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FISCAL CLIFF FIASCO

Congress's Holiday Gift to America: Going Over The Fiscal Cliff?

Time is running out to negotiate a deal by Jan. 1 with lawmakers returning to Capitol Hill on Thursday

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by PolitixMayday

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

President Barack Obama and Congressional lawmakers will return to Washington on Thursday to give fiscal cliff negotiations one last try before the Dec. 31deadline. Too bad, then, that plenty of obstacles still stand in the way.

Neither the House, nor the Senate has even scheduled a bill for discussion. Unless Obama and lawmakers reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, a series of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes will kick in at midnight on Dec. 31.

The House has all but given up, the New York Times reports, after Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B," which would have raised taxes only on those earning a $1 million or more a year, failed to pass.

Boehner said the ball is now in the Senate's court, but that's not helping either. Democrats, who are crafting a plan to appeal to some Republicans, but they haven't been given any reassurances that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, won't block any plan that raises taxes.

Finally, there's the issue of time. If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, cannot get Republicans on board with his plan, he may have to jump through a series of hoops to simply bring it to a vote. By then, the NewYork Times reports, the 112th session of Congress could expire.

Via Reuters and the New York Times
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Should Congress rush a fiscal cliff bill through?

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213 Comments (view in Forum)

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    Go over the cliff, please just go over the cliff. The best medicine for an apathetic electorate that callously allowed the Messiah to be reelected is for all those who supported him to have to pay more in taxes and goods and services. You want to deny everyone else the fruits of their labor? Well then you too have to pay the piper as well. You liberals will eventually learn that money does not grow on trees. Everyone gets what they earned. You earned nothing but want to steal from others, then over the cliff we go. This time you can't blame the recession on Bush!
  • Sonny
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    You know...that ridiculous "messiah" crap has really gotten old now. Its time to stop playing this partisan BS crap and get something done....And that also means that your guys in congress has to learn a new word..."COMPROMISE" . Ever heard of that? Probably not...Nobody on the right knows how. Yet Everybody on the right wants to blame Obama for the republicans inability to Compromise...What a joke!
  • Dan_Tien
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    "This time you can't blame the recession on Bush!" As long as you forget the the tax cuts that are about to expire are Bush era tax cuts, and the reason that they had an expiration date was to avoid complications from the Byrd Rule which is meant to allow Senators to block a piece of legislation if it purports significantly to increase the federal deficit beyond a ten-year term. Enjoy your Bush Bomb as you go over the "fiscal cliff" blaming liberals all the way. Obama already agreed to extend this gift to the wealthy once (I got a big $900 check when it passed, tax relief or bribe?), but when it expires that won't stop you from blaming liberals for the increase in taxes.
  • Antiecm
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    I cannot wait until we go over. Hell I personally hope taxes go up 25 percent across the board. It will easily be worth paying the extra to be able to laugh in the faces of the fools that believed his crap. They had their chance to elect a good man. But they chose to go with the AntiChrist and I hope he makes them pay until they have nothing left. I can sure as hell afford it, I hope they can as well.

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  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    obama wants us over the cliff, so over the cliff we go. He has the mandate and his party controls the Senate. What obama doesn't know is that this is going to backfire on him. Initially, yes people will blame the Republicans, even though we caved and buckled and offered obama everything his heart could ever desire. But down the line the American people will wake up and realize what we have been saying all along. obama does not represent anything hopeful for America, he represents the undoing of everything passed generations have worked hard for. Americans will realize this. Hopefully it won't be too late when they do.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @jessejaymes - What did obama want? Tax increases with no entitlement cuts, that's what the GOP handed right over to obama. Do you have a reason why obama turned his nose up at the deal? During campaign season obama said he wanted 800B in new revenue. Boehner caved and gave that to him. obama prompted say no, then he demand $1.6T in new revenue. Over the cliff we go. O V E R!
  • Souljah
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix well I dont fully agree, only because if Obama kept the frame of mind you want your reps to keep..he would decide to let us go over the fiscal cliff.. Obama is trying to deal, and boehner does too, but not enough US House repubs will agree on it.. try as you might but the fact is anybody who would rather see us go over the cliff and save his Job as opposed to doing anything will likely not get reelected next term.. Obama's been trying to negotiate with them, and in actuality its the house who should be putting together a proposal not the president..
  • Tralee
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix Of course he does, I agree completely. He wants to go over the cliff, collect the higher taxes for a while and then like a savior step in with a bit of a tax "cut" for the 98%, making him a hero. Meanwhile we will be paying the higher medicare tax, the 3% tax for Obamacare and of course we will be taxed on the benefits of our employer supplied health insurance. Welcome to Greece everyone and Obama's vision of "spreading the wealth" - WE work and you seem to think you will receive. There's one born every second apparently. Wait until Obama's unions shut down all shipping, think the economy is limping along now? Well, it's only going to get worse. Obama will do nothing to stop it, he's been bought and paid for by the unions.

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  • Bobolinsky
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    Hope you don't mind me posting this on your thread Marine. but I thought you and James would find it informative.

    For all of the country’s justified concern about the inability of the Republicans to make a deal, the fact remains that the Democratic-controlled Senate is even more of an obstacle to an accord. For Majority Leader Harry Reid and his party to act to avoid the fiscal cliff, he will have to do something that he has failed to do in the last three years: pass a budget plan of any kind.

    http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/12/24/...
  • thejimbo
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    @Bobolinsky Thanks Bobo for the link, If I read the piece with the right ideological glasses, it looks as if the President will fall over the cliff twice thanks to his stubborn mules in the Senate.
  • marine1
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    Usually i respect your opinion but here i have to disagree. These asses,"both sides" have been F'ing up the little stuff and putting off till forever for the last 40 years. I think it past time to put a screaching hault to it while we still can. It's not going to be easy and people will get hurt but if we continue down the same old path everyone will suffer for a hellava lot longer and there will be no rebound.
  • marine1
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    @jamesmitchell The problem is that a large part of america lives outa someone elses wallet and the this goverment operates, our wallets will be empty first.
  • truthsayer
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    @jamesmitchell @marine1 Halleluiah, amen. Buckle up and enjoy the ride all the way to the bottom. Just as with any junkie the path to a cure only starts when they hit rock bottom. What will have to be vigilant of is relapses as our collective memory is very short term.

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  • jessejaymes
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    Did anyone else see the high speed train system the Chinese just opened? Pretty impressive. Pretty expensive. But then we spend 10 times what the Chinese spend on "defense". Maybe we should learn something here?
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    Yea, let's gut the military, all while Al Qaeda is still plotting against us. This is not the time to show weakness to our enemies. How can anyone find this to be a celebratory occasion?
  • jessejaymes
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix Oh for God's sake man. We have spent until there has to be a war to spend anything more. Drones and Special forces are how we fight Al Qaeda, not with 300.00 hammers and 1,500 dollar toilet seats. Get real Neo.

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  • twinertia
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    No, that would be fraught with idiocy. The only thing left that'll work is for the American people to get smart and copy the corporate model for themselves: join the jokers who WROTE tax law and show the old dogs how to borrow, invest, and repay responsibly. Doing this nationwide will de-fang politics and bring us into a comfortable future.
  • Tralee
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    It doesn't make any difference, all of us are going to be paying higher taxes in one way or the other, if we taxed every worker 100% it wouldn't be enough to lower the debt unless they also cut spending. Common sense dictates that to cut the deficit more revenue is needed and there has to be a major cut in spending. Unfortunately, Obama is not interested in that, no matter the lies he told the public as he ran for office again. No cuts in spending, as a matter of fact, he wants to spend MORE than he did last year. Lovely to know that you all have been deceived by this con artist. Remember all his fine words about working with the other side this time and his words about cutting expenses and blah, blah, blah? Lies, all lies. Oh, and be prepared for the other lie to be exposed, you know, if you like your insurance you can keep it? Well, you can, sort of, but HE'S GOING TO TAX IT AS INCOME. Gotta pay for Obamacare somehow and the bogus savings which are another lie just won't cut it. Add that to the new surcharge of around 3% for everyone and of course the "medicare" tax that won't actually go into Medicare, but to a general fund that the gov. will use for whatever, gosh, I guess we won't have to worry about it anymore, it will disappear sorta like the "efficient" post office.
  • mimi57
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    @jamesmitchell The sad part is, we are going to get a 'change' and it will not be
    a good one, as we are in the second term of this administration and it's looking
    worse all the time.
  • KyleMFb
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    Hey if those idiot repubes wanna go over the cliff then by all means lets jump we can start by slashing the military tons of wasted money gets pissed away to private contractors hell they robed the American people for trillions of dollars by fraud in the pointless Iraq and afghan wars then we can go after the free ridding rich tax the hell out of them tax the middle class tax the poor then absolutely gut the wages of politicians past and present there's no need for them to be making 400K a year for the rest of there life's then we can gut every short of experimental program the DOD has slash the CIA and NSA, TSA budgets
  • Jeff_Woehrle
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    Spending, schmending. We can print money! Fire up the presses and squeeze out a few billion more. No big deal at all! We need to keep spending more than comes in,. After all, it's what America voted for!
  • thejimbo
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    Since the 2014 mid-term elections are still a while away, let's find out who will be up for re-election by then (regardless of party) and start our own nationwide campaigns to THROW THEM OUT OF OFFICE!!!
  • Thegrif
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    Look we all know that I am a Obama hater, but lets be honest. I haven't seen anything that really makes me think either side is really trying to avoid the cliff. Hell I will bet money (not really lol) that America is bankrupt and has been for a while. Thats why China doesn't call in their marker, America is just an illussion. The only answer for a lot of countries is a world currency, kinda plays in to the UN's Agenda 21.
  • Thegrif
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    @jamesmitchell ominous, os a good word, its how I feel about all the events of, lets go ahead and say it, last 12 years. I really don't feel like our gov't is trying to be on the same page as the people, and we fight amongst ourselves, which is crazy, cause I think we are without real cause for all the unexplained effects we live with.
  • Bobolinsky
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    This is the most alarming part...

    "That means that for every 1.67 Americans who worked full-time in the private sector in 2011, there is now 1 person collecting benefits from the Social Security administration."

    Another bit of math that I did gives us a ration of 10.73 full-time private sector workers for every person on SSDI.
  • woodtick57
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    @mtkopf

    I would say it shows people should get off their fat A$$es and put out some work. I could have gone on disability when I broke my back decades ago...i didn'twant to turn into some motorized, mindless blob.
  • Bobolinsky
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    @mtkopf-- My point is that we are already broke and getting broker every day. To compound that situation, the ratio of people who are net wealth producers to people who are wholly dependent on that production is getting smaller.

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  • ZappaCrappa
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    Who cares? Or better put, why care? The politicians are still going to confiscate the fruits of your labor and spend it recklessly. Then they are still going to spend more than they can steal from you. And then you idiots are still going to go to the voting booth and vote your Democrat or Republican Party line and blame each other for being pots and kettles until we fail. Easy prediction.
  • Vance1
    !
    Just what would a fiscal cliff bill look like?
    Oh wait, I know.
    Just more Obama stimulus spending, and No direct cuts to anything.
    But Blame repubs........and you ask whats wrong with America...LOL
  • Grubby
    !
    Obama WANTS us to go off the cliff. The only reason he is headed back to Washington is to be sure Harry Reid does not offer anything in the way of a compromise to get a bill passed. The Idiot in Chief does not care if the country goes into a major recession. All he cares about is blaming the Republicans. He thinks in his own warped political mind that he can totally destroy the GOP and create a one party system in the US by letting the country tank in his second term and blaming republicans for the carnage.(China anyone?) Because all of his sheep feel he is the second coming of the messiah, he is banking on them going along with this craziness. Just watch your taxes go up...and watch the Idiot blame Republicans for all your misery. If you continue to buy into drinking from his koolaid jug, you deserve what you get. Too bad a lot of good people will also be dragged down along with Obama's sheep.
  • Belin
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    By no means should Obama be in Hawaii! He wanted to be president, sometimes that means making sacrifices for the good of the country! That also applies to congress! They could put together a short term(1 year bill) that gives concessions to both sides. That would make it different from Bush's tax plan. By no means should the entire nation suffer because egos got in the way, especially Obama's since he has already stated he would make NO consessions. That is bad politics from a bad president if he continues down this road. We did not vote him into office for a second term for him to decide to be a dictator that the congress should now down to, nor the people of this country for that matter!!!
  • Belin
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    @woodtick57
    I said that applied to congress too. President Obama said that when Boenher went back to the table for negotiations even though he didn't want too. President Obama said that Boenher should have offered the concessions Obama wanted to him. Ie the bowing down.
  • woodtick57
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    @Belin you do realize this is congress' deal? The fact that obama os involved at all is just because he cares about getting it done. This is the agreement CONGRESS signed off on, they are the ones that need to get it done.
  • Belin
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    @woodtick57
    In an emergency situation like this, the President needs to be involved. So that if congress comes up with a solution he is there to insure what passed would not be something he would veto. We do not have time for that. We didn't have time for the President and congress to take their holiday vacations this year. Being elected to their positions means that sometimes they need to stay put to get their work done! Sacrifices on their part should be required of them in a time like this. Our country's people cannot afford to back slide into a full recession again. They are not in session so much of the year, that's the least they could do with our country in fiscal crises! In the medical field I am expected to work on holidays at differing times (you know, if i work Christmas one year i will not work it the next unless a crises comes along) and I make way less than they do with just as much education as some of them.
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