Politics
Out of context: Reply #13744
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- ukit0
I guess another problem is that people don't really pay attention to the issues much. They just vote based on some vague notion that "the government is spending too much" or whatever. Well, hey, Democrats didn't work, maybe tham Republicans will done fix it!
Problem is, American politics (and especially Republican) are corrupt enough that you can pretty much judge what will and won't pass based on what's good for big corporations and/or rich people.
Therefore, my predictions (feel free to check back in 2 years):
-Government spending - won't get reduced, not in any meaningful way. There's no special interest that stands to gain from cutting spending. Duh.
-Health care law - won't get repealed. The health care industry LIKES having a law that requires everyone to buy health care. Republicans will focus on weakening the requirements on business to offer health care, which means you'll be responsible for buying it yourself.
-Bush tax cuts - will get extended, either for 4 years or permanently. This is one that most people like cause obviously no one wants to pay taxes. Unfortunately, since they were never paid for with spending cuts, it will have the effect of increasing the national debt by $4 trillion every ten years.
-Social Security - this is the big project Republicans are after the same way Democrats were after health care. Wall Street really wants to privatize Social Security so they can "securitize" it the same way they did with mortgages. Bush tried this and failed, but Republicans have kept pushing this idea despite the unpopularity. Current proposal by Republicans is to cut benefits by around 50%, so it's not a trivial thing.
Of course the other big item will be to investigate Obama, to have something to pin on him, the same way they did Clinton. The idea is simply to spend time digging up dirt so Romney (who is the chosen candidate of the Koch brothers and other major donors) stands a chance despite his basic unlikeability.
- yeah, they'll just spend shitloads more on military spendingjaylarson