Welcome, Socialism!

Last night, the US Senate passed the Craptacular Porkulus Bill, designed to fund every pet project the Democrats could think up. Building roads, funding schools, spending money for STD prevention, grants to cities so that those cities can build water slides (thanks, Carmel!), setting up a health-care rationing board that will have the power to fine doctor if those doctors do something as horrible as prescribe the latest and best medicines (because that darned new technology is too expensive, don't ya know), extend unemployment benefits (how this makes one more likely to go out and get a job they never explained), and fund "green" energy projects that use technology that has yet to prove its effectiveness.

Overnight, the United States has added 30% to its national debt, and that number currently stands at $13,000,000,000,000. Think about that for a moment. The GDP of the US, being the total value of goods and services sold in the entire frickkin' country, is a little over $14 trillion. That means that everything you make, everything your neighbor makes, everything the company you work for makes, everything anyone in this country makes would need to be confiscated for a year. Can you survive without a salary for a year?

My preditions:

1. The "Stimulus" will fail to create the kinds of jobs that are needed to come out of a recession.
2. Printing money without the requisite increase in productivity creates inflation. We just increased the money supply by about 10%, so expect inflation to go over 10%.
3. Democrats will not take any responsibility for the economic catastrophy they have created.
4. Republicans might be able to win back the House in 2010. But the Senate will have to wait until 2012.
5. Conservatives will be blamed for all the bad stuff that happens in the economy, although conservatives haven't been in power in the past decade.
6. People require the government to run their lives (health care, retirement, what foods to eat) will get exactly what they deserve, but will still whine that it's not their fault they're unemployed and broke and fat. These people, incapable of learning from their mistakes, will demand that the government do more to help them.
7. Those of us who take responsibility for our lives will continue to look at which other countries might be more receptive to having creative, driven people relocate there. I've personally always liked Ireland, Austrailia, and New Zealand.