What Did The Fiscal Cliff Deal Really Accomplish ?

Investors.com posted an article today about what the deal reached on the fiscal cliff this week will actually accomplish. Not much.

The article states that the tax hikes will hurt the economy. Specifically:

Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi says the higher taxes on the wealthy and the increase in payroll taxes will shave close to 1 point off GDP growth this year and result in 600,000 fewer new jobs.

Pantheon Macroeconomic Advisors chief economist Ian Shepherdson figures the deal will cut GDP by 1.5 points. And Gallup’s chief economist Dennis Jacobe says the deal has created a “higher probability of recession — just the opposite of what fixing the fiscal cliff was intended to do.”

The article also points out that the increased taxes will not actually help shrink the deficit. Included in the article is the following chart:

Any answer to the debt crisis must include cuts in government spending in order to work. Americans are waiting for the President to propose a plan to shrink government. If President Obama fails to do that, he will lose the support of the public. If he does propose a plan for smaller government, he will lose the support of his party (and a large part of the Republican establishment).

Tax hikes don’t necessarily raise the money that those who pass them think they will. For instance:

President George H.W. Bush‘s tax hikes in 1990 generated $135 billion less than expected. And revenues as a share of GDP came in lower than predicted after Clinton’s tax hikes went into effect.

The article concludes that because President Obama has added more brackets to the tax code, it will be harder to reform. I’m not sure that is an accident.

At any rate, we survived a Congress-created crisis and are about to face another one (the debt ceiling). It would be nice to believe that there are enough grown-ups in Congress to create a long-term solution to our overspending, rather than to simply put a band-aid on a broken arm.Enhanced by Zemanta

Why We Need To Stop Runaway Spending

USA Today posted a story today that the U. S. National Debt is now equal to all goods and services produced by the entire U. S. economy in one year.

The article reports:

The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.

The article includes a graph:

The graph shows how rapidly the national debt has risen in recent years.

The article concludes:

The White House and Congress agreed in August to cut about $1 trillion from federal agencies over 10 years. An additional $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts looms beginning next year if lawmakers can’t agree on a better way to do it.

Economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics says reaching the 100% mark shows “the grave need to address our long-term fiscal problems.”

We need to elect people in November who will stop the runaway spending.

  

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