Fiscal Cliff: Write your Reps

[snatchel]

Just fired off a letter to Mike Conaway asking him what is being done about this fiscal cliff business. I graduate college in 10 days. I am entering into the job market, but if a market doesn't exist come Jan 1st, I'm up the creek.

Anyway. I'm happy that the Republicans control the house... but it doesn't do me, a citizen, any good if they aren't passing bills--regardless of the reason. I know a lot of this can be chalked up to the Republican refusal to hike taxes on those making +$250,000 a year...and the fact that they apparently flat out refuse to accept anything brought to the table by Democrats.

I don't like the liberal agenda any more than anyone else here. That said, I'm not opposed to letting them have a piece of the pie so long as I get most of what I want too. Maybe I am the only one, but I voiced this to my congressman. Anyway. Just wanted to encourage everyone to be active in this.

Then again, maybe I just need to let this whole fiscal cliff thing happen. Then maybe the government would realize what they have gotten themselves into and start proactively trying to fix this train-wreck.

[jayinsat]

Snatchel,

Don't be overly alarmed by the "dooms day" news media. A lot of what you hear is hype to scare the american citizenry to allow the bloated government to become more bloated and seize more control. What they really want is for us to panic and approve of our representatives funding programs that should have been cut a long time ago while spending more money on "stimulus" that will only stimulate the debt. That will hurt the economy and cost you employment.

What will your degree be in? Were you educated in a marketable field. Let me tell you, if you are graduating as a RN or any medical profession, Engineer, Computer anything, and a host of other hot career fields, you won't have any trouble finding employment. If, however, you went to college just to get a degree believing that any degree=a good paying job, you may be in trouble. The degree is meaningless unless it translates to a marketable skill.

Just my take.

[RoyGBiv]

the fact that they apparently flat out refuse to accept anything brought to the table by Democrats.

Really? You're watching too much MSM and reading the NYT.
What have the Dems "brought to the table" other than more spending and kicking the can on entitlements?

Agreeing to raise revenue (by closing loopholes) was a HUGE concession.
It's the Dems that refuse to reduce spending. Honestly, without meaningful spending reductions, our 20-year-term future is bleak.

You want REAL positive change... ? Next time a lib tells you that "Corporations are only paying a 17% tax rate with all the loopholes and exemptions", tell them "Well then, let's reduce the rate from 35% to 20% and close all the loopholes". Then you'll see what color their stripes really are.

The current financial stalemate is not about fiscal sanity, it's is about "revenge against success".
"Fair share"..?? My Aunt Tilly's nickers.

CONGRATS on graduation and GOOD LUCK with the job search.. !

[TexasCajun]

Good luck on the post-grad job hunt, snatchel. And kudos to getting active in contacting your elected representatives to let them know how you feel. If we don't tell them, how will they know?

Regarding all the fiscal cliff business, I'm with the others in that it's just an alarm-bell-ringing excercise designed to puff up the MSM's image of itself & give themselves a (false) sense of relevance. Let the whole thing roll over the so-called cliff. The entitlements will be cut & our tax rates will roll back to Clinton-era tax levels. Neither one of those situations is necessarily bad. It certainly wouldn't equate to the sky falling that the MSM would have you believe. If it was as dire a situation as they make it out to be, they wouldn't have to resort to using terms like Fiscal Cliff. The more dramatic the term, the less there really is to be concerned about.

[The Annoyed Man]

Dems have refused to make any spending concessions. They won't even talk about where they are willing to make cuts. Obama is talking about trying to take the power to control borrowing caps away from Congress. Geitner is saying saying that he's fine with going "over the cliff" if republicans will not give.

In the middle of this, remember this principle: when Congress budgeted $X for a program 5 years ago, $(X+4%) 4 years ago, $((X+4%)+4%) 3 years ago, $(((X+4%)+4%)+4%) 2 years ago, and $((((X+4%)+4%)+4%)+4%) last year, that THIS year when republicans try to hold the line on spending for that program at $((((X+4%)+4%)+4%)+4%), democrats call that "deep cuts" or "slashing spending" for that program, and they say that the only way we can "afford" to hold spending to the previous year's rate is to "increase taxes for the wealthiest."

THEN, to add to their treachery, and I use this word deliberately, they flood the media with panic messages saying we're going to go over the cliff if we don't raise the borrowing limit............so they can spend MORE.

The democrat hasn't been born who ever called for a cut to entitlement spending. They are all too HAPPY to try and gut the military (and yes, maybe that is an item we can take a look at), but they are congenitally unable to stop giving money away.

Republicans are weak-kneed sissy-boys, and they always cave in. Who here actually thought that bailing out GM was a good idea? Bankruptcy would have cost the taxpayers nothing, some people would have lost their jobs, but not by any means all of them, and GM would have been put back on a solid financial footing. We all know that is not what happened. Instead, taxpayers are on the hook, Obama will not allow GM to get out from under the arrangement, taxpayers are subsidizing the construction of unpopular overpriced electric cars which are not selling, GM's stock is not a good long term investment compared to Ford or other auto companies, and GM is now a boat-anchor on the economy. Sometimes, a little pain is exactly what is called for to get a company or government through tough times and get them back on a solid footing.

What is needed from democrats is some intellectual honesty. What is needed from republicans is some backbone. What is needed from BOTH is a willingness to be unpopular and risk reelection in order to attend to the fiscal health of the taxpayers and to stop stealing from them in hidden ways. Congress just passed a law tacking mortgage fees onto Fanny and Freddie mortgages to pay for the administration of a new immigration bill. Get that? If you want to buy a house now, you'll have to help finance an immigration policy which hasn't got the faintest thing to do with your mortgage. It is NOT the government's money, it's the taxpayers' money. There is a quote in today's Patriot Post email: "I have several pet peeves, and one of them is the idea that when Americans get to keep their own money, it somehow 'costs' the government." --columnist John J. Miller.

Frankly, it doesn't matter if we go off a fiscal cliff on January 1st or not. If it doesn't happen then, it's going to happen in a year or two anyway because that class of mental defectives called democrats cannot bring themselves to turn off the cash spigot. I honestly believe them to be traitors to the nation with malicious intent.

[Rex B]

Well said as usual, TAM. I'm for going over the cliff. It's not much more than a slope anyway, and we've been headed down it for years.

[RPB]

I used to work with a guy named Cliff at a law office, he retired and bought a liqueur store in Colorado and lives in a cabin there that has antlers for door pulls on the cabinets and drawers, he goes fly fishin' and does outdoorsey physical exercise stuff to stay in shape and fiscally fit ... but he's not fool enough to want to go *Forward* when walking off the side of a mountain; I guess that's why he's not President.

[TexasCajun]

If only there was a way to hit the members of Congress in the pocket-book when this so-called disaster strikes.....

[gdanaher]

The problem with promising to close loopholes is that it is virtually impossible to accomplish. There isn't a city council in the nation that, if it could set a tax rate for everyone, every corporation, every retired veteran, all at the same rate, wouldn't be besieged by the community's interest groups and rapidly find that loopholes were the way to go. Trying to do this on a national scale would be daunting, and I suspect that those elected even on promises of strict economics would find keeping those promises impossible.

[mamabearCali]

Right now my gut says....let it burn...maybe if obummers people feel pain too it will get his attention. Perhaps then we can get something done.

[The Annoyed Man]

Right now my gut says....let it burn...maybe if obummers people feel pain too it will get his attention. Perhaps then we can get something done.

Exactly.

[smoothoperator]

I'm not worried about the fiscal cliff. For one thing, I already cashed out my retirement plans and invested in things that I think will hold value. For another, sometimes you need something to get the mule's attention.

[Gameover]

Let this house of cards come down!! Why is it always about more spending and more tax? I say cut everything and lets get out of this mess not keep kicking it down the road. Stop the welfare giveaway, foriegn aid, war, ect. and lets get America back on track before we go around trying to fix everyone elses problems. The current government as a whole needs to go if they cant put on there big boy pants and do the things that need happen. Bunch of babies........

[Salty1]

Why would anybody trust a man who says to give him what he wants and he will discuss potential cuts later? This administration has proven that they are very good at spending and giving people who actually pay taxes money away to those who believe they are entitled to public support. People become what they make themselves, now the gvt seems to think that we owe them something..... Let Rome burn and make both the gvt and the takers personally responsible for their actions....

[Gameover]

O and congratulations on school sir