New President today.. same old ball-game

Theres some kind of 3-day rock concert / celebrity gala Washington event to celebrate the inauguration of "the one" - Obama.

Putting aside all the fanfare, there really are only 2 aspects to this story that interest me.

1/Just how little in terms of the structure of the Government of the United States of America will actually change. There really is very little breathing room between Republicans and Democrats. Both are regulatory-statists, social democrats and fans of Keynesian tax-and-spend strategies. They both know how to spend the country into deeper deficits with every year.

In order to pay $47m for extra security at the big party, the mayor of Washington actually needed Federal Gov't assistance. Soon-to-be-former President Bush was all too happy to oblige.

Get this.. he declared a national emergency to get the funding ! I'm not making this up. These kinds of powers are reserved for hurricanes, cyclones and earthquakes, but the president has no qualms invoking them on his last week in office to fund the mother of all parties in Washington.

2/ Will Obama flinch or shudder when he takes his presidential oath ?
For those who aren't familiar, all he has to do is swear to uphold the U.S constitution. Sounds simple, yet every president in modern history has desecrated this document which places a limit on the powers of governments. Each president has added more powers to government, the executive and the office of the presidency, thus removing certain individual liberties. Obama is no different, with his empty promises to tax-and-spend the country into prosperity.

Who suffers under this system ?

• The taxpayer. He who works. He who spends. He who operates a business. He who earns and engages in free trade with others.
• Future generations. Those who aren't even born yet will bear the burden of government debt.
• Retirees and pensioners - they think that their pensions and entitlements are secure, but they are simply unfunded and they have no reason to expect to reason the full amount of their entitlements.
• The sick. They think the medical system can provide for their health into the future when it really faces insolvency and a wave of unfunded liabilities.
• Those who hold dollars and have savings. The bailout and stimulus guarantees inflation will arrive in the next 3 years, and wipe out their purchasing power.

Whats the end result of all this socialism and Obama's ideals ? As scary as it is, its nothing new. Socialism always produced the same results in the 20th century - people become more equal as they become equally impoverished.

Widespread unemployment, economic collapse, political instability, endless military conflicts and huge collapses in standards of living, schools, medical services, welfare and infrastructure.

These are my general predictions for the Obama presidency. Change your dog can roll in.