Hope all you want but don't expect change.

America’s current nightmare is about to end. Actually new current nightmares are about to end. One is that George Bush will be officially voted out of office (to take effect in January). The second nightmare is this horrendous election will be over.

Unfortunately a new nightmare are about to begin. One will be the vapid, destruction administration of Barack Obama. McCain has conducted his campaign so badly in recent months that I think he will have a hard time winning. It’s not impossible but not likely. I do, however, think it will be closer than people assume at this time.

Obama has been big on rhetoric and weak on specifics. He has spoken out against free trade and for free trade. He opposes the odious Proposition 8 in California that would ban gay marriage and he opposes gay marriage. His rhetoric is against the corporatist elite and the way they use government to plunder taxpayers. Yet his campaign is heavily in debt to that very elite and he pals around with them making them promises.

On specific issues Obama will be little different from John McCain. Hope all you want but don't expect change.

I do think Obama will try to implement some policies -- all of them bad. I fully expect him to put bureaucrats and politicians in control of more our medical care than ever before. The major medical corporations will love it since Obama will effectively transfer wealth from working taxpayers to the medical establishment.

A majority of Americans, even a majority of intelligent voters, are unaware of the last century of the history of the relationship between corporate interests and “reformers”. Invariably the “reformers” only change the system in favor of the corporate interests. Of course they will issue copious comments along the way indicating that they wish to do the very opposite. So the public will be lead to believe that the politicians are defending them against corporate greed when in reality the politicians will be picking the public purse in favor of the corporatist elements which funded their campaigns.

Right from the Progressive Era to today Big Business has managed to use the naive, unthinking positions of the socialist Left to establish a regulatory regime that restricts competition. The socialist actually thinks that is good. So does the corporate elite. But, for the latter at least, it is good. This restrictive business atmosphere makes it easier for them to make non-market profits, that is profits derived from their politicking not from offering consumers goods and services they actually want.

Bell Telephone wanted a regulated telephone industry because the regulations kept out competition. When deregulation came anyway Bell was the giant that dissolved and today the market is dominated by new technologies that were stifled under the old regulatory regime -- and the result is far lower costs to the public. Obama and the corporate lobby will do their best to make sure that sort of thing doesn’t happen again! Follow the money -- and the corporate money has been flowing to Obama. The Democrat will have received more funds from major corporations than any candidate in history -- in fact, when all is said and done he’ll have received more corporate financing than many previous candidates combined.

The Republicans, especially under Bush, were open and obvious about their cozy relationship with certain corporate interests. The Democrats are deceptive and devious about theirs. But Republicans appeal to voters who think corporations aren’t so bad and Democrats appeals to those who think they are Satanic. Both parties serve those corporate interests but have different campaign styles reflecting their need to appeal to their base.

I should also note for the naive in history that there is a big difference between corporate capitalism and free markets. Free markets mean markets that can’t be manipulated by bureaucrats and politicians in order to bestow privileges or subsidies on specific corporate entities while using regulations and taxes to hamper their competition. A free market is one where political favoritism can’t play a role. America is not a free market society. What we have is a corporatist economy with many of the features of fascism -- and Obama has no intention of changing any of that. One thing which the Democrats, and the corporate elite, are in total agreement about (with George Bush I might add) is a complete and total abhorrence of free markets. All favor the system of political allocation of profits.