For those that know me, it will come as no surprise that based on current polling data, I’m probably going to be pretty disappointed with the outcome of the election tomorrow. I’ve tried to stay out of the political fray on this blog as much as possible. However, with the quotes by Sen. Obama that have surfaced over the last couple of days (including such things as “…more aggressive (cap and trade) than anyone else’s…”, “…somebody wants to build a coal power plant, they can, but it will bankrupt them…”, and “…under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket…”), I’m growing increasingly concerned about whether the economy can withstand what’s about to happen over the next several years.

Pricing coal out of the market, potentially resulting in the shutdown of a whole lot of coal fired generators, and pounding consumers with “skyrocketing” costs for energy, and everything energy related, including gasoline and anything produced either directly or indirectly through the combustion of hydrocarbons (I think that would be almost everything), doesn’t seem to be a recipe for economic success in a period of recession.

Of course, we do have a congress that has signaled their willingness to rebate another round of $500 checks to help stimulate the economy…hmmm. Maybe that will go to partially offset the “skyrocketing” energy prices, at least for those that qualify for such a rebate. Or, maybe it will go to help offset the higher taxes that will be paid in the very near future under the plan that originated with a guy in green tights somewhere in the Sherwood Forest…Oh, wait, if you’re one of those paying the higher taxes to fund “tax reductions” to those that don’t pay taxes, you’re probably too rich to qualify for the $500 dollar check…Oh well, I guess you can just pull the money to pay for the higher energy costs out of your 401k…Darn it, I forgot that my 401k has taken a 40% hit in the last few weeks and that going forward, dividends are going to be taxed and capital gains taxes are going up, and there’s always that nasty early withdrawal penality…I’ll guess I’ll just have to cut back on extravagances, like contributing to my 401k and trying to accrue any other type of savings…yep, running up debt on credit cards may be the answer…and I can always work another job. I wonder if the new Civilian National Security Force will have any part-time openings.

Yeah, I’m glad the election is just about over. It’s always better to just get on with it, rather than sit around and worry about it.

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