Where is the outrage from the American people over these ridiculous Fiscal Cliff "negotiations"? Every conservative-leaning person in America should be writing their Senators and Representatives demanding that they cut spending and extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone. Or, we can continue to rack up even more massive debt than we have already. When our public debt has outpaced the growth of the private economy, we have a major problem. We have not been at this level of spending since WWII, and that spending immediately dropped post-war. For us, there is no end in sight, for the next four years at least, and the result is truly frightening.
President Obama won't meet with Republican congressional members and we're not sure he's even been meeting with his own party members. He has met with Rachel Maddow and Al Sharpton however, so we know he's getting good advice on the economy. It's also interesting to note that in the Obama budget proposal Geitner was sent out to sell, Obama is freely spending the "savings" from bringing the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and has proposed billions in new "stimulus" spending.
The fact that people on the street are either unaware of these issues or think the government needs to "do more" http://bit.ly/YAjhtP is a sad commentary on the Republican party's inability to promote free market principles. Republicans need to get their act together and inform the American people about the coming bankrupting of the country and why the current course is unsustainable. This crisis is also a test for the current Republican members of congress. They need to understand that they will be held accountable come 2014 or 2016 election time for the positions they take during the fiscal cliff negotiations their votes on the budget ultimately put forward.
A fiscal stimulus package is the gift that keeps on giving! It provides 1) a temporary bump in GDP 2) an equivalent drop in GDP when it's over and 3) a further drop in GDP later as it's paid for by higher taxes or by increasing the debt. That's why the Congressional Budget Office warned that the Obama stimulus would hurt the economy in the long run. It is essentially a parachute adding drag to an already labored system. The greater the stimulus, the greater the effects - both positive and negative - with the negative effects outweighing the positive. The effect is magnified when stimulus money goes outside of the American economy to other countries as much of the Obama stimulus did; we get a smaller bump but still pay the full boat.
Are we so willing to close our eyes to the fate of other big spending countries, or is it selfishness and the growing "what's in it for me" culture? I think about the future impacts of today's runaway spending and wonder of we're going to follow in Greece's footsteps with unemployment over 25% and people rioting in the streets as the government imposes unavoidable austerity measures? Unless we get spending under control to the point where we can actually cut the debt, we are well along that road.
