There are several dysfunctional thing I see as I watch the fiscal cliff debate. \u00a0Here are three.<\/p>\n
1. They are taking breaks and not talking to each other. \u00a0How can they expect the public to take this threat seriously if they aren’t.<\/p>\n
2. \u00a0There is absolutely no reason for their discussions to be behind closed doors. \u00a0What are they afraid that we are going to hear. \u00a0If the politicians are being reasonable then I would expect them to leap at the chance to argue their points publicly. \u00a0Instead of working on a solution, which is what they would be doing if there was transparency, \u00a0I know what they are spending their time on. \u00a0It is clear to anyone watching that the bulk of the politicians time is spent generating and disseminating talking points. \u00a0The real problem here is that the non politicians, most notably the economists, are the ones raising their hands and shouting fire. \u00a0When the politicians cry wolf I am not worried but when the economists shout wolf, I am definitely paying attention. \u00a0However our politicians aren’t worried, they hear the economists shout fiscal cliff and they spend several weeks of their time trying to rename it from fiscal cliff to fiscal curb. \u00a0Their theory is obviously to downplay the situation so that no one notices \u00a0 I promise you this though, when we go over the cliff or the curb as the politicians would prefer, the pain will be felt globally and that is certain.<\/p>\n
3. \u00a0The third thing that really bothers me is that the republicans are obviously taking a stand for the sake of taking a stand. \u00a0This bodes ill for everyone. \u00a0Increasing the tax on the wealthy is a non starter for them. \u00a0Fine but why is it a non starter. \u00a0They claim that this will harm the job creators and kill the economy. \u00a0Small business will cease to function. \u00a0Instead of going after the problem of helping small business, they just want to maintain the status quo. \u00a0Well let me point out that right now we are in a bad place. I am trying to communicate without using a curse word to demonstrate just how bad of a place we are in. \u00a0This bad place was achieved due to the status quo. \u00a0If the republicans want to impress me then instead of standing in the way of the tax increase for the wealthy, they would add provisions specifically targeted to help small businesses. \u00a0Tax the wealthy but maybe cut payroll tax for companies with less a hundred employees. \u00a0Instead of looking at this as a situation where you must stop the democrats think of it as a chance to compromise. \u00a0Let the democrats get their tax increase to help pay the deficit and in exchange the republicans should get an opportunity to help small business directly. \u00a0If the republicans reject this solution then it is obvious that they are not objecting to the taxes because of the damage it will do to small business which is what they claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are several dysfunctional thing I see as I watch the fiscal cliff debate. \u00a0Here are three. 1. They are taking breaks and not talking to each other. \u00a0How can they expect the public to take this threat seriously if they aren’t. 2. \u00a0There is absolutely no reason for their discussions to be behind closed … <\/p>\n