It is a funny wake up call to read the pundits this morning author a phrase called "the fiscal cliff." I realize that Thelma and Louise chose to press the gas to the floor when looking at their cliff, but most of us don't have the resilience of Wile E. Coyote. I recall vividly the overhead view that would today violate Google Earth's patents of Mr. Coyote plunging to a poof of sand after a thousand feet of gravity. A fall into a deep ravine would cause lasting, if not permanent, harm to most citizens that are pondering a fall over "the fiscal cliff."
How on Earth did a nation of smart people, with a ton of PhDs giving real time feedback on the short-, intermediate- and long-term policies of the United States, end up driving us to this horrible metaphor without a parachute, hang glider, whirly bird or zip line to get us to the valley safely? I guess it is the same people who ran up the asset classes over short time durations by engineering ways to draw down on the imagined equity in our homes, and who failed to tell guys working on the assembly lines in America that we would soon move all the manufacturing jobs to China, Mexico, Honduras or the Philippines.
I read that the scenario is bleak indeed. Our nation can first expect to "plunge" into "a first quarter contraction of up to four percent."Plunging is really good into a cool, clear lake on a summer day, but into a first quarter contraction? Doesn't sound like a good idea. Furthermore, it is written that Congress designed this "Doomsday Scenario" to scare itself. We should hire Congress on those Halloween night setups where we walk through a dark maze, park or warehouse? This is buckets scarier than being touched by some makeup ghoul or hearing a shriek in your ear when you have just settled into a dark easy mood.
It seems that the two party political system just can't agree on how to make bipartisan concessions that will make both of them satisfied enough to endorse, but miserable enough at the elements of their opposition's plan that are included to pinch, shock, splinter and paper cut one another into signing on a dotted or solid line that resolves this matter smartly. It seems most of the time that resolving these poorly planned events smartly is just not possible, so both parties allow the media to rant and rave about "doomsday scenarios," "fiscal cliffs," jobless malaise and sequestration cuts (I know sequester's root word and "cuts" well enough but the words together don't inspire a clear understanding of what exactly will result from their collision).
Perhaps we need a machete of hope to cut the sugar cane of despair, maybe ceramic brakes of intelligence can stop us from hurling off the fiscal cliff, it's possible that a MacGuyver of citizens can defuse the time bomb of doomsday scenarios and unlikely as it sounds I would suggest an assembly of citizens to fix the art of capitalism so that jobless malaise is replaced by expansion, involvement and a horizon of possibilities. If wages increased 10 percent across the board in America the climate would change, so maybe companies that are sitting on tons of cash might figure out how to put some out in the marketplace for the services of employees that got them there.
We've been in War and we've faced strong adversaries from outside and inside and we've watched the ideals of our great republic tested again and again. Let's unravel this thread together and solve the riddle that politicians have set before us by paying people a little more, have banks lend and take a little risk, have the government incentivize expansion behavior and see if a few seeds of chance grow to shade us from the "Sun of Doom."
Be mindful, be watchful and good luck.