Political Parties

The conflict surrounding the fiscal cliff is that few people can face the truth. We are caught in gridlock because, in the end, no one wants to pay. Congress is likely to meet in the middle, since no side is going to fully submit. The decision will be delayed as long as possible and will probably be an extension on Bush-era tax cuts with a cancellation on automatic spending cuts. Going over the fiscal cliff is not going to change much of anything. The percent of unemployment will increase and our GDP will decrease, however at the local level, you're still going to have two basic types of people: those who work and those who don't. Some citizens will continue to sit on their couches expecting benefits and the others will remain working or searching for work. There is always a group who will remain dedicated to pulling their weight, paying their taxes, and attempting to pull the weight of everyone else who have given up. If this deficit is going to make any improvements, we are going to need to drastically cut government benefits and spending.

I think that the biggest problem that faced a compromise on this issue in 2011 is that neither side was willing to compromise. We face a similar problem now as well. The Democrats and the Republicans in Congress are so out of touch with the rest of the country that they cannot see that their inaction is having a direct effect on our lives. The people debating this issue are too focused on maintaining the ideologies of their party and working for the benefit of their party, but they should be focused on helping the people they represent. One of the things that I think will be different about this compromise compared to the compromise of 2011 is that Obama will be heading into his second term. Now that he no longer has to worry about being re-elected, he can stand his ground much more firmly and not worry about losing votes because of his actions. On the other hand, he could just give in and bend to the will of those he's compromising with because again he doesn't have to worry about losing votes. That being said, I think that the republicans will give way first.