Fiscal Cliff = Military Cuts. That alone tells you there WILL be a deal...

[Junkdrawer]

Frankly, I'd pay a little in extra income tax if they cut the military and let SS and Medicare alone. If nothing else, just to set a precedent that the military COULD be cut.

[MADem]

1. There's a drawdown coming anyway...this will just give a bit o' cover for it. nt

[cbrer]

2. There's plenty of fat to trim.

I'm writing this from Kabul. I will not even try to describe the piles of unused equipment. The building supplies wasted. The construction we'll walk away from.

The priorities lay in 2 main areas. Getting out of Afghanistan. Maintaining the growing consesnus in the American populace.

I'm convinced we can do anything with those!

*edited for redundancy...

[sad sally]

6. Stay safe and hope those of us* stateside can make that end happen sooner rather than waiting until

the "magic" 2014 date - which will be too late for some.

*those who support the troops but don't support the forever wars the US MIC and politicians want to be 'enduring.'

[cbrer]

7. *Fair Disclosure*

I'm a contractor. Not a soldier. But we all witness waste!

[Junkdrawer]

3. Interesting read: "The fiscal cliff is an austerity crisis"

Reading the headlines this week, you might get the impression that the country was hurtling towards a huge deficit catastrophe on Dec. 31. From the front page of Thursday’s New York Times (“Back to Work: Obama Greeted by Looming Fiscal Crisis”) to today’s Wall Street Journal (“Pressure Rises on Fiscal Crisis”), the rhetoric suggests that the U.S. is facing a crisis akin to problems that have engulfed Europe. (A Yahoo headline from 2011: “The U.S. Fiscal Crisis: Just Like Greece, With One Exception.”)

In fact, the problem with the fiscal cliff is precisely the opposite: The tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that would kick in after Dec 31 would sharply curb our federal deficit through enacting major, sudden austerity measures that would save the U.S. government about $720 billion in 2013 alone, according to the Bank of America’s estimates, which would be about 5.1 percent of GDP.

“If we let all of those changes [happen], there would be a sharp reduction in the budget deficit—in decline in debt to GDP, falling deficits as a share of GDP,” says Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “It’s all a dream for people who want really sharp austerity.”

So the reason that the fiscal cliff could push us into another recession in 2013 is because it enacts too much deficit reduction upfront, not too little. By contrast, the reason that Europe became mired in a fiscal crisis in the first place is because profligate nations haven’t done enough to curb their spending and raise revenue to their more fiscally responsible neighbors’ satisfaction.

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/11/09/the-fiscal-cliff-is-an-austerity-crisis/

[Scuba]

4. That would be the Tea Party's Fiscal Cliff. And you are correct.

[beachbumbob]

5. I believe the GOP house will try to force

obama and come jan 1, all out taxes go up and spending cuts kick in........I suspect the zealots to keep doing what they do, deny reality

no big deal, I'm prepared to pay more if that what its takes to put the dagger in the heart of the gop

[PD Turk]

8. What Obama should do IMO

About this "fiscal cliff" thing. He should send boner this simple message. " Okay John let's go, do you want to be Thelma or Louise?"

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Defense spending isn't as sacred as it was in the previous decade

I think there's a very real chance that the defense cuts stand to some extent.