Boomer, I was agreeing with everything you said up until "the Republicans pandering to the far right" The biggest problem they have and why they lost the house and senate is they have moved away from the conservative values and trying to make themselves look more like Democrats. Read that a move to the center. The only time the Republicans are successful is when they stick to the core values of conservatives. Lower taxes, less government, more freedom for the people. When they do that they win elections, when they don't we end up with elected officials who raise taxes, spend, spend, spend and add more regulations, and more government. Based on whats been passed in congress already and what Obama has proposed to spend, if he gets most of it, which I believe he will, he will spend more in the first 20 months of his presidency then has been spent by government from its inception until the day he took office. Guess what that will do to your $$$$. You think Jimmy Carter caused inflation, which was double digit, wait until you need a $20 bill to buy a loaf of bread.