Whether ‘Fiscal Cliff’ or Debtpocalypse, by Any Name, It Spells Austerity
Come January, the United States might careen off the fiscal cliff. Or start rolling down the fiscal slope. Or, in a worst-case scenario, find itself staggering amid the hot ashes of a debtpocalypse.
One thing is certain. Absent Congressional action, the country faces more than half a trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts next year. Workers would have less take-home pay. Financial markets might panic. Eventually, the country could fall back into a recession.
Many politicians and pundits in Washington are terrified of it, and President Obama and Congressional leaders met Friday to publicly kick off a series of negotiations to avoid it. But that does not mean that anyone can quite agree on what to call it.
Indeed, in Washington, vigorous semantic debate has sprung up alongside the heated policy debate. And a thousand tortured metaphors have bloomed.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/us/fiscal-cliff-slope-debtpocalypse-it-means-austerity.html
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Are they oblivious to their own Paul Krugman?
Any of them ever hear of Stiglitz?
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)The end of the world is coming and I feel fine.
It's all merely a game. Nothing awful will happen and life will continue. There is absolutely NO NEED to worry about the deficit. Merely vote down the automatic cuts and start a works program. Things will work out as they always do.
Didn't the Darth Vader of RepubliCONism say "Deficit don't matter"? He was telling the truth for a moment.