Cliffhanger

Thelma and Louise live. The car didn’t plunge off the cliff; the front wheels are dangling over the edge, and for the moment, the rear wheels are still on solid ground. But the fact remains that the folks in Washington did as close to nothing as they could.

The can got kicked all right, but even “down the road” is euphemistic. I’m happy for those whose 401(k)s are heading up right now, but I still think that as Americans, our faces should be beet red this morning because the Congress and the White House put us through this, and failed to take the smallest of steps to keep it from happening again in two months. China is upset with us today, and deservedly so: 70 percent of its investments are here. The bill also left out relief for Superstorm Sandy losses.

I am not a deficit hawk by any means. It’s clear that if cuts are too severe, we’ll go into recession, but there has to be some sort of reasonable balance, and pain has to be shared. Cuts have to be made, but the wealthy (meaning much higher than $400,000 per) have gotten used to drastically lower tax rates than in earlier decades. The shared pain has to be something tolerable.

I’ve always felt that the economy doesn’t owe anyone a living. Nor does government. Needs change, including the need for certain kinds of jobs. Today’s source of income may not be tomorrow’s. Evolution is an irresistible force.

We all love instant solutions, but it’s very likely there won’t be an immediate bailout. We’re going to have to sit in the boat with our feet in the water up to our knees for a while. What government has to do is at least keep the boat floating. Apparently, that job will be up to the new Congress, not the one we have now.