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A wonderful term for America coming to a grinding halt should it happen. With certain republicans refusing to negotiate and John Boehner's Plan B being rejected, it seems the USA is going to hit problems on 1st January.
Given there are only a few working days between now and the end of the year, is Congress likely to find an answer and how badly will it affect people if the tax rises and spending cuts go through?
Funny how increasing taxes and decreasing spending is "getting your fiscal house in order" for small countries, but a "fiscal cliff" for the United States.
Well when we stop spending, it does have a massive worldwide effect. We're still the largest economy and biggest importer in the world. It will also surely send us back into recession and they expect it would cascade into worldwide recession so "cliff" seems appropriate. On the bright side, if we do screw up it will do more to balance the budget fast then anything else we can do. Also most of the blame will fall on the Republicans and specifically the Tea Party and so might lead to them being tossed out in the mid-terms and more reasonable congressman taking over.
One big trick to the reporting though, it is not really a cliff, the damage takes weeks and maybe months to happen as piece by piece of legislation either goes into or out of law.
I do sometimes wonder if it is as big a problem as it is made out, or if it has been written by analysts with a bottom line in mind. It does appear that their doom and gloom is there to ensure more money gets pumped round the system keeping and keeping the bubble around for longer.
Odds on that it just gets shunted down the line by six months while the two Houses decide what concessions they do, or do not, want to make, depending on a set of Tea-Party republicans who are outright refusing to agree to any tax rises.
Only four days left though.
You've got it backwards. The issue is the Democrats, not the Republicans. The Republican House has sent several budgets over to the Democrat Senate, where they have died a messy, painful death. The Democrats will not accept anything that cuts their runaway, out of control spending, but that is exactly what needs to happen. Reid and the rest of the Dems need to be tossed out and replaced with more reasonable people in the mid-terms.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
http://budget.senate.gov/republican/...4-a700c29d0a41
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-791003
http://www.courierpress.com/news/201...e-senate-at-35
Doesn't matter, check opinion polls and you will see that the Republicans are going to take the lion share of the blame for this. It doesn't actually matter in this case who is really at fault.Quote:
Originally posted by ClothahumpYou've got it backwards. The issue is the Democrats, not the Republicans. The Republican House has sent several budgets over to the Democrat Senate, where they have died a messy, painful death. The Democrats will not accept anything that cuts their runaway, out of control spending, but that is exactly what needs to happen. Reid and the rest of the Dems need to be tossed out and replaced with more reasonable people in the mid-terms.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
http://budget.senate.gov/republican/...4-a700c29d0a41
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-791003
http://www.courierpress.com/news/201...e-senate-at-35
Now as I think the Republican party has been hijacked by Religious nuts and the Tea Party, I will be happy if at least out of another fiscal meltdown at very least the Republicans come back towards the center again. That part we can argue, the above is what the polls are showing overwhelmingly.
The Tea Party has been core conservative from day one: smaller government, lower taxes. But the hijacking by the religious whackjobs, no argument. The worst mistake the Republicans have made in my lifetime was getting in bed with the religious ding-a-lings.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
Well, it looks like it is going down to the wire. It's the last day and there is no real sign of a deal from either side.
So, it looks like a partial step back, some tax raises, some deferred cuts, but the bulk of it, still punted two months down the road.
I'm amazed they haven't move the government to Washington state for the extra three hours they could spend arguing and not deciding on anything.
ki?m d?nh uy tÃ*n t?i mi?n nam.
Shhh!, Don't give them any ideas.Quote:
Originally posted by CatInASuit
They also managed to put off the storm relief vote for Sandy. It has already been longer then they took for any of the major hurricane relief votes in the last 12 years or so. In fact it has been over 60 days and all the prior ones were done in under 20 days.