Absolutely Nothing

When this nation re-elected Barack Obama to a second term, it implicitly indicated that big government was preferable to fiscal responsibility and lower debt. The majority of the people made a calculated decision that they would gain more from government handouts (to a rapidly growing dependency class), and that the handouts were preferable to a more rational stewardship of our economy. They believed Barack Obama when he told them that "the rich" don't pay their "fair share" (even though the top 20 percent of income tax payers contribute 70 percent of all income taxes collected) and therefore, must be taxed to "help balance the budget" (even though all the money collected would reduce our deficit by about 2.5 percent).

Fine. We've decided to expand an already big government and reward irresponsible spending behavior, while demonizing those who try to reign it in. No problem.

It's quite apparent that the Dems and Barack Obama have a clear-cut and probably successful strategy going forward as we approach the fiscal cliff.

1. They will demand tax increases only on "the rich."
2. They will offer absolutely no meaningful spending cuts.
3. They will demand spending increases that provide still more giveaways to the dependency class.
4. They will happily allow us to go over the "fiscal cliff," resulting in tax increases for everyone.
5. They will then blame the GOP for all of this, supported with glee by a compliant left-leaning MSM.

And the debt will keep climbing and spending will continue to grow.

Again, no problem. In fact, let's go over the cliff!

Mark Steyn comments:

Sequestration sounds like castration, only more so: it would chop off everything in sight. It would be so savage in its dismemberment of poor helpless America that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that, over the course of a decade, the sequestration cuts would reduce the federal debt by $153 billion. Sorry, I meant to put on my Dr. Evil voice for that: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE BILLION DOLLARS!!! Which is about what the United States government currently borrows every month. [Emphasis mine] No sane person could willingly countenance brutally saving a month's worth of debt over the course of a decade.

That's right—a decade!! So what we're talking about here are very small cuts distributed over 10 years with politicians on both sides of the aisle wringing their hands and telling us that Armegeddon will result. Puleeze!

Mark Steyn comments further:

I suppose it's possible to take this recurring melodrama seriously, but there's no reason to. The problem facing the United States government is that it spends over a trillion dollars a year that it doesn't have. If you want to make that number go away, you need either to reduce spending or increase revenue. With the best will in the world, you can't interpret the election result as a spectacular victory for less spending. Indeed, if nothing else, the unfortunate events of Nov. 6 should have performed the useful task of disabusing us poor conservatives that America is any kind of "center-right nation." A few months ago, I dined with a (pardon my English) French intellectual who, apropos Mitt Romney's stump-speech warnings that we were on a one-way ticket to Continental-sized dependency, chortled to me, "Americans love Big Government as much as Europeans. The only difference is that Americans refuse to admit it."

And since the 51 percent who voted for Obama have a love affair with Big Government, it's necessary to provide their lover with the money she needs to continually give us more and more gifts. That would be increased taxes—on everyone. And if that causes another recession and even greater unemployment, no worries. It's the GOP's fault, right, because Barack Obama negotiated in good faith, right? And besides, he's never to blame for anything, right?

And to compensate for increasing unemployment, we'll just extend unemployment compensation even further (as Obama recommended this week) and increase our deficits even more. And when we need even more "revenue," we'll increase taxes yet again. Round and around we go, until we run out of money.

We're just livin' the fantasy ... nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing.