How did “kicking the can down the road” get transformed into “preventing the fiscal cliff”? We have two competing problems.....(1) deficits vs. (2) economic growth. Since non-deficit induced economic activity has been flat we are skeered shiatless to decrease spending and increase tax revenue. Doing so will likely result in a recession.....given our less than stellar growth. At the same time we are now at the dreaded metric of debt > GDP. And it will not correct itself anytime soon. Add to that the demographic reality that 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day....and that the overall worker:non-worker ratio is getting worse. Then consider that servicing the debt has been relatively painless given low interest rates....which will not remain low forever. So instead of Dem vs Pub or Con vs Lib. If you had a choice would you vote for: ___increase or maintain current level GDP at the expense of increasing total debt as a % of GDP ___take the hit, possibly cause a calculated recession for a few quarters but lower the growth of debt compared to GDP
