The Fiscal Cliff - Can It Be Avoided?

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There is lots of information out there on the web that will give you an idea as to whether or not the Fiscal Cliff will be avoided. The President is doing everything he can to get the Republicans to accept the fact that taxes on the rich have to become a reality, or is he?

As stated in a 'CNNMoney' article, it's just too early to know what truly is going to happen, and for the people who depend on the Congressional leaders to create laws that will benefit everyone, it's very obvious to all the people that Congress is now set to continue in performing in their 'do-nothing' ways.

All they seem to do is argue about everything, and when things get difficult for making real concrete decisions, permanent ones that they will have to stand by, they just seem to give up, and take a recess, or go on vacation. How is it that this governing body can just leave their unfinished work behind and just decide to go on vacation and in other words say 'to hell with it' or 'we'll vote on it when we come back' knowing full well when they come back after eating their thanksgiving turkey or their Christmas traditional dinner, that they will not be any further than before they left.

I'm not saying that the Democrats or the Republicans do not want to deal together, but our Democracy demands that something come out for the benefit of the people and the lawmakers of the country are ultimately responsible for what happens. The President alone cannot make the laws himself. He depends on that Congressional governing body to approve of the laws that he signs into law with a simple stroke of a pen.

Recently he has attended a White House meeting with the media, and has explained that the fiscal cliff can be easily avoided with the stroke of a pen he was sporting at the meeting. In the past just a few years ago, the President renewed the Bush tax cuts which was just a temporary measure, but now it's time for a permanent law to take effect so that Americans are not constantly burdened or put in a constant state of panic when it comes to tax hikes.

Nevertheless, the lawmakers seem bent in doing nothing, and the following are the reasons as stated in a 'CNNMoney' article as to “why the fiscal cliff won't get resolved easily.”

1. President Obama insists on a tax rate increase on those earning $250,000 or more, and House Republicans balk.
2. President Obama and Democrats refuse to accept revenue increases that won't be scored by the Congressional Budget Office -- i.e. that depend upon tax reform and/or upon an assumed increase in economic growth.
3. Republicans won't accept another extension of the temporary 2% payroll tax cut for working Americans. So President Obama may insist on a Making Work Pay tax credit much like the one from the 2009 stimulus package. That credit was worth up to $400 for single workers earning less than $95,000 and up to $800 for married couples making less than $190,000.
4. House Republicans insist on entitlement cuts that Senate Democrats won't accept. Senate Democrats see Social Security as completely off the table, and Medicare cuts will be difficult to achieve because most of the easier ones were used to pay for health care reform.
5. Everyone wants to repeal the $109 billion sequester of defense and non-defense spending, but Republicans may object if it's not "paid for."
6. Democrats want bigger defense cuts than Republicans will accept.
7. Discretionary spending can be shaved a bit more, but not much more without incurring Democratic opposition.

8. Republicans may refuse to accept a debt ceiling increase that is not "paid for." A one-year hike would cost about $1.2 trillion. There's no way they could pay for that.
   

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Obama Continues to Push on Tax hikes for the Rich

President Obama doesn't seem to want to wait for the continued slow decisions of Congress and seems intent in bringing his case of tax hikes for the rich to the people. Presently, he is continuing his effort with building pressure on the U.S. Congress through public support as he flies around the country, because it seems that Congress seems willing to let the Bush Tax Cuts expire by the end of this year.

President Obama continues to build his case with others including small-business owners on Tuesday,, returning Wednesday to host an event at the White House to highlight how “middle-class Americans who would be impacted' if Congress fails to reach a deficit reduction agreement by the year's end.

Besides trying to implement tax cuts, the Congress is trying to figure out on how to raise revenue at the same time in a package deal. But it seems as if the Congress is running out of time, as the tax hikes are set to kick in for every American starting on January 1, 2013.

The President is not letting down, and seems determined to make sure that the middle-class people continue to have no hike in taxes while proposing a tax hike for Americans making above $250,000.

Now here is the kicker. Most people do not understand how the tax hikes for the people making over $250,000 works. Let's say that a business owner makes $260,000 for the year. He will not be taxed at a higher rate on the entire $260,000 but would only be taxed at a higher rate for the mere $10,000 over the $250,000 that he made. If the business owner make $500,000 for the year, he would be taxed at a higher rate for only $250,000 of his income. Some business owners claim that they will refuse to pay the higher rates, therefore they would have to limit their business income. A few say that they will make sure to only make $249,999, just so they don't have to pay the higher tax. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. As an example of the extra tax, a family or a business with income between $250,000 and $300,00 in taxable income would on average owe an additional $199 for the year, and this is in according to projections drawn from Census and IRS data by the progressive Citizens for Tax Justice. That works out to $16 a month, enough to reduce the number of afternoon stops at Starbucks but not so devastating that the beach vacation gets canceled.  

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Issues facing the President

With the national elections over, Republicans now find themselves now having to compromise with President Obama to find a better way to move forward. Republicans now did find out the hard way with the defeat of Romney that in order for this country to move forward that they must cooperate in a bi-partisan fashion or things like the fiscal cliff will become reality. But unfortunately, the hard right wing conservatives will continue to be selfish in their thinking, and not be willing to compromise. even with the idea that in fewer than 60 days for now, arbitrary spending cuts and tax increases will begin to kick in unless the president and the Congress can find a better way to manage debt reduction. If the Bush tax cuts expire, there will be an average tax increase of almost $2,000 for middle-class Americans and possibly raising the unemployment again up above 9%. The stick in the mud here is that the President will extend the tax cuts for the middle class but he will veto any bill that extends the cuts for households with incomes over $250,000. Not passing the tax cuts would be good for the government, as it would bring in some 500 billion in revenues, but bad for the middle class.
So there is really no break for the President, even though he should celebrate that he won re-election. The fiscal cliff now hanging over his head and of Congress needs to take immediate precedence and dealt with swiftly.  President Obama needs to continue to try and find a way to get the divided Congress to work together to get things done. House Speaker John Boehner says that he is up to the task to work with the President, but that was his initial statement after the election. When legislation is presented in Congress, he most likely will not work with the President. But he and other Republicans in Congress now realize that Barack Obama is in this for the long haul. Now, the President doesn't have much to loose, and will show his veto power in many instances in the future when needed, and the Congress will now have to step up to get things done. The Republicans now know that trying to defeat Obamacare is a lost cause. Prior to the end of Obama's second term in 2016, Obamacare will be in full force. It will be between now and then for the people to either accept or not accept the plan, and the success will have allot to do if a Democrat will have a chance to win and election in 2016, as President Obama will not be allowed to run again. The President knew ahead of time if he were to win re-election at continuing as President would be no easy task.
The world economy which is very fragile at the moment is highly dependent on how the United States can handle their immediate crisis. Most of Europe is now in a recession, and Japan is also facing their version of a fiscal cliff.
Will the Congress get the tax issue done before the end of the year. They only have 16 more days in session before the end of the year, so they only have that long to get it done. Most likely like other bills passed in a rush, they will pass a law to band-aid the issue instead of creating a long term solution. It is extremely critical for the U.S. to get a tax reduction bill passed, as the markets closed today some 300 points down in the first day after the election, so things need to turn around fast or there may not be any way to come back. Also looming is the idea of the U.S. sovereign rating may drop again from 'AAA' to just 'AA'. It was downgraded the first time when the Congress couldn't come up with answers to address the debt ceiling, now may happen again because of the fiscal cliff issue.
Another issue facing the President is what is considered his greatest foreign policy headache, and that is Iran's nuclear program. Obama stated repeatedly that Iran would not be allowed to obtain or build a nuclear weapon on his watch. Likewise Netanyahu of Israel also pledged that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon on his watch. The United States favors sanctions against Iran that should eventually force the Iranian leadership to come to the table for productive talks on its nuclear program. Also, the current president in Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in his final term in office, so an outcome for a future nuclear program is undecided.
Then there are the revolts in Syria, and the United States is expected to take a more muscular approach now since the election is out of the way. Also looming is the military drawdown in Afghanistan, which will be a challenge, but is obtainable.
So there is allot at stake for the President right now, but if Obama can control things on the international front and the Obama administration can reach a deal with the Republican congressional leadership to reduce the federal deficit and head towards a balanced budget, then the U.S. should be well on it's way to prosperity.

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John Boehner claims CHANGE Is In Order For Congress - Democrats and Republicans Ready for Battle

Yesterday, the gavel in the House of Representatives changed hands, moving from Democratic control from Nancy Pelosi, to Republican John Boehner of Ohio. He is now the 61st speaker of the House of Representatives. Still in control of the Senate, the Democrats hold a 53-47 majority lead. The new speaker claims that "Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short," Boehner says. "No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions."

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The Following is the

Opinion of the Editor of "Obama in the White House Blog"  James

Strange. He may be correct in saying those things, but doesn't every new speaker of the House say the same thing. So where is the change? Just two years ago, President Obama was voted in office, and he was voted in because the country needed a change, and he provided it. It also was a change from the usual, a stale Republican policy to leave well enough alone and do nothing, which is exactly what George W. Bush had done during his entire 8 years in office here on American soil, except for a few policies that did go right under him.  So what have the Republicans done in office to help the cause, say up until now when George W. Bush was President. Not much. All you had was a group of crybabies and complainers between the Democrats and the Republicans of the House and the Senate, and not much got done. So who's the blame here. I would say both parties. But now things are different. Mr John Boehner is talking 'change'. Well maybe he ought to talk about something new, and maybe that's about getting something done. But let the gavel speak. Let's just see how much this 61st. speaker in the House of Representatives can get done without the Democrats support. The feuding will continue, but that's the democratic process, at the expense of the taxpayers that President Obama wants desperately to help. That's why he agreed whole-heartedly to go along with the Bush tax cuts, and for that I commend both Obama and Bush. As for Bush, that may be the lone major single thing he had done right in office for the citizens of the United States, but you just have to mention that he instilled false hopes and claims that it is because of him the country is safe. He is too blind to see that the 911 disaster, along with the tragedy in New Orleans, along with the two wars that he started fall squarely on his lap. In comparison, just 6 months or so went by in President Bush's first term when the tragedy of 911 unfolded. Did he protect the country from terrorism then? It happened on his watch..   Likewise, did anything happen during the first 2 years of President Obama's Presidency. For one thing, President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, something President Bush never attained his entire 8 years in office. Yes, a few terrorist threats during Obama's watch, but they were consumed by the law and handled as they should.
Change, change, change.... That is all you hear. Everyone from both sides needs to change, but when one side or another comes up with change that would help the country, the other side claims that it is not right.

Conservatism against Liberalism. How can this country possibly survive?

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