By now, I am certain everyone has heard of the impending Fiscal Cliff. It is the lead story everywhere. Unfortunately, it is an economic cliff self-imposed by Congress that goes into effect due to the failures of the “Super Committee” from the fall of 2011.
As a quick review, in August 2011, President Obama and Congress were being criticized and faced plunging approval ratings since they couldn’t agree on the debt ceiling. My former opponent, Rep. John Larson proposed the “Super Committee” as a way to deflect attention from their failures. This self named “Super Committee” was charged with cutting $1.2 Trillion in spending over ten years if they raised the debt ceiling by $2 Trillion–which coincidently would get them past the Nov 2012 elections (Note: keep in mind we add $1.3 Trillion a YEAR to our National debt).
In agreeing to the “Super Committee” Congress agreed to raise the debt ceiling because it was written if the Super Committee failed to find the spending cuts over ten years, then sequestration and automatic spending cuts would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013–part one of the Fiscal Cliff.
So here we are–three days from the actual Fiscal Cliff–and nothing has been done. But I predicted all of this during my campaign. When I spoke about how our politicians in Washington are failing us–both Democrats and Republicans–this is just one perfect example. Payroll taxes will go up in a couple of days, tax rates are uncertain, AMT will hit 33 Million tax filers, Obamacare taxes, estate taxes, loss of deductions for charitable donations, etc…all this uncertainty adds up. But our politicians do nothing until the last minute which hurts all of us.
Please listen to what I said over two months ago during my campaign. It’s as applicable now as ever. It’s how businesses operate in the private sector vs. “kick the can” or “do nothing” attitude of our politicians. It’s how they enact laws yet exempt themselves. It’s a shame our politicians continue to fail us.
Happy New Year my friends! And if we are lucky, perhaps we will get our first budget in four years.
