Pseudo-populism in America
Welch is pretty vague there, you have to admit. "Higher taxes", he predicts, yet taxes go up and down so he's basically got a prior chance of being right of 50% for any particular point in the future. The rest goes on in similar fashion. "Increased government spending in wasteful ways"? Well, define "wasteful" and we can speak. The Tea Party would call spending tax dollars on helping sick people "wasteful", so you can spin this around however you like.
It seems to be quite self-fulfilling, though. Ramp up the paranoia, and then any decision that they don't agree with is seen as Socialism and Communism, whether it is or not. We in the rest of the civilised world laugh at the idea that the Affordable Care Act is "socialism"!
But at least this crap has a long history, I was beginning to think the world had just gone fuck crazy in less than 10 years.
Come on, red-baiting has a long and venerable tradition. It's as American as apple pie. This wouldn't be the grand ol' US of A if you couldn't walk into a crowded theater and shout REDSREDSREDSREDSREDSREDS!!!!!!
"...so you can spin this around however you like." That's the point. You have to learn to speak in wingnut-ese. "Higher taxes" is pretty self-explanatory -- though sometimes you only need to pretend taxes have gone up. "Wasteful spending" is mostly anything that doesn't go into the military-industrial complex, which means its going to the looters and parasites (e.g., food stamps) or liberal propaganda (e.g., NPR). "Expanding bureaucracy" equals "anything that might cut into my bottom line."