I couldn't think of a word for the other aspect of what we face in 2015 but maybe by the end of this we will have it.
Prospects first then.
The new US Congress convenes in January and has a Republican majority in both houses. I think that has the prospect of being a good thing. The newly elected members will join incumbents but critically, these 'newbies' will bring with them a clear mandate from the electorate. Change is needed in Washington. That means that Congress needs to clean-up its act. Less 'pork-barrel' politics and more 'American' policies. Policies that will start to restore America in the eyes of its friends and its foes.
'American' policies? Well that means no amnesty for a start. It is 'American' to emigrate to the USA via legal routes not by hopping over the border accompanied by disease-ridden narco-gang members and others who believe that laws are meant for someone else.
So, no Amnesty and a clear statement to the Department of Homeland Security - Congress will de-fund you if you do not secure the border - that's the Southern border, in case you don't know which one. Congress will de-fund HS if you don't start deporting, in significant numbers all of those illegal immigrants that entered the US during 2014 and then work backwards, year by year. Who knows? In the process you may well come across some Al Qaeda or ISIS terrorists, on the way. It's a pretty safe bet that some used the chaos that Obama created on the border, to infiltrate the country.
Again, no Amnesty. Can't say it often enough.
Obamacare will really kick-in in 2015 and it is the duty of Congress to start the process of repeal and then accelerate so that this is done by the end of 2015 and America enters the 2016 election year with a clear choice between Democrats (who voted the ACA through without even reading it!) and want to reinstate it and with Republicans who oppose such socialistic but more importantly unworkable legislation.
Spending has to be reduced. The people get it but clearly Speaker John Boehner doesn't. Obama has always been a lost cause. Indeed, the same can be said of all Democrats. Margaret Thatcher once said 'the trouble with Socialists is that eventually they run out of other people's money to spend' and that is where today, America finds itself. So as well as spending needing to be drastically reduced, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must be replaced. Rep. Trey Gowdy and Senator Ted Cruz or Senator Mike Lee would seem to be candidates that best represent the views of the Republican voters.
Spending reductions are also a prospect for British voters - though, (and this is where that .... creeps in) there is every prospect that the parties in the upcoming General Election will fall over themselves to offer money Britain doesn't have and hasn't earned as electoral bribes. They don't call it 'pork-barrel' in the UK but the result is the same - unaffordable spending fueled by debt.
A gloomy prospect (there's that ...... again) is that the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) may hold the balance of power and strike an underhand deal with Labour surrounding yet more transfer of powers to the devolved Scottish Parliament. It is unbelievable but no less true that the SNP who so solidly lost the Scottish Indpendence Referendum now face the prospect of being the major Scottish influence at Westminster. It says everything about Labour and their woeful leader, Ed Miliband, that we come to this pass.
Incidentally, while we are on the subject of the SNP, how on earth can they possibly be in the ascendancy when they made such huge play about an independent Scotland's prospects but all based on oil at the 'conservatively' set price of $113/bbl. Oil is currently half that price and all commentators see oil at greater than $100 no time in the near future!
With Labour and the SNP squeezing on one side the Conservatives face the grim prospect of losing power as they are also being assailed from UKIP. I think that the electorate distrust the Conservatives on Europe and I can't help but have a sneaking suspicion that the Conservatives wouldn't mind losing the election so that the question of an EU referendum becomes someone elses responsibility/headache.
If the Conservatives do regain power, it will likely be to lead a minority government. That though doesn't preclude the greatest prospect which is deep and meaningful cuts in UK public spending. This is long overdue and I sense would receive strong support from the working population, if it was properly presented showing the choice between further indebtedness and future impoverishment and an affordable future for Britain and its children.
Back to prospects and for the first time in a long time, Europe and immigration will likely be 'front and centre' in the UK General Election and there is every prospect that contra-opinions to those of the metropolitan elite and to the ruling bureaucracy (the real rulers) will be heard and perhaps a reasoned debate might ensue - we can but hope!
Of course, an easy prospect for the UK is that the key issue will be the economy and its prospects. These will surely be enhanced if the austerity policies of the Conservatives, however anemic they have so far been, are preferred to those of the profligate debt-fueled spending proposed by Labour.
So, Prospects and .... abound and the above are just a foretaste but we need the following - and by we, I mean not just the USA and the UK, I mean the 'West' needs the following:
US Republicans to follow the electorate given mandate - no amnesty, reduce America's deficit (debt is perhaps too much to ask for), secure the border and start to repair relations with America's natural allies. The latter will mean abandoning some of Obama's newly close Islamic allies but so be it.
UK Conservatives go forward on an economic plan founded upon lower taxes and much lower public spending. Also be clear on Europe, if the UK can't get what it wants from a renegotiation, then we will leave. It is asinine to go into a renegotiation of terms saying that even if the UK doesn't get what it wants, then the Conservatives will still campaign for continued membership. Oh and one of those things has to be reduced immigration and zero, nada, zilch welfare benefits for any non-Britons.
So, no amnesty, spending cuts and then we can forget about those ........
Prospects first then.
The new US Congress convenes in January and has a Republican majority in both houses. I think that has the prospect of being a good thing. The newly elected members will join incumbents but critically, these 'newbies' will bring with them a clear mandate from the electorate. Change is needed in Washington. That means that Congress needs to clean-up its act. Less 'pork-barrel' politics and more 'American' policies. Policies that will start to restore America in the eyes of its friends and its foes.
'American' policies? Well that means no amnesty for a start. It is 'American' to emigrate to the USA via legal routes not by hopping over the border accompanied by disease-ridden narco-gang members and others who believe that laws are meant for someone else.
So, no Amnesty and a clear statement to the Department of Homeland Security - Congress will de-fund you if you do not secure the border - that's the Southern border, in case you don't know which one. Congress will de-fund HS if you don't start deporting, in significant numbers all of those illegal immigrants that entered the US during 2014 and then work backwards, year by year. Who knows? In the process you may well come across some Al Qaeda or ISIS terrorists, on the way. It's a pretty safe bet that some used the chaos that Obama created on the border, to infiltrate the country.
Again, no Amnesty. Can't say it often enough.
Obamacare will really kick-in in 2015 and it is the duty of Congress to start the process of repeal and then accelerate so that this is done by the end of 2015 and America enters the 2016 election year with a clear choice between Democrats (who voted the ACA through without even reading it!) and want to reinstate it and with Republicans who oppose such socialistic but more importantly unworkable legislation.
Spending has to be reduced. The people get it but clearly Speaker John Boehner doesn't. Obama has always been a lost cause. Indeed, the same can be said of all Democrats. Margaret Thatcher once said 'the trouble with Socialists is that eventually they run out of other people's money to spend' and that is where today, America finds itself. So as well as spending needing to be drastically reduced, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must be replaced. Rep. Trey Gowdy and Senator Ted Cruz or Senator Mike Lee would seem to be candidates that best represent the views of the Republican voters.
Spending reductions are also a prospect for British voters - though, (and this is where that .... creeps in) there is every prospect that the parties in the upcoming General Election will fall over themselves to offer money Britain doesn't have and hasn't earned as electoral bribes. They don't call it 'pork-barrel' in the UK but the result is the same - unaffordable spending fueled by debt.
A gloomy prospect (there's that ...... again) is that the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) may hold the balance of power and strike an underhand deal with Labour surrounding yet more transfer of powers to the devolved Scottish Parliament. It is unbelievable but no less true that the SNP who so solidly lost the Scottish Indpendence Referendum now face the prospect of being the major Scottish influence at Westminster. It says everything about Labour and their woeful leader, Ed Miliband, that we come to this pass.
Incidentally, while we are on the subject of the SNP, how on earth can they possibly be in the ascendancy when they made such huge play about an independent Scotland's prospects but all based on oil at the 'conservatively' set price of $113/bbl. Oil is currently half that price and all commentators see oil at greater than $100 no time in the near future!
With Labour and the SNP squeezing on one side the Conservatives face the grim prospect of losing power as they are also being assailed from UKIP. I think that the electorate distrust the Conservatives on Europe and I can't help but have a sneaking suspicion that the Conservatives wouldn't mind losing the election so that the question of an EU referendum becomes someone elses responsibility/headache.
If the Conservatives do regain power, it will likely be to lead a minority government. That though doesn't preclude the greatest prospect which is deep and meaningful cuts in UK public spending. This is long overdue and I sense would receive strong support from the working population, if it was properly presented showing the choice between further indebtedness and future impoverishment and an affordable future for Britain and its children.
Back to prospects and for the first time in a long time, Europe and immigration will likely be 'front and centre' in the UK General Election and there is every prospect that contra-opinions to those of the metropolitan elite and to the ruling bureaucracy (the real rulers) will be heard and perhaps a reasoned debate might ensue - we can but hope!
Of course, an easy prospect for the UK is that the key issue will be the economy and its prospects. These will surely be enhanced if the austerity policies of the Conservatives, however anemic they have so far been, are preferred to those of the profligate debt-fueled spending proposed by Labour.
So, Prospects and .... abound and the above are just a foretaste but we need the following - and by we, I mean not just the USA and the UK, I mean the 'West' needs the following:
US Republicans to follow the electorate given mandate - no amnesty, reduce America's deficit (debt is perhaps too much to ask for), secure the border and start to repair relations with America's natural allies. The latter will mean abandoning some of Obama's newly close Islamic allies but so be it.
UK Conservatives go forward on an economic plan founded upon lower taxes and much lower public spending. Also be clear on Europe, if the UK can't get what it wants from a renegotiation, then we will leave. It is asinine to go into a renegotiation of terms saying that even if the UK doesn't get what it wants, then the Conservatives will still campaign for continued membership. Oh and one of those things has to be reduced immigration and zero, nada, zilch welfare benefits for any non-Britons.
So, no amnesty, spending cuts and then we can forget about those ........
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