The race for 2028 begins now. The biggest challenge Dems will face is to prove they have a plan to deal with affordability that makes sense and to blame Trump’s veto pen if they fail. The immediate cures will be ending the Iran war and rolling back tariffs as well as ending the Ukraine conflict that does not cave into Putin . All of those caused the high prices of fuel and groceries. What happens to health care will be the biggest issue I predict in 2028. . However, the bad taste in the mouth that will bleed over into 2028 will also be MAGA ‘s sexism and racism and the stench of corruption.
The new crop up of and down the ballot winners full of diversity and driven by a desire for economic fairness Nov 3. will be motivated to put up intense fights. That was their answer to the racist white Christian nationalism of the Trump regime and shifting the costs of living to everyone who was not super rich. The biggest winner in the midterms was not a ballot item but democracy that worked to restore control of, by, and for the people and stopped the slide into authoritarian rule by a wannabe strongman governing by fear and revenge and trampling into dust the rule of law, helped by his merry band of tech and big business oligarchs.
Will capitalism survive? I can hear it now as shrieks of horror that the DSA will take us over. The DSA was successful because it stuck to its public plank of affordability and economic fairness. I did not hear support for its other plank of ending capitalism. They did not get a mandate for that. What I do think is that after the dust settles, capitalism will emerge healthier.
Crony capitalism run by oligopolies and only interested in profits is what drove Marx and gave wings to the Soviet-style dictatorship, where means of production were in government control with central planning. That in time failed to produce enough financial success to sustain its socialist agenda of free everything. DSA plank differs little from this economic system, but the democratic word in their title means people vote to have that system instead of the Stalinist method of brutal force to stamp out all but the proletarians.
Capitalism does best when the free market sorts out the losers and winners because there is competition that determines the best practices. Bribery, pay-to-play, monopolies, and advantages given to the ruler's supporters are capitalism's enemies. In addition, many services demanded by ordinary constituents are not profitable, but capitalism based solely on profits will also not provide them either. Safety nets and basic services demanded by the masses need support, and tax policy is what provides that. .The balance between social services and capitalism varies from country to country, and voters will determine that balance in a democracy. For those concerned about communism, the quickest way to that is for capitalism to fail to address its problems within a democracy like ours.
The one sector that will likely do more than just fill in the gaps that capitalism cannot provide will be health care. That one may go left...but the discussion will be between full Medicare for all or some version that will extend Medicare and Medicaid to younger age brackets.. To pay for it will take an adjustment in the tax system built to protect the ultra-wealthy. France often rates the greatest consumer satisfaction with their socialized medical system. I had the opportunity to ask the French ambassador to the US years ago how the French tolerated the tax system, and the answer was they felt they were getting their money's worth. That's a judgment call, and the debate in Congress in the next two years will tell us where health care falls in that balancing act in the US. At minimum, the cuts to all those health programs may get restored. How far it goes to provide Medicare for All is yet to be seen, but polls suggest there is majority support for the concept. In the middle, it may be to move health care providers to become not-for-profit. Americans may have had enough of profiteering at the expense of their health care.
Even then, with expansion in Medicare, there may be gaps in the ability to pay co-pays, as it is with Medicare now. Private insurance still should be allowed, but at least the system should be built so that no one has to go broke to get the health care they need to pursue living that modern medicine can provide. Within that system, formularies and competitive bids to provide pharma and procedures can be used to bridle the obscene profits private health provides . Innovation and research should be well funded,too The good news is that Medicare provides the outline of the system so it does not need to begin from scratch, and we know the cost of administration. per participant. The other good news is that the cost of many subsidies may be offset to some degree by expanding the pool to include more healthy young participants, reducing the cost per member by spreading the risk widely.
