Tax and Spend, or Spend and Tax

Fiscal Cliff.  Let's cut spending first.  Go for a big cut, a real cut, not fake cuts like last time.  After getting some spending cuts on the books, then, maybe, we could think about a tax hike.  But unless the cuts are nailed down first, the tax hike will just be spent, and the deficit will be just as bad.  There is a farm bill, a highway bill, an energy bill, the entire Dept of Education, the TSA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, SEC and the federal flood insurance program, all of which could be zeroed out and the budget would be balanced.  And nobody except bureaucrats would miss any of them.
Hint.  Every time Obama says "balanced" he really means "Tax Hike".