Making the Fiscal Cliff the Fix-all Cliff

by pdxblake

Robert Greenstein at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities describes extremely succinctly (in less than 2 minutes) why the Democrats have to stand their ground on allowing sequestration (the defense cuts) and the full expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the beginning of 2012, making the point that only then, will the Republicans allow for a debate that includes both revenue and spending cuts, which this blog (and Obama) have argued is necessary for long-term deficit reduction (with the caveat that nothing except perhaps high-end Bush tax cuts being allowed to expire) until the economy has recovered.

Also, as Jared Bernstein has maintained for quite a while, it is not so much a fiscal cliff as it is a fiscal slide.  The economy will not tank on Day 1, but over the first half of 2013 will be slowed by the fiscal tightening.