The fiscal cliff negotiations, in one chart

[ProSense]

Zero discretionary (originally $250 billion) or mandatory cuts (originally $350 billion)



The fiscal cliff negotiations, in one chart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/02/the-fiscal-cliff-negotiations-in-one-chart/

[maxsolomon]

1. Kicking the can down the road

And 2 more years of another dysfunctional know-nothing congress, with a balanced budget disappearing over the horizon.

Feeling cynical today.

[ProSense]

2. I don't support

"And 2 more years of another dysfunctional know-nothing congress, with a balanced budget disappearing over the horizon."

...a balanced budget. Still, anyone concerned with deficits should strongly push for four things:

1) Cutting defense and ending the war.

2) Strengthening health care with single payer in mind.

3) Increasing tax revenues.

4) Job creation and stimulus.

Growth and increasing revenues will go a long way to reducing the deficit.

[maxsolomon]

4. I support all that

But there is little will, if any, to even address the elephant in the room of Defense Spending. Hell, Willard Romney wanted to INCREASE it, and he wasn't laughed out of the race.

[No Compromise]

3. seems to me we need to raise taxes much higher than they were before the wars

to pay off the wars and the tax cuts during new Big Government programs like Homeland Security

What we have been talking about, the difference between what 1 %ers and 2%ers will have to pay....is absurd.

The idea we are just talking about ending the Bush tax cuts, but still pretending they didn't cause the problem in the first place....

we are in serious bizzaro land in the US.

[Eddie Haskell]

5. We got plan B and people in the DU are cheering.

Last edited Wed Jan 2, 2013, 03:36 PM - Edit history (1)

So the rich got a safety net and we won’t be pushed off the cliff till March. And you thought Obama was working for us.

[ProSense]

7. No,

"We got plan B and people in the DU are cheering."

...Plan B has less tax revenue and nearly $120 billion in nasty cuts to social programs.

House Republicans Cut Food Stamps, Obamacare, And Wall Street Oversight In Ill-Fated ‘Plan B’
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/20/1367271/gop-spending-cuts-added-plan-b/

We got tax revenues and no cuts:

From the White House: 7 Things You Need to Know About the Deal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022118640

No spending cuts alone is worth cheering.

[Eddie Haskell]

8. We'll see what happens in two months.

The WH list is a bunch of half-truths and misrepresentations. Without any deal, taxes on the rich would have gone much higher. The spending cuts were just pushed down the road.

[Scurrilous]

6. Thanks.

[WillyT]

9. K & R !!!