With all the heated discussions going on in Washington, the media has coined our nation's looming fiscal crisis the "
fiscal cliff." Now when I think about that phrase, I conjure up images of daredevil base jumpers leaping out over a cliff and at the last second throwing a parachute open and floating safely back to Earth. Unfortunately we are not facing a cliff, where we will see anything go down if we go over it.
If you actually look at a chart showing the current proposals being offered in Washington, we are facing a fiscal ramp-up in spending, and in no way — in either the short- or long-term — can we match revenues to projected spending. Stop calling it a fiscal cliff, and call it what it is: a ramp-up in both taxes and spending. See the chart below developed by House Budget Committee, Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget of the White House.