Who led us to the cliff?

[madmax]

Interesting piece. A real quick read.
http://money.msn.com/investing/10-wh...e-fiscal-cliff

[Stevomeo]

Originally Posted by madmax

Interesting piece. A real quick read.
http://money.msn.com/investing/10-wh...e-fiscal-cliff

Very interesting. I tend to not necessarily agree with placing blame on the likes of Norquist. He's a lobbyist not a union thug threatening harm to legislators. I also find it laughable that they threw Cheney in there. I wasn't aware that he was writing blank checks in the name of fighting terrorism. I will give MSN some credit though, they did try to keep the blame bi-partisan. So how the hell are you Max?

[madmax]

Originally Posted by Stevomeo

Very interesting. I tend to not necessarily agree with placing blame on the likes of Norquist. He's a lobbyist not a union thug threatening harm to legislators. I also find it laughable that they threw Cheney in there. I wasn't aware that he was writing blank checks in the name of fighting terrorism. I will give MSN some credit though, they did try to keep the blame bi-partisan. So how the hell are you Max?

I think Norquist is a viable candidate. Why? Because his "no tax" pledge tied the hands of many any made the discussion one-sided.
This article isn't so much about "blame" per se as it is about how we got into this mindset.

I'm good, Steve. Missed our conversations. Even though we don't agree on many things it is usually a respectful and thoughtful dialogue. I appreciate that.

I was on the way to a record year until the end of the year slowdown hit. Eh, I'm thankful for a good year in spite of the bumps.

Hope all is well with you.

[hrdguera]

Originally Posted by madmax

I'm good, Steve. Missed our conversations. Even though we don't agree on many things it is usually a respectful and thoughtful dialogue. I appreciate that.

I was on the way to a record year until the end of the year slowdown hit. Eh, I'm thankful for a good year in spite of the bumps.

Hope all is well with you.

Did the end of the year slowdown coincide with the election? Shades of 2008. We have seen pretty much the same thing. Although the last two weeks we have seen a little bump from companies and departments spending the last of their allocated 2012 budget money. But spending looks sketchy for 2013 with some exceptions. New rules on everything from air quality to frac'ing; from gas mileage to auto black boxes; and of course, the big one, new Obamacare rules coming from the Obama's appointees have everyone in a turmoil. His minions are like a plague killing jobs wherever they go. Now with him tiptoeing to the edge of the fiscal cliff .... the whole economy seems to be teetering on the edge of a giant black chasm.

Of course, the one bright spot is that the government under his reign has been hiring 101 new people a day. I wonder if anyone has compiled any data on these new hires over the last four years? Might be interesting to do some profiling on these new "Obamaminions." Do new hires always vote for their new boss?

Just some thoughts for the weekend. I'm going home. The lack of rain is killing everything around here again. I'm thinking about replacing everything with rocks and cactus.

[madmax]

Originally Posted by hrdguera

Did the end of the year slowdown coincide with the election? Shades of 2008.

No, that's just another ultra right myth.
My slowdown has to do with the holiday, and the fact that a supplier to one of my customers can't get their act together.
In fact, I have a new customer in the southeast. If the activity is as they project I will have to hire help to cover everything.

Originally Posted by hrdguera

We have seen pretty much the same thing. Although the last two weeks we have seen a little bump from companies and departments spending the last of their allocated 2012 budget money. But spending looks sketchy for 2013 with some exceptions. New rules on everything from air quality to frac'ing; from gas mileage to auto black boxes;

"Frac'ing" is a real concern. And now it seems we have fabricated studies on its "safety". I heard the report a few days ago and can't recall all the parties involved, Penn State was one but there was another also. Professors were fired, conflict of interests charges... as messy as fracking itself!
These "troublesome regulations" like gas mileage and fracking rules are what protect us.

Originally Posted by hrdguera

Now with him tiptoeing to the edge of the fiscal cliff .... the whole economy seems to be teetering on the edge of a giant black chasm.

.."him tiptoeing"??? The WH has a proposal. This proposal reflects the will of the people. This proposal is backed by business leaders (see Business Roundtable). Seems like Boehner is holding a compromise hostage just for the 1%. Now there is a REAL lack of leadership - he can't lead his House minions to a reasonable compromise.
In the end we will probably have a modification to Medicare, no changes to Medicaid, and the expiration of the tax cut to the top 1%, and a significant amount of spending cuts.

Originally Posted by hrdguera

I'm thinking about replacing everything with rocks and cactus.

That works for me here... all 3.5 acres.

[Stevomeo]

Originally Posted by madmax

I think Norquist is a viable candidate. Why? Because his "no tax" pledge tied the hands of many any made the discussion one-sided.
This article isn't so much about "blame" per se as it is about how we got into this mindset.

I'm good, Steve. Missed our conversations. Even though we don't agree on many things it is usually a respectful and thoughtful dialogue. I appreciate that.

I was on the way to a record year until the end of the year slowdown hit. Eh, I'm thankful for a good year in spite of the bumps.

Hope all is well with you.

We'll agree to disagree on Norquist. Those that signed on to his "pledge" should have been more worried about their constituents and less with an insider. By signing onto this pledge they gave him credibility in my view. The article was definitely thought provoking and eye opening in a way.

I missed our conversations as well. Our varying perspectives on the various issues make for interesting discussion. It's no fun being right all of the time.

Glad to hear you're prospering through the bumps. I've had my share of bumps as well, but that's life. All we can do is keep smiling and continue to remain diligent in our endeavors.

[DonH]

I am so sick of hearing/reading about the so-called fiscal cliff and all of the political posturing from both parties. The bottom line is that neither party has the will to make substantive changes in our spending habits/federal budget. Realize that both parties are proposing changes that dont really do a damn thing to alter the course we are on. They are all slaves to their contributors/constituents like addicts to their addictions. We are heading for a fiscal clifff and its not the speed bump we face early next year.

Fools ......all of them!

[bpjimmy]

Originally Posted by DonH

I am so sick of hearing/reading about the so-called fiscal cliff and all of the political posturing from both parties. The bottom line is that neither party has the will to make substantive changes in our spending habits/federal budget. Realize that both parties are proposing changes that dont really do a damn thing to alter the course we are on. They are all slaves to their contributors/constituents like addicts to their addictions. We are heading for a fiscal clifff and its not the speed bump we face early next year.

Fools ......all of them!

And this latest event tops them all. Oh, they resolved some taxation problems. Well, wonderful. I guess the masses are happy that the 1% are paying more now. Not that it raises enough additional revenue or any at all if I know how it will end up. Still, we NeED to raise revenue a little bit somewhere. But that is the easy side of the problem. How about resolving the SPENDING problem? Without doing that we are still screwed.

It appears to me that washington has to play games for power instead of doing the right thing. Which is easy to see. Balance the &*^%&$*& budget.

[flermeaft]

What magnificent phrase

[dumbass]

I'm going to suggest that Rosetta Stone produce a CD that would help us dumbasses how to understand the language of politics. There was a Democratic Senator on CNN last night that said they had just passed the largest tax cut in the history of the US and I need a lot of help to understand how that language could possibly be English.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...amas-budget-a/

Seems to me that a 1 Trillion Dollars increase would not equate to a "TAX CUT". Obviously Democrats were not taught from the same book that my school used.