Barrel Strength

Your correspondent noted in February of this year, that Democrats were likely to make significant inroads, similar to post-Watergate era, in the House and the Senate, due to the large number of Republicans incumbents who were either retiring or deciding not to run again.  This reality is finally starting to dawn as to the significance of the changes as noted in WSJ.  The article notes

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven’t since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

It goes on to note the following.

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today’s left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for “change” should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

The US GDP growth has historically exceeded the EU-15 growth rate by more than 1%.  Expect this gap to narrow as US moves closer to the European socialist model.  The stock market is already starting to adjust to this reality, as was noted earlier.  Will the combination of acute economic problems and Democrat policies lead to replication of economic consequences from 1929, when a recession was transmogrified into the Great Depression due to the policies of FDR?  Only time will tell but it is time to batten down the hatches.