Sunday, February 24, 2013
Well, not so fast, apparently Washington is back on that same path and hasn't yet figured out how to avoid that stretch of road.
It seems that just last month the country was on the brink of doom and disaster — facing a fiscal cliff of epic proportions. Oh wait, that was just last month. On the eve of disaster, the problem was averted by a last-minute deal that resulted in almost everybody's taxes going up. According to The Huffington Post, Washington hasn't yet figured how to get off that path and we're back on the road again, approaching that pesky fiscal cliff. Dubbing it an austeroid, a play on words relating to an austerity asteroid, The Huffington Post points out that the country is about to be hit with the "sequester" on March 1, which could cut another 0.6 percent from growth. That on top of the 1.5 hit that The Huffington Post laid at the feet of the first …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Join the national conversation in the top stories of the week.
This column is designed to offer a platform to discuss national stories on a local level. Share your opinion in the comment section. ----- The NRA has called for a surge of gun-carrying "good guys" around American schools in a recent press conference. The conference was interrupted by activists calling for a ban on assault weapons, along with tighter regulations. Members of CodePink, an antiwar organization, shouted that the NRA is "killing our kids" and "the violence begins with the NRA." "The NRA is there with a stack of propaganda statements, so we are there to speak for the millions of people who dissent from their opinion," CodePink member Joan Stallard said. ----- John Kerry, who currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
With tax the big issue in "fiscal cliff" negotiations, would now not be the right time to take a serious look at the FairTax solution?
On Dec. 17, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga-7, sent a letter to the Joint Committee on Taxation to produce a revenue estimate of H.R. 25 and S. 13, the FairTax bill. According to a press release from Woodall's office, this estimate would allow the FairTax proposal to be considered during congressional negotiations for tax reform. “The current tax code has become too burdensome and complex, and is filled with provisions that benefit only a few Americans at the expense of everyone else. That’s simply not right,” said Chambliss. “Now is the time to enact the FairTax, which would create a fairer, simpler tax code that allows every American the freedom to determine his or her own priorities and opportunities…
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Depending on your opinion, what programs would you be prepared to cut, or what percentage of your income would you be prepared to give in taxes, to fix the problem?
As "fiscal cliff" negotiations heat up, congress can’t agree on whether Washington has a spending problem or a revenue problem. Nor can the American people or, in many instances, even economist In an article on Marketplace.org, headed up “Washington has a spending problem not a revenue problem,” the argument is made that you can’t keep spending and just raising taxes to meet the outflow of money. The best way to fix the country’s deficit problem is to gut spending. In a story in the Daily Kos, Joan McCarter looks at it from the other side in an article titled, “We have a revenue problem, not a spending problem.” In the story, McCarter shows the loss in revenue as a result of the Bush tax cuts and the economic downturn in the economy …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Join the national conversation in this week's Hot Topics column.
This column is designed to offer a platform to discuss national stories on a local level. Share your opinion in the comment section! ---------- For the residents of a small town in Serbia, vampires are more than just a literary phenomenon. You see, there's this very old vampire, named Sava Savanovic, who has lived in the town of Zorazje since the 1700s. He'd been living in an old water mill, which recently collapsed. And since the collapse, residents are concerned that he's wandering around, looking for a new home. Really. They're taking the proper precautions, like wearing crosses, placing religious icons above their homes, rubbing their hands with garlic and carrying around stakes, according to ABC News. All at the suggestion of the …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
President Obama is back in campaign mode, touring the country to raise awareness about the 'looming fiscal cliff.' But isn't it now time for Washington to stop talking and do something?
According to multiple news sources, President Barack Obama has embarked on a tour to make a public case for his administration's plan for addressing the impending "fiscal cliff." So what is the fiscal cliff? It's the changes expected to go into effect when the 2011 Budget Control Act expires at the end of the year. Among the changes are: At the same time, spending cuts agreed on in last year's debt ceiling agreement will go into effect, meaning steep cuts to things like the defense budget and Medicare. According to the Associated Press, both sides warn that going over the cliff could harm the fragile economic recovery, but the White House and congressional Republicans still differ on whether the answer is to raise taxes or close tax …
Monday, November 19, 2012
Lawmakers have Dec. 31 deadline to prevent start of automatic tax hikes and budget cuts.
After kicking the can down the road to avoid making hard choices in the face of an election, lawmakers now have just a few weeks to face financial reality for the American people. Experts may debate whether it’s a “fiscal cliff” or a gentle slope, but everyone seems to agree that dealing with the deficit and expiration of Bush-era tax cuts is a must. (See Wall Street Journal video explainer.) Congress set their own deadline to do so of Dec. 31, 2012, conveniently after the election. But with another election at least two years away, it's now time to do something about it. Up until now, each Party has blamed the other for the footdragging, but all indications are that the American people are tired of the deadlock in Washington. They're …
Good Grief Y'all
5:39 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
That guy, you're making good sense. more ›