Fiscal Cliff - This is Absurd!

I haven't taken to this blog for politics in quite a while, but I decided it's time to do so today, as we edge closer to the so called "fiscal cliff".  If the Congress can't reach a deal today, mandatory tax increases and spending cuts will go into effect tomorrow, affecting every American.  I've followed the debate and have come to the conclusion that this entire thing is just absurd.

First off, the only reason we've reached this point is because our Congress couldn't agree on a deficit reduction deal after the Simpson-Bowles committee made their recommendations.  So, they kicked the can down the road, and here we are.  The fact that our elected leaders can't ever compromise and figure anything out is completely absurd!  This is why we need term limits.  Our leaders are so concerned about protecting their power and getting re-elected that they are paralyzed when it comes to taking action.  Seriously, give me a team of 5 people and we could fix this...it would be painful, but we could fix it.  It's just a math problem, there's always a solution.

Secondly, make no mistake the entire debate going on right now is about nothing more than raising taxes on those making over $250,000 (or maybe it's $450,000 depending on the day) per year.  Sure, our so-called leaders are paying lip service to spending cuts and unemployment benefits, but this all comes down to tax cuts.  President Obama and the Democrats are willing to drive us over the fiscal cliff to get their precious tax increases on the "wealthy".  Obama and the Dems are confident they can go down this path because they know the left-wing media will paint the Republicans as villains for wanting to protect tax rates for "the rich", while sacrificing the middle and lower incomes.  And, sadly, Obama and the Dems are right, this is exactly what the media will do.

Now, the Republicans are far from perfect, and I think they are being stupid right now.  Even though I'm completely against tax increases without meaningful spending reforms, the Republicans have to give in on this one.  Obama is going to get his tax increases one way or the other.  That's the key point in all of this...Obama gets what he wants whether or not Congress comes to an agreement here.  No matter what happens today, Obama will get the higher taxes on the rich he campaigned on!  To me, that's the biggest story here.  For someone who claims he cares about the middle class, Obama seems more than willing to play chicken with middle class taxes to get his coveted tax increases. 

This is the ugly truth about this President and his left-wing cronies that no one in the main stream media will say.  At the end of the day, President Obama cares more about advancing his Socialist agenda than he does about protecting the "middle class".  The "agenda" is more important than the people this agenda will hurt. 

The Republicans are not blameless in this.  They should have realized this by now and acted.  With the fawning left-wing media, there's no way the Republicans come out of this looking good, but they should have the guts to act and do what is right for most Americans.  We do not need a tax increase in this economy...not unless it's accompanied by meaningful spending reform, which it most certainly will not be at this point.  But the Republicans can't win here.

Frankly, the Republicans shouldn't even be afraid to take this loss.  If you believe in the conservative economic theories, any tax increase at this point, even if it's just on "the rich", will result in some type of economic down turn.  So, if the Republicans just get out of the way and let this go through, then Obama and the Democrats have to own the consequences of this action, which I believe will be another recession.  Make no mistake, the next recession will be Obama's recession.  And that should lead the way to a Conservative revolution in 2014 and 2016.  The Republicans have to think long term here, because in the short term, they are going to lose.