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Newark
Advocate
Consequences of the fiscal cliff
Written by Congressman Pat Tiberi
Dec 11, 2012
Nearly
everywhere you turn
headlines give updates on the “looming fiscal cliff” and give dire
warnings
about what would happen if a compromise isn’t reached.
But
there’s a lot of confusion
about what exactly the fiscal cliff is and what the consequences are if
the
country reaches it.
The
fiscal cliff is a combination
of nearly $600 billion in tax hikes and indiscriminate spending cuts
set to
take effect on Jan. 2. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that if
the
nation goes “over” the fiscal cliff, we will go back into recession and
unemployment rates could top nine percent. One study estimates Ohio
could lose
100,000 to 350,000 jobs if the fiscal cliff is not avoided.
I
believe the American people
deserve better. We must avoid the fiscal cliff to prevent tax increases
on all
American families and business owners. We must also quickly work to
resolve the
underlying systemic issues plaguing the economy by scaling back
government
spending and reforming our outdated tax code.
There
will have to be give and take
from both political parties. The reality is we have divided government
and each
side must be willing to come to the table. We must also have leadership
from
President Barack Obama in tackling tax reform and entitlement reform.
To
date, the president has not
offered meaningful tax, Social Security or Medicare reform proposals. I
hope
that in the weeks ahead we can count on his leadership and his
willingness to
work with members of both parties to make our nation stronger.
Newspaper
editorial boards from the Washington Post and USA Today, both of whom
endorsed
President Obama for re-election, have published editorials calling on
him to
compromise on entitlement reform.
Read
the rest of the article at the
Newark Advocate
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