Fiscal cliff…
…blah blah blah…fiscal cliff, blah blah blah…fiscal cliff, blah blah blah.
Sorry to be so cynically dismissive. But my sense is that nothing will happen for a while, and when it does happen it won’t solve a thing, and Republicans will be blamed. And also that this result has been baked in the fiscal cliff cake from the moment Obama won the 2012 election.
This is a nice summary:
Plus, Obama’s polling [is] in the mid-50s on his handling of the fiscal cliff situation, according to Gallup. Republicans are mired in the 20s. Why cave to the GOP when the president is winning?
The public seems reluctant to blame Obama for anything, including the economy in general. And Obama knows it. He has supreme confidence that his PR is better than that of the GOP, and in this he is obviously and resoundingly correct. GOP “leaders” (in name only) have looked like the Keystone cops in this matter, only significantly less competent.
The basic problem we have is that no one has had to seriously deal with this problem of federal spending before; not to the extent that they do now anyway.
Neither side knows what a realistic solution would look like. More importantly, neither party has a coalition that would hold together through any combination of tax increases or spending cuts that would actually balance the budget. That creates a huge risk for any politician who might want to do something productive right now.
Politicians will keep playing games until voters reach a consensus on what they’re willing to give up to reduce the deficit. But the voters won’t reach a consensus if no one presents them with realistic options. And politicians won’t present them with realistic options because they don’t know what kind of consensus might emerge. good times.
America truly doesn’t know the precarious situation.
The talking head on TV talk about it in ridiculous fashion.
The talk show hosts on AM radio are clueless.
Things may or may not be evident to most people how bad things are now or how bad things will be next year but all I’ve done is prepare my family.
I’ve shed over $2,000 per month of expenses per month. I just got married a few weeks ago.
I have 4 streams of income into my family.
We will do ok. I can even whether the storm if my renters decide they can’t pay the rent in my rental property.
I REALLY feel bad for poor americans and clueless families who haven’t prepared themselves….
weather the storm…
They used to call Reagan the Teflon President.
Obama makes Reagan look like a patch of velcro.
Baklava Says:
December 28th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
I don’t. They mostly voted for Obama. Eff ’em.
Reports out of Washington now say Obama is offering nothing new. He’s in the catbird seat and knows it. The Republicans have no good leaders to fight the PR game. I’m with Howard Dean on this cliff thing. Everyone’s taxes have to go up to come even close to paying for the government we have. Maybe the Republicans could let people get whacked for a couple of months and then ask if smaller government is a good idea.
Hyperinflating the currency functions as an opiate on the polity.
That’s why money printing always goes to the wall: political narcosis.
It’s why hyperinflation got its name: magic money is entirely addictive.
As any therapist could tell you: the highly addicted begin treatment only after they’ve hit the wall — typically coming in blacked out.
Barry’s stance assures us that we’re in for the full ride.
He’s innumerate, himself, as are many of our Senators and Congressmen.
This evolving dysfunction is a variation on what did in the Romans and the Greeks.
Its the kind of thing that takes down the proud — even without losing a war.
Whereas people die of old age… representative governments can only die of insanity.
We have already jumped off the cliff. At the moment, we are falling comfortably through the air.
It is only by virtue of unsustainable mitigating circumstances (e.g. illegal aliens, shifted environmental and labor disruption, redistributive change, devaluation of capital and labor) that we have not expressly realized the effects of the “fiscal cliff.”
“[The incumbent] has supreme confidence that his PR is better than that of the GOP, and in this he is obviously and resoundingly correct.”
Well, uhhh, yeah, it’s real easy to have PR “better than that of the GOP” when the chief transmitters of that message to the citizenry — the mainstream media — are bullhorns for the incumbent and run interference for the GOP.
But we knew that already.
In addition, the GOP ain’t known as the Stupid Party for nuthin’.
But we knew that already.
run interference for the incumbent ^against^ the GOP.
“Don’t be surprised, journalists, if many Americans view you as the enemy as a result. Don’t blame them. You’ve taken sides. When you act as agents for the apparat, don’t be shocked when people think of you as apparatchiks.”
— Glenn Harlan Reynolds (“Instapundit”)
Our Advocacy-Obsessed Apparatchik MSM
Ed Driscoll
PJMedia.com
December 27th, 2012 – 4:19 pm
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/12/27/our-apparatchik-msm/
Yes, we are going down. I’ve been optimistic that we could change things around if our representatives in D.C would come to their senses. It is obvious they haven’t and won’t until fiscal ruin is upon us.
It will not be a catastrophic thing for people who have assets and the will/ability to move them around. Those who have money assets, CDs, savings accounts, and the like will see their assets dropped in half or worse. Most bonds will depreciate by 50% or more. There will be many bankruptcies and joblesseness will rise. We may see soup kitchens again. It may set the scene for a dictator. The two things that will cushion the fall are our energy industry and our farms.
I suggest that we will be like Argentina because, although a small country, they, like us, have all the resources (farms, minerals, oil/gas, educated workers, etc.) necessary to be well off. It’s their government’s socialistic policies that have sunk them. To read a countdown of what happened see this: http://tinyurl.com/6eybev3
The politicians have proven that they only have their best interests in mind. Those who can should be preparing for an Argentinian-like default.
Food, water, shelter, guns, real assets (farm land, gold, silver, junk silver coins, ammo, gold and silver jewelry, etc.) I don’t know how long it will take. Depends on whether Obama keeps sucking all the confidence out of the business world and when our debt is downgraded to below A. I hope it doesn’t happen, but I’m preparing.
Baklava: Congratulations!!!!!!
Obama better enjoy it while it lasts. It won’t be long before people will look to him to solve it and blaming someone else will not save him. If you look at the responses of the msm and local newspapers, there is not a lot of love for the pres.
He may be in the catbird seat, but no one I know, likes it. They know *they* will be the ones suffering while he plays golf. Even if the Reps give him everything he wants, O-care taxes are around the corner. And when people find out the real cost of their health care he will be where W was after Hurricane Katrina.
To me the public is more resigned than happy. They will blame Republicans, but there will be no praise for Obama.
People are still scared to say the First Black President is a failure, but I can guarantee many people think it. In fact, I’ve started seeing more Dems criticize the president. Expect more since he’s given his cronies a pay raise. That could be the beginning of the end of his popularity, esp if we have higher unemployment.
And it’s this enabling that has led America to be broke. No budget for FOUR YEARS??? Who gets away with that?
Thank you Neo!
You are my secret outlet. Is it allowed ? 🙂 I feel so naughty…