The main short run impact of Obamacare, if it passes, will be to drive a stake into the heart of the fledgling economic recovery. Already, the current recovery is the most anemic since the end of World War II. Congratulations Barrack! You are setting some new records -- record deficits and record economic paralysis.
Now, if Obamacare makes it, look for a decade of stagnation unless this thing is repealed. Even then, the Obama stranglehold on the financial system is likely to prevent any serious economic growth until that stranglehold is removed.
Obama's ignorance of economics is going to have real effects. We are now much more like Europe and will begin to grow accustomed to double digit unemployment rates. The kind of economic growth that the US saw in the 1980s and 1990s have no shot of reappearing until the political climate gets more favorable to free markets.
This means, at the very least, that until Obama is voted out of office, look for economic stagnation and a continuing effort by Obama to nationalize every aspect of every economic life. Whether you call it socialist or whatever, Obama's policies are a continued and direct assault on the American economy. All his pretty rhetoric can't change the facts, which aren't so pretty.
Obama and Chavez are heading down the same road and the economic impact on their countries will be devastating.
