I keep hearing some nonsense about a fiscal cliff. Something about tax increases and spending cuts that will come so quickly that they will devastate first quarter spending and hiring and plummet the country into another recession. I've been paying attention for long enough to remember that every time the democrats want to raise taxes the republicans say it will ruin us, conversely every time the republicans want to cut spending the democrats say the same. You'll have to forgive me for the terrible reference, but when someone tells me that Sylvester Stallone is in another action film stuffed with peril... I must be in for a Cliffhanger.
I loved early Stallone stuff, he always knew how to keep the intensity up and he could throw out a good line. When I heard that Cliffhanger was coming out I shrugged and shuddered and stayed away from it. I started hearing pundits preparing their parachutes and decided to shrug and shudder again. They have to keep up the intensity to sell newspapers and commercials.
The republicans are going to come to the table in the next three weeks and we're going to see something similar to the proposals made three years ago when we started this recession but didn't have the... cliff... to fall from. Three years ago republicans saw the White House and the Senate within their grasp if they could just hold out and make the democrats look bad. Unfortunately for the republicans, in a mud fight everyone gets dirty. Sure, the democrats in congress looked bad for not getting anything done, but so did the republicans. They didn't win anything and now are trying to save face. Good for them. I know what it's like to lose and put on a strong show.
We need to lower a lot of taxes, payroll and property chief among them. We need to raise a lot of other taxes (long list that I don't want to make at 5am sorry). We need to cut spending. This means that we need to go through the budget at every level and decide which projects are more important than others. This means that nobody will be happy because everybody is going to lose a little bit. Sorry, if I could make the world a better place I would, but I'm not Superman ;)
We need to stop electing politicians who govern like Thelma and Louise. The time to test the brakes is on the open road and not pulling up to a cliff. I know it's fun and easy to vote for people who say all the right things but this isn't American Idol... though that would probably increase turnout.
Does anybody remember what happened to Thelma, or even more importantly what happened to Louise? It's kind of important because the voters are a lot like the car. I don't want to spoil the ending for you, so find the movie on Netflix and check how it ends. Sorry for the... cliffhanger?
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