Predictions. I believe the Obama influence is a passing fad. He will not be able to 'cure' the economy, it's beyond help without the Republicans working to help change things and they want the same old thing which failed. Well, failed the majority. The massive transfers of capital from the government into the financial institutions leaves them with a much higher percentage of the total wealth. With that goes power. And as we've seen with the Reagan and the Bush's, there are powers behind the scene who run the equivalent of the village idiot for mayor so as to have a figurehead and win. They do it appealing to very childish views of patriotism, family values, and "capitalism". They can elect a "patriotic" man who went AWOL in time of war, and an actor who played the role fairly well. They're good at what they do.

The US will proceed to pure plutocracy, with a few wealthy people running the country and the vast majority poor. Fear will be used to eliminate even more civil rights, and the remaining ones will be ignored. The vestiges of the middle class will be those with the skills to serve the relatively few wealthy. There really isn't much difference between the political parties - all campaigns are so expensive that they cannot be run without large donations from the larger corporate interests. Conservatives aren't a party, but they hijacked the Republicans who hijacked the nation. Republicans are therefore the more direct tool of the plutocracy. The pressures to resist regulation (read "responsibility") will be massively funded, and the have figured out how to convince a significant part of the middle class to work against themselves. And those people truly believe they are smarter than anyone else, possess information only available to the few, and will be favored in the future. Sort of a rapture on the ground. (That someone can work for a lousier life for their kids and grandkids and think they are smart is a Conservative coup.)

HOWEVER, Europe has a chance to come out of all of this rather well. They have a commitment to their middle classes way beyond that of the US, they will undoubtedly force their financial structure to behave more responsibly. They tend to not be controlled by the multinationals, are more willing to confront them. Out of that will come stronger national economies, stronger social structure and stronger nations. And the EU, with a healthy, educated population who can aspire to more than a McDonald's job will be left to deal with the US, China, Russia and India. The longer Europe and Russia can avoid devasting ground wars within their own borders the stronger they will become.

The US will be a factor, but eventually sink to the level of present-day Brazil. Only without all the surplus resources. And will be so far in debt to other nations as to seem to be a dog with 4 leashes attached to it's choke chain collar.

As an experiment the US has been great. We've been through some dramatic social changes, eliminating slavery for instance, but were behind most of the rest of the world. But when money was granted equal status with people in the matter of "free speech" it was doomed.

Arf