Fiscal Cliff Notes and Other Annoyances.
Jan. 2nd, 2013 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogGo figure. Congress won a contest I tried out the other day, where I asked for guesses on whether the fiscal cliff or the NHL lockout, if either, would be fixed first. They came in third in the voting; lockout-ending came in second, "neither" was the winner.
In the end, I suspect, "neither" really IS the winner. Your taxes and mine went up 2 percent from the first dollar we earn, without deduction or loophole to cushion the blow, with nary a whimper from anyone in the Capitol Hill dogfight. THAT was all centered on the 4.6 percent increase on incomes above $250,000 (or $400,000, as it finally settled out), all of which is entirely subject to reduction through deduction and loophole routes. Some things were made permanent (including a long overdue fix to an obscure 60s tax device which would have killed many of us on our 2012 taxes if left uncorrected), while others were extended for anywhere from 12 months to five years- including the very important (to us) partial credit for tuition payment that helps with Emily's bill in the coming year.
But we are still, if not over a cliff, on a precipice- of division, and grandstanding, that threatens the political fiber of this nation as much as any specific economic measure. This piece in the Daily Beast ties it back to a distinction I've noted before- between the reasoned governing style of the Puritan-descended Yankee ruling classes and the scorched-earth style of the Southern aristocracy that cares more about winning at any cost than on preserving the whole.
I still have hope in somehow preserving the whole of this union. The Cantors and Rand Pauls of this world seem more bent on preserving their status as holes.
----
BTW, if u cn rd ths, u r lucky. LJ's been getting bombed again, and not on cheap champagne. This link to their Facebook page, the safest place to read it apparently, gives the explanation and some options if you can't access stuff.
In the end, I suspect, "neither" really IS the winner. Your taxes and mine went up 2 percent from the first dollar we earn, without deduction or loophole to cushion the blow, with nary a whimper from anyone in the Capitol Hill dogfight. THAT was all centered on the 4.6 percent increase on incomes above $250,000 (or $400,000, as it finally settled out), all of which is entirely subject to reduction through deduction and loophole routes. Some things were made permanent (including a long overdue fix to an obscure 60s tax device which would have killed many of us on our 2012 taxes if left uncorrected), while others were extended for anywhere from 12 months to five years- including the very important (to us) partial credit for tuition payment that helps with Emily's bill in the coming year.
But we are still, if not over a cliff, on a precipice- of division, and grandstanding, that threatens the political fiber of this nation as much as any specific economic measure. This piece in the Daily Beast ties it back to a distinction I've noted before- between the reasoned governing style of the Puritan-descended Yankee ruling classes and the scorched-earth style of the Southern aristocracy that cares more about winning at any cost than on preserving the whole.
I still have hope in somehow preserving the whole of this union. The Cantors and Rand Pauls of this world seem more bent on preserving their status as holes.
----
BTW, if u cn rd ths, u r lucky. LJ's been getting bombed again, and not on cheap champagne. This link to their Facebook page, the safest place to read it apparently, gives the explanation and some options if you can't access stuff.
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-03 01:47 am (UTC)