Sunday, October 11, 2009

Where Will We Be in A Year?

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers!

I took the advice of Bride of Rove and Mary Katharine Ham and spent the afternoon reading Charles Krauthammer's essay on the decline of America. It took me a while because it's long (9 pages printed out) and I wanted to really absorb and understand what he said. It's a fascinating piece and should be required reading.

Since the CBO report on Baucus-care came out, and since it's becoming more and more clear that Obamacare will be paid for by the middle class and seniors, it's becoming more and more clear that we are in real trouble. Add that to what Krauthammer says about the state of America now, and in the near future, and one has to wonder where, exactly, we will be, say, one year from now. Should Obama's foreign and domestic policies continue unchecked, and should this health care reform issue pass as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi plan to write it, there will be plenty of Americans seriously hurting.

Consider first the fact that some kind of health care reform is going to pass. Some form of it. Every possible plan on the table involves a tax increase. There will be tax increases on insurance providers to pay for all of it which will be passed on to the consumer. There will be tax increases on the wealthy, too. There will be fines for non-compliance.

Well, okay. Say you are fine with that - you don't mind paying a little more so that others can have the same coverage you do. But consider that there are also other huge increases on the horizon. Waxman-Markey has already cleared the House. Should it clear the Senate there will be massive hikes in your energy bills. Massive. Huge. Add that to the extra cash you're paying to pay for health coverage for other folks, and well, it adds up.

But wait. Nancy Pelosi wants to talk about a Value Added Tax. That's going to hit the middle class very hard. So add THAT to the health care tax increase, and the Cap 'n Trade increase and you're getting hit on multiple levels.

Meanwhile, we are still forbidden from tapping our own energy sources and rely on imported oil. Despite our own vast offshore reserves and our Arctic reserves, we continue to import. No nuclear plants in the works. Energy costs will continue to rise. We are held hostage to Venezeula and others for our energy.

Then you factor in one thing that Krauthammer mentioned, the devaluation of the dollar, which he points out will lead to hyperinflation. Yet the more our national debt increases, and it's exploding, baby!, the less valuable our dollar becomes. Krauthammer reminds us that more and more voices are calling for the replacement of the dollar as the world currency.

So where will we be one year, or even six months, from now? Two years? The whole point of Krauthammer's peice is that we are headed in a very dangerous direction. I think when you compound the points he makes about Amercian ascendancy and decline, on top of all these inflationary issues and tax increases, we are, in fact, in grave danger. People are going to feel the pinch in that paycheck.

There is no doubt that some form of health care reform will pass; the Democrats don't need Republicans to do that. It will happen. Waxman-Markey is already in the pike. And if Pelosi wants a VAT, she's likely to get it; the Dems have to pay for their massive social agenda and domestic agenda somehow.

Pay close attention, folks. And remember, 2010 is coming.

12 comments:

david7134 said...

Can we really wait until 2010? And note that the Republicans (Graham) are beginning to take Obama's side. What we really need to do is set up a committee to explore the concept of succession. There just seems to be too much wrong with the government that has morphed over the last 20 years.

smitty1e said...

"Ya callin' my name but I gotta make clear / I can't say baby where I'll be in a year."
;)

Darrell said...

Hope and Change, Good and Hard.

G.R. said...

Graham beginning to take Obama's side? Are you kidding? Beginning?
Where have you been?
No one really knows where Graham stands on anything. But when it's all said and done on just about any issue, you'll find him on the left side of the issue about 99.99%of the time.
That's the problem with wishy washy Republicans, they'll bend over, but it's the population that ends up taking it.

Rick O said...

While having a president with American values succeed Obama as quickly as possible would seem to be the preferred course of action, I believe Daivd7134 is talking about the Secession of those states that still have American values from those that are sinking under Obama-style liberal beliefs.

BrideOfRove said...

It was just an amazingly succinct and to the point essay. You can listen to Glenn Beck saying - "None of what this administration is doing makes sense!" But it does. If you understand the ultimate goal and the rational behind it - as screwed up as that may be - then everything this administration is doing makes perfect sense. Secesion will not save us. We are firmly on the path of self-destruction and I have no idea what the world will look like this time next year but I know it will look nothing like the world today. Pay off every debt you can. Stock up on dry goods as a hedge against price increases coming soon. Do not count on the dollar to remain steady because these things are vulnerable to dramatic fluctuations when the tipping point is crossed and we are very nearly at the tipping point.

Read The Black Swan by Taleb and start thinking outside the rut. Half the country is completely nuts to want to deliberately push us under like this. When the hell did the Democratic party embrace Opus Dei? I missed tht transition.

Seriously. Read that article and email it everyone you know. If people understand what's happening there will be less panic and more rational planning.

Stephen Gordon said...

Informative post Pat. Thank you.

- Shreveport attorney Stephen Gordon

Anonymous said...

"That's going to hit the middle class very hard."

But this is necessary to have a change with the elections in 2010 and 2012. The bigger the tax increases the bigger the change by elections.

M. Report said...

The new factor here is the increase
in information, and the decrease in
reaction time to it, provided by
the Web; It may actually be possible
to avoid the 2nd Great Depression,
if enough voters get scared enough,
soon enough, and demand a change
in policy toward encouraging
the generation of real wealth,
rather than fighting over
who gets how many
less and less valuable dollars.

Anonymous said...

Don't anticipate any change in 2010. There are numerous people who complain, but still won't vote in 2010.

I recently read a new novel that is a modern day version on how the American Revolution started (taxes, govt. tyranny, etc.). It starts in a small, American town. Is history once again calling on Americans to 'take a stand'?

Got a few copies for my friends for gifts. It's most telling of what's happening now & what is about to happen, in the nxt 3 years in America, although it's a novel. Read it!!

Power to the People....It's We the People....not you the government.
www.booksbyoliver.com

John201 said...

By next year the US$ will have hit it's lowest point and interest rates will have started rising rapidly. The stock market will have lost more ground if not in nominal terms in real terms (because of the US$ collapse). The economy will be a disaster w/ unemployment well above 11%. Fiscal restraint will no longer be merely a campaign slogan but a necessity. State budgets shortfalls will force massive cuts in expenditures thereby shattering the statist model. California will once again "lead the nation" or the other liberal state governments to abandon the empty promises of state entitlements. They simply will not be able to afford them. The proverbial bank is broken. The entitlements promised by statists have finally ended up where they were destined: total collape. They keep waiting for the cyclical rebound when what we are facing is a structural recession based on a failed ideology of unbridled entitlements and out-of-control spending. A rapid return to fiscal responsibility will follow since borrowing to fund the debt won't be available. It'll be difficult but cuts in corporate and individual tax rates coupled with necessary deregulation will unleash a new wave of growth within the most dynamic and greatest wealth creation machine in history. Gone will be the liberal left aand the RINOs discredit much like labour in the UK. In the meantime, remember "Gold is for the optimists, invest in canned goods."

Greta Perry said...

Congratson your Instalanche!