Fear Index 2015

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MILD FEAR

FULL-LENGTH FROZEN SEQUEL

You likely won’t have to shell out for tickets in 2015. A short is coming in the first part of the year, though.

ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Mitch McConnell has said it’s not a possibility, though a debt-ceiling vote must take place by summer to avoid default.

LIFE ALTERING

SOLAR FLARES

Scientists predict the peak of the current weaker-than-average solar cycle will fade in 2015, though we could still see energy bursts disrupt communications.

CHOCOLATE SHORTAGE

Thanks to drought, demand for cocoa is forecast to outpace supply, with the deficit hitting 1 million metric tons by 2020.

AUTO RECALLS

More recalls are likely, given multiple evolving crises, though most automakers now–GM included–are trying to get ahead of potential problems.

LIFE THREATENING

TEEN CAR CRASHES

Research shows recent license-plate-decal rules in New Jersey have helped cut fatalities. New York and Massachusetts may follow suit.

THE RAPTURE

Some believers speculate it’s going to happen on Sept. 23, 2015.

INTENSE FEAR

FUJI ERUPTION

Some scientists speculate that Fuji has been due to erupt since Japan’s 2011 earthquake; it last erupted in 1707. But there’s no proven causal link between quakes and eruptions.

ARMED CONFLICT

There’s ISIS in Iraq. There’s Putin in Russia. And there’s Kim Jong Un in North Korea. So, probably.