Two Predictions For The New Year

As we get on with the new year, two momentous events will unfold before us. One is the Super Bowl (although the Stanley Cup playoffs rank right up there too, but that's best left for another post), and the other is the mid-year elections. So here goes...

Prediction #1: Favored by 3 points, the Saints of New Orleans will defeat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.

Am I that good a prognosticator? Well, no. I would say that I only have a passing interest in the NFL. Then how do I know? Because Bud Goode says so. Who is Bud Goode? The following link to the Wall Street Journal article provides an interesting bio. You can find it here.

Prediction #2: The Republicans will win majorities in both houses of Congress.

Why? America is a center-right country, and the current administration's efforts to radically morph it into a quasi-European state has rubbed the electorate the wrong way. Americans recognize these moves for what they represent: statism. Gone are the days when our president said, "Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed."[Reagan - Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981] By contrast, our current president's chief of staff proclaims, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."[Emanuel - Wall Street Journal Digital Network, November 2008] Such as what? How about drastically outspending all prior administrations (combined!) Remember when the media and democrats howled at Bush's $400 billion deficits? Apparently the trillions to be spent by Obama mean nothing...Or how about the federal takeover of health care? Of GM? Of regulation of CEO salaries and bonuses? Investor's Business Daily points out that the salary of Bank of America's president is now $0 (yes, zero), "effectively making him a government slave." And on and on, ad nauseam. Actions like these used to be the modus operandi of podunk dictatorships and other socialist nations. Not so today, and Democrats will feel the backlash come election day. While the current Intrade betting lines favor the Dems in retaining both the House (65-35) and Senate (95-5), my prediction stands.