Fiscal Cliff: Pictures, Videos, Breaking News

Fiscal Cliff:
Pictures, Videos, Breaking News

+

Frist verfehlt: Repräsentantenhaus stimmt erst am Dienstag ab
Drama am Silvestertag: Im US-Haushaltsstreit gibt es eine neue Wende. Ein Kompromiss rückt zwar millimeterweise näher, aber die angestrebte Einigung bis Silvester Mitternacht (06.00 Uhr MEZ) wird es nicht geben. Wie der TV-Sender CNN berichtet, wird das von Republikanern beherrschte Repräsentantenhaus trotz einer Annäherung nicht mehr am Montag abstimmen. Die Kammer trete erst am Neujahrstag wieder zusammen.
Handelsblatt, 31.12.2012, 23:25h tagesschau.de

+

Washington Post

+

Huffingtonpost

+

politico

+

Guardian

+

tagessschau.de

+

Lousy Deal on the Edge of the Cliff
The deal emerging from the Senate is a lousy one. Let me count the ways:

1. Republicans haven’t conceded anything on the debt ceiling, so over the next two months – as the Treasury runs out of tricks to avoid a default – Republicans are likely to do exactly what they did before, which is to hold their votes on raising the ceiling hostage to major cuts in programs for the poor and in Medicare and Social Security.
2. The deal makes tax cuts for the rich permanent (extending the Bush tax cuts for incomes up to $400,000 if filing singly and $450,000 if jointly) while extending refundable tax credits for the poor (child tax credit, enlarged EITC, and tuition tax credit) for only five years. There’s absolutely no justification for this asymmetry.
3. It doesn’t get nearly enough revenue from the wealthiest 2 percent — only $600 billion over the next decade, which is half of what the President called for, and a small fraction of the White House’s goal of more than $4 trillion in deficit reduction. That means more of the burden of tax hikes and spending cuts in future years will fall on the middle class and the poor.
4. It continues to exempt the first $5 million of inherited wealth from the estate tax (the exemption used to be $1 million). This is a huge gift to the heirs of the wealthy, perpetuating family dynasties of the idle rich.

Yes, the deal finally gets Republicans to accept a tax increase on the wealthy, but this is an inside-the-Beltway symbolic victory. If anyone believes this will make the GOP more amenable to future tax increases, they don’t know how rabidly extremist the GOP has become.

The deal also extends unemployment insurance for more than 2 million long-term unemployed. That’s important.

But I can’t help believe the President could have done better than this. After all, public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side. Republicans would have been blamed had no deal been achieved.

More importantly, the fiscal cliff is on the President’s side as well. If we go over it, he and the Democrats in the next Congress that starts later this week can quickly offer legislation that grants a middle-class tax cut and restores most military spending. Even rabid Republicans would be hard-pressed not to sign on.
Prof. Robert Reich

+

Mitch McConnell: Fiscal Cliff Deal Is Close
Huffingtonpost

+

Obama drängt Kongress zu Kompromiss
Im US-Haushaltsstreit scheint eine Einigung nahe. Präsident Obama hat einen möglichen Kompromiss vorgestellt, auf den sich Demokraten und Republikaner verständigen könnten. Allerdings muss der Kongress noch zustimmen. „Bisher ist es nicht geschafft“, sagte Obama.
SpOn

+

Obama’s TV-Ansprache zum Stand der Verhandlungen

+

Vize Biden muss es richten
Handelsblatt

+

Fiskalklippe rückt immer näher: US-Kongress macht Überstunden
Ein letzter Versuch soll den Haushaltsstreit in den USA noch beilegen. Dazu kommt der Kongress zu einer Silvester-Sitzung zusammen. Jedoch ist weiter von großen Differenzen die Rede. Präsident Obama schlägt derweil einen Notfallplan vor. Dabei könnten beide Seiten auch Vorteile aus der drohenden Fiskalklippe ziehen.
N-TV

+

Asia stocks wilt hours before US fiscal cliff hits
With just hours left before the U.S. hits the „fiscal cliff,“ stocks on the other side of the world wilted as investors sold off riskier assets to lock in profits just in case budget negotiations fail in Washington.
[…]

Still, the failure to adhere to the deadline will be bad for investor confidence, according to Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.

„I think the market reaction to that will be very negative. This means the U.S. will never be able to bring its house in order. And the deficit will continue to accumulate,“ Lun said. „No meaningful reform and no solution in sight. You can throw confidence out of the window.“

The uncertainty drove down stock markets on the last trading day of the year. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to 4,648.90. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, trading for a half-day, was flat at 22,668.48. Benchmarks in New Zealand, Singapore and India also declined. Mainland Chinese stocks rose. Markets in Japan and South Korea were closed for the New Year’s holidays.
[…]
news.yahoo

+

cbc news- Dec 30, 2012 10:54 PM ET

+

‚Fiscal cliff‘ deal in U.S. proving elusive
[…]
‚Significant distance‘ between parties
One sign of progress came as Republicans withdrew a long-discussed proposal to slow future cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients as part of a compromise to avoid the cliff. Democrats said earlier Sunday that proposal had put a damper on the talks, and Republican senators emerging from a closed-door Republican meeting said it is no longer part of the equation.
[…]
Income threshold for higher taxes a sticking point
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said the two sides remained at odds over the income threshold for higher tax rates and tax levels on large estates. Republicans said that Democratic demands for new money to prevent a cut in Medicare payments to doctors and renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed should be financed with cuts elsewhere in the budget.
[…]
Some differences among Democrats
The estate tax issue was particularly tricky since several Democrats, including veterans like Max Baucus of Montana, disagree with Obama’s proposal to increase the top estate tax rate from 35 per cent to 45 per cent.
[…]
CBC

+

VIDEO-CLIPS

+

Understanding the ‚fiscal cliff‘
Al Jazeera’s John Terrett, reporting from Washington DC, explains what the „fiscal cliff“ means and what Americans can expect if US lawmakers fail to reach a deal to avoid it.

+

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) Blames Senate for Impasse on ‚Fiscal Cliff‘ Talks

videocafe [5:06 Min] – interessanter Ansatz zur Aufarbeitung des Themas teilweise mit historischem Bezug

+

Reid Blames Boehner ‚Dictatorship‘

.

+

The ‚fiscal cliff‘ blame game

.

.

---