Happy New Year to All...and to the Fiscal Cliff

In a few hours, dear readers, it will be 2013, a new year with the usual resolutions of both individuals and governments to do better. Unfortunately, the New Year 2013 will be remembered by Americans as the year when we went over the fiscal cliff. The House is going to end today's session without a vote. The Senate is still in session and is expected to vote on a stopgap measure tonight. The House will be back in session tomorrow and could take the Senate bill, if passed, under consideration. But stopgap is the right word because it appears that the Senate bill does not address the larger issues in the fiscal problem -- there will be no mention of a balanced budget or a plan to reduce the national debt. So, what we will see is a compromise about which taxpayers will see their rates move back up above 39% and which federal agency budgets will be saved from cuts under the "sequester" that was voted into place in 2011 to force the Congress and President to get serious about the federal budget and debt and tax mess. It seems that 'getting serious' means that we are going to get a little chip at a corner of the mess instead of the hammer blow needed to solve the problem. Instead of "kicking the can down the road," President Obama and Congress are now thinking bigger and "kicking the fiscal cliff down the road." All I can say, dear readers, is that I wish each of you and your families and loved ones a very Happy New Year.