Let me throw some facts at you about this contrived crisis, the fiscal cliff.

There are some folks who are spreading disinformation about going over the fiscal cliff, claiming that going over the fiscal cliff will hurt the poor, take away food stamps and Medicare and such, that we would be sacrificing the poor if we don't do a deal now.

That is simply a lie, a complete and utterly stinking pile of cow manure.

Here are the facts:

Food stamps and Medicaid are shielded from sequestration, they will not be touched if we go over the fiscal cliff.

Medicare cuts will be cuts to providers, not patients.

The extension of the federal emergency extension of unemployment insurance is not part of the sequestration, but rather part of what is being put on, taken off, scrambled around the table of this grand bargain that is being foisted upon us. At this point we have no clue as to what is going to happen to it, but we do know that if it isn't part of the grand bargain, or if we do the smart thing and go off the cliff, Congress can take it in the new year, with a new Congress.

These cuts take place over a span of ten years, not all at once.

The various federal agencies are already considering putting off the sequestration cuts in order to allow the time and space for a new Congress to deal with these issues, so again, none of the sequestration cuts will take place right on January 2.

The only real issue that absolutely, positively has to be dealt with before the end of the year is the Alternative Minimum Tax patch. If that isn't dealt with, then the middle and upper middle class will be feeling some pain, not the poor and downtrodden.

Once again, we are seeing Third Way/DLC/neoliberal propaganda being spewed, trying to sacrifice all of our long term good for some short term, possible, maybe, gain for a few. They are trying to split liberals and the Democratic party, pitting the poor against the elderly. Don't fall for this propaganda bullshit.

Our best bet, for the poor, the elderly, all of us is, at this point, to go right off that cliff. Don't let anybody try to convince you otherwise.

Links:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/29/news/economy/fiscal-cliff-spending-cuts/index.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-10/news/ct-met-food-stamps-20121210_1_food-stamps-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-food-pantries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff