Here’s something from the New York Times, dated 4 February 2009:

U.S. Plans $500,000 Cap on Executive Pay in Bailouts.

“The new rules would be far tougher than any restrictions imposed during the Bush administration, and they could force executives to accept deep reductions in their current pay. They come amid rising public fury about huge pay packages for executives at financial companies being propped up by federal tax dollars…

…President Obama last week branded Wall Street bankers “shameful” for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail out some of the nation’s most prominent financial institutions.”

And here’s something that I wrote in December 2006 (See the Australian Edition of Future Files, published September 2007, page 129).

“Big banks, in particular, will come under increasing scrutiny about their lending practices, and there will be calls for salary and profit caps in some extreme instances.”

Not bad eh? I think the point here is that predictions can come true if only you give them enough time. I also think that personally speaking I get ahead of myself by about 12-18 months. Implications? Ignore most of my predictions for 2009 and focus on what I said would happen in 2008 instead! 🙂

Here’s the list from 2008…

1. Karma Capitalism
2. Rhythm & Balance
3. Making things
4. Something for nothing
5. Industrial provenance
6. Robotics
7. Data visualisation
8. Reality mining
9. Eco-exhaustion
10. Fantasy & escape

Watch the first one and the last one in particular for 2009.