The Fiscal Cliff and Georgia (Atlanta, Columbus: 2013, big house, unemployment)

[ChefRamsey]

What's going to happen?

Post your opinions/views/thoughts here. This thread was long overdue.

Will the Cliff help or hinder Atlanta's and Georgia's growth? I think you could argue both sides...

[JPD]

A deal will be reached at the last minute. This is the way politics works now, on just about every major issue. It's a big dance where they all yell at each other for as long as possible. I've been saying this for months, and I think I'll be proven right within a matter of hours.

[Columbuskidd92]

Originally Posted by JPD

A deal will be reached at the last minute. This is the way politics works now, on just about every major issue. It's a big dance where they all yell at each other for as long as possible. I've been saying this for months, and I think I'll be proven right within a matter of hours.

Welp,I guess you were wrong.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by Columbuskidd92

Welp,I guess you were wrong.

actually...

Senate passes package to avert fiscal cliff; House votes next - CNN.com

[Esteban5]

Won't know until we see the language in the legislation. How many of our representatives will actually bother to read what they're voting on?

It's like DeKalb and Clayton counties on a massive scale!

[AcidSnake]

The fiscal cliff is nothing more than melodramatic garbage designed designed to keep us plebes preoccupied. Before the Reagan era our country had plenty of money to operate as it sees fit.

Now that more than a generation of relatively unquestioned Heritage Foundation/CATO Institute "starve the beast" propaganda has fully saturated the common consciousness of the America people, we citizens can now expect these artificial hyped-up dramas to come up every couple of years. It was the same in the last "budget crisis" and resulting Fed shutdown in November 1995 up to January 1996.

And as long as "starve the beast" remains the official approach to management of the Federal Government, we can continue to expect this nonsense in another ten to fifteen years, more or less.

[AcidSnake]

Quite simply, the "fiscal cliff" isn't exactly the United States of America's Federal Government doing a complete default on her budget. Everyone's taxes is simply going up. That's it.

This situation is really all about who should bear the brunt of the responsibility of paying for our Federal Government, and that's all. Why our corporate news media won't take the looney-bin temperature down a few degrees, I just don't know.

But this country is not falling off some literal financial "cliff" into full destitution, as most people seem to think(well, those people who subscribe to conservative news media, anyways).

Just as the world didn't end after December 21, 2012, or yesterday, our country should be okay until the next "fiscal cliff" or rumor of imminent worldwide doomsday-armageddon-apocalypse-rapture-final reckoning-holy war-judgement day or whatever.

So please put down that brown paper bag y'all, and breath a little bit.

It will be okay.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

The fiscal cliff is nothing more than melodramatic garbage designed designed to keep us plebes preoccupied. Before the Reagan era our country had plenty of money to operate as it sees fit.

Now that more than a generation of relatively unquestioned Heritage Foundation/CATO Institute "starve the beast" propaganda has fully saturated the common consciousness of the America people, we citizens can now expect these artificial hyped-up dramas to come up every couple of years. It was the same in the last "budget crisis" and resulting Fed shutdown in November 1995 up to January 1996.

And as long as "starve the beast" remains the official approach to management of the Federal Government, we can continue to expect this nonsense in another ten to fifteen years, more or less.

Thank you so much Reagan!

[scpatl4now]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

The fiscal cliff is nothing more than melodramatic garbage designed designed to keep us plebes preoccupied. Before the Reagan era our country had plenty of money to operate as it sees fit.

Now that more than a generation of relatively unquestioned Heritage Foundation/CATO Institute "starve the beast" propaganda has fully saturated the common consciousness of the America people, we citizens can now expect these artificial hyped-up dramas to come up every couple of years. It was the same in the last "budget crisis" and resulting Fed shutdown in November 1995 up to January 1996.

And as long as "starve the beast" remains the official approach to management of the Federal Government, we can continue to expect this nonsense in another ten to fifteen years, more or less.

The following is from Prof. Stephanie Kelton

The US is broke. Government deficits are de facto evidence of a government gone wild. We’re careening toward Greece. Entitlements are the root cause of our fiscal woes, and the Chinese are coming for our grandchildren. How many Americans believe this garbage? My guess? Most of them.
Pete Peterson has won and the American people have lost. There is no effective counter narrative, not even from the left. Nearly all “progressives” have accepted the fundamental premise that the federal government is like a great big household. That it faces the same kinds of constraints that you and I face. That it should spend only what it takes in and that deficits are morally and/or fiscally irresponsible. President Obama told the nation, “We’re out of money.” All of this is utter nonsense, as readers of this blog know, and it leaves progressives in the weak position of pointing at the 1% and yelling, “Get ‘em! They’ve got all the money!” Want to care for seniors? Tax the 1%. Want safe roads, good schools, investment in alternative energy? Tax the 1%. The problem, of course, is that the 1% tend to fight back …. and win!
The truth is, we’re not broke. The US dollar comes from the US government (not from China, as we’re led to believe). The US government is not revenue constrained. It is the Issuer of the currency, not the User of the currency like you and I. It plays by a completely different set of rules, yet it behaves as if it is still bound by the shackles of a gold standard. It behaves irresponsibly when it proposes policies to reduce the deficit when unemployment is high and inflation is low. We’re letting millions of Americans suffer because Pete Peterson and his ilk have convinced virtually everyone that we face a fiscal crisis in this country. We live in fear of the Chinese, the Ratings Agencies, the Bond Vigilantes, Indentured Grandchildren, and so on. And this fear is used by politicians on both sides of the political aisle to sell “sacrifice” to the rest of us. And we keep buying.
And here’s the really sad part. It will never be enough.
The most empowering thing we can do for ordinary Americans is to provide them with a counter narrative that undermines, fundamentally, the government-as-a-household malarky. And we better do it quick, because America’s CEOs are already building their case against us.


So, as you see, this is a made up crisis. If anything, its our legislature that does us more damage than the fiscal cliff.


Whole article is at
Pete Peterson Has Won - New Economic Perspectives

[rorqual]

There are still far too many Tea Party types in Georgia who will make deal making difficult - these are the ones who take the stance of "no compromise or we will primary you!".

Georgia GOP climate makes cliff compromise difficult | 11alive.com

Republicans do a good talk in the white house of balancing the budget and controlling the deficit but when they control the presidency they don't. Dubya blew the budget. Bush Sr. didn't balance the budget or control the deficit. Reagan piled on massive debt and didn't balance the budget. Infact the last Republican president to balance the budget was Eisenhower in the 50s. The GOP only cares about debt, budget, etc when a Democrat is President so its best for the country that a Democrat stays President as that way the focus will be on budgets, deficit, etc.