Election prediction

As the election is tomorrow, I thought I would share my predictions with the world. The outcome of the election... won't matter. Whether we have President Obama or President McCain in January, the issues that concern me most are passed the point of fixing.

1. The National Debt. If you have had the stomach to watch the news and also block out the political cruft, you might be aware that the national debt has passed the $10,000,000,000,000 mark. I predict that the recession will be long enough that government revenues will not be close to expenditures over the next four years. If the debt is only $12 Trillion four years from now I will count us lucky.

2. Health Care. No new policy or program can defy the simple law of supply and demand. The Baby Boomers, a huge generation, are retiring, and as people age they require more health care. Especially a generation that did a lot of drugs in the 60's and ate a lot of McDonald's in the 80's and 90's. Health care will be the largest segment of federal expenditures in four years, and will have grown faster than any other segment.

3. Education. Despite the mess of No Child Left Behind, more money will be poured into the Department of Education, producing even worse results. I doubt anyone in Washington will figure out that the best way for them to improve education is just to stay out of the way of educators and parents.

4. Energy. For reasons that still baffle me, elected officials just don't get it when it comes to energy. If I could vote for T. Boone Pickens for president, I would. Four years from now we'll still be driving gasoline powered cars. The few electric or plug in hybrid cars out there will be charged from a coal powered grid.

So if anyone reads this and remembers it by 2012, remind me to check my predictions. We'll have a month before the end of the world to reflect. (If you have a life and don't watch the History Channel, that last bit is a reference to the supposed prediction of the end of the world by the Mayan calendar.)