Posted on 12/21/2012 4:47:40 PM PST by SteelToe
The term fiscal cliff has hit the airwaves, print media, business reports, and articles. Not a minute goes by without these two words being thrown at the listener. But how many people really understand where the expression started and how it became so popular? Judging by media coverage, the so-called fiscal cliff is the only thing driving the U.S. stock market these days. Unfortunately, a lot of the coverage is either alarmist, erroneous, or focused solely on the daily (or even hourly) micro-developments in the story, a Dec. 4 article on the Motley Fool website states. The expression Fiscal Cliff was invented by Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, when answering questions during his semiannual monetary policy testimony before Congress on Feb. 29, according to the article on Motley Fool. Bernanke chose it [the term fiscal cliff] voluntarily to focus lawmakers on the risks as
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
As as I know, the lack of a deal means $100b in tax hikes and $100b in spending cuts out of a $15t economy, just over 1%. And the debt limit goes up $1.2t. I’m struggling to see what the big deal is. The deficit goes up $1.2t. Taxes are raised a minuscule amount, and spending is cut a minuscule amount. This is really small potatoes, in the overall scheme of things.
As far I know, the lack of a deal means $100b in tax hikes and $100b in spending cuts out of a $15t economy, just over 1%. And the debt limit goes up $1.2t. I’m struggling to see what the big deal is. The deficit goes up $1.2t. Taxes are raised a minuscule amount, and spending is cut a minuscule amount. This is really small potatoes, in the overall scheme of things.
As far as I know, the lack of a deal means $100b in tax hikes and $100b in spending cuts out of a $15t economy, just over 1%. And the debt limit goes up $1.2t. I’m struggling to see what the big deal is. The deficit goes up $1.2t. Taxes are raised a minuscule amount, and spending is cut a minuscule amount. This is really small potatoes, in the overall scheme of things.
So we can look forward to Plan C: What cliff?
1000 miles is a long distance. Anyone who has woken up early, driven all day, and booked a hotel room at 11pm knows this. Light will traverse that same distance in 0.005 seconds.
If the current debt of sixteen trillion dollars were expressed in miles, it would take light a bit under three years to traverse that distance. With that in mind, to say our federal government is completely out of control in the spending department ranks as one of the biggest understatements ever articulated in any language since humans started communicating with vocal utterances.
“the lack of a deal means $100b in ...”
What it means in the end is only part of the description. I can’t judge it without knowing how quickly it’s phased in. Do you know that? Does anyone? Is it specified at all?
The fiscal cliff is more like a crack in the sidewalk. The drastic cut numbers are actually a 10 year total.
The tax holiday is almost over.
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