Friday, November 9, 2012

2012 Election is in the books, Obamney wins/loses!

So that happened. And a status quo, lame duck session begins. I forecast whip-lashing, headline risk as we endure the race to do nothing significant about the fiscal cliff. Let's prognosticate, shall we...

Winners, Losers, and Trends:

Immigration reform and liberalization seems likely to be a winner. It is clear the Republicans lost critical votes on net from the hard-line positioning the party took from the primaries on regarding immigration. This may make a lot of the bad winners in this election worth it all. And who'da thunk it from the victory of the president responsible for a record number of deportations.

Data crunching a la Sabermetrics is a winner. The Obama team took it to new heights, and Nate Silver showed just how powerful a nerd and some numbers can be.

Generally, social freedom was a winner as marijuana legalization at the state as well as the municipal level continued its success and marriage equality lept forward.

Economic freedom probably took a hit on net; although, that remains to be seen and unseen . . . so we'll never quite know. The chances for good tax reform including simplification ebbed some I believe.

The politics of envy and distrust were winners.

One-size-fits-all social policies defeated one-size-fits-all social mores.

Central planning by good intentions won out over fiscal planning by good intentions.

Count also bailouts and TBTF as continued winners. While Romney/Ryan didn't have a sterling record on this front, they promised better in rhetoric. That at least gave a small rational expectation to believe they would be better.

Defense contractors were probably losers while every other conceivable beneficiary of government largess was victorious on net.

Speaking of "defense", war was probably given a change of venue. Iran is a less likely destination for our restless drones but they still may get to vacation in the sunny Middle East in Syria.

There is a good chance I add to or edit this list.

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