An unbridled Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate will render the Republicans essentially useless, at the same time they render most Americans helpless. The more liberal legislators on the Republican side of the aisle (such as John “Democrat-lite” McCain) will no doubt cross that aisle to cooperate on legislation that appears to them to be only semi-socialist. The conservative Republicans (that is, the real Republicans) will vote “Nay” and spend their spare time writing books about the America that once was.

Whatever Obama wants he may very well get. In fact, he may likely get a few things from Pelosi and Reid he hadn’t dreamt up on his own, but it’s a safe bet that he’ll be unlikely to turn them down, regardless of how unwise they may be. Obama can also safely start taking calls again from William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, and Khalid al-Mansour. But he probably won’t invite Larry Sinclair to the White House for a reunion.

It will be a long two years before the November, 2010 mid-term elections, the earliest point at which the American people will get a chance to throw out any or all of their beloved Congressmen and one-third of their esteemed Senators. The likelihood of significant Democrat losses in 2010 is high - unless of course one believes the Obama plan to raise income and business taxes is a good antidote for an economy that hasn’t been as bad since the esteemed peanut farmer blessed Washington, D.C. with his corn cob grin and ignorance of all things involving proper governing.

I am not a veteran soothsayer, but I have seen and dispensed more than enough sooth in my day to feel comfortable sharing my predictions with the masses – at least the masses with the wisdom to seek out advice on how to survive the next few years of an Obama regime. Let us begin without any undue haste, as the countdown clock to Armageddon is ticking.

Jimmy Carter Redux and the Misery Index

Because the term is likely to resurface during the Obama years, Americans should be reminded that the “misery index” is the combination of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. Former President Carter takes high honors in this category, taking it to the level of 20.76 in 1980. It’s no wonder Ronald Reagan beat Carter in the 1980 election; his chimpanzee co-star from “Bedtime for Bonzo” could likely have received the necessary 270 electoral votes in a contest with Billy Carter’s sober brother from Plains, Georgia.

For the record, the misery index averaged 7.80 under Bill Clinton. It averaged 7.89 under George W. Bush. Also for the record, it’s certainly going up. If Obama manages to get most of his proposed legislation passed into law, the misery index will go way up. Jimmy Carter may have to be content with only a second place plaque for his Presidential Library.

The Federal Reserve Board has done a handsome job of keeping the inflation rate low. The Fed’s continued insistence on low interest rates has, however, contributed to the sub-prime mortgage mess that caused the Wall Street melt-down of 2008. Had rates been higher, a fair number of those ill-advised loans of the last few years would not have been made. So hold down the cheers for Andrea Mitchell’s bedmate and his equally professorial successor, Ben Bernanke (his successor at the Federal Reserve Board and not, as far as we now, in his bed).

The federal printing presses must now be set to high speed, to come up with the hundreds of billions of dollars needed for the Wall Street “bail out” that was pawned off as a “Main Street” bail out. (Apparently the truth in advertising laws need not be followed by the government.) The more money that is printed, the higher the inflation. That is inescapable.

Obama is planning on generating more federal revenue through the following:

• Raising the top individual income tax bracket to 39.6%.
• Raising the capital gains tax from 15% to as much as 28%.
• Raising the dividends tax from 15% to 39.6%.
• Requiring businesses to either provide their employees with health insurance, or charge them a fee to enroll them in a federal insurance system.
• Eliminating the wage cap on Social Security withholding taxes. (This is and additional 15.3% tax on all income over $97,000, and would be the largest tax increase in American history.)
• Possibly adding a 2-to-4% Social Security “surtax” on the top wage earners. (Aw, what the Hell, they can afford it.)
• Raising import tariffs on selected products to “protect” American businesses. (But don’t worry, other countries probably won’t retaliate with their own tariff increases, right?)
• Imposing an “anti-global poverty tax,” based on taxes on the rental value of land and natural resources, a royalty on energy production, fees for the commercial use of the oceans, fees for the airplane use of the skies, fees for the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, fees on foreign exchange transactions, and a tax on the carbon content of fuels. (And who says Obama didn’t learn anything from Chicago’s mayor, Richie Daley?)
• Windfall profits tax on oil companies.
• Quite a few more taxes and fees, but you’ve probably heard enough already.

It is unclear exactly what these taxes will add up to, but it will certainly be in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Still, it won’t be enough to fund all of Obama’s new spending programs, but he has to start somewhere.

Where the additional tax burden falls on individuals, it will mean that much less money spent in the American economy. Taking an extra $200 billion from paychecks, for example, will mean having $200 billion less to spend on “stuff.” Businesses will be selling $200 billion less “stuff.” Businesses will then have a pronounced excess of employees, and many of them will get the axe – primarily because Obama is barely willing to use a scalpel (his words) on the federal budget, while McCain offered to use a hatchet.

Where the additional tax burden falls on businesses, it will certainly mean higher prices on goods and services. (Businesses can’t print money, at the last time anyone checked.) Businesses will do their best to hold the line on price increases as long as they can, because their competitors will all be trying to do the same, but at some point there is no room to absorb more costs without going out of business. When that point is reached, prices will be increased. If businesses have to come up with $500 billion in taxes and fees, for example, they will raise prices by $500 billion (or lay off enough employees to save that amount).

Something’s got to give. And when the rich fat guy with the cigar spends $60,000 on taxes instead of a new Cadillac, it’s the guys who make and sell and fix the Cadillacs who lose their jobs – not the cigar-smoking fat guy. (He’ll probably still buy cigars, so some workers may be safe.)

It is inordinately clear that an Obama Administration will mean higher prices, higher inflation, business failures, and job losses. How bad will it get? That’s anybody’s guess, but no one should be surprised if tar and feathers are seen near the White House by the end of 2009.

So, what’s a person to do? Here is some advice, which you are free to follow or ignore, as you see fit:

Stay in a safe place on election night

Yes, that’s right, find a safe place for the evening of November 4. It is a safe bet that there will be some “civil unrest” on election night. If Obama wins, some entrepreneurs will take it upon themselves to get a head start on Obama’s pledge to “redistribute wealth,” likely by breaking store windows and helping themselves to some “hope and change” (aka big-screen plasma TVs). If Obama loses - after 18 months of uninterrupted cheerleading by a suck-up leftist mass media – there will be a lot of unhappy campers. They may want much more than plasma TVs - they may want revenge on those who they think “stole” yet another election from them.

Stay away from Detroit, Chicago, East L.A., Oakland, Compton, Newark - and any neighborhoods where the “haves” live dangerously close to the “have nots.”

Ask for a pay cut

If your combined husband and wife income exceeds $250,000 per year by a small amount and you aren’t too eager to get into a 39.6 per cent tax bracket, you may want to ask for a pay cut.  What you lose in income you may save in taxes. (Are you unmarried? Your taxes go up to 39.6 per cent at $150,000 under the Obama plans. Ask for a pay cut.)

Depending on how much flexibility you have with your employer, you may be able to compensate for a pay cut by negotiating some non-taxable “perks,” like more vacation days. Do what you can. Be creative.

The 95% tax cut lie

Obama can’t give a tax cut to 95 per cent of working families because more than 30 per cent of them (over 40 million people) already pay zero income taxes – thanks to the Bush tax cuts (which Obama will allow to expire, thereby raising your taxes to the Clinton levels). Obama can’t cut zero. Or can he?

Obama’s tax “cut” of $1,000 per family ($500 for single tax filers) is actually a tax “credit.” Currently, if your income is low enough to make your federal income tax zero, you pay nothing and get nothing. Obama’s tax credit will now give each of those zero-tax families a check for $1,000 – every April 15 when they file a tax return. Every year.

That isn’t a tax cut, it’s a welfare check. It’s a “stealth slavery reparations” program… a way for Obama to take money from working whites to give to poor blacks as “restitution” for slavery. “Won’t wealthier blacks pay higher taxes and won’t poor whites get the checks also?” Yes, but that’s a small price for Obama to pay for getting the scheme going.

Expect Obama to “up the ante” and raise the $1,000 amount just in time for the 2010 mid-term elections, and again in time for his 2012 re-election campaign. Once he has 40 million people getting those checks, they certainly won’t vote for someone who will stop sending them.

What can you do about this scheme? Don’t let him get elected. Don’t give him 60 Democrat Senators to stop Republican filibusters. Have you got a lazy brother-in-law who works part-time only when he feels like it? You’ll be paying for his $1,000 check every April. Make him pay you back. Does your neighbor have a kid in college who works part-time only during the summer? That child will get a $500 check from Uncle Barack, at the expense of the taxpayers, even if his parents earn a lot more money than you. Make the kid mow your lawn.

Taxes on your 401(k)?

House Democrats have been considering eliminating most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks for 401(k) accounts.  Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) have been studying how to change the country’s $3 trillion 401(k) system, to eliminate investor tax breaks and force workers' money into obligatory retirement accounts. (And where was the question about that in the Presidential debates?)

Prepare for the Social Security Tax Hike

Obama plans on eliminating the income cap for Social Security and Medicare taxes. That cap is currently set at $97,000, which means that if you earn more than $97,000 your employer stops taking out Social Security taxes at that point. If you make $200,000, for example, your net pay goes up in July because the Social Security taxes stop.

For those of you who make less than $97,000 and think those better-paid folks are getting a terrific deal, realize that the high-income earners are simply paying their taxes earlier in the year than you. If you earn $33,000 per year, all 52 of your weekly pay checks reflect Social Security tax withholding. The person who earns $200,000 pays three times what you pay in Social Security taxes, but it’s all withheld during the first six months of the year. The person who earns $5 million per year pays the same Social Security tax total as the person who earns only $97,000 – but they both get the same amount in their eventual Social Security checks. You don’t get a bigger retirement check for having earned more than $97,000.

The generous-with-other-people’s-money Obama will end that $97,000 cap. That means an additional 15.3 per cent in taxes on all income over $97,000. Half of that is paid by your employer, but if you’re self-employed you’ll pay the full 15.3 per cent. Note that Obama is raising that tax cap without applying that extra tax to future retirement checks. Every extra dollar in taxes paid does nothing for future benefits. You’ll be paying more in taxes and not getting a larger Social Security check. Nice, huh? For paying 15.3 per cent of all income over $97,000, you get nothing in return. (Don’t forget, if you’re in the top bracket, that 15.3 per cent in Social Security and Medicare taxes is in addition to your 39.6 per cent in federal income taxes. Add in state income taxes where mandated, and you may lose 60 per cent of your paycheck to taxes right off the top. That’s what Obama refers to as “restoring fairness to the tax system.”

But that’s not quite enough, because Obama is also considering adding a 2-4 per cent surcharge to the Social Security tax to help keep the system solvent. That would be on top of the 15.3 per cent of income over $97,000. Are you paying attention? Are you following along closely?

How can you escape the elimination of the tax cap? You can’t. What can you do about it? Nothing, once Obama is in the White House – except write your Congressman and Senators and tell them if they support his plan, you’ll vote them out of office.

You may have realized that $97,000 is considerably less than $250,000? Obama’s pledge to raise taxes only on those who earn over $250,000 is therefore a lie – unless you only consider income taxes to be taxes and don’t think of Social Security taxes as taxes. (Obama likes to play word games like that. Remember, he’s very smart – so smart that his tricks even escape the close scrutiny of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Katie Couric!)

Increased taxes on working Seniors

Obama will increase taxes on senior citizens who continue to work after retirement – not just those who earn more than $250,000 per year.

Expect union power abuses when secret ballots are eliminated

Obama promised the unions he would support a law allowing them to eliminate secret ballots in organizing drives.  (Well, he had to give them something for the tens of millions in campaign donations they gave him, didn’t he?) Under existing law, when a union tries to organize a new company, it passes out “cards” to employees at a targeted business. The employees sign the cards and indicate on them whether they may be interested in union membership. If enough cards say yes, a secret ballot is then held. If the union wins the vote, it’s in power. If it loses, it packs up its brass-knuckled thugs and attempts to organize another company.

Obama, who owes the big unions big favors, will sign a law allowing them to take control of a company’s employees as soon as a majority of the signed cards are in their favor. There would be no secret ballot!  Does that sound like a good idea? Question: Could an employee be intimidated by co-workers and 300-pound “union organizers” looking over his shoulder as he fills out and signs the card?

After this business-busting rule takes effect, the unions will be able to successfully organize thousands of companies across the country. What will stop them? And what will incredibly more powerful unions mean? You guessed it, incredibly higher prices – assuming the companies are able to stay in business, when they have higher operating costs than their non-union competitors. Some companies will ship their jobs overseas, rather than deal with unions that Obama has overpowered.

You would never guess what Congress is calling this law: the “Employee Free Choice Act.” It was sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy, and co-sponsored by 46 of his fellow Democrats – a few of them must have been out of the room at the time.

What can you do about this? Write your Congressman and Senators. Tell them “If you vote for the EFCA you will lose my vote at the next election.” Then take your threat seriously. Buy a 2010 calendar and mark election day with, “Vote against Congressman X and Senator Y.”

Note that the Republicans can stop this bill from being passed only if there are enough of them in the Senate. If the Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate, they can pass anything they want and no one can stop them. (You might want to keep that in mind in November 4.)

The loss of right-to-work laws

Obama will support legislation outlawing state right-to-work laws. If those laws are invalidated, if a union has organized the company where you work, you must join the union – even if you don’t want to. If the union wants to use some of your forced union dues to donate to liberal Democrats, it will. What can you do about it? Not much – except vote against the legislators who voted to repeal right-to-work laws.

A law against hiring new employees to replace workers on strike

Yes, you read that correctly. Obama will sign a law making it illegal for a company to hire new workers to replace striking workers. If the union members go on strike to demand $25 per hours and you are willing to work at that company for $22 per hour, tough luck. The employer can’t hire you. Obama will prohibit you from taking that job – even if you and the employer agree to the deal.

Such a law means that the unions will have unstoppable power, and the employers will have none. If an employer is not allowed to hire new workers to replace those who are on strike, it has only two options: give in to the union’s demands, or go out of business. (This is what Obama means when he uses the words “hope and change.” Hope your business will be able to survive, or change to another line of work.)

What can you do about this? Stage a demonstration. Get hundreds of potential new workers to march with you. Demand that Obama rescind the law. Make posters. Get on television. Make sure all of America understands that Obama gave the unions enormous power in exchange for campaign contributions.

You may, of course, have the last laugh – because the union’s demands will drive the company out of business, and those who went on strike will be unemployed. (They will learn that being unemployed at $25 per hour is not as good as being employed at $22 per hour.)

Again, some companies will move their jobs overseas rather than deal with these restrictions. There is only so much a business can take – everything has a limit, and Obama appears more than willing to test those limits.

Union “wage insurance”

Obama has proposed a “wage insurance” program, so that a union worker who loses his job can receive a subsidy from the federal government to remain at his old union income level - even though his new job pays less. In other words, if union workers price themselves out of the market with unreasonable wage demands, America's non-union workers will foot the bill to compensate them for their poor collective bargaining decisions. Imagine working for $15.00 per hour, right next to a new employee who is getting $24.00 per hour after he helped drive his former employer out of business.

Advice on how to deal with such a law? Use your imagination. If that lunacy doesn’t drive Americans to protest and complain and write their Congressman and Senators, then nothing will.

Same-day voter registration

Obama will support legislation requiring same-day voter registration and voting, which would allow th