Source: WorldSalaries.org 2005 Data.
Looking at the above chart, it is clear that either markets don't clear or the cost of becoming or being a doctor in the U.S. is much higher than it is in other countries. Instead of addressing the supply issue, the plan is to raise the capital gains tax will be raised to 22.9% to address the demand side of the health care issue.
The capital gains tax is 15% right now and will revert to 20% next year. Already this will have a noticeable impact on the market.
Assets that have gone up in value over the lifetime of a person's holdings give the owner an incentive to sell going into the end of the year. While most stocks have gone nowhere this past decade the few stocks that have done well might reverse their course close to year end. Long term commodity investors sitting on gains might also decide to take profits. When commodities start falling for no particular reason near year end, look for an increase in the number of stories about how China is slowing down.
The possibility of an additional 2.9% hike in 2011 should have a similar effect, with its impact slightly decreased because the hike isn't as large and because investors who reacted in 2010 will have less incentive to react in 2011. Still, it is interesting that the markets didn't really react to the news of a new capital gains tax*. If stocks today are valued less for their future appreciation than their current expected income stream then this reaction makes sense.
Higher capital gains taxes, less investment in organizational capital and a muted reaction to future capital gains taxes are all related, they each imply that many of the decision makers aren't going to be as focused on creating an economic future that is much better than it is today.
*It is always difficult to tell why markets are moving unless they have a large jump on data releases or pre-planned announcements where the expected number is relatively well known. There is a real issue in separating the signal from the noise. In this case, economic news releases, earnings reports and news coming out of Greece might have created enough noise that any impact of a possible new capital gains tax was masked. Also, there are many cases where the market will go up on bad news because it expected the news to be even worse.