NBC's Today show spent nearly 20 minutes Tuesday morning discussing Princess
Kate's recently announced pregnancy, including a report from London by a
hastily dispatched reporter, before it even brought up the fiscal cliff.
The gamble on what morning-TV watchers are really interested in probably
paid off. Not even Wall Street seems terribly concerned with the early gambits
being made by Republicans and Democrats to avoid the looming economic calamity
they manufactured to foster bipartisanship.
"It is curious that so many investors think the chances of going over the
'fiscal cliff' are so low," the Wall Street Journal's Justin Lahart said
Tuesday. "It is even stranger that they don't seem to be doing anything to
protect themselves in case they are wrong."
A check of the malls and Internet sales of Christmas gifts suggests
consumers, too, have decided not to get too agitated over the combination of
spending cuts and tax hikes that are supposed to automatically kick in next
month unless Congress and the president can agree on a deficit-reduction plan.
Many apparently have decided that, while a cliff dive may be inevitable,
like bungee jumping, it doesn't have to be fatal. It seems experience has
taught Americans that Congress doesn't do anything until the last minute, and
that its budget solutions last only long enough to grow the next fiscal
crisis.
House Speaker John Boehner did finally offer an alternative to President
Obama's proposal to raise tax rates for those earning more than $250,000
annually. But the Republican plan was just as vague as presidential candidate
Mitt Romney's as to which tax deductions and loopholes it would close to slice
the deficit. Is it any wonder people feel as if they're watching a chess game?
It's not that people don't care about falling off the fiscal cliff, but
after investing so much emotion in a divisive presidential election, they are
reluctant to jump right back into a fight when the antagonists are still only
probing each other's vulnerability.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
