Last year’s biggest winner was the Tea Party, which shellacked President Obama in the election. Obama becomes the biggest loser. And the economy and stock market will be the beneficiaries. The elections were the first major step toward restoring free-market capitalism and rolling back big-government controls, planning and spending. This is a money-politics issue. Stocks roared 20 percent during the second half of last year, as markets sniffed out the huge political change. Post-election, stocks also had a big move, finishing the year at better than two-year highs — going all the way back to pre-Lehman Brothers.
Sure, there were important economic factors involved. Europe didn’t fall apart. The dollar didn’t collapse. And better U.S. economic numbers started coming in. (Double-dip bears also were big losers last year.) But rising political confidence helped, too.
