Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There’s a quote, probably by an Englishman but attributed to the Chinese, that says, “May you live in interesting times.”  It’s a curse.

If so, North Carolina is facing a cursed new year because it’s certainly going to be interesting.

The most watched issue will be the economy.  The state entered 2012 carrying a 10 percent jobless rate from the old year.  December figures probably will be better because of seasonal Christmas hiring.  The question is whether the economy continues to improve, even slowly.

The New Year, which is a leap year, is an election year and North Carolina stands to get its fill of politics.  The Democratic Party will hold its national convention in Charlotte in September.

And thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s stupid Citizens United opinion, the state, like Iowa, will be flooded with negative, super PAC advertising.  The state’s May 8 Primary Election is late in the process but the Republican presidential nomination may still not be decided by May.  The fall elections for all state offices from governor to Congress to legislature to sheriff, will pump the airwaves and Internet with such questionable junk.

The rematch between Gov. Beverly Perdue and her pre-ordained opponent, former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, will not be a Lincoln-Douglas contest.  More like Antietam and Gettysburg.

The state Primary will see a big battle in the revived culture wars, this one over a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.  It will mix religion and politics and draw bigger-than-normal crowds to the polls.  Mercifully the issue will be settled before the contentious November vote.

Government agencies will see more budget cuts. The 2011-2012, $19.7 billion budget was written using one-time funds that won’t be around this year.  Those agencies heavy with personnel such as Health and Human Services and the re-constituted Public Safety Department that now includes prisons are likely to tighten their belts even more.

Public schools and universities that spend the bulk of the states’ revenues can expect more surgery.  This comes at a time when officials are arguing over how many teaching jobs were lost in this fiscal year and the university system is increasing tuition higher than ever.

We know these things are coming.  We don’t know what surprises Mother Nature will throw at us.  The state is still calculating damages from Hurricane Irene and rebuilding from the April 16 swarm of tornadoes continues.  Not to mention natural gas fracking and earthquakes.

Interesting times, indeed.