Fiscal cliff - could be worse

...I think the American Enterprise Institute has summed up the current state of the GOP quite correctly:

.... the problem I mentioned with the GOP, ... The only reason they are opposed to any and all healthcare reform is because ....

People who don't have means don't deserve to live. It's relevant because that's your position on healthcare.

Congress will apparently return on Sunday. Let's see what happens.

Could it be that they will heroically save the world from the problem they themselves created?

. . . .
Absent a solution — or even a pathway to a bill — senators whiled away the hours without any agreement, debating and voting on amendments to a surveillance measure, pondering hurricane aid, and swearing in a new senator from Hawaii. Retiring senators, who had anticipated that their services would no longer be needed, worked in offices in varying states of disassembly, their staffs pecking out e-mails on iPads because their computers had been carted away.
. . . .
The Congressional impasse over how to avoid tax increases and spending cuts has left this entire city gripping Starbucks cups procured from Georgetown to Capitol Hill, bearing the message “come together,” to wait in low-grade misery for the next chapter in the drama. This would be Sunday night, when House members arrive, just ahead of New Year’s Eve at the summons of their leaders, who decided Thursday that they could not afford to be home killing time while Senate Democratic leaders took to C-Span to take shots at the absent House.

. . . .

Could it be that they will heroically save the world from the problem they themselves created?

Monday morning will be interesting. I imagine the equities markets will pop up with a deal, and tank if there is no deal.

The last several days have been pretty volatile.

Monday morning will be interesting. I imagine the equities markets will pop up with a deal, and tank if there is no deal.

The last several days have been pretty volatile.

I expect that anything that might be signed in the next week or two still won't be viewed favorably by the markets.

Monday could be a double whammy!

The U.S. Will Hit the Debt Ceiling on Monday
http://news.yahoo.com/u-hit-debt-cei...124731632.html


http://live.wsj.com/video/us-to-hit-...C-1FEF3867FA41

Then the deficit has grown worse. Some months ago the next debt ceiling was not to be reached before late January.

The Senate passed the emergency-spending bill for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts on Friday night.

The 62-32 vote came after the Senate worked all day Friday on amendments to H.R. 1, a vehicle to provide $60.4 billion to storm recovery efforts.

. . .

I wonder if that has to do with the supplemental bill for Hurricane Sandy.

Senate votes in favor of $60B Hurricane Sandy emergency-spending bill...

(Reuters) - Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax.

But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.

. . . .

Wall Street Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier
http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-we...1--sector.html
Except that Geitner, US Secy of Treasury, indicated that the US government would hit the debt ceiling on Mon - or maybe Tuesday.

Makes one wonder if anyone in Washington is paying attention.

At this point, I would expect debt ceiling as well as the tax law would be under discussion.