At the same time, Obama vows to resist any changes in Medicare, which is on a trajectory to welsh on its obligations well before the first Millennial turns 65.

For the young, Obama promises to expand college loans. But just as housing policies created a housing bubble, college loan policies have created a higher education bubble. The flood of money has been captured by colleges and universities through above-inflation tuition increases and administrative bloat.

But the Obama administration does not crack down on them, but on graduates or dropouts with thousands in college loan debt, which they can’t escape through bankruptcy.

Overall, Obama stands for maintaining and expanding the welfare state that operated tolerably well in the big unit America of half a century ago but is coming apart in our early-stage information society today.