No Deal Will Be Reached

[berni_mccoy]

We'll go over the cliff, so to speak.

I just don't see it happening. Republicans in the house believe they are right and have the support of the people. Democrats in the Senate and the President believe they are in the right.

No compromise will be reached during the lame duck session. There is not enough time and a deal hasn't been in the works.

Do you agree or disagree?

[forestpath]

1. Wish I could agree, but I don't...not after seeing clip of Plouffe yesterday. He made it clear

we will be thrown under the bus and backed over if that's what it takes to get a "deal."

[IDemo]

10. Agreed

Why does "compromise" too often leave tire tread marks?

[newfie11]

2. agree

The repugs will want cuts in "entitlements" in exchange for keeping us from the "clift". The dems better not agree.

[Liberalynn]

3. I am hoping you are right

I want the new Congress which has more Democrats to deal with it, not the lame ducks.

I don't think it is going to go that way though. I think an incredibly bad deal will be negotiated and passed.

[liberal N proud]

4. I have this sinking feeling that we will be thrown off the cliff and the rich will be standing there

watching us go.

Maybe it is my job situation right now and the feeling of impending doom, but I see the Democrats in congress caving and letting the fucking republicans pull our Social Security and Medicare benefits right out from under us and let the 1% keep their bloody tax cuts.

The trend in this country seems to be take from the poor and give to the rich. From cutting pensions and savings plan contributions within corporations to stripping earned social benefits such as Social Security. And there is no one with enough guts in congress to stand up and say this has to stop.

[Enrique]

5. all the GOP people talking about increasing taxes

tells me there will likely be a deal.

[bullwinkle428]

6. I just don't want to see our side give away the keys to the store for

a sack of magic beans!

It it means going over the cliff, than so fucking be it!

[LiberalEsto]

7. The Repukes should prepare for the wrath of the voters in 2014

if they lead us off the fiscal cliff. And they will feel it.

I'm afraid that middle-class Americans do not yet entirely understand what will happen. Their taxes will increase by thousands of dollars, with expiration of tax cuts and no patch on the alternative minimum tax. Almost nobody will be able to afford to pay them except the wealthy.

In the Washington DC metro area, people are feeling the impact of the uncertainty about what will happen. Government agencies and federal contractors are postponing hiring decisions and suspending plans while waiting to see what happens.

For example, my husband is looking for a job because the government contract he's working under will end in a few months. He is a leading candidate for a federal job, but they're not going to make a decision until they see what happens with the fiscal cliff.

I'm sure there are many other impacts that I don't know about. Programs that aren't going to get funded until a decision is made. People who are going to suffer without the aid of those programs.

[Still Sensible]

8. Have to disagree, Politicians on both sides

feel they have to protect the defense contractors. Much of the cuts in the fiscal cliff deal were in defense spending and I'm pretty sure they will find a deal to protect much of that. JMHO.

[mmonk]

9. Hope so.

[unblock]

11. i agree. there's nothing in the fiscal cliff that can't be side-stepped or fixed retroactively.

so the deal will happen with the new congress under slightly better terms for democrats.

democrats want delay because it improves our negotiating position.

republicans want delay because they know they need to agree to some kind of tax increases and the media hysteria that will surround going over the fiscal cliff will give them the cover they need to agree to something they find odious.

as a practical matter, the tax increases don't really take effect until people file on april 15, 2014, and they can even decide to keep withholding where it is. on the spending side, they aren't daily budgets, so for a while, they can instruct the bureaucracy to spend assuming no cuts; this works provided they resolve the situation within a few months into 2013.

obviously it creates more "uncertainty" all around, but this is exactly what gives republicans cover to agree to revenue increases.

[99Forever]

12. I hope you are right, however...

... given the history of Democratic capitulation to these economic terrorists, I have serious doubts as to whether they have the spine to stand up for us or even if they really want to.