| I'm Justin Fox, and this is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a carefully hedged forecast of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. What will 2025 be like? Who knows, really. "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future," as physicist Niels Bohr or (more likely) some other Danish person once said. Several of our columnists are nonetheless brave enough to offer forecasts this New Year's Eve — although, to be fair, the most daring ones are about 2024. It is of course much easier to make bold predictions when you already know how things turned out, which helps explain the enduring appeal of John Authers' annual reports from Hindsight Capital, the remarkable (and imaginary) hedge fund that "has the gift of knowing how the year would work out in advance." Part II is out today (here's Part I) and describes such can't-miss 2024 trades as buying shares of tech's Magnificent 7 while short-selling oil drillers, buying Argentinian stocks while selling Brazilian ones, and buying cocoa futures while selling soybean futures. John sums up the whole report in this video. Meanwhile, we do have some more conventional forecasts — that is, about the future. Tech's tycoons are hoping their big investments in artificial intelligence and President-elect Donald Trump will start to pay off in 2025, but Dave Lee expects them to encounter lots of pushback and turbulence. Concerns about "brain rot" will bring more legislation restricting social media and smartphone use, while AI's ravenous demand for content, electricity and data-center real estate will spark growing opposition. Meanwhile, the tech industry's pro-immigration priorities are already running into a buzz saw of online opposition from Trump's nativist base. For the tech subsector of crypto, 2025 may be the year when practical applications such as decentralized digital identities, oracles and zero-knowledge proofs start to attract more attention than the dizzying ups and downs of Bitcoin, writes Aaron Brown. If they don't start to see widespread adoption soon, he adds, "we can expect another crypto winter." In the workplace, Sarah Green Carmichael sees hybrid continuing to be the norm for knowledge workers in 2025 even as some employers loudly trumpet five-day-a-week return to the office. And while DEI — for diversity, equity and inclusion — will continue to draw fire from the political right, large corporations will also continue efforts to "recruit from the largest possible talent pool; assess workers accurately and fairly, without implicit bias; and foster an environment free of overt racial prejudice, gender hostility or sexual harassment." They just probably won't call it DEI. Democrats Need Better-Run Cities | Democrats dominate politics in America's big cities, and America's big cities haven't been doing great lately. For Erika D. Smith, this raises an important question: "Why should voters trust Democrats to run the country when so many cities run by Democrats lack affordable neighborhoods, and safe and clean streets?" Democratic elected officials in many cities have embraced efforts to streamline housing production, which could help with affordability, Erika writes, but prices are still high and homelessness is rising. And while urban crime is down after increasing during the pandemic, evidence of lawlessness and public disorder is still widespread. Democratic urban leaders need to find better ways to address it. Since the African National Congress lost its majority in South Africa's parliament in May, economists have been ratcheting up their forecasts for GDP growth in the country. That's not a coincidence, argues Matthew A. Winkler. The ANC's coalition with the centrist Democratic Alliance has brought hopes of business-friendly reforms and sharp declines in inflation expectations. One big problem with efforts to invest our way out of the climate crisis, notes Lara Williams, is that high-emissions sectors such as industrials and agriculture attract a lot less capital than those with lower emissions but the potential for higher returns. Carbon credits offer a way to even out this disparity, and while voluntary carbon markets haven't been a huge success so far, Lara sees a recent United Nations agreement as signaling "slightly better" prospects for 2025. Just say no to GOP budget gimmicks. — Bloomberg's editorial board Mozambique needs neighborly help. — Justice Malala The year's best nonfiction. — Stephen L. Carter High fashion's designer revolving-door. — Andrea Felsted Black spatulas and bad science. — F.D. Flam The power went out in Puerto Rico. What caused NYC's taxi-insurance mess. A great Detroit building is revived. A major Russian gas pipeline is set to shut down. The global decline of late-night dancing. Delivery robots are already here. No, there won't be 2 million people at Times Square this evening (from 2018, but still relevant). Note: Please send practical crypto applications, can't-miss trade ideas and any feedback to justinfox@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
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