Oscar Reed
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USA Forum
- Thread starter Oscar Reed
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hhiusa
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It is interesting how you purposefully avoid the question. Judging by where you have your place in California and the fact you are being evasive, I have a good idea.
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Oscar Reed
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Guess you talking property
Area we used to live in Sydney well over 1 mill for average 3 bedroom place.
http://www.realestate.com.au/buy/pr...ammeray,+nsw+2062/list-1?activeSort=price-asc
In Queensland now and the prices are half of that in Sydney.
Out in the country areas cheaper.
Less or no work, freezing in winter and bloody hot in summer.
Close to the beach and city top dollar.
People from the UK and US get a shock when they come here.
Food, drink, clothes all very expensive.
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hhiusa
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Very interesting and informative. I am guessing NSW 2066 is a very nice place to live.
Pyrmont $1,150,000
Crows Nest $1,480,000
Naremburm $1,700,000
Neutral Bay $1,750,500
North Sydney $1,750,800
Cammeray $1,810,000
Artarmon $2,115,000
Greenwich $2,272,500
Northbridge $2,300,000
Castlecrag $2,450,000
St Leonards $2,500,000
Mosman $2,700,000
Longueville $2,960,000
Longueville realestate.com.au
They paid how much per square metre?
$42,727/sq m (USD $2,844/sq ft) is the most expensive in Australia.
I just found this one to compare it to. It is $2,750/sq ft.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1-Pelican-Crest-Dr-Newport-Coast-CA-92657/25503212_zpid/
Pat494
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Just been listening to the account of just what the US has been doing on the ground in Syria for the past year.
Apparently the US has been spending millions on training and weapons. When pressed for numbers the US General had to admit it was............4 or 5 people !
Doesn't sound like enough to me. Usual US feeble efforts I suppose.
Laughable
Apparently the US has been spending millions on training and weapons. When pressed for numbers the US General had to admit it was............4 or 5 people !
Doesn't sound like enough to me. Usual US feeble efforts I suppose.
Laughable
Pat494
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Yet another massacre in the USA. Not by militants in black uniforms but some clever high school kid , gone nuts.
This may be but the tip of the iceberg. Obama says there must be gun control. The Gun Lobby says it's worth the blood spilt to keep them readily available. Quite for what remains a mystery. Invading aliens from outer space perhaps ? One might suggest every Uni and school has a qualified psychiatrist on staff with regular checks to find and refer to a clinic this alarming tendency. There are many sick people on this planet that need help.
Hollywood together with Bruce Willis, Arnie and others seem to have fostered a new philosophy more fit for the westerns of the 50s !
How many more must die just to fatten their wallets ?
This may be but the tip of the iceberg. Obama says there must be gun control. The Gun Lobby says it's worth the blood spilt to keep them readily available. Quite for what remains a mystery. Invading aliens from outer space perhaps ? One might suggest every Uni and school has a qualified psychiatrist on staff with regular checks to find and refer to a clinic this alarming tendency. There are many sick people on this planet that need help.
Hollywood together with Bruce Willis, Arnie and others seem to have fostered a new philosophy more fit for the westerns of the 50s !
How many more must die just to fatten their wallets ?
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P
postman
What if its already like that!
Pat494
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Ever heard of Brad Meltzer ? He does stories from the USA. Recently he did an investigation of who stole Geronimo's skull ? Apparently the theft from Fort Sill was attributed to Yale's skull and cross bones club. One of the senior members of the club at the time was the father of George H. Bush and therefore grand father of George W. Bush.
Really.
Really.
Pat494
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One can't help wondering if this is entirely necessary.
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The US is poised to sail warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea as a signal to Beijing that Washington does not recognise Chinese territorial claims over the area. A senior US official said the ships would sail inside the 12-nautical mile zones that China claims as territory around some of the islands it has constructed in the Spratly chain. The move is expected to start in the next two weeks. - The Financial Times
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Washington is notoriously bad at judging foreign reactions to its own inept policies. This could be a dangerous flashpoint. Improving relations - I don't think so. Beijing seems undismayed by stirring up unnecessary tensions too. A recipe for worse than harsh words as the 2 juggernauts collide.
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The US is poised to sail warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea as a signal to Beijing that Washington does not recognise Chinese territorial claims over the area. A senior US official said the ships would sail inside the 12-nautical mile zones that China claims as territory around some of the islands it has constructed in the Spratly chain. The move is expected to start in the next two weeks. - The Financial Times
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington is notoriously bad at judging foreign reactions to its own inept policies. This could be a dangerous flashpoint. Improving relations - I don't think so. Beijing seems undismayed by stirring up unnecessary tensions too. A recipe for worse than harsh words as the 2 juggernauts collide.
Pat494
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North Korea may well launch it's new prototype ballistic missile this Saturday on Anniversary Day. The cover is to put a satellite into space but the implications are obvious.
The rogue scientists working for them on their missile and nuclear warhead projects should have been stopped years ago.
The rogue scientists working for them on their missile and nuclear warhead projects should have been stopped years ago.
Pat494
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A UK view of the USA
1. Customer service is either so warm it’s like you’ve made a new friend for life or so brusque you feel as though you’ve just been ordered back into your cell after your five-minute phone call with your lawyer. There’s no middle ground.
2. You need to tip for everything. If you think maybe you should tip, you should tip. You should be tipping me for this article.
3. If you don’t tip in a restaurant, the waiter or waitress will make a smart remark and your evening will be ruined. I’ve seen it happen.
4. People tip because the waiting staff are paid low hourly rates.
5. The waiting staff are paid low hourly rates because employers have successfully tricked their customers into taking on a significant portion of their staffing costs. If you don’t like the sound of that, all is not quite lost – there is a socialist running for president this time.
6. You can have anything you want, as long as you can pay for it.
7. And as long as you tip.
8. You can fill up your car at a petrol station using a couple of nickels and an old button.
9. Something as tiny and insignificant as a bicycle could never be considered remotely comparable to a car, and to expect it to abide by the same rules of the road is considered utterly absurd by cyclists, pedestrians and drivers alike.
10. Coins have become so worthless that restaurants sometimes refuse to take them - even thieves have been known to turn their noses up at some of them.
11. They’re only really used for the laundromat. Because strangely enough in this land of modern conveniences, it’s apparently too much to ask to want a washing machine in your apartment.
12. Nobody is worried about burglars even though they have fire escape stairs stuck to the outside of their building and the living-room window has been propped open for six months because an air-conditioning unit is sticking out of it. And, no, a flyscreen won’t keep them out.
13. Although I admit it: a flyscreen is a good idea. I haven’t had to kill a wasp or a moth for months.
14. Apartments usually come unfurnished, and Americans think the idea of sitting on someone else’s sofa or sleeping in someone else’s bed is disgusting. Come on – they’re not in there with you. “They might as well be!”
15. Far more Americans than the often-quoted 14% have a passport. But even if the number is low, relative to other countries, the fact is that they can quite happily cover 3.8m sq miles of vastly varied terrain without one. That’s more than double the 1.7m sq miles of the EU , which many British holidaymakers will be visiting.
16. It’s best to think of the police as a sort of occupying army and avoid them accordingly – particularly if you are not white.
17. TV news is rabidly partisan, while the broadsheet press pretends to be objective and neutral. Whereas in Britain …
18. Remember when British leftwingers thought Boris Johnson was too much of a joke to become mayor of London and then he went and did it anyway? That’s what’s happening with Donald Trump and the presidency.
19. That story about the pig was probably the first time anyone here had heard of David Cameron.
20. Celebrities walk around major cities as bold as brass. The other day I sat next to Dominic West, Damian Lewis and John Slattery in a restaurant.
21. Yeah, that’s right. And bragging is considered perfectly OK.
22. And so is telling someone sincerely that you think they, or something they have done, is amazing and fantastic.
23. I mean it.
24. No, really.
25. I’m not being sarcastic.
26. Honestly. That’s just my normal voice.
27. A lot of the trains and subway carriages look like whoever built them said, “OK, well, it works – what more do you want?” And left it at that.
28. But basically, you’re lucky in most parts of the country if you have any trains or subway systems at all.
29. If you get out of your car and walk from A to B in Los Angeles or Miami, people will think you are a surprisingly well-dressed and purposeful-looking homeless person.
30. If you’ve got good health insurance, the doctor will give you everything you need … and more.
31. If you haven’t … Oh, God. Good luck to you.
32. A lot of people consider “Oh, God” swearing.
33. Medical companies believe you will respond positively to a TV advert for, say, a sleeping pill that includes 10 minutes of warnings about side-effects that include danger of death, erections lasting more than 24 hours, and the fact that you may find yourself driving a car while asleep and not remember it the next day.
34. If you do need a sleeping pill the slow, ponderous and worthy tones of NPR (National Public Radio) may fit the bill. Do not listen while driving or operating heavy machinery. Or if you have an erection that has lasted more than 24 hours.
35. Americans love telling stories, and they’re really good at it.
36. And they’re really creative with language, especially slang.
37. If you watch European football (soccer) here, it’s a morning sport, after which you can do other things with the rest of your day. As long as you haven’t kept to your old British football-and-drinking regime.
38. It’s perfectly respectable to drink Coca-Cola or other similar drinks with a meal.
Order a cup of tea in a cafe or restaurant and you will be confronted with a glass or mug of lukewarm water with a teabag of some alarming flavour, like pomegranate or boysenberry, floating sadly on the top like a punctured dinghy, and some “milk” that is probably 50% cream, delivered on request. I’m just going to say it once: the water needs to be at boiling point for the tea to infuse!!!
40. Just order a cup of coffee. They know what they’re doing with coffee.
41. If you eat pizza with a knife and fork they look at you like you just ate a sandwich with a spoon. New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, caused major controversy by eating his the European way – the weakling.
42. A plate of Doritos and some guacamole is considered a full meal.
43. Bars don’t usually serve food. Just keep on drinking.
44. But drinking on the street is illegal – except in New Orleans, where it’s compulsory.
45. People still love smoking, and the glowing retro-futurist coloured lights of e-cigarettes haven’t really caught on yet.
46. They have no universally agreed upon way of saying goodbye (a kiss on the cheek would be unforgivably inappropriate and borderline actionable). Most common is just to pause for a moment, perhaps give a barely perceptible nod or slightly awkward wave ... and then simply walk away.
47. The weather really means business.
48. Americans are acutely conscious of race, in the way British people are acutely conscious of class.
49. Lots of people you don’t expect to own guns or support the right to bear arms do .
50. No massacre, no matter how awful, will prompt Congress to tighten America’s gun laws. There will have to be a wider cultural shift. Lots of people do care about this. But they’re not sure exactly what to do.
Sort of kidding guys lol
1. Customer service is either so warm it’s like you’ve made a new friend for life or so brusque you feel as though you’ve just been ordered back into your cell after your five-minute phone call with your lawyer. There’s no middle ground.
2. You need to tip for everything. If you think maybe you should tip, you should tip. You should be tipping me for this article.
3. If you don’t tip in a restaurant, the waiter or waitress will make a smart remark and your evening will be ruined. I’ve seen it happen.
4. People tip because the waiting staff are paid low hourly rates.
5. The waiting staff are paid low hourly rates because employers have successfully tricked their customers into taking on a significant portion of their staffing costs. If you don’t like the sound of that, all is not quite lost – there is a socialist running for president this time.
6. You can have anything you want, as long as you can pay for it.
7. And as long as you tip.
8. You can fill up your car at a petrol station using a couple of nickels and an old button.
9. Something as tiny and insignificant as a bicycle could never be considered remotely comparable to a car, and to expect it to abide by the same rules of the road is considered utterly absurd by cyclists, pedestrians and drivers alike.
10. Coins have become so worthless that restaurants sometimes refuse to take them - even thieves have been known to turn their noses up at some of them.
11. They’re only really used for the laundromat. Because strangely enough in this land of modern conveniences, it’s apparently too much to ask to want a washing machine in your apartment.
12. Nobody is worried about burglars even though they have fire escape stairs stuck to the outside of their building and the living-room window has been propped open for six months because an air-conditioning unit is sticking out of it. And, no, a flyscreen won’t keep them out.
13. Although I admit it: a flyscreen is a good idea. I haven’t had to kill a wasp or a moth for months.
14. Apartments usually come unfurnished, and Americans think the idea of sitting on someone else’s sofa or sleeping in someone else’s bed is disgusting. Come on – they’re not in there with you. “They might as well be!”
15. Far more Americans than the often-quoted 14% have a passport. But even if the number is low, relative to other countries, the fact is that they can quite happily cover 3.8m sq miles of vastly varied terrain without one. That’s more than double the 1.7m sq miles of the EU , which many British holidaymakers will be visiting.
16. It’s best to think of the police as a sort of occupying army and avoid them accordingly – particularly if you are not white.
17. TV news is rabidly partisan, while the broadsheet press pretends to be objective and neutral. Whereas in Britain …
18. Remember when British leftwingers thought Boris Johnson was too much of a joke to become mayor of London and then he went and did it anyway? That’s what’s happening with Donald Trump and the presidency.
19. That story about the pig was probably the first time anyone here had heard of David Cameron.
20. Celebrities walk around major cities as bold as brass. The other day I sat next to Dominic West, Damian Lewis and John Slattery in a restaurant.
21. Yeah, that’s right. And bragging is considered perfectly OK.
22. And so is telling someone sincerely that you think they, or something they have done, is amazing and fantastic.
23. I mean it.
24. No, really.
25. I’m not being sarcastic.
26. Honestly. That’s just my normal voice.
27. A lot of the trains and subway carriages look like whoever built them said, “OK, well, it works – what more do you want?” And left it at that.
28. But basically, you’re lucky in most parts of the country if you have any trains or subway systems at all.
29. If you get out of your car and walk from A to B in Los Angeles or Miami, people will think you are a surprisingly well-dressed and purposeful-looking homeless person.
30. If you’ve got good health insurance, the doctor will give you everything you need … and more.
31. If you haven’t … Oh, God. Good luck to you.
32. A lot of people consider “Oh, God” swearing.
33. Medical companies believe you will respond positively to a TV advert for, say, a sleeping pill that includes 10 minutes of warnings about side-effects that include danger of death, erections lasting more than 24 hours, and the fact that you may find yourself driving a car while asleep and not remember it the next day.
34. If you do need a sleeping pill the slow, ponderous and worthy tones of NPR (National Public Radio) may fit the bill. Do not listen while driving or operating heavy machinery. Or if you have an erection that has lasted more than 24 hours.
35. Americans love telling stories, and they’re really good at it.
36. And they’re really creative with language, especially slang.
37. If you watch European football (soccer) here, it’s a morning sport, after which you can do other things with the rest of your day. As long as you haven’t kept to your old British football-and-drinking regime.
38. It’s perfectly respectable to drink Coca-Cola or other similar drinks with a meal.
Order a cup of tea in a cafe or restaurant and you will be confronted with a glass or mug of lukewarm water with a teabag of some alarming flavour, like pomegranate or boysenberry, floating sadly on the top like a punctured dinghy, and some “milk” that is probably 50% cream, delivered on request. I’m just going to say it once: the water needs to be at boiling point for the tea to infuse!!!
40. Just order a cup of coffee. They know what they’re doing with coffee.
41. If you eat pizza with a knife and fork they look at you like you just ate a sandwich with a spoon. New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, caused major controversy by eating his the European way – the weakling.
42. A plate of Doritos and some guacamole is considered a full meal.
43. Bars don’t usually serve food. Just keep on drinking.
44. But drinking on the street is illegal – except in New Orleans, where it’s compulsory.
45. People still love smoking, and the glowing retro-futurist coloured lights of e-cigarettes haven’t really caught on yet.
46. They have no universally agreed upon way of saying goodbye (a kiss on the cheek would be unforgivably inappropriate and borderline actionable). Most common is just to pause for a moment, perhaps give a barely perceptible nod or slightly awkward wave ... and then simply walk away.
47. The weather really means business.
48. Americans are acutely conscious of race, in the way British people are acutely conscious of class.
49. Lots of people you don’t expect to own guns or support the right to bear arms do .
50. No massacre, no matter how awful, will prompt Congress to tighten America’s gun laws. There will have to be a wider cultural shift. Lots of people do care about this. But they’re not sure exactly what to do.
Sort of kidding guys lol
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Pat494
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Thinking of number 3 above, perhaps someone could list out some of the put-downs ? I am sure there is a wealth of really good ones.
Coming to think of it next time I am in the States I will go out to restaurants and bars armed with a pencil and paper and no tips lol
Coming to think of it next time I am in the States I will go out to restaurants and bars armed with a pencil and paper and no tips lol
Atilla
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I would be interested to know if the gun lobby responds to this sad incident by suggesting parents start teaching their kids to carry arms from an earlier age so they too can defend them selves against other rogue 11 year old kids. 
Boy, 11, asks girl, 8, to see her puppies. She declines. He shoots and kills her.
Boy, 11, asks girl, 8, to see her puppies. She declines. He shoots and kills her.
Pat494
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Anyone on the West Coast feel anything unusual ?
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/peop...cant-earthquake-hitting-la-by-2018/vi-BBmnruK
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/peop...cant-earthquake-hitting-la-by-2018/vi-BBmnruK
Pat494
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It's a year out from the US presidential election. What do BBC reporters think will happen?
This time next year, barring a repeat of the cliff hanger election of 2000, we will know who the next president of the United States will be.
Before the votes are cast and counted, however, the candidates must survive a campaign that so far has confounded conventional wisdom.
Despite the risks, our team of BBC experts agreed to take a stab at how they think events will unfold in 2016.
Jon Sopel, BBC North America Editor
Jon Sopel
Who will win the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses?
Ben Carson - I am not sure his view on the Egyptian pyramids being a grain store will be a help or hindrance in this farming state, but his evangelical views and outsider status will be a big help and will see him emerge victorious.
Hillary Clinton will do what she failed to do in 2008 and win Iowa.
What issue/factors will be decisive in the nomination battle (for both parties)?
Longevity, ground game, money, the polls - naturally.
But ideological purity whether on the left or right will only carry you so far. Candidates have to appeal to a broad swath of the electorate, and convince voters that they are the answer to what America needs and wants
How will the 2016 campaign be different to any previous election?
Insurgency politics. There seems to be a willingness, yearning even, to embrace the outspoken, the outsider, the untried and untested like never before. I have heard it described as the "post-truth age of politics", where empirical data and analysis are a hindrance.
Who will be on the final ticket for each party?
Predictable one: Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. Unpredictable left field GOP option: John Kasich.
Katty Kay, Presenter, BBC World News America
Katty Kay
Who wins in Iowa?
Ben Carson for the same reasons Rick Santorum won in 2012, Dr Carson is a true evangelical conservative.
Hillary Clinton - she lost it last time. Do you really think she's going to lose it again?
What decides the nomination?
Getting out the vote. Getting out the vote. Getting out the vote. Ask Mitt Romney.
How will 2016 be different?
It already is different. We've never seen anything like this. Take record dissatisfaction with politicians, a political system that has failed to produce results for the past six years, and a desire for simplicity and reassurance in a time of complexity and disquiet and you have the perfect setting for political chaos (and that's not just in the US).
Who will be on the ticket?
I am not qualified to answer this question. On the day Trump announced, I said that would be the highlight of his campaign. I take little comfort from the fact that 90% of my colleagues said the same thing. However, if you put a gun to my head, or threaten to suspend my pay if I don't answer, I'd probably mumble very quietly, so almost no one could hear.….Rubio and Hillary. (Actually I'd say, and have said all along, "Hillary" in a more confident voice.)
Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America Reporter
Anthony Zurcher
Who wins in Iowa?
Although Donald Trump and Ben Carson currently lead the polls on the Republican side, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has the money, grass-roots organisation and evangelical appeal to eke out a narrow win in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Democrat Hillary Clinton lost Iowa to Barack Obama in 2008 in part because she didn't spend enough time courting the notoriously fickle voters in smaller, more personal settings.
She's not making that mistake this time around, and combined with a massive team of on-the-ground personnel, she cruises to victory.
What decides the nomination?
The 2016 Democratic nomination effectively was decided in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton, played the good soldiers and campaigned for Barack Obama despite a bruising primary battle that went all the way to the wire. Her stint as secretary of state and Mr Clinton's bravura 2012 convention speech making the case for Mr Obama's re-election sealed the deal.
It will take some time for the Republican nomination to be locked up, but when it is it will be due to the party's delegate math. As campaign guru Charlie Cook points out, Republican voters in populous left-leaning "blue zone" states have a disproportionate influence on the nominating process.
These voters will shy away from a bombastic outsider like Donald Trump or Tea Party true-believers like Ted Cruz, and tend to give the nod to a more moderate, electable choice.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump speaks while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeb Bush, and Ben Carson look on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center October 28, 2015 in Boulder, ColoradoImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Anthony Zurcher predicts Marco Rubio (left-centre) will win the Republican nomination
How will 2016 be different?
The 2008 and 2012 elections were all about how social networks had revolutionised presidential campaigns by allowing likeminded people to meld into a powerful political force. In 2016 we will see this technology have an opposite, fragmentary effect. Narrow political interests, empowered by the social media megaphone, will have a corrosive effect on party unity.
Bernie Sanders progressives and Black Lives Matters activists won't be reliable team players for the Democrats, and neither will Tea Party grass-roots conservatives or Donald Trump nativists on the Republican side.
The 2016 election will be determined by which candidate can smooth over the fissures in their party and squelch internecine strife long enough to cobble together a winning majority. After election day, all bets are off.
Who will be on the ticket?
For the Republicans it's Marco Rubio and Nikki Haley as vice president. The Florida senator emerges as the establishment pick and outlasts Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who divide up the outsider/anti-establishment vote.
Looking ahead to a battle with Ms Clinton, Mr Rubio opts to put a woman on the ticket and goes for Ms Haley - the young, charismatic governor of South Carolina who gained national recognition after the Charleston shootings.
Hillary CLinton and Julian CastroImage copyright Reuters
Image caption
A future Clinton-Castro ticket?
The Democratic team will be Hillary Clinton and Julian Castro. The former secretary of state surely will have a few more bumps on the road to the nomination, but the Sanders summer swoon has played itself out.
In a move to court the Latino vote in the face of Mr Rubio's appeal, she picks the charismatic but untested Housing and Urban Development secretary, who served three terms as mayor of San Antonio.
Nick Bryant, BBC New York Correspondent
Nick Bryant
Who wins in Iowa?
On the Republican side, Iowa has not been indicative in recent cycles of who will become the eventual nominee. In 2012, the winner was Rick Santorum. In 2008, Mike Huckabee won. So let's not obsess about who comes out on top in the Hawkeye state.
Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa are better at picking their party's eventual presidential nominees. I'm assuming they'll opt for Hillary Clinton.
What decides the nomination?
On the GOP side, will Republican primary voters ultimately adhere to something approaching normal political rules, and opt for a candidate who has a plausible chance of winning a national election, or will the insurgent anger that is propelling Ben Carson and Donald Trump eventually win out? Right now, given the dominance of the outsider candidates, it looks like they will not just rip up the rulebook, but nuke it. The new normal in GOP politics is that there is no normal.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton already has the aura of inevitability. Imagining scenarios that will derail her takes you into the terrain of federal indictments in connection with her private email server or some other catastrophic revelation, which the Clintons have a habit of surviving in any case. Remember New Hampshire in 1992? Remember impeachment?
How will the 2016 be different?
In 1996, I thought Bob Dole would emerge as the Republican nominee. In 2000, I thought George W Bush. In 2008, John McCain seemed the obvious choice. In 2012, Mitt Romney.
None of this involved any great perspicacity. On the contrary, it seemed obvious.
Rick Santorum in iowa on caucus night 2012Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Iowa - while first state to vote in the nation - does not necessarily predict the nominee
The biggest change this year, then, from previous contests is the unpredictability of the Republican primary race. Pundits make predictions based on political rationality: Who passes the plausibility test? Who looks like a president?
Republican primary voters, this cycle more than any other, are marked more by rebelliousness than rationality.
Who will be on the ticket?
Two women, I suspect, will feature. Hillary Clinton will lead the Democratic ticket. Because of the party's advantages in the Electoral College and demographic factors, such as the relative shrinkage of America's white male electorate, she should start the race as favourite to become president.
Carly Fiorina is positioning herself as a strong contender for the vice-presidential slot on the GOP ticket.
As for the GOP's presidential nominee? See above. But I'm not anticipating a dynastic showdown between Clinton and Bush.
This time next year, barring a repeat of the cliff hanger election of 2000, we will know who the next president of the United States will be.
Before the votes are cast and counted, however, the candidates must survive a campaign that so far has confounded conventional wisdom.
Despite the risks, our team of BBC experts agreed to take a stab at how they think events will unfold in 2016.
Jon Sopel, BBC North America Editor
Jon Sopel
Who will win the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses?
Ben Carson - I am not sure his view on the Egyptian pyramids being a grain store will be a help or hindrance in this farming state, but his evangelical views and outsider status will be a big help and will see him emerge victorious.
Hillary Clinton will do what she failed to do in 2008 and win Iowa.
What issue/factors will be decisive in the nomination battle (for both parties)?
Longevity, ground game, money, the polls - naturally.
But ideological purity whether on the left or right will only carry you so far. Candidates have to appeal to a broad swath of the electorate, and convince voters that they are the answer to what America needs and wants
How will the 2016 campaign be different to any previous election?
Insurgency politics. There seems to be a willingness, yearning even, to embrace the outspoken, the outsider, the untried and untested like never before. I have heard it described as the "post-truth age of politics", where empirical data and analysis are a hindrance.
Who will be on the final ticket for each party?
Predictable one: Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. Unpredictable left field GOP option: John Kasich.
Katty Kay, Presenter, BBC World News America
Katty Kay
Who wins in Iowa?
Ben Carson for the same reasons Rick Santorum won in 2012, Dr Carson is a true evangelical conservative.
Hillary Clinton - she lost it last time. Do you really think she's going to lose it again?
What decides the nomination?
Getting out the vote. Getting out the vote. Getting out the vote. Ask Mitt Romney.
How will 2016 be different?
It already is different. We've never seen anything like this. Take record dissatisfaction with politicians, a political system that has failed to produce results for the past six years, and a desire for simplicity and reassurance in a time of complexity and disquiet and you have the perfect setting for political chaos (and that's not just in the US).
Who will be on the ticket?
I am not qualified to answer this question. On the day Trump announced, I said that would be the highlight of his campaign. I take little comfort from the fact that 90% of my colleagues said the same thing. However, if you put a gun to my head, or threaten to suspend my pay if I don't answer, I'd probably mumble very quietly, so almost no one could hear.….Rubio and Hillary. (Actually I'd say, and have said all along, "Hillary" in a more confident voice.)
Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America Reporter
Anthony Zurcher
Who wins in Iowa?
Although Donald Trump and Ben Carson currently lead the polls on the Republican side, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has the money, grass-roots organisation and evangelical appeal to eke out a narrow win in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Democrat Hillary Clinton lost Iowa to Barack Obama in 2008 in part because she didn't spend enough time courting the notoriously fickle voters in smaller, more personal settings.
She's not making that mistake this time around, and combined with a massive team of on-the-ground personnel, she cruises to victory.
What decides the nomination?
The 2016 Democratic nomination effectively was decided in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton, played the good soldiers and campaigned for Barack Obama despite a bruising primary battle that went all the way to the wire. Her stint as secretary of state and Mr Clinton's bravura 2012 convention speech making the case for Mr Obama's re-election sealed the deal.
It will take some time for the Republican nomination to be locked up, but when it is it will be due to the party's delegate math. As campaign guru Charlie Cook points out, Republican voters in populous left-leaning "blue zone" states have a disproportionate influence on the nominating process.
These voters will shy away from a bombastic outsider like Donald Trump or Tea Party true-believers like Ted Cruz, and tend to give the nod to a more moderate, electable choice.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump speaks while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeb Bush, and Ben Carson look on during the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center October 28, 2015 in Boulder, ColoradoImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Anthony Zurcher predicts Marco Rubio (left-centre) will win the Republican nomination
How will 2016 be different?
The 2008 and 2012 elections were all about how social networks had revolutionised presidential campaigns by allowing likeminded people to meld into a powerful political force. In 2016 we will see this technology have an opposite, fragmentary effect. Narrow political interests, empowered by the social media megaphone, will have a corrosive effect on party unity.
Bernie Sanders progressives and Black Lives Matters activists won't be reliable team players for the Democrats, and neither will Tea Party grass-roots conservatives or Donald Trump nativists on the Republican side.
The 2016 election will be determined by which candidate can smooth over the fissures in their party and squelch internecine strife long enough to cobble together a winning majority. After election day, all bets are off.
Who will be on the ticket?
For the Republicans it's Marco Rubio and Nikki Haley as vice president. The Florida senator emerges as the establishment pick and outlasts Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who divide up the outsider/anti-establishment vote.
Looking ahead to a battle with Ms Clinton, Mr Rubio opts to put a woman on the ticket and goes for Ms Haley - the young, charismatic governor of South Carolina who gained national recognition after the Charleston shootings.
Hillary CLinton and Julian CastroImage copyright Reuters
Image caption
A future Clinton-Castro ticket?
The Democratic team will be Hillary Clinton and Julian Castro. The former secretary of state surely will have a few more bumps on the road to the nomination, but the Sanders summer swoon has played itself out.
In a move to court the Latino vote in the face of Mr Rubio's appeal, she picks the charismatic but untested Housing and Urban Development secretary, who served three terms as mayor of San Antonio.
Nick Bryant, BBC New York Correspondent
Nick Bryant
Who wins in Iowa?
On the Republican side, Iowa has not been indicative in recent cycles of who will become the eventual nominee. In 2012, the winner was Rick Santorum. In 2008, Mike Huckabee won. So let's not obsess about who comes out on top in the Hawkeye state.
Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa are better at picking their party's eventual presidential nominees. I'm assuming they'll opt for Hillary Clinton.
What decides the nomination?
On the GOP side, will Republican primary voters ultimately adhere to something approaching normal political rules, and opt for a candidate who has a plausible chance of winning a national election, or will the insurgent anger that is propelling Ben Carson and Donald Trump eventually win out? Right now, given the dominance of the outsider candidates, it looks like they will not just rip up the rulebook, but nuke it. The new normal in GOP politics is that there is no normal.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton already has the aura of inevitability. Imagining scenarios that will derail her takes you into the terrain of federal indictments in connection with her private email server or some other catastrophic revelation, which the Clintons have a habit of surviving in any case. Remember New Hampshire in 1992? Remember impeachment?
How will the 2016 be different?
In 1996, I thought Bob Dole would emerge as the Republican nominee. In 2000, I thought George W Bush. In 2008, John McCain seemed the obvious choice. In 2012, Mitt Romney.
None of this involved any great perspicacity. On the contrary, it seemed obvious.
Rick Santorum in iowa on caucus night 2012Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Iowa - while first state to vote in the nation - does not necessarily predict the nominee
The biggest change this year, then, from previous contests is the unpredictability of the Republican primary race. Pundits make predictions based on political rationality: Who passes the plausibility test? Who looks like a president?
Republican primary voters, this cycle more than any other, are marked more by rebelliousness than rationality.
Who will be on the ticket?
Two women, I suspect, will feature. Hillary Clinton will lead the Democratic ticket. Because of the party's advantages in the Electoral College and demographic factors, such as the relative shrinkage of America's white male electorate, she should start the race as favourite to become president.
Carly Fiorina is positioning herself as a strong contender for the vice-presidential slot on the GOP ticket.
As for the GOP's presidential nominee? See above. But I'm not anticipating a dynastic showdown between Clinton and Bush.
alexaherself
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In its grammar.
In previous election years, the question was one of how each campaign would be different from any previous election.
But those Americans have now destroyed your language so much that it's become acceptable to say "different to". (I've even very occasionally heard BBC newsreaders saying it, though they certainly didn't when I first lived here, so that's a really recent development.)
:-0
alexaherself
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Very, true, this. But both their parties seem, somehow, never quite to manage to present their best available candidates to the electorate?
