Prepare yourself for more economic pain

The talking heads and so-called experts are slicing and dicing the election results, all with the same certitude and swagger they possessed before the votes were counted. Those on the left proclaim a victory of changing demographics. Many on the right assert that once again the wrong candidate was chosen. Both are dead wrong. This is an election that came down to 3 million votes, less than 1 percent of the population. Hardly a mandate and, given all the economic indicators, it is surprising. Debt, unemployment, social spending are too high; job creation, housing values income growth are in decline.

Conventional political wisdom ordained that President Obama could not win. The margin came in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Look at the maps and tiny dots of blue surrounded by a sea of red. It came down to urban centers. It came down to votes that were, let’s be honest, bought.

We have swapped our birthright as a land of opportunity, with people who dream big then work their tails off to make it a reality, for freebies. Our national anthem has become gimme, gimme, gimme. Over 100 weeks of unemployment, food stamps, “free” health care, free birth control pills, abortion on demand, decriminalized drugs, interest-only mortgages with no money down, welfare checks with now emasculated work requirements, ad nauseum.

So we have simply not felt enough economic pain -- yet. The good news is, it’s coming. To all the bourgeois Obama supporters who helped this along, especially those making more than $250,000, your reward is is at hand. There is no such thing as something for nothing. As for the experts, 2016 will be a new game. The only thing that has changed forever is “conventional wisdom.”

Steve Quick

Arlington Heights