A Democrat cannot allow spending cuts. He simply cannot.

"Don´t call my bluff," anyone?

Op is right on! No more of these continuing resolutions which do nothing more than spend trillions of dollars we don´t have for whole programs and departments we don´t need!!! In addition these resolutions allow the Senate Democrats to not even propose a budget. Just follow the Constitution for once!!!!

Shut down the government. It´s the only real way to cut spending.

gop strategy? Are you kidding? They don´t have a clue -- about anything!

Okay- thinking time: We go over to the oblivion- that´s what it is really, because no one knows what will happen. Here is a possibility- People will suffer from the recession and suffer again with the outrage of Øbama Care taxes- 2 grand a year! Yikes! That´s a lot of oatmeal, eh? We start seeing mass layoffs, food lines and "Øbama-villes" sprouting up like asparagus shoots under a wet oak tree. The government then become a very strange thing- just as under Roosevelt with the Great Depression. Desperate people don´t give a hoot whose fault it is- they just want a slice of bread for their kids every day- and really, that´s all they want! Government then has free license to do anything they want, including force people into work camps- remember, that´s exactly what CCCP and WPA was! Prison for idled youth and unemployed men, desperate to get food for their families! Prisons overflowed and pain was common- children died, and the media refused to even mention them- It took John Steinbeck to bring the real picture of what America was becoming to the public- the gvt and media kept right on painting Roosevelt cheery picture and carrying his line of "Hopeful" BS- the public, in desperation, kept right on re-electing that a-hat! This fall will not be one bit different and that is what Valerie jarrett knows!

Aternative Minimum Tax will probably hit half of all middle class taxpayers.

Those on entitlements actually make as much as the middle class, after taxes. As a landlord, I have seen $30,000 a year many times.

Both will see incomes shrink, if the ´fiscal cliff´ occurs. QE´s amounting to $1 Trillion a year, will continue to inflate the money supply. This will shrink incomes of everyone.
Merry Christmas.

All the people who voted for Obama, should put their money where their vote went - a vote for big government. They -dragging the other 47% with them - need to support total return to Clinton era taxes. You won so now you pay the freight. All my Obama friends will of course squeal like stuck pigs. They deserve nothing less.

The GOP has no strategy other than keeping their little plush lives inside the Beltway preserved, and that happens no matter who´s in power, so they just don´t give a tinker´s damn.

The legislation to increase taxes on everyone and cut spending a little is already done. This will result in increased government revenue of 4.6 trillion over 10 years and cuts of 1 trillion. Republicans should go into the debt limit talks demanding that the President match the new revenue 3:1 with cuts, or 14 trillion over 10 years.