Community Corner
Thought We Had Avoided that Fiscal Cliff?
Well, not so fast, apparently Washington is back on that same path and hasn't yet figured out how to avoid that stretch of road.
It seems that just last month the country was on the brink of doom and disaster — facing a fiscal cliff of epic proportions. Oh wait, that was just last month. On the eve of disaster, the problem was averted by a last-minute deal that resulted in almost everybody's taxes going up.
According to The Huffington Post, Washington hasn't yet figured how to get off that path and we're back on the road again, approaching that pesky fiscal cliff. Dubbing it an austeroid, a play on words relating to an austerity asteroid, The Huffington Post points out that the country is about to be hit with the "sequester" on March 1, which could cut another 0.6 percent from growth. That on top of the 1.5 hit that The Huffington Post laid at the feet of the first fiscal cliff solution.
While The Huffington Post article does point the finger at Congressional Republicans, saying they are choosing to do nothing this time, setting up another deficit fight in the spring, it also points out that this sequester was actually the idea of the White House in the first place. On Friday, President Barack Obama raised a dire warning of the results that could happen if we don't manage to hit the brakes before going over the cliff this time, telling the American people of potential cuts to firefighters and teachers.
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The Washington Post reports Republicans have said they caved in the first debate, allowing for taxes to go up on the wealthy and dragging most of the taxpayers along for a portion of that ride — they're not going to do it again. It's time to tackle the out of control spending — there are other places to cut, not the ones that would end up hurting basic services. In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, George F. Wills calls this debate another manufactured crisis and he and many others suggest Washington is likely to go over the cliff this time. What is also debatable is whether the people care anymore.
Do you care this time around whether the latest disaster is averted or not or are you just tired of the political theater? Who do you think deserves the lion's share of the blame for Washingon appearing to go from one disaster to another?