Fiscal Cliff Thread

[oladub]

We didn't hear much about the January 1 "fiscal cliff", "a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases" on January 1, 2013", from either of the presidential candidates during the campaign.

Congress and the president have had a year to work on this problem. We are down to the last seven weeks before the deadline. Republicans did not want to raise the debt ceiling again so Congress kicked the can down the road by raising the debt ceiling again but promising to have this all worked out by 1/1/13 or severe fiscal measures would automatically go into effect.

Instead, nothing has been accomplished toward this end and Harry Reid said on 10/7/12, “I think the debt ceiling will come after the first of the year.” “But please everyone accept this: They tried it before—they, the Republicans.” "“They tried it before – ‘We’re going to shut down the government, and we’re not going to raise the debt ceiling,’” he said. “If they want to go through that again, fine." "“If it has to be raised, we’ll raise it.”

So we have a "fiscal cliff" coming due to make the necessary changes to have allowed the previous debt ceiling increase and Reid's stated intention to raise the debt ceiling again possibly before addressing the last increase.

Wikipedia links for starters-

fiscal cliff - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff

[[related) Bowles - Simpson -
"The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is a Presidential Commission created in 2010 by President Barack Obamato identify "…policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...ity_and_Reform

Question: What to do?