Friday, November 30, 2012

Fiscal Cliff



With the fiscal life almost upon us, the American public waits while both parties duke it out and try to get their policies put through so much so that they are currently at a stalemate. The main cause of the stalemate is whether or not the Bush tax cuts will expire and taxes will raise for the wealthy (those that make $200,000 if single and $250,000 if married). I think that the Democrats have to hold firm on that issue and let it expire (no negotiation). Those tax cuts were created with hopes that the wealthy would spend the money they saved and promote an increase in the economy, but they didn’t so why continue to give them more tax breaks?  That isn’t all that needs to be done in these fiscal talks, like Rep. Steve LaTourette said we all “need to focus more on the cost of programs like Medicare and Social Security. We need to fix the models they created in the 1950’s and crack down on health care fraud (last year alone, the government’s health care fraud prevention and enforcement recovered nearly $4.1 billion in tax payer money).  Both sides need to come together and work as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans.
I wish I could give more information on the Republican stance on the issue, but their main focus is on the prevention of ending tax cuts for the upper class, decrease spending on programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and the increase in the debt ceiling. I for one don’t believe that decreasing funding to SS and Medicare will fix the problem; I think they just need to look at the programs and reevaluate them completely.  Democrats proposed an increase in the debt ceiling and $50 billion dollars for a stimulus program. I don’t know why they would want an increase on the debt ceiling, because the main goal of these fiscal talks is to decrease the debt so in my opinion I don’t understand these demands.
All in all, I think the two parties need to work together and solve the debt issue if not, we will all see a tax hike of $2,200 each. With that said, I still believe that taxes for the upper class need to increase.

Works cited
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/February/12-ag-213.html

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