A new year has arrived and that can only mean one thing: forecasts. Lots of ’em. There’s something about a fresh calendar that promotes prognostication in ample quantities. Predicting is still hard, even if supply exceeds demand. But like a highway accident, we can’t avert our eyes. Adjust your expectations accordingly. “In the end the only certainty is that the forecast will either be wrong or lucky,” advises the Colorado-based Business and Economic Research’s warning in its economic outlook for the year ahead. “Either way, the value of the forecast is not in the numbers, but in the forecast story.” It’s a long and winding story, of course, and one that has no end. Where to start? How about right here, with an assorted list of predictions that caught my eye for one reason or another. Who knows? Some of them may actually be accurate.