and follow them, limiting their freedom on the site. 2014 will be the year Facebook has to address this and figure out how to bring them back, or survive without them.
10: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian: The current tabloid and gossip couple are enjoying all the attention surrounding their rumored mega wedding in 2014. Like other popular celeb couples planning to wed, there are rumors about where the nuptial will take place but we believe Kim and Kanye will opt for a low key intimate wedding since Kanye isn't big on selling his life moments to the paparazzi vultures. Either way, all eyes are on the current it couple as they inch closer to to the beginning of the end of their relationship, at least that what most people think.
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