Obama's victory in this election suggests bad news for US growth in the next 4 year.

one of the reasons to obama's popularity is his promise to increase the government's funding in reviving the declining industries which US does not have comparative advantage in, such as agriculture and manufacturing industries, in order to reduce the structural unemployment in US.

Due to globalisation and global free trade, comparative advantage erosion has cause serious structural unemployment in primary and secondary industries like agriculture and manufacturing in US. and the number of people affected by this structural unemployment makes up a huge % of the US population.

Obama's promise to increase the government's help in implementing protectionism over these industries has gained him support from many people related to these industries.

on the surface, it seems like Obama's promised actions would reduce the unemployment level and raise the overall standard of living in the US. But in the long run, its going to cost US heavily. Redistribution of wealth may sound appealing to many, but equity does not necessarily means good.

US is unable to compete with countries like China in these industries because US do not have comparative advantage in them. By channeling more funds into these industries to protect them, obama may be able to save those workers from losing their jobs temporarily. But it is definitely not an appropriate move. The purpose of protectionism is to offer an advantaged environment to local infant industries, which the country has potential in, compared to foreign countries. But it is obvious that US do not have the potential in gaining comparative advantage in these industries, because of the high exchange rate of US currency and the high cost of production in US.

In the long run, US will only be pouring money into a huge black hole which will only suck in all the inputs and not produce any output - money. No matter how hard and how long the government tries, these "infant" industries will never grow up and generate income for the country. They will only grow into "huge babies" and continue to suck off the country's income.

one good example of "huge babies" is Malaysia's Proton cars. yeah... Proton cars, after 30 yeahs of government subsidise, it is still an "infant" industry needing protectionism. smart government.

so, US will simply take its profits from other industries and feed these "huge babies" which will never grow up. how would economy grow like this? there will not be actual growth of the economy.

further more, since less funds are channeled into other industries which the country has comparative advantage in, the country is losing out in its long term productivity. there will not be potential growth in the economy.

hence, obama is the on the wrong move that will cause US to have no actual growth nor potential growth. smart Americans. they love Obama.