@stonebat I think you know the answer to what they will do about it.. Nothing that will work. Taxing the rich? No matter what the left wing and media say, the rich already pay more taxes than both the middle and lower classes do(combined). Anything you do to single them out will result in less investment and less hiring= recession. Taxing the middle class? Nobody will buy stuff and the "rich" that own the companies who aren't selling stuff will scale back investment and hiring= recession. Taxing the poor? Can't get blood from a stone, the government assistance % will go from 47% to well over 60%(my estimate) and the government will be deeper in the deficit/debt and investors will stop investing and hiring=recession.

The ONLY way to fix this is cutting the spending. LOCK the government spending for FY2013 to FY2008 levels and then start scaling back active military programs(read: wars) and foreign aid(read: bribes for other governments to do what we want) and start a 3rd party audit of both the federal reserve and military(starting with the pentagon). Claims of fraudulent accounting are rampant in both. Repeal Obamacare and re-write it so that it does not have 2000+ pages of pork barrel additions that have nothing to do with healthcare, does not favor the insurance industry and does not EXCLUDE anyone, including congress. Require balanced budget amendment and punitive plan for congress should the budget become unbalanced(how about minimum wage for congress while a budget is not balanced? Bet it would be balanced in record time...).

That's just a start. But it won't happen because it would make constituents unhappy. These are politicians. Avoiding controversy and being re-elected are their top agendas, not passing laws that are the correct thing to do for the citizens even though they might be unpopular.

Do not worry.

So called "Fiscal Cliff" is now deing used as a tool. Both to distract you and also to find something to blame for.