Cliff Dwellers

   How dangerous, really, is the so-called "fiscal cliff?" Better question: What does it mean? What does it portend when taxes and expenses interact in such a way as to endanger the survival of a nation and its government? Are we in such imminent danger?

   All that, indeed, is what the rhetoric implies. Taxes will go up. Or is it down? Expenses will go down. Or is it up? But if taxes go up, government will have more revenue, therefore less need to cut services. If expenses go down, there will be less worry about revenue.

   At root, with two elements -- taxes and expenses -- there are four possibilities:
1/ Taxes and expenses will both go up.
2/ Taxes and expenses will both go down.
3/ Taxes will go up and expenses will go down.
4/ Taxes will go down and expenses will go up.

   Consider each. (Granted, this is a highly simplified scenario.)
1/ No problem. One pays for the other.
2/ No problem. One balances the other.
3/ No problem. One outweighs the other.
4/ Problem. Less revenue means government can't afford the same level of services, and goes into debt.

   But the government is already in debt, and has been for years. Moreover, Economics 101 teaches that government should go into debt to buy the nation out of recession.
   So. No problem.

   What, then, is the real issue being fought over in Washington? Answer: Power and control.
American history, as taught in 7th Grade classes for decades, emphasizes the tradition of compromise in establishing, forming, and continuing the business of government.
   There has been little sign of that in Washington recently.

   If reporters and writers are not cynics before they enter journalism, they soon become so.