Going over a “fiscal cliff” is insane, politically and fiscally. We have known for over a year this argument was coming up, and our politicians are only showing their ineptness in confronting and eliminating the problem.
Americans, ourselves included, are simply sick of the political wrangling. That was a message sent and received, we hope, by voters at least, if not all our politicians, Democrats and GOP.
Sometime today House Speaker John Boehner’s backup plan for averting the “fiscal cliff,” could go to the House for a vote.
Boehner, R-Ohio, proposed his so-called Plan B on Tuesday, a measure that would block tax cuts from being triggered Jan. 1 on everyone but those whose incomes exceed $1 million.
The White House said Boehner’s package did not raise enough revenue from the country’s top earners, would leave too big a deficit-reduction burden on the middle class and omitted tax breaks used by families and businesses.
Boehner hopes a vote today will raise pressure on President Barack Obama to make concessions. Without an agreement among lawmakers, hundreds of billions of broad tax increases on nearly all taxpayers and spending cuts will be triggered in early January.
Whatever we wind up doing between now and Jan. 1, it likely won’t be nearly enough to come to grips with our real fiscal and monetary problems. In a sense this current debate is simply a sideshow to the real issues confronting America.
Holding all of America hostage to the same old arguments coming yet again from Washington is not the right path forward, long term, midterm or even short term. The solutions lie in finding a balanced approach to economic matters. A one-side-takes-all is not in any way appropriate, in our view.
In the end, if we are to regain any semblance of prosperity, we must find a way to rapidly reduce deficit spending using both taxation increases and spending cuts to achieve reasonable and achievable goals clearly articulated by our political leaders.
Opinion
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Discussion
Our View: Same old, same old
- Opinion
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Our View: Absent from House
We can’t figure out why two Missouri legislators think they should be elected to the U.S. House when it appears they can’t seem to show up to take care of business in the Missouri House.
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Your View: Terrorism is terrorism
In the May 13 issue of The Joplin Globe there was an Associated Press article concerning the New Orleans shooting.
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Your View: Should we be outraged?
Were there effusive apologies following the lockdown of Boston as most of the continent indulged vicariously in the ongoing manhunt?
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Your View: Terrible injustice
I see this Jasper County nuisance law as a terrible injustice on the rights of the residents of Jasper County.
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Other Views: Conflicts in SEC
Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want.
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Phill Brooks, columnist: Missouri Senate did what Founding Fathers had in mind
George Washington once described the Senate as being like a saucer in which you pour coffee or tea.
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Our View: Fixing failure
Some 1,200 injured workers will finally get the payments they are owed. In its final week in session, Missouri’s General Assembly, through bipartisan efforts, passed a solution to address the insolvency of the state’s Second Injury Fund.
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Herb B. Kuhn, guest columnist: Delaying Medicaid reform could hurt rural Missouri
The Missouri Legislature missed a rare opportunity in the just-ended session to transform Medicaid and make a real difference in the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of our neighbors. Rural Missouri has the most to lose from the legislature’s failure to act.
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Kevin Wilson, guest columnist: When fear wins out, so do the terrorists
I’m going to make a bold statement that’s sure to draw a lot of comments, but hear me out before reaching for the keyboard to type a rebuttal.
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Marta Mossburg, columnist: Maybe government is tyrannical after all
Less than two weeks ago President Obama stood in front of graduates from The Ohio State University and told them to reject those who warn of government tyranny.
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