Juggling Dynamite

This graphic of the “fiscal cliff” gives a good summary of the tax increases in dollars terms for each taxpayer group which range from an extra $412 to $3500 maximum per year for 99% of tax payers, and up to 120K for the top 1% of income earners. More for sure, but hardly catastrophic or impossible to pay. The more serious impact will be in terms of a rebound in unemployment that is likely to follow from the government spending cuts currently slated for the new year. But these job losses could also be offset at least partially by new jobs in areas like an expanded focus on domestic energy. The dominant point is that the current spending/taxation regime is and always has been unsustainable. Affording expenditures through escalating debt is a mirage. It is a false reality and confuses Band Aids with cures as people chase after unrealistic expectations with child-like false hope. Serious fiscal changes– born of necessity–will force better policy and better behavior, and eventually a true and earned economic revival.

Source: USA Today

Danielle was a guest today with Kerry Lutz on the Financial Survival Network talking about recent trends in the world economy and markets. You can listen to an audio clip of the interview here.

In today’s New York Times former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin endorsed a balanced approach. ” We should let the Bush high-end tax cuts expire, with an achievable, progressive reduction in tax expenditures,” writes Rubin. “And we should have spending cuts, including entitlement reforms, equally matched by revenue increases.”Here is a direct link.