Nov 21 2012

I Choose: The Fiscal Cliff

Hard to believe this, but after a lot of thought I think the best path forward for this nation is to let Harry Reid and President Obama have their way and let sequestration go into effect. The Tea Party/Libertarian in me has concluded that another round of deficit spending and kicking the can down the road is worse for this nation and its families than letting this fiscal debacle play out. Time to go over the cliff.

Here’s the problem.  As of now each man, woman and child owes over $50,000 each on the national debt now accrued (one third of which was created under Obama/Reid/Pelosi). If we don’t cut the spending spree, we will die a slow Greece-like economic death. Those of us past ‘mid-life’ will likely be OK, but our kids will inherit an economic mess, which will lead to violence and probably war. That is what happens when rot takes out the governing paradigm and leaves a vacuum.

Besides that, the nation voted in more of this madness so let’s get it over with and determine if Government-Trickle-Down can really work (it can’t of course).

My fear is we are a nation of what is known as boiled frogs right now:

The boiling frog story is a widespread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability of people to react to significant changes that occur gradually.

In our case, the slowly warming water is our rising national debt. It is consuming us and the next two generations as I write this post.

So I suggest we turn up the heat and figure out if that fixes the problem, or causes the nation to wake up.

Yes, it will be hard on many people. However, I also think it will be short lived, like the government shutdown was under Clinton. And it will initially be limited in scope. The spike of pain is probably worth it if we finally realize the kind of fiscal hot water we are in.

Besides, this time no one can blame only the GOP since the bill in question was signed by President Obama and supported by Harry Reid. I think once the heat hits the Dems as well, it will begin to sink in that all economies thrive on the private sector, not the leech that is government.

9 responses so far

9 Responses to “I Choose: The Fiscal Cliff”

  1. dbostan says:

    Agree.
    But that fool, Boehner, and his repubic fellows, are itching to “compromise”, read sell us out, just to prove to the bolsheviks how “reasonable” they are and get their 5 minutes of feigned praise.

    The GOP needs to be replaced by a patriotic third party as the means of resistance to the marxist counter-revolution that takes place now in our country.

  2. lurker9876 says:

    Because of the mainstream media being on Obama’s side for now, there is no win-win solution for the GOP House. Even if the GOP House decides to simply walk away and NOT vote for anything, the mainstream media will still blame the Republican party.

    IOW, even if the Republican party does absolutely nothing, they will still get blamed. So if they decide to walk away, and the economy does not recover, the mainstream media will still blame the Republicans for inaction and failing to stop Obama and the Democrats from passing bad legislation.

    First time I heard of “fiscal cliff”, I thought it had everything to do with the national debts, excessive government spending, growth, and regulations.

    It was the last few days that I finally began to figure out that “fiscal cliff” actually meant something else. John Stossel’s article provided the clarity for me: http://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2012/11/21/about_that_fiscal_cliff. It meant the Bush tax rate expirations and budget sequestration, which amounted to nothing real. Ron Paul and Russ Roberts both alluded to the old baseline budget trick while still kicking the big can down the road.

    They are simply addressing a short term issue (fiscal cliff) while kicking the bankruptcy cliff down the road.

    The best thing for the GOP House is to do nothing and let Obama lead. No deal. Just let Obama do what he wants to do. He’s still getting bad advice from the Keynesian economists. So be it.

    They’ll simply pat themselves in their backs thinking they solved the problem and things will improve. Remember the “summer of recovery”? They’ll just keep plugging along and come up with new legislation that they think will solve these problems and all that.

    And 52 million voters that voted for Obama are the fools. Obama is not the problem. It’s these voters. And we will see an increasing number of these voters…making it harder for a Republican to win the White House. Unless we re-train these voters. Let them suffer and learn the hard way.

  3. lurker9876 says:

    [quote]The GOP needs to be replaced by a patriotic third party as the means of resistance to the marxist counter-revolution that takes place now in our country.[/quote]

    There are good odds that the GOP will go the way of the Whigs party by being replaced by some other party. My brother said last weekend that if the GOP does not wise up by failing to adhere to the constitutional principles and values, he will seek the Libertarian party. I told him that I cannot join the Libertarian party because of their certain positions. Especially on national security.

    Heck, I do not want to become an independent, which means to me that I have a choice to vote for anyone from either party.

    The closest parties that fit my values are: The Jacksonian Party and the American Constitutional Party.

  4. Mike M. says:

    AJ, I might agree with you except for one thing. Half of the sequestration cuts come from the 20% of the Federal budget that pays for the Department of Defense. And frankly, money is already very tight.

    I think the Republicans should give Obama his tax increases…on THEIR terms. Which should include taxing the 47% who pay not one thin dime at a substantial rate. Then going after Hollywood’s tax breaks. And the Truly Rich who are the ringleaders of the Democrat Party. Soak The Left.

    Then demand on dollar-for-dollar cuts in non-Defense spending.

  5. jan says:

    With Obama’s reelection, and Obamacare now poised to be implemented, I feel we have already gone over one fiscal cliff. The other one, dealing with Bush Tax cuts and sequestration, is simply piling on more of the same.

    After all, there will be nothing but an assortment of taxes awaiting people, for as far as the eye can see — 2.8% surcharge on all income, compliments of the ACA; 55% estate taxes, after a million dollar exemption has been reached, an increase in dividend and capital gains taxes. Anyone with anything can expect to be doing extra finanacial lifting to take care of the other half in this country. When they finally run throught this crowd, they’ll just start their way down the food chain of those who have it, versus those who don’t.

    With this in mind, the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ in question is not worth avoiding.

  6. […] vote for just going over the ‘fiscal cliff’ […]

  7. DJStrata says:

    The Bush Tax “Cuts” have been in effect since 2001. Thats 11 years. These are not longer “cuts.” It is the tax code! So we need to stop falling in line with the Dems and the media and call this what it really is. Obama’s Tax “Increases.” Going off the fiscal cliff will not be helpful if we continue to use Bush when discussing this issue.

  8. patrioticduo says:

    You know that the media has been totally and wholly co-opted by the Left when you see a magazine like TIme award someone like Sandra Fluke as Person of the Year. Now take that kind of editorial thinking and spread it across the media en-masse. This is how the Nation will come to its own demise. The small percentage of the electorate who actually believe in small government and free markets are, well – too small to matter at the national level any more. You cannot resist the momentum of hundreds of millions who have become completely ignorant of macro economic first principles. And that is why the media doesn’t even bother to use the phrase “structural reform” anymore. It is also the reason why they call taxes “revenue” and get away with it. Because the great overwhelming majority of American’s have lost the ability to analyze, comprehend and then question the very words that the media is spoon feeding them. At this point, all of us free marketeers “us” are not joining the Big Government majority “them” because we have the luxury to not do so. But when the proverbial crap hits the fan, we will be scrabbling around in poverty along with the rest of them. And no one in the national media will be saying anything truthful about it because they will be still be sucking at what remains of the collapsed system. This is why I hate food stamps the most out of all of the national welfare apparatus because the sight of people lining up for food charity can only be hidden by that program. Take away that program and the media could NOT hide the poverty stricken among us. When the national economy finally succumbs to Obama’s vision for America, food stamps will have been the way that our impoverished conditions would have been hidden right up until the very end.

  9. han_solo says:

    >Half of the sequestration cuts come from the 20% of the Federal budget that pays for the Department of Defense. And frankly, money is already very tight.

    BS. Stop going around the world and sticking your nose in everyone’s business on neocon interventionist empire building adventures and you will find we could do with 1/5 the current defense budget.