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Showing Original Post only (View all)Fiscal Cliff Scare Talk Follows Shock Doctrine Script [View all]
http://www.alternet.org/economy/fiscal-cliff-scare-talk-follows-shock-doctrine-scriptIf you have already read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein you have probably been rolling your eyes at all this Fiscal Cliff scare talk. Here they go again youre thinking If you havent read the book, you should. You really, really should.
The Phony Fiscal Cliff Scare
At the end of the year the Bush tax cuts expire. When this happens tax rates will rise modestly to where they were when Clinton was President. Also at the end of the year budget sequestration occurs. This means that the various cuts Congress approved to end the debt ceiling crisis will begin to phase in. (Remember, the debt-ceiling crisis was when Republicans refused to allow the country to honor its debts, holding the economy hostage, unless they got deep budget cuts in the things We the People do for each other.)
Thats it. Thats the crisis. All of the people who had been hysterical about the budget deficit crisis are now hysterical that taxes will go up and spending will go down. Go figure. Maybe just maybe I shouldnt even say it these serious people werent serious when they said they were worried about the deficit. You see, the hysteria now is because tax rates at the top will go up (cutting the deficit), and because a big part of those budget cuts (cutting the deficit) is military spending. Unfortunately the sequestration also cuts important things that help a lot of people and our economy. But these cuts do not take place all at once (a cliff), they will be phased in over time, and the Congress can act at any time to halt any of these cuts.
The Fiscal Cliff is not a cliff and the language itself is intended to scare people . The name itself is designed to create panic, evoking disaster imagery of people and the economy falling off a cliff. It is the latest manufactured crisis and we are all supposed to be terrified and demand immediate and extreme solutions.
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It's getting harder for them to fool people, isn't it? Ten years ago I probably
sabrina 1
Nov 2012
#2
How right you are. The soap opera with 2 generals thrown in as a side-show while the cliff dangles.
mother earth
Nov 2012
#4
I haven't read the book, but have read enough DU and been screwed over enough to know
magical thyme
Nov 2012
#8
I'll never understand why people think this pre-compromise bullshit is OK.
phantom power
Nov 2012
#20
I'd like to see a little ass kicking, if only verbally, bipartisanship got us more of the same BS.
mother earth
Nov 2012
#30
The way i understand it is with both combined spending cuts and tax increases
Mr. Sparkle
Nov 2012
#19
America on the edge of a 'fiscal cliff'? No, it's the right peddling scare stories
xchrom
Nov 2012
#23
We need to take lessons from the highly successful Latin American leftist democracy movement...
Peace Patriot
Nov 2012
#26
Bravo, a lot to be learned, we can no longer pretend American exceptionalism if we don't practice it
mother earth
Nov 2012
#31
They weren't serious about the debt, but we should use their own BS against them
RepublicansRZombies
Nov 2012
#32