Hopefully, we’ll jump out of the car before it goes over the cliff.

Of course, by now, you are aware of the “fiscal cliff” that we’re approaching at the end of this year.  For those living under a rock with their iPod earbuds in and the volume too loud, tax rate reductions that were enacted in 2001 and 2003 and extended in 2010 are set to expire.  We’ve covered what the rates will be and what President Obama’s budget and fiscal plans called for as far as rates.  But let’s set the stage properly.

The House, led by the GOP, has passed two budgets both of which included reformations to the tax code that, yes included lower rates, but also included elimination of a number of tax loopholes.  Correspondingly, the Senate, led by the Democrats, have failed to pass a single budget in over 1,100 days.  That’s over THREE YEARS.  Remember, Congress is required by law to create, pass and enact a budget each year.

On one side, you have the democrats in Congress – President Obama has been absent and largely silent on this specific issue – who refuse to budge from their position that any extension of these tax rate reductions must alter them to allow high-income earners’ rates to rise.  Furthermore, they are more accepting of the sequestration where $500B to both defense and non-defense spending over the next 10 years will occur if nothing is done.

The GOP is pushing for the extension of all tax rate reductions and have demonstrated their commitment to reforming the tax code with the budgets passed in the House.  The one plus for their side is the fact that President Obama and the democrats vigorously defended to their base that they supported the extension of these reductions in 2010 due to the fragility of the economy.

Now understanding that President Obama believes that the economy has recovered – at least he stated that their economic policies have “worked” – I guess the economy is strong again and ready to absorb whatever damage these tax increases will bring to bear.  However, most economists disagree.  CBS News reported that this is the worst economic recovery America has ever had and highlighted Bernake’s recent comments that frustration with the recovery will continue.

So we have a party, the democrats, who either think that the economy has recovered significantly in the last two years that they can reverse their position on these tax rate reductions or are hoping we all ignore their previous position on these reductions.  At a time when we need job growth, tax rate increases and blanket spending cuts that could eliminate millions of jobs are not what we need.  Instead, smart tax code reform and some surgical cuts to wasteful government programs and a serious look at our entitlement programs would go a long way to strategically addressing our economic position.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.