I try to keep my politics to myself — I am older and wiser 🙂 but this Fiscal Cliff nonsense is just a little too much. Folks we have real problems! We have serious economic, social and political challenges we have to deal with. This notion that we can wait till the very last minute of the last hour of the last day to freak out and do something dramatic is just not the right message to be passing to friends and foe alike and certainly not to the American people.
We just had a big election – some say over big ideas, some say over little things. Frankly I don’t care where you come down on that here are a few facts:
- Doing nothing is simply not acceptable. A country that is ungovernable is a country that is losing.
- Kicking the can down the road is not advisable. We have kicked the darn can so far down the road; we have ran out of excuses.
- Our enemies are just gleeful at this self-immolation. Heck they don’t have to do anything; just sit back and watch us self-destruct.
- The world is not ending in 2012; we are going to be right back in 2013 and beyond dealing with big problems. We might as well deal with it.
So here we are the end of November – one month to go till we fall off the cliff – a combination of huge tax increases and deep spending cuts across some social programs as well as defense. How did we get to this point? Well the same bozos that are now screaming at each other basically put this time bomb into their last food fight – that in case they could not reach an agreement over what to do with the Bush tax cuts, that this automatic sequestered cuts go into effect.
I know what you are thinking. So these guys strapped themselves into a chair, set off the timer on the bomb, and then are arguing about which number to dial to call the fire department… all this while the timer is counting down? Yes that’s what they did … But the thing is instead of strapping themselves into the chair, they strapped you and I into the darn chair and are now arguing about how best to save the patient. This is simply incredible.
So what happens now: Well 2 things could happen:
- These people will realize that the very thing they are so scared of happening will actually happen IF They Do Nothing!
- There’s going to be pain all the way around. The gravy train is rolling to a stop. We simply can’t afford to keep on spending the way we have been or sustain the levels of government expenditures that we currently have or projected to have. With this fact, perhaps the House and White House (and Senate) will actually rise to the occasion and get a grand bargain done. Ahh but to wish and dream.
I am not a political commentator – I leave that to others but I think they might just mess around and let this Fiscal Cliff thing happen. As a business owner, you know the ones both sides love to point out will be hurt by one thing or the other, I don’t even care what they as long as they do something.
Actually I do care what they do. Letting taxes go up for everyone at the same time spending cuts kick in is a death blow to a fragile economy. Look folks, Europe is not doing too good. China is erhh trying but we all know just because China is growing does not mean we get to benefit from it — could actually be the opposite but anyways…. The emerging economies, Brazil, India, South Africa, Ghana?, Russia etc are probably going to be ok even if we screw this up. BUT here’s the what’s going to be the true cost of this debacle … an irreparable loss of trust in the USA to be the vanguard of a certain world order of certainly and capitalism.
I know some who still look towards the United States as a beacon of hope for personal advancement and economic opportunity and I can tell you as an emigrant albeit a US citizen now, that I am eternally grateful for the many opportunities that this country has given me and my family but the dream that led so many to these shores and parts, is slowly dying and being replaced with a dangerous and even poisonous realization that, these guys are going to blow themselves up one day! I mean whatever happened to the Country First crowd? What happened to compromise for the good of the country? What happened to putting our own selfish, self-defeating interests behind and rallying to the a common purpose; a higher purpose of elevating the discourse and actually putting this great country with amazing resources and people back at its rightful place in world affairs?
For the sake of my two boys and your kids, I pray that leaders in both parties rise above the noise and the posturing and secure a lasting grand bargain to put this country back on track. A country which offers opportunities for all its citizens to truly make a difference and achieve their dreams and goals. For our own sake, I hope that governing by procrastination is ended. I can’t NO, won’t run my small business by waiting to the very last date. I tell my 7 year old to start early and get it done on time – why are our leaders then trying to cripple us by doing exactly the opposite of what everyone knows to be sound principles and practices?