Predictions for the next presidential administration

Predictions for the next Presidential administration, whether it is McCain, Obama, or Clinton.

• My reading of many articles about this election’s context, confirms that nearly all of foreign policy, military policies, and domestic policies will continue in Washington, regardless of who is elected. You can file this away, and I would love to be proven wrong.

• Based on the articles by Michael Klare in The Nation, there will be greater military involvement in the Middle East and Africa. US troops will stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, although the priority is still be hashed out by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution.

• There will be no pulling back from the US's several hundred bases throughout the greater Middle East, plus the US fleets stationed in the area. Diplomacy will ebb and flow with Iran, but there will be escalation in the threats and preparations for military action. After all, it all about oil, not nuclear weapons, as is clearly demonstrated by solid US support for Israel and Pakistan, the latter of which now has US combat troops and advisers.
  

• As mentioned above, continued growth of funding for the Pentagon and spy agencies at the federal level, jails at the state level, and cops at the local level, with a greater focus on "anti-terrorist" activity, a code word for political surveillance.
  

• Continued underfunding of infrastructure, although there might be modest and futile efforts to lure in the private sector through sweetheart deals, such as leasing them bridges and toll roads.
  

• Continued financial crises characterized by the decline of the dollar and over-indebtedness. Average people will bear the brunt in the form of foreclosures, layoffs, inflation, user fees, and regressive and flat taxes. Stimulus packages will hardly make a difference.
  

• Much more scapegoating against immigrants, especially Middle Eastern and Latino.
  

• If no outright military draft, then much discussion and steps to create a program of national service.