As I was pondering the elections this weekend I could not help but reflect that the Presidential race alone is expected to spend upwards of a one or two billion dollars. Add in the Congressional races and you get to perhaps three billion or more.
And what will the result of all that spending be ?
The most likely outcome is pretty much status quo.
President Obama is very likely to be re-elected and the GOP is very likely to keep the House.
The Senate may shift parties but the balance will be close enough that not much will change from the current situation.
Even if things go strongly one way or the other it won’t be much of a shift. A President Obama with narrow control of the House and narrow control of the Senate is unlikely to be much different from the current situation (indeed with a stronger control of both houses didn’t do a whole lot in 2009-2011.
A President Romney with both houses is also likely to be in the gridlock mode.
In short we will see billions spent and get no real change.
Too bad we can’t figure out a way to just skip the campaign and spend the money on helping those in need.