"Fiscal Cliff" Kabuki Theater

Thanksgiving is over and Congress is back to rehearsing Kabuki Theater. As a warm-up, the Washington Post ran this highly stylized overly dramatic article today: "‘Fiscal cliff’ could slow recovery, White House says". Essentially, the article is a "plant", to promote Obama's game of  "diversions, distractions, and distortions".

1.  The "fiscal cliff" problem is actually a Frankenstein creation of the Obama administration. So here we have the Washington Post loudly broadcasting that something must be done or the economy tanks. The underlying purpose of the "fiscal cliff" article to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). Well, if the Obama administration had done their job last year in preparing a budget, we would not be in this fix. The Post neglects to reflect on this failure. Furthermore, Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post wrote:  "Obama’s fanciful claim that Congress ‘proposed’ the sequester" in response to Obama attempting to weasel out of acknowledging his complicity in promoting the "fiscal cliff".
2. In reading the article you will note that the emphasis of this article is on the populist message of "tax breaks" to promote economic growth. On the surface that seems very positive, who doesn't want to keep more of their money; but if you think about it, it is highly misleading. What is not said can be just as important as what is said. If one reads between the lines, Obama is simply proposing continued deficit spending with continued increases in the National debt. Obama "buying" temporary prosperity by running up the Nations credit card debt. Sure Obama periodically tosses out the appropriate words "deficit reduction", "tackling the debt", and "examining every program" with a "balanced approach", but these words turn out to be just empty sound bytes without commitment. Each year, for the past four years the deficit has topped one trillion dollars and the debt is expected to grow from $16 trillion to $20 trillion over the next four years. Rhetoric does not match reality. The "silence" of this article concerning the issue of spending reductions demonstrates that Obama has no intention to reduce spending.
3. The article never deals into the fact that taxes are necessary to fund government operations. The article simply speaks of taxes in terms of the economy. Obviously for the purpose of distracting the electorate from the fact that Obama has no plan to actually reduce deficit spending even though Obama at various time speaks eloquently of deficit reduction and tackling the debt. But here you can see that those oratorical prostrations are empty rhetoric, the conversation has been twisted into the populist message of cutting taxes. Furthermore, there is a future economic impact to think about. How is the ever growing debt to be paid back? That will stifle economic growth in the future. I guess the Post reporters can't think that far into the future. As they say, you pay now or you pay later.
4. The Post also ran several articles attacking Grover Norquist's "no tax increase pledge". The "no tax increase" pledge has been waived about by the Democrats as documenting Republican "obstructionism". Guess what, the Democrats are just as "obstructionistic". The Post article writes: "Democrats, led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), say they are willing to go over the fiscal cliff if Republicans don’t play ball. "(emphasis added) So, it would seem according to the "left" that if the Democrats stand on principle, that is good; but if the Republicans to the same, it is bad. Hypocritical. What is needed is compromise, by both sides.