“We are both heading for the cliff. Who jumps first is the Chicken.”
– Rebel Without A Cause
Post-election, both Democrats and Republicans have promised to compromise and avoid the fiscal cliff.
So what would you consider a compromise? A little tax increase, perhaps, along with some spending cuts, then call it a day? That’s not happening.
Apparently, by “compromise,” they mean not giving an inch. With the end of the year just a month away, both parties seem to be digging in and playing a game of chicken.
President Obama doubled down by calling for a $1.6 trillion tax increase – twice the increase that will take place if no action is taken and we go over the fiscal cliff. Media has focused on a couple of Republicans who have said that they will break their pledge of no tax increase … but mostly there has been talk and no concrete plan for avoiding the fiscal cliff.
Remember the scene in “Rebel Without a Cause,” where two cars race toward a cliff and the first driver to jump out of the car is “the Chicken?” The winner went over the cliff and died in a fireball as his car slammed into the ground.
Real life is resembling that 1955 film, but this time when the car goes over the cliff we will all be along for the ride.