Preposterous ‘fiscal cliff’ discussion finally over

Regular readers of this newspaper may have noticed in recent months that we’ve spent decidedly little time discussing the so-called “fiscal cliff” and related banter surrounding an alleged deadline that pundits repeatedly said was destined to plunge the nation into an economic death spiral. If we did broach the subject of this absurd apocalyptic tale, it was generally to mock the proponents of such preposterous terminology, which suggested a doomsday scenario on par with alleged end-of-the world Mayan prophecies, debunked when the world didn’t end on Dec. 21, 2012. Like the Y2K madness of 13 years ago, the fiscal cliff was and is an invented notion that never actually existed. No one could accurately define it or predict what would happen if we “went over” it. But mainstream media outlets repeated the politically-derived term so many times that they began to believe it was real.Perhaps most ridiculous about the notion of this impending financial suicide was the fact that expiring tax breaks would have created more revenue, allowing the country to start paying down its debts. As much as $4 trillion in new funds would have been made available to help tackle $16 trillion in debt. A sliding scale of increased taxes would have affected all Americans, with greater percentage increases for those making more money. If anything, the scenario represented a fiscal staircase.President Barack Obama and and members of the U.S. House and Senate went along with the “fiscal cliff” game of blackmail in recent weeks, offering increasingly heated rhetoric to help stir public fear and discontent. Predictably, a last-minute deal passed the House and Senate on Jan. 1, 2013, making tax cuts permanent for Americans making up to $450,000, including most Congressmen and the president. More importantly, it gave self-serving politicians a reason to give themselves a pat on the back.Constant yammering about the so-called fiscal cliff has turned out to be for naught, as real tax reform would have included increased taxes for the approximately 2 percent of Americans who make more than $250,000 per year. Continuous crying that this somehow would have ruined the economy was one of the biggest lies of 2012. Now that the “fiscal cliff” crack-of-doom predictions have subsided, politicians will have to find another subject with which to scare their constituents into believing they are powerless in the 21st century economy.