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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Fiscal cliff: How to judge if debt cuts are real

This is just another squabble - a pillow fight, if you will - between the two flutter wings of the same corporatist bird. A skirmish without casualties, and a reminder to informed Americans that ALL federal spending bills MUST originate in the House of Representatives.

Haven't the "conservative" Republicans held the majority in that House since 1994?  If Obama wouldn't have liked your greedy appropriations of others' money, he would not have signed the authorizations! Whaaaazup - you traitors! Man-up you muthas.

FILE - This Nov. 16, 2012 file photo shows President Barack Obama, accompanied by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, as he hosted a meeting of the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the deficit and economy in Washington. President Barack Obama and leaders of the lame-duck Congress may be just weeks away from shaking hands on a deal to avert the dreaded ``fiscal cliff.’’ So it’s natural to wonder: If they announce a bipartisan package promising to curb mushrooming federal deficits, will it be real? (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)


Associated Press/Carolyn Kaster, File - FILE - This Nov. 16, 2012 file photo shows President Barack Obama, accompanied by House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and leaders of the lame-duck Congress may be just weeks away from shaking hands on a deal to avert the dreaded "fiscal cliff." So it's natural to wonder: If they announce a bipartisan package promising to curb mushrooming federal deficits, will it be real?

Both sides have struck cooperative tones since Obama's re-election. Even so, he and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, the GOP's pivotal bargainer, have spent most of the past two years in an acrid political climate in which both sides have fought stubbornly to protect their constituencies.

Obama and top lawmakers could produce an agreement that takes a serious bite out of the government's growing $16 trillion pile of debt and puts it on a true downward trajectory.

Or they might reach an accord heading off massive tax increases and spending cuts that begin to bite in January — that's the fiscal cliff — while appearing to be getting tough on deficits through painful savings deferred until years from now, when their successors might revoke or dilute them. More>> Fiscal cliff: How to judge if debt cuts are real - Yahoo! News