My biggest fear with all of this socialist talk and warning is the feeling that once we make steps in that direction, there is no going back.
Once socialized healthcare is implemented, it WILL NOT be taken away. So, if it starts to fail and become inefficient, the only remedy will be to throw more money at it.
This bank socialization will not be reversed. And, as it gets worse, we keep throwing more money at it.
Socializing 401(k) plans (if this actually went through) would NOT be eliminated. And, once again, the solution becomes throwing more money at the problem.
http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081012/REG/310139971
We seem to refuse to really bring accountability into the schools/teaching system, so when improvements are needed, the talk turns to more funding instead of something creative, or incentive systems.
Tax hikes / reductions are not permanent, as we have seen, so the tax issues are less scary to me. I wish we could put more effort into finding solutions for issues (education, healthcare, etc) that are creative, and aimed more at capitalism instead of trying to fix them with more money coming from the highest earners, and an equalization of the wealth.