Election 2012: Consequences

In 2008, while everyone I knew was jubilantly singing the praises of our new president, I was filled with apprehension.  I said then “We have elected Jimmy Carter on steroids.” People younger than thirty five could not understand what I meant.  Younger voters had not experienced the double digit inflation, the double digit unemployment, the loss of national pride, the Iran hostage taking and a weakened military powerless to free them. Living with that history helped me to understand that we were facing a man with the same liberal democrat solutions that Carter gave us, and then some.  The reason I saw so many white haired people marching in Washington in the Tea Party is that they knew what was coming. BIG Government was not the solution.

My frustration with this year’s election is that it’s really tough to win an election when one party  promises to give you stuff and the other promises to cut spending.  The next generation will live with the consequences of this administration for years to come. Trillion dollar deficits created by G.W. Bush fighting the war on terrorism and Barack Obama fighting the war on American business will have devastating consequences for the next generation in the years to come. (If anyone doubts my argument that Obama declared war on business, ask the non-union workers at Delphi or or the NLRB fight against Bowing in locating their factory in South Carolina.)

• Vegas Employer: Obama Won–So I Fired 22 Employees

• Boeing Announces Big Layoffs in Defense Division

Romney’s promises to cut spending meant that everyone in government would have to tighten their belts and do less spending on “infrastructure” and promise to steal from one income group and redistribute to another. Redistribution in the name of “fairness”  was a pretty hard argument to overcome.

For nearly a year, I have met with cell phone users who talked about their government issued phone. Many were as brazen about their government phones as this woman.

http://youtu.be/tpAOwJvTOio

It’s not just cell phone users who are addicted to government largess. Here’s a list of private business who received government dollars to subsidies solar plants:

http://www.dividedstates.com/list-of-failed-obama-green-energy-solar-companies/

How much money is spent by the federal government by various departments such as the department of education.  What would happen if the money taken in federal taxes were simply block granted to the states based on the number of students who are enrolled in public education?  Bureaucrats in Washington do not perform one useful act in local classrooms.

GW Bush thought he could use big government policies to save education too. Bush created “No Child Left Behind”  which put too much power into the hands of government to micromanage classrooms.   “No Child Left Behind” strangled teachers with regulations the same way government regulations is strangling business.

So, in 2012, Santa Clause Obama won the election against a stingy republican who promised to cut wasteful spending and work toward a balanced budget. Romney promised austerity for those employed by government. Austerity is a tough sell for people who enjoy being dependent on government to give them stuff. And because Romney lost and Santa Obama won, here are my predictions for the coming years.

• Energy prices will increase because coal, gas and oil will become more regulated and restricted. Ohio electricity rates will go up when the EPA closes more coal fired plants. The EPA will work overtime to stop oil and gas drilling in US.
• There will likely be a double dip recession, once the new taxes on income and health care arrive next year. Businesses are already being strangled by new regulation and taxation.
• As government continues to borrow more money from China to support our government, the value of our currency will decrease. If and when the economy picks up, I expect we will see hyper inflation, similar to the severe inflation that hit Germany in the 1920s.
• There will be more layoffs. There will be less local revenue to support schools and vital local public services.
• Doctors will leave the profession because of increased regulation. Obama care will drive doctors out of the profession.
• Companies will stop providing health insurance, and pay the IRS fine. Private insurance will decrease and more people will receive health care from government.
• Individuals will have less personal privacy.  New IRS regulations will require individuals to tell them who is providing them with health insurance. This will enable government to fine employers who do not comply with Obamacare.

Conservatives are not monsters. They believe in feeding the poor and caring for the children and loving puppies just as much as the next guy. They just believe in doing it themselves. Every dollar sent from your taxes to the state or federal government will someday, hopefully be returned to do good things to the local community, but recipients will get pennies of that dollar back.

The best group to help the local community are the people in the private sector. When a church organized a group of carpenters who travel to Katrina to rebuild houses with volunteers, they do more good for less money. When  church members deliver food to poor people, the recipients know it’s done because God loves them, not government.

I hate to say it, but I see the next four years and beyond,  I see a pretty bleak future for our country.