Election 2010: Manage Your Expectations.

Today is Election Day 2010.

Whoopie.(?)

The ‘who’ and the ‘what’ has been beaten to death in the media and other sites for months now so MasterPo isn’t going to take that one on. Besides, at this point if you don’t know who you’re going to vote for then you are likely someone who gets all flustered at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The odds on favorites are the Republicans and Tea Party candidates to win by a significant margin. Some say landslide.

We’ll see.

But even if they do win (as MasterPo does agree is likely) don’t pop the Champaign just yet. 2011 holds a huge number of issues and problems for the new Congress. Some even go so far as to say the Republicans and Tea Party are being setup for a spectacular failure in the year to come.

There may be some truth to that.

Consider:

· The current 99 week unemployment limit/extension is going to start being hit early in 2011. The new Congress is going to have to deal with whether or not to extend it more. 110 weeks? 120 weeks? More?! But if they don’t they will be savaged in the media for being cold hearted conservatives.

· As of writing this the U.S. national debt is $13.6 trillion dollars. The legal debt ceiling (the max the Federal government is allowed to have outstanding as debt) is $14.2 trillion (which the current Congress raised this year already). The new Congress is going to have to decided to raise the debt ceiling again or not. $15 trillion? $16 trillion? If they do raise it they will be slammed (and not without some just cause) for being no different than tax&spend Democrats. But if they don’t raise the ceiling the Federal government will literally go broke if it can’t borrow more money! Imagine what the economy will do? What world markets will do?

· The President’s Debt Commission is already floating plans for new taxes and tax hikes (e.g. VAT, energy tax, reduce or remove the home mortgage deduction, reduce or remove the child tax credit, reduce or remove retirement savings deductions, etc.). Surely some of these are going to come up for a vote. Most likely they will be tied to some other legislation that is considered more desirable. Will the new Congress be strong enough to stand firm against these?

These are just some examples.

The stock market has already factored the Republican/Conservative win into the system, hence the recent run up. But 2011 will be the reality check.

MasterPo has his doubts the new Republican/Tea Party/Conservative Congress will in fact be able to hold together in the face of pressure from others in Congress, the media, and certain groups and elements of the public at large.

It might be a whole new change (just remember what happened the last time America voted for ‘change’!) or could be the same old/same old in the end.

2011 – That’s when it really begins.