What the liberal supermajority will mean

[John Adams]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122420205889842989.html

 

Some excerpts

 

A Liberal Supermajority

Get ready for 'change' we haven't seen since 1965, or 1933.

 

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.

[Review & Outlook] AP

 

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

...

 

- Medicare for all. When HillaryCare cratered in 1994, the Democrats concluded they had overreached, so they carved up the old agenda into smaller incremental steps, such as Schip for children. A strongly Democratic Congress is now likely to lay the final flagstones on the path to government-run health insurance from cradle to grave.

 

Mr. Obama wants to build a public insurance program, modeled after Medicare and open to everyone of any income. According to the Lewin Group, the gold standard of health policy analysis, the Obama plan would shift between 32 million and 52 million from private coverage to the huge new entitlement. Like Medicare or the Canadian system, this would never be repealed.

 

The commitments would start slow, so as not to cause immediate alarm. But as U.S. health-care spending flowed into the default government options, taxes would have to rise or services would be rationed, or both. Single payer is the inevitable next step, as Mr. Obama has already said is his ultimate ideal.

 

- The business climate. "We have some harsh decisions to make," Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned recently, speaking about retribution for the financial panic. Look for a replay of the Pecora hearings of the 1930s, with Henry Waxman, John Conyers and Ed Markey sponsoring ritual hangings to further their agenda to control more of the private economy. The financial industry will get an overhaul in any case, but telecom, biotech and drug makers, among many others, can expect to be investigated and face new, more onerous rules. See the "Issues and Legislation" tab on Mr. Waxman's Web site for a not-so-brief target list.

 

The danger is that Democrats could cause the economic downturn to last longer than it otherwise will by enacting regulatory overkill like Sarbanes-Oxley. Something more punitive is likely as well, for instance a windfall profits tax on oil, and maybe other industries.

 

- Taxes. Taxes will rise substantially, the only question being how high. Mr. Obama would raise the top income, dividend and capital-gains rates for "the rich," substantially increasing the cost of new investment in the U.S. More radically, he wants to lift or eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Social Security. This would convert what was meant to be a pension insurance program into an overt income redistribution program. It would also impose a probably unrepealable increase in marginal tax rates, and a permanent shift upward in the federal tax share of GDP.

[molson_golden2002]

I suspect you will see a blizzard of Democratic spending intiatives on research and development. Research labs for alternative energy, disease prevetion and cures and technology will be funded better, which is good for the future of the country.

 

I hope they raise taxes quickly so everyone can see the world will not end if we ask the wealthy to pay another penny on the dollar. Since the government just shelled a trillion dollars to save the economy this shouldn't be too much to ask.

[Hazed and Amuzed]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122420205889842989.html

 

Some excerpts

 

 

A few good valid points in there. I'm not so sure I agree with the Business climate section but overall this is a good article.

[Typical TBD Guy]

I suspect you will see a blizzard of Democratic spending intiatives on research and development. Research labs for alternative energy, disease prevetion and cures and technology will be funded better, which is good for the future of the country.

 

I hope they raise taxes quickly so everyone can see the world will not end if we ask the wealthy to pay another penny on the dollar. Since the government just shelled a trillion dollars to save the economy this shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

The world will not end just like it didn't end during the Great Depression, but lots of people will lose jobs and/or fail to find new ones because of the anti-business, anti-individualist tax policies of your liberal friends. We are looking at a long and painful recession ahead of us, one that could have been avoided and mitigated if politicians and voters alike - both Democraps and Repukelicans - understood basic principles of economics. Oh well.

[Chef Jim]

I suspect you will see a blizzard of Democratic spending intiatives on research and development. Research labs for alternative energy, disease prevetion and cures and technology will be funded better, which is good for the future of the country.

 

I hope they raise taxes quickly so everyone can see the world will not end if we ask the wealthy to pay another penny on the dollar. Since the government just shelled a trillion dollars to save the economy this shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

You hope they raise taxes on everyone, or just the wealthy?

[meazza]

You hope they raise taxes on everyone, or just the wealthy?

 

Just you since you seem to be doing pretty well.

[Chef Jim]

Just you since you seem to be doing pretty well.

 

For now.

[finknottle]

I suspect you will see a blizzard of Democratic spending intiatives on research and development. Research labs for alternative energy, disease prevetion and cures and technology will be funded better, which is good for the future of the country.

 

I hope they raise taxes quickly so everyone can see the world will not end if we ask the wealthy to pay another penny on the dollar. Since the government just shelled a trillion dollars to save the economy this shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

Funding alone doesn't always cut it. If the playing field is tilted too much against risk-taking and entrepenuralism etc, you wind looking like France or India today, or the Soviet Union in the past, where tremendous amounts of government money goes to research but with comparitively very little to show for it. It creates jobs and winds up being a sort of corporate welfare, but without the incentive to get rich off of it (can you say "patent-free" and "windfall profits") government-directed research (even when successfull) hasn't always had the penetration into society you would expect.

 

Not saying this will be the outcome of an Obama administration, mind you - just pointing out that pitfalls do exist from shifting too far towards the State.

[drnykterstein]

LOL. Check's and balances means president vs congress vs the supreme court. No one of them can go off the deep end.

 

republicans vs demoliberals have nothing to do with checks and balances. not, at leat, the way the founding fathers intended it.

[drnykterstein]

I suspect you will see a blizzard of Democratic spending intiatives on research and development. Research labs for alternative energy, disease prevetion and cures and technology will be funded better, which is good for the future of the country.

 

I hope they raise taxes quickly so everyone can see the world will not end if we ask the wealthy to pay another penny on the dollar. Since the government just shelled a trillion dollars to save the economy this shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

Republicans really don't care about taxes of the rich. It's all just a farce cover up for their pro-life stance. That is all republicans are .. pro-life. Any other issue is not really important.

[finknottle]

Republicans really don't care about taxes of the rich. It's all just a farce cover up for their pro-life stance. That is all republicans are .. pro-life. Any other issue is not really important.

 

There are quite a few Republicans who couldn't care less about the whole issue. They just don't shout as loud as the base.

 

Kinda like the Democrats in that respect. A large percentage of the blue-collar working class members are socially conservative and do not support gay rights or choice, you just wouldn't know if from the campaigns.

[StupidNation]

Republicans really don't care about taxes of the rich. It's all just a farce cover up for their pro-life stance. That is all republicans are .. pro-life. Any other issue is not really important.

 

Many people who vote republican do so solely under the banner of pro-life positions, that is true. Your mistake is when you mistakenly believe that's all that matters. They believe that the main function of government is to protect the first principle of all rights which is life. They put principle over politics. It's a crazy notion to a liberal who thinks everything should be about how the gov't serves their needs. If you fix that problem they can address others, but when you condone baby murder in the name of convenience all other issues aren't as important. There cannot be true liberty without respect of human life.

 

It's called putting your priorities in order, something a liberal could never understand since the government and the people are to serve their lives while they pretend they do it to help the poor. I can't wait to revisit such conversations with the same people in 20 years when all liberal discussions will be over when our dollar is destroyed, human life will be further eroded, and then the discussion of life will become important when someone decides your life isn't worth much since you are a drain on the gov't.

 

It's starting in some countries in Europe with the expansion of euthanasia.