KTTH’s Todd Herman is and admitted cynic. So, when he looks ahead to make predictions about Washington state in 2016, it’s not always a pretty picture. Though, there are at least a few moments of optimism…kind of.

Predictions:

1. Seattle and Washington state will continue to produce jobs… for rich people or people who will be rich.

“And that will provide a great tax base,” he said. “We could become one of those cities like Manhattan where you don’t live downtown unless you earn a million dollars or more a year. Great tax base, great schools. In May, the graduation rate will go through the roof.”

2. We will continue to create bio-tech companies and start-ups.

3. We will see even more emergency repairs on our freeways and they will happen during heavy commuting hours &#8212 mornings and afternoons.

“The WSDOT will state that they don’t have enough money to do maintenance,” Herman said. “They will state that they are overtaxed in terms of not having enough people. They will begin to make maintenance an issue while they are building choo-choo trains.”

4. Your energy bills will go up.

“A cap-and-trade is coming our way through a ballot initiative that King County’s and Pierce County’s rich people will impose on the rest of the state,” he said. “They will impose it on apple farmers, they will impose it on small manufacturers. The predictable result is energy rates go up and you end up paying for it. The deep scam to this: Carbon is carbon, whether it’s exhaled or comes out of a coal plant or comes out of a dam. Because electrical power creates 38 percent of the carbon output in the energy world. So if we go 100 percent electricity, what do we have? A carbon problem.”

5. In Washington state, your speech will be further limited.

“I think they will achieve a ballot initiative that says business owners have no speech rights,” Herman said. “…Your speech will be curtailed in Washington state, but only if you’re a business owner, because employees have rights, unions have rights. But more people in Washington state will be forced to pay for political speech they don’t like and with which they disagree.”

6. The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties will be exposed to be liars &#8212 again.

7. The tolls on I-405 will go up, with a cap established at $15.

8. There will be more neighborhoods signing petitions asking for more police &#8212 that will not be delivered.

“Citizens start by asking, next they insist and then they demand,” he said. “There’s an awakening.”

9. Following the presidential election, there will be an answer to this question: “Are we going back to being a Republican democracy or do we need to get evermore serious about the battle.”