Generational marketing expert Ken Gronbach looks into the future using the tool of demographics which serves as a GPS to navigate the many landscapes that will define what the United States will look like over the next 30 years. In the first half, he outlined various trends, and how different markets will fare in the years ahead. Concerning toys, he noted that Toys R Us has closed, and Mattel's sales have declined, leading some such as the Wall St. Journal to posit that smartphones are taking the place of Hot Wheels and Barbie dolls. Gronbach suggests that the real issue behind this is that there are 25% fewer kids under the age of 10 than there were a decade ago. Regarding sales being down at McDonald's, he cites that Generation Y or Millennials (14 to 33 years old) are opting for more nutritious options.
The newest generation, Generation Z (2005-2024), will be a smaller population than the Millennials, he said, but like them, they'll be cyber-reliant, and trending towards liberalism. China, he continued, will be facing problems with a smaller population on the horizon, and a shrinking labor force. Another trend Gronbach cited is more women moving into CEO positions and law. "Women are going to run things," he added, "because they are going to be the most educated." Regarding the population of the US, he foresees the warmer weather states continuing to grow in size, with Florida, increasing from 20 to 30 million residents.
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Professor of history at Citrus College, Bruce Olav Solheim, discussed some of the 34 paranormal incidents that he's documented in his own life. At age 4, he had an angelic encounter, when he'd taken ill at his grandmother's farmhouse on an island off Norway. A bright presence took away his fear and when he awoke the next day he felt fine. Another odd event occurred when he was driving with his son in Southern California, and he looked down for a second to pick something off the floor and found himself hurtling through a red light. Two cars were coming right at them from either side and "at that moment everything slowed down...and it was as if I had all the time in the world" to maneuver out of it. They got through safely and time returned to normal.
During his meditative walks, he communes with spirit friends and guides, and they have expressed the notion of an "eternal now" which he feels may relate to the sense of expanded time in the near-accident. Solheim's model of the paranormal connects to ideas of the quantum world where everything is in wave form. He also shared some of his darker paranormal experiences such as with demonic-type entities. In one case, an apparitional column of pulsating fire rose up out of the floor toward him in bed and spread over him in an arc as he was tormented by a growling voice.
News segment guests: Howard Bloom, Steve Kates