HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Poll: Public sours on what 2013 will bring. “A bare 53 percent majority of all Americans are ‘hopeful’ about their lives in 2013; some 44 percent say they are instead more ‘fearful.’ The assessment about what’s in store for the world is even more grim: a record low 40 percent report being hopeful about the next year, with 56 percent saying they are more fearful. . . . Those personally hopeful numbers are down sharply from four years ago when 63 percent said as much in the wake of President Obama’s historic first election. The trend is even more striking compared to expectations for 2007.”

Related: Simon Johnson: Will 2013 Mark The Beginning Of American Decline? For at least the next four years, probably.