Chris Adamo
Democrats playing unconscionable games with "fiscal cliff"
By Chris Adamo
Americans are currently being inundated with panicked talk of the looming "fiscal cliff," though the specific threats posed by this apocalyptic event are not always clear. And while an impending financial catastrophe should be cause for serious concern, its realities need to be recognized if they are to be properly confronted and the disaster averted. Unfortunately, the Obama administration and its media cronies are operating in their standard mode, and ignoring the real risks while doing their best to play the situation for all the political gain they can reap from it. Meanwhile, the fate of the American people is of no more concern to them than the hapless Embassy staff in Benghazi.
For too long, the federal government has been playing a dangerous game of "buy now, pay later," amassing an unfathomable debt in the process. But rather than admitting the nation's dire condition and redirecting it onto a path of responsibility, Barack Obama caused the crisis to escalate from the moment he assumed the reins of power in 2009. Significantly diminished revenues, the predictable result of a stagnated economy, along with a madcap spending policy that clearly abandoned all reason, combined to give the nation a four year run of deficits that vastly exceeded the trillion dollar mark.
Meanwhile, the unprincipled wheeling and dealing that occurs inside the Beltway created a doomsday scenario set to commence at the beginning of 2013, in which taxes significantly increase and dangerous cuts are imposed on the national defense budget. The inevitable consequence of these circumstances will be a significant economic slowdown which, we are told, neither party desires. Yet a closer look at how the nation was brought to this precipice, and more importantly, how each side is playing its current hand, reveals some disturbing truths about the actual motivations of those in power.
Nevertheless, few are asking how exactly the United States of America was brought to this point. The distasteful answer is that during the last major fiscal impasse, the 2011 Debt Ceiling confrontation, both political parties reverted to their standard fall back positions. Democrats stubbornly refused to consider any real reductions in spending, leaving Republicans with the only options of either holding their ground or kicking the can down the road. Sadly, but very predictably, they opted for the latter.
So now that the day of reckoning is arriving, the duplicity of the Democrats is being brought to bear against the tendency of the GOP establishment to back-peddle and capitulate. A real opportunity exists for Republicans to simply stand their ground, refuse to embrace economically devastating leftist policies, and highlight the enormous chasm that exists between the free market society that has historically prospered this nation, and its current careening course down to third world status. The stark contrast that exists between the economic worldviews of left and right have never been more apparent, and should be unabashedly trumpeted by those Republicans who have the courage to do so.
Consider the unpardonable "deals" Barack Obama continues to offer as he obsessively seeks to force Republicans to accept tax increases on the American people. Claiming that his policies will gain between $800 billion and $1.6 trillion in new revenues over the next ten years, he somehow fails to mention that at current rates, the nation will spend more than $40 trillion during that time. In other words, his "solution" could at best only shrink new debt by about five percent. Reducing the fiscal cliff from ten miles to nine and a half miles would do little to diminish the crash at the bottom.
Furthermore, that minuscule decrease in new debt presumes that the crippled economy does not worsen during that period. Yet all history and experience indicate that bleeding such an enormous sum of money from an already anemic national economy would only further contract it. Despite the flagrantly falsified accounts of innumerable economic recoveries beginning in the summer of 2009 and repeated on the nightly news every few months ever since, America remains in dire straits. So a financial engine that is already this sluggish will very likely stall completely if any further burden is placed upon it, thereby completely negating any expectations of enhanced tax receipts, while causing enormous devastation on Main Street.
Someone should be asking the difficult questions. Why would Obama be so consumed with raising taxes, when this action will do nothing to avoid financial implosion? Clearly, his real intention is only to stoke vindictiveness and venom from the liberal base which has been steeped in class envy, and poisoned with its craving to punish wealth and success. Sadly, its members are totally blinded to the harmful repercussions this course has yielded, and will continue to yield to themselves, and all of America.
More specifically, conservatives across the nation should be asking some hard questions of the "Republican leadership" in the House of Representatives, and its speaker, John Boehner who is quickly replacing John McCain as the poster boy for GOP dysfunctionality. Why does Boehner insist on giving Barack Obama's charade credence, by continuing to negotiate such absurdities? And why does he tacitly legitimize the concept of tax increases as a necessary part of the fix, when the enormous monetary shortfalls result entirely from spending excesses?
Nor should Republicans validate the false premise that "closing loopholes" can somehow contribute to an improved fiscal outlook for the nation. Tax hikes, whether through rate increases or the elimination of deductions, still constitute the increased taking of private property by the government. Accepting the premise that the federal government should confiscate more from "rich" Americans solidifies the notion that it must take more from all Americans. And while federal coffers reap a minimal gain from this approach, its impact on available funds in the private sector will be severe, with a "ripple effect" reaching far beyond those individuals against whom it is ostensibly aimed.
Ignoring all of Obama's political grandstanding for the moment, the situation is far from complicated. If the government continues to spend at its current rate, the nation will very soon face a horrendous day of reckoning. Increased leaching of funds from the people, regardless of their place on the financial ladder, will only worsen the condition. Few citizens on Main Street honesty believe that America is currently in a healthy and secure condition. And those political figures who refuse to honestly address the current crisis, or who offer false alternatives to the necessary fix should be held accountable for their complicity in the disaster that will shortly ensue.
© Chris Adamo
December 6, 2012
Americans are currently being inundated with panicked talk of the looming "fiscal cliff," though the specific threats posed by this apocalyptic event are not always clear. And while an impending financial catastrophe should be cause for serious concern, its realities need to be recognized if they are to be properly confronted and the disaster averted. Unfortunately, the Obama administration and its media cronies are operating in their standard mode, and ignoring the real risks while doing their best to play the situation for all the political gain they can reap from it. Meanwhile, the fate of the American people is of no more concern to them than the hapless Embassy staff in Benghazi.
For too long, the federal government has been playing a dangerous game of "buy now, pay later," amassing an unfathomable debt in the process. But rather than admitting the nation's dire condition and redirecting it onto a path of responsibility, Barack Obama caused the crisis to escalate from the moment he assumed the reins of power in 2009. Significantly diminished revenues, the predictable result of a stagnated economy, along with a madcap spending policy that clearly abandoned all reason, combined to give the nation a four year run of deficits that vastly exceeded the trillion dollar mark.
Meanwhile, the unprincipled wheeling and dealing that occurs inside the Beltway created a doomsday scenario set to commence at the beginning of 2013, in which taxes significantly increase and dangerous cuts are imposed on the national defense budget. The inevitable consequence of these circumstances will be a significant economic slowdown which, we are told, neither party desires. Yet a closer look at how the nation was brought to this precipice, and more importantly, how each side is playing its current hand, reveals some disturbing truths about the actual motivations of those in power.
Nevertheless, few are asking how exactly the United States of America was brought to this point. The distasteful answer is that during the last major fiscal impasse, the 2011 Debt Ceiling confrontation, both political parties reverted to their standard fall back positions. Democrats stubbornly refused to consider any real reductions in spending, leaving Republicans with the only options of either holding their ground or kicking the can down the road. Sadly, but very predictably, they opted for the latter.
So now that the day of reckoning is arriving, the duplicity of the Democrats is being brought to bear against the tendency of the GOP establishment to back-peddle and capitulate. A real opportunity exists for Republicans to simply stand their ground, refuse to embrace economically devastating leftist policies, and highlight the enormous chasm that exists between the free market society that has historically prospered this nation, and its current careening course down to third world status. The stark contrast that exists between the economic worldviews of left and right have never been more apparent, and should be unabashedly trumpeted by those Republicans who have the courage to do so.
Consider the unpardonable "deals" Barack Obama continues to offer as he obsessively seeks to force Republicans to accept tax increases on the American people. Claiming that his policies will gain between $800 billion and $1.6 trillion in new revenues over the next ten years, he somehow fails to mention that at current rates, the nation will spend more than $40 trillion during that time. In other words, his "solution" could at best only shrink new debt by about five percent. Reducing the fiscal cliff from ten miles to nine and a half miles would do little to diminish the crash at the bottom.
Furthermore, that minuscule decrease in new debt presumes that the crippled economy does not worsen during that period. Yet all history and experience indicate that bleeding such an enormous sum of money from an already anemic national economy would only further contract it. Despite the flagrantly falsified accounts of innumerable economic recoveries beginning in the summer of 2009 and repeated on the nightly news every few months ever since, America remains in dire straits. So a financial engine that is already this sluggish will very likely stall completely if any further burden is placed upon it, thereby completely negating any expectations of enhanced tax receipts, while causing enormous devastation on Main Street.
Someone should be asking the difficult questions. Why would Obama be so consumed with raising taxes, when this action will do nothing to avoid financial implosion? Clearly, his real intention is only to stoke vindictiveness and venom from the liberal base which has been steeped in class envy, and poisoned with its craving to punish wealth and success. Sadly, its members are totally blinded to the harmful repercussions this course has yielded, and will continue to yield to themselves, and all of America.
More specifically, conservatives across the nation should be asking some hard questions of the "Republican leadership" in the House of Representatives, and its speaker, John Boehner who is quickly replacing John McCain as the poster boy for GOP dysfunctionality. Why does Boehner insist on giving Barack Obama's charade credence, by continuing to negotiate such absurdities? And why does he tacitly legitimize the concept of tax increases as a necessary part of the fix, when the enormous monetary shortfalls result entirely from spending excesses?
Nor should Republicans validate the false premise that "closing loopholes" can somehow contribute to an improved fiscal outlook for the nation. Tax hikes, whether through rate increases or the elimination of deductions, still constitute the increased taking of private property by the government. Accepting the premise that the federal government should confiscate more from "rich" Americans solidifies the notion that it must take more from all Americans. And while federal coffers reap a minimal gain from this approach, its impact on available funds in the private sector will be severe, with a "ripple effect" reaching far beyond those individuals against whom it is ostensibly aimed.
Ignoring all of Obama's political grandstanding for the moment, the situation is far from complicated. If the government continues to spend at its current rate, the nation will very soon face a horrendous day of reckoning. Increased leaching of funds from the people, regardless of their place on the financial ladder, will only worsen the condition. Few citizens on Main Street honesty believe that America is currently in a healthy and secure condition. And those political figures who refuse to honestly address the current crisis, or who offer false alternatives to the necessary fix should be held accountable for their complicity in the disaster that will shortly ensue.
© Chris Adamo
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