As usual I tuned in my Sunday pundits. David Gregory had some democrats and republicans on Meet the Press, talking about the fiscal cliff. He had Timmy "Turbotax" Geithner, US treasury secretary, claiming that his administration has planned trillions of dollar in spending cuts. Then he had tax gadfly Grover Norquist on claiming that Obama wasn't offering a dime in cuts, but instead trillions in new spending.
They can't both be right. One of them is lying. The moderator, David Gregory, offered no help in sorting out who was the liar. Gregory isn't contributing to a useful debate so long as us viewers are saying, some one is lying, so nothing anyone says is worth listening to. 'Cause we cannot tell who is lying for sure, although we have our suspicions. .
So what happens next?
1. Congress fails to pass anything. In which case taxes go up for everyone and some painful spending cuts take place real soon now. This is called "going over the fiscal cliff". Doing nothing is easier than doing something.
2. Congress does what Obama wants, passes a soak-the-rich tax hike. Most of us escape the tax hike.
3. Congress does some serious spending cuts (Medicare reform) and gives Obama his tax hike in return for signing the spending cuts.
Place your bets.
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