[If American Congressmen cannot immediately stop themselves from passing simultaneous tax hikes and budget cuts, then the American economy will take a nosedive in the first half of next year. It is that extreme and that certain, Congress is arriving at a very ugly "moment of truth," which none of us should be ignoring. The American economy, and by extension, the entire world economy, is about to plunge into another deep dark economic chasm which can only be avoided if all Congressmen and Congresswomen change their own natures overnight. But that will never happen, Congress will NOT CHANGE until we force it to change. If we cannot immediately reign-in Congress, then America will enter into an economic downturn far worse than those in the recent past, which have been described as "worse than the Great Depression." In the first half of 2013, we will be in the same boat as the European Union. Mandated tax increases on the Middle Class and the wealthy will only exacerbate a bad conundrum. We can no longer afford Congress the luxury of following its own customary, contradictory budget policies. There has to be some sort of citizen enforcement of Constitutional Law, in order to bind the hands of Congress, so that they can no longer simultaneously add to the budget and cut it at the same time. The American Congress behaves as if all of them were "Lords," or other "aristocrats," who did not have to answer to the people they represent, administering laws arbitrarily, deciding which of their friends and relatives would receive their fortunes from government largess. Obama's policies and stop-gap measures have only amplified the existing contradictions in American govt. policies and accelerated the conflict. The closer we get to the American police state, the more our society of alleged "free choice" comes to resemble a classic totalitarian dictatorship, much like that of the former CIS states dictatorships. Downtown Portsmouth, Ohio will come to look more and more like downtown Khorog, Tajikistan, where the military now rules in a most brutal manner. As the clock ticks down to zero, notice just how much Obama clings to the pattern of continually making things more painful by constantly avoiding the appearance of pain. He is a typical consensus-building politician, who will never try to make things a little better by offering a painful cure.
Can the world be saved or won by belt-tightening alone, even in conjunction with incentives to wealthy investors? Perhaps during less dire times than the era we are entering it might have worked. More money is now needed to set the world aright than all of the gold that is now hoarded away. To set the course of humanity upon a path of progress, one which is far different than the destructive track we have been on, will require massive infrastructure investments, especially in those areas where there has been almost no infrastructure to speak of. We have run out of road and must therefore, build new roads. We haven't the luxury to wait to make these infrastructure improvements until we have saved enough to finance the work; we need that money now--but we will NOT HAVE that money now. We will instead, blissfully sail the American ship of state off the edge of the cliff. It is going to be a very rough ride.]
Significant recession imminent if Congress doesn’t act on fiscal cliff: CBO report
The massive round of New Year’s belt-tightening – variously known as the fiscal cliff or Taxmageddon – would disrupt recent economic progress, push the unemployment rate back up to 9.1 percent by the end of 2013 and cause economic conditions “that will probably be considered a recession,” the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.
The outlook is considerably darker than the forecast the agency released in January, when CBO predicted that the fiscal cliff would trigger a modest recession in the first half of 2013, followed by a quick recovery.
Since that forecast was issued, Congress has steepened the fiscal cliff by extending a temporary payroll tax break and emergency unemployment benefits, which are now also set to expire in January.
In addition, CBO analysts concluded that the underlying economy is weaker than previously predicted. In its latest budget outlook, the CBO predicts the federal deficit will be $1.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ends in September, marking the fourth straight year of deficits in excess of $1 trillion.
