Fiscal Cliff

Fiscal cliff can be defined as the economic face that the United States of America will face at the end of December 2012. Fiscal cliff refers to the sharp decline or the conundrum in the shortage of budget of the U.S due to the increased amount of taxes and the condensed spending. It is also said that it is the termination of all tax breaks and the preface of the tax increases. Fiscal cliff goes side by side with the debt ceiling. Ceiling is the amount set by the Congress that the U.S government could borrow from the Treasury for the public spending. If the debt ceiling is to be raised the amount that the government could borrow also raises.

Different perspectives on the cliff

The United States of America (USA) is today divided when is come to the nation’s debit, especially with respect to fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling. There are those people who support the country in going over the fiscal cliff and not raising the debt ceiling. Their argument is that we as a nation cannot prolong on the current path of expenditure. They also argued that the federal government needs to lessen the spending, cut incentives in order for our current national deficit of 16 trillion dollars to decrease. Of course some of the people making these arguments are just totting political party line, and are waiting to score points against the current administration if the economy falls apart when we go over the fiscal cliff.

There are others who think that going over the fiscal cliff and not raise the debt ceiling is unfavorable for the financial and economical stability of the country. Their argument is that the economy is too fragile & delicate and is still recovering from the 2008-2010 recession, and any financial or economical instability will put the United States into a double douse recession. The taxes will increase They argue farther that, going over the fiscal cliff and not raising the debt ceiling could also affect the world economy the US credit rating and average American financially.

In the fiscal cliff of the U.S many people are involved; the actors and processes and the relevant organizations and entities that are involved can be listed as the President of the U.S i.e. President Barrack Obama, the Congress, Secretary of the Defense, the Law makers, the Federal Reserve, Republicans and even the Senate. Several other bodies also were involved in this issue like the Institute for Marriage, the Human Rights Campaign, the Catholic Church and other such organizations.           

            Those who were involved include President Obama, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Medicare Doctors, Mcconnel, Joe Manchin and many others.

Who Wins? Who Loses?

            Joe Biden, Mitch Mcconnel, President Obama, Joe Manchin, debt ceiling are considers to be the winners of the fiscal cliff. Joe Biden is seemed that he was a personal legislature for the president; as he plays his role each time in the legislation. Obama and his administration understand that Biden is an asset for them.

 This issue was won by the president as he handles this issue very carefully as it seemed that he had learned the lessons from the previous financial fluctuations and he was succeeded to pass the fiscal cliff bill through congress. Through the fiscal cliff the rich people and the elder people feel much relaxed as for them there was a major tax cut.  This deal was not for the social security or for other retirement security programs so in this sense the elders win this issue.

            Debt ceiling which was the demand of President Obama was disappeared when the negotiating tables was created. That’s why it is being though that in February or March there will be another fight for the borrowing limit.

            If we talk about the losers, then President Obama is also one of them and with him there are John Boehner, congress and the New Year’s Eve plan. President Obama loses this issue as the middle class are not pleased with this deal and the rich persons have given the tax cut but for the middle class taxes have been raised.

John Boehner is the republican speaker of the house but he also has to face the defeat. According to his great knowledge of legislation, he had to give a great bargain, which could bring the country into the right financial path. His plan B was failed on the floor of the house. But again it is desired that he maintain his seat in the congress.

If we take about congress than all bad things that people say are absolutely true. The main problem with them is that they wait until the last minute to o anything. They do not do something great but only waits for the date when something big has to be happened. All the members of the congress have done nothing for the debt ceiling or the fiscal cliff but the bad politics. This shows their politically inability and it seems that they do not have political will.  (Chris, 2012)

The fiscal cliff was abolished at the very last minute in the late night and early morning sessions of Congress on New Year. In the 2 am vote on January 1, 2013, the Senate approved the 2012 Act of American Taxpayer Relief. It was agreed with a vast majority.. The Senate House conceded the bill without any alterations. 85 House Republicans and 172 Democrats voted in favor of the Act while 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats were opposed to it. (Final Vote Results for Roll Call 659)

References

Chris Cillizza, (31 Dec 2012), Winners and losers in the fiscal cliff deal, The Washington Post, Retrieved from, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/12/31/winners-and-losers-in-the-fiscal-cliff-deal/

Final Vote Results for Roll Call 659, Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, Retrieved from, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll659.xml