What is This "Fiscal Cliff" All About?

Ok, so we have succeeded in putting Barak Obama back into office but what do we do now.  Do we just sit back and wait for him to fix things.  Well, no, not exactly.  We will soon be called upon again to let our voices be heard in order to elect the people that will help Obama get the policies in effect that he feels will help our nation get back on track.  So what is the issue that everyone is concered with now.....that would be the "fiscal cliff"

What is a "fiscal cliff"?  Well, to simplify it, it is simply the point at which the Bush tax cuts expire and taxes go up for every single person in America.  Yes, that means you!! When these tax cuts expire, experts are concerned that it could cause us to go into another recession. So what do we do about this.  This would be a bad thing for everyone, rich and poor.  You would think that Washington would be able to come up with something to prevent this from happening.  Afterall, January 1st is right around the corner.  Well, that is the problem, conservatist and liberals just cannot seem to come to a compromise. 

Liberals aka Democrats
They want to first and foremost extend the Bush tax cuts to the middle class (which is anyone who makes less than $200,000 a year) right away.  In the meantime they will continue negotiations on what the tax reform will look like for the wealthiest Americans.  Ideally, liberals would like for there to be a tax increase of 35% to 39% for wealthy Americans in order to pay down the deficit and prevent potential recession. 

Conservatives aka Republicans
They are in now way happy with a tax increase of 35% to 39% but will be okay with "tax reform". In other words they would not mind closing tax "loop holes".  What exactly those loop holes are and how much will it help with paying down our deficit or preventing a recession....who knows?  As for extending the tax cuts for those americans that make less than $200,000 a year, Conservatives are not ready to put anything into action just yet. 

So that is where we stand in a nutshell.  Really we have not gotten anywhere and the days are falling away to when we will hit that fiscal cliff.  President Obama made a statement today and in jist he says that students, seniors and middle class (basically those Americans that are struggling the most financially) should not be expected tp pay down the deficit while wealthy Americans basically sit back and watch us do it.  I don't know about you but I agree 100%.  So what can we do about it?  Well, right now all we can do is pray that they can come to some sort of compromise and be ready to show up to the polls again when it is time to elect new officials who will be more willing to work with our President to get things done. 

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