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Subscribe to RSSWith three weeks to go to avoid the fiscal cliff, President Barack Obama will travel to a Detroit auto plan and attempt to sell his plan to raise taxes on the top two percent of Americans.
The “fiscal cliff” end game… If there’s going to be a deal, Obama, Boehner, and Congress need to start the heavy lifting ASAP… Kristol vs. the Wall Street Journal on caving on the tax rates… Motoring! Obama delivers remarks at 2:00 pm ET at a Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, MI… And in Michigan, the president will set foot in the state featuring the nation’s latest labor battle… The hits keep on coming for Susan Rice… The upcoming immigration push… Hillary and 2016… And meet Markwayne Mullen.
*** The end game: We’ve told you that the last couple of weeks in Washington’s fiscal debate have mostly been about P.R. and posturing. Like a student in college or a reporter working in the news business, the real work in Congress typically doesn’t happen until there’s a real deadline that’s rapidly approaching. Well, we’ve now entered that deadline phase in the negotiations between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. If the plan is to get something passed by Friday, Dec. 21 (right before the Christmas holiday), then the legislation has to be written by Dec. 18. And that means that Obama and Boehner must reach an agreement by Dec. 14-15, if there’s going to be a deal. So the time for posturing and P.R. is over. This week, we’ve reached the phase where both sides will begin rolling up their sleeves to do the heavy negotiating. Both Obama and Boehner know this, which is why they did meet behind closed doors yesterday. The question now is: Will there be a BIG deal that includes serious entitlement hits in addition to major tax reform? Or will it be JUST taxes and a punt until the debt ceiling? There’s not much of an “in between” at this point.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, talks with reporters outside his office in the Capitol Dec. 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.
*** Kristol vs. the Wall Street Journal: In addition to yesterday’s news that the president and the speaker met, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) became the latest GOP lawmaker to suggest that Republicans acquiesce on raising tax rates on the wealthy to get entitlement cuts. And that’s a stance the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page today criticizes. “So it's a shame that Republicans are playing into Mr. Obama's hands, negotiating in public among themselves, prematurely giving up on the tax issue and undermining House Speaker John Boehner in the process. Mr. Obama isn't going to blink on the budget if he thinks Republicans are going to blink first, and so far the emerging GOP position seems to be to surrender on taxes first and hope Mr. Obama will have mercy on them later on entitlements.” But the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol hits back at the Journal. “Most Republicans will go along soon after January 1 with what will now be the Democrats' tax cutting agenda. If the House Republicans now follow the Wall Street Journal editors over the cliff, the only effect, I'm afraid, will be to turn a manageable tactical retreat in December into a panicked strategic rout in January.” There is good news for Boehner in all of this: The lack of consensus among conservatives gives Boehner more running room to cut the deal he thinks is best, rather than over-worrying about specific conservative constituencies. Remember, the House GOP leadership won’t say it publicly, but they’ve signaled privately that under the RIGHT circumstance, they’d go to the floor of the House with less than a majority of the majority.
Former Michigan Republican Governor John Engler, who is the president of the business roundtable, joins The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd to talk about President Barack Obama's trip the Michigan, the fiscal cliff, and Michigan's 'right to work' law.
*** Motoring! Your White House fiscal-cliff photo-op of the day takes place in Michigan, where the president delivers remarks at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant at 2:00 pm ET in Redford. Per the Detroit Free Press, Daimler, which owns Detroit Diesel, is announcing “a new investment to expand U.S. production and jobs... The White House said the investment is expected to be $100 million or more and, with it, Daimler Trucks North America will become the first heavy-duty vehicle equipment manufacturer on the continent to build a fully integrated powertrain from on production facility.” So today’s even will be a mixture of the fiscal cliff and this Daimler news.
*** Michigan’s labor battle: Yet when Obama visits Michigan, he’ll be setting foot in the state featuring the nation’s latest labor battle. “With Michigan lawmakers poised Tuesday to give final passage of right-to-work legislation, unions and their supporters plan to mass outside the Capitol that day as part of a last-ditch bid to derail the fast-moving campaign to limit labor's power,” the Detroit News says. “If lawmakers reconcile the bills and pass a final version Tuesday — as expected — Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will sign it, making Michigan the 24th right-to-work state and dealing a major blow to organized labor in one of its traditional strongholds.” Out of all the new Republican governors who were elected in 2010, Michigan’s Rick Snyder was always viewed as the least ideological of the bunch. So when Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, or Rick Scott in Florida were pursuing controversial changes and legislation and confronting the labor movement, Snyder -- who calls himself “one tough nerd” -- stayed away from the ideological wars and focused on the economy. In fact, he even appeared to support Obama’s auto bailout. But now the Michigan governor finds himself knee deep in the same kind of controversy we saw in Wisconsin and Ohio. By the way, while we do expect Snyder to greet the president at the airport, don’t expect to see Snyder with the president at the Chrysler event because it’s taking place at a UAW facility.
*** Hits keep coming for Rice: It’s no longer Benghazi, or even the Keystone XL Pipeline. Critics of Susan Rice are now pointing to the Obama administration’s failure to intervene in the atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The New York Times: “Specifically, these critics — who include officials of human rights organizations and United Nations diplomats — say the administration has not put enough pressure on Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, to end his support for the rebel movement whose recent capture of the strategic city of Goma in Congo set off a national crisis in a country that has already lost more than three million people in more than a decade of fighting. Rwanda’s support is seen as vital to the rebel group, known as M23.” And the Times reports that Rice has been viewed as shielding Kagame. And then there’s a New York Times op-ed from journalist Salem Solomon, who accuses Rice of showing “a surprising and unsettling sympathy for Africa’s despots.” This is the problem for Rice as long as President Obama doesn’t officially appoint her (or John Kerry) to fill the secretary of state position: She’s dangling like a piñata for critics to whack, without an official campaign to defend her. But with the fiscal cliff taking up more and more time and this secretary of state issue becoming such a headache for the administration, there’s a very real chance the president doesn’t announce any new cabinet members until AFTER the new year.
*** The upcoming immigration push: Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times noted that the Obama White House is preparing for a big push on comprehensive immigration reform after the “fiscal cliff” negotiations end. “Senior White House advisors plan to launch a social media blitz in January, and expect to tap the same organizations and unions that helped get a record number of Latino voters to reelect the president. Cabinet secretaries are preparing to make the case for how changes in immigration laws could benefit businesses, education, healthcare and public safety. Congressional committees could hold hearings on immigration legislation as soon as late January or early February.” More: “Democratic strategists believe there is only a narrow window at the beginning of the year to get an initiative launched in Congress, before lawmakers begin to turn their attention to the next election cycle and are less likely to take a risky vote on a controversial bill.”
*** Hillary and 2016: On Sunday, the New York Times ran a “Hillary 2016” story, and we all should prepare for these kind of stories once a month until she decides to run (or not) for president. “Right now, aides and friends say, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plan looks like this: exit the State Department shortly after Inauguration Day and then seclude herself to rest and reflect on what she wants to do for the next few years. Those who have invited her for 2013 engagements have been told not to even ask again until April or May.” The Times does make this important point: If she does want to keep the presidential door open, her options are limited. “The more serious she is about 2016, the less she can do — no frank, seen-it-all memoir; no clients, commissions or controversial positions that could prove problematic. She will be under heavy scrutiny even by Clinton standards, discovering what it means to be a supposedly private citizen in the age of Twitter. With the election four years away — a political eon — she will have to tend and protect her popularity, and she may find herself in a cushy kind of limbo, unable to make many decisions about her life until she makes the big one about another White House try.”
*** Meet Markwayne Mullin: NBC’s Carrie Dann has profiled 10 new members to watch in the next Congress. Today’s profile: Markwayne Mullen. When his father's illness forced Mullin to quit college and take over the family plumbing business, the 20-year-old and his wife turned a flailing enterprise into a small eastern Oklahoma empire. Mullin, now 35, won the House seat vacated by retiring Rep. Dan Boren, running under the banner "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician!" The Tulsa native -- a social conservative who vehemently opposes "amnesty" proposals -- has promised to take a no-frills attitude to the halls of Congress. Casually dressed on election night, he joked with supporters that he defied his campaign staff's request that he wear a suit to deliver his victory speech. "They got me this far, and boots are going to take me all the way there and bring me all the way back" from Washington, he said.
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Obama Quote of the Decade:
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006~
AJ Oh exactly right. SS has nothing to do with the deficit. It is the borrowing against it that causes the problem. Right now SS can pay 100% for the next 21 years. They need to raise the cap to$250,000 from $113,000
In France i think Boehner is prononced Boner..... If the Repub. do this again, They better start looking for new jobs because they will not get voted back in agian.... Aprox 50% of the people make less than $30,000 a year (this includes college grads and new teachers ect.). and Boner is saying lets raise your taxes before we give up the 2% rich or anyone making $250,000 or more.....
People are sick of the spoil little republicons,that's why we keep voting them out.
Next,the tea bagger assmholes will be all removed bye 2020
"bye" is right, to you anyway.
My insurance benefits were cut significantly and my premiums are going up 92% in January.
Thanks Obama!
If 80%+ is not for health care like using it for commercials you should be getting a nice check back.
Stew exaggerates.
You mean SS and Medicare? Just as in all prior administrations Stevie Wonder?
The mid terms will not be kind tomthe tea baggers
President Obama in a Sept. 13, 2010 phone call to battery maker A123 Systems, congratulating the firm on using the bulk of a $249 million government grant to open new facilities in Michigan.
Read more: #ixzz2EfLdQDEa
Just goes to show that this President has no clue to what he is doing. This company now is on its way to China. So where is the $249 million that belongs to the people? Another failed venture by this administration. So anyone out there have a clue as to what this President is up to, because he sure the heck doesn't and never has. He's talking about raising taxes and yet he is allowing $249 million to be flushed down the toilet just like the rest of his failed projects. It is apparent that this President does not care about what he has done to the economy of this country. He has more money than Romney. The more taxes that he gets in the more he will keep on spending and will ask for more and will continue to raise the debt ceiling. With him there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The company is expanding to China to sell to the Chinese. Otherwise all stays here.
Doug, the fact that you believe Obama has more money then Romney shows you haven't got a clue. You can go to Obamas site today and look at his taxes. Obama hasn't got near the kind of money Romney has and yet he is still trying to raise his own taxes.
Obama Quote of the Decade:
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006~
As Long as the house is divided with rich folks we the people loose, every time, period. Dont believe me? Well we are in this (these) situation(s) for a reason. Face fact
We are done, financially and mentally and just about spiritually, with these losers that have ran our country into the ground,
Stand Up my fellow Americans, demand that we have a new party in capitol hill, us, The American Citizens, and we will make a change. Since supposedly we decide who "runs" this country, why are we still allowing these baboons to do so when anyone who lives here only talks about corrupt politicians, financial bloodhounds, people who constantly scheme against us, and the decaying of what was once our Great Country?
We have become so childishly dependent on the Gov that we ha for some reason we believe that "this can be the only way" for things to work, HA
You really think its these failures that make societies work?
Please,
If we are this close to "falling off the cliff" and we are allowing it to happen, this scares me, it scares me that supposedly "FREE" peoples will simply let the people who supposedly represent us and "watch out" for us do this without doing so much as simply even spreading the word that WE need to do something FOR US.
But maybe thats just too damn much for a nation of "FREE" adults.
Thanks for robbing your kids blind of their futures,
Cordially,
The Now Enslaved Kids of America
P.S.
I just simply love how the video above is titled "Obama Sells Fiscal Cliff Proposal to Americans"
Thats all this whole thing is , a bag of crap the Commander in Chief has to sell us to make us foolishly think that "Everything is OK"..for now
man, they now are so blatantly titling things the actual way they are its amusing as all get out
If the plan is to get something passed by Friday, Dec. 21 (right before the Christmas holiday), then the legislation has to be written by Dec. 18. And that means that Obama and Boehner must reach an agreement by Dec. 14-15, if there’s going to be a deal. So the time for posturing and P.R. is over. This week, we’ve reached the phase where both sides will begin rolling up their sleeves to do the heavy negotiating. Both Obama and Boehner know this, which is why they did meet behind closed doors yesterday. The question now is: Will there be a BIG deal that includes serious entitlement hits in addition to major tax reform?
After the Super Bowl, the so-called cliff won't matter much! Fellow citizens do not panic, the present administration is trying to use a scare tactic, in order for them to get their vested interest going. They know that if investors start panic selling the market, there is always a number of individuals who'd take advantage of shorting their favorite stocks. Who these people are we do not know. But if they're in control, then, you might know who they are.
No panic selling please, just stay the course! Consult your financial experts, or your CPA's.
Closing so called loopholes is the same as raising rates. To a Democrat a child credit or mortgage interest is a loophole.
All the wealth is in the blue state,all the poverty is in the red states as well asloweriq s fat people ect. Haha hehe hoho
F**K You Mr Inability.
Christmas has been canceled here pending the impeachment of scrooge. The fastest way to removing Obama and his cronies from office is give him everything they want. He'll either succeed or be exiled during the revolt.
“The work you’re doing will help power the American economy for years to come.”
-- President Obama in a Sept. 13, 2010 phone call to battery maker A123 Systems, congratulating the firm on using the bulk of a $249 million government grant to open new facilities in Michigan.
President Obama travels to Detroit today to talk about the need for increased taxes on top earners to finance federal spending, and is using an announcement of a $100 million investment from German auto giant Daimler to illustrate that his economic prescription is working.
Obama is not likely to discuss another big business story of the day – the sale of the assets of battery maker A123 to a Chinese competitor. A123 spent at least $132 million of its $249 million stimulus package grant to build two Detroit-area factories, including one in Livonia, right next door to Redford Township,
Assuming a bankruptcy judge and the Obama Treasury Department approve of the sale of A123’s assets to Wanxiang Group, the Chinese battery maker would immediately become the dominant force in the industry.
So for $256.6 million, the Chinese firm would get all that the stimulus package purchased plus the company’s existing operations in Massachusetts and Missouri and have the chance to pare down the company to profitability without the overhead of A123’s debt.
A very good deal to be sure, but not one that American firms were willing to take on. As the president has often said, China and its economic central planners are betting very big on the battery business – for cars, for the electric grid, etc. And with A123, they get to take advantage of not only their own government subsidies, but those provided by American taxpayers.
An additional irony: Whatever share of the original $249 million stimulus grant that the Treasury borrowed from China will still have to be paid back. The boys in Beijing must be having a happy Monday. Obama gave A123 lots of subsidy money to expand to compete with subsidized Chinese firms and the subsidized Chinese firms win anyway.
The president today will be arguing on behalf of his proposal to raise taxes on top earners in order to prevent tax increases on middle-income earners and to pay for increased short-term domestic spending that can help lure firms like Daimler to expand and invest in the United States. By hiring more teachers, the American workforce will be better educated; by spending more on infrastructure, corporations will be encouraged to grow; etc.
This comes as the president is doing his best to scatter his Republican foes on the issue of higher taxes. Republicans keep looking to make concessions, but Obama keeps talking tough and staying on the campaign trail.
The growing realization in Washington is that the president means to make the so-called “Fiscal Cliff” not the end of a long-running series, but the pilot for a spinoff in which Republicans are cast as the villains again, but this time on the run.
A headline in Sunday’s New York Times said it all: “Tax Arithmetic Shows Top Rate Is Just a Starter.” The higher tax rates on top earners the president is looking at would only cover about a quarter of the $1.6 trillion in new taxes the president is seeking over the next decade.
Starting next year, the top 20 percent of American households will see their federal taxes go up by an estimated average of $6,000 to finance the new health-insurance entitlement created by Obama’s 2010 health law. Even former DNC Chairman, Howard Dean recently said, "Taxes need to go up on everyone in the United States." Yeah, that's right, me you and the other "47%".
In addition to that and the rate hike Obama is seeking in his negotiations, Obama will need lots and lots more tax revenue to finance his domestic programs, even while continuing to run $1 trillion deficits. Thats DEFICITS!!! Not INCOME!!!
Investment taxes and inheritance taxes would make up another $526 billion of Obama’s $1.6 trillion quasi-budget proposal, on top of the $442 billion that would come from higher rates. The rest of the money comes from some accounting changes and other gimmicky cuts.
Republicans are desperate to talk about cutting Medicare and Social Security, and would seemingly do anything to get on to that discussion. Party elders are increasingly urging Republicans to move on from all the tax talk so that they can get busy expressing their enthusiasm for reductions to beloved existing entitlement programs.
What Republicans seem less willing to talk about is what in the heck the president plans to do with the money. Obama isn’t shy about telling people, even to the point of today being just a few miles away from the site one of the worst disasters of his stimulus package to tout the need for stimulus spending. Obama seeme hell bent on Bankrupting this country.
Obama invited House Speaker John Boehner to the White House over the weekend to talk about how the Republicans should concede on taxes, but today flies out to keep the pressure on Boehner for the need for MORE SPENDING! WHY?!
Obama is out talking about growth while Republicans are debating how much to raise taxes and how much to cut entitlements. Merry Christmas.
If Republicans can’t use the example of Obama pitching spending in Detroit the day after beneficiary of a previous Detroit subsidy fell into the arms of the CHINESE to make the case against his spending proposals, they might as well go home for Christmas now....
Bush should have never initiated the tax cuts in the 1st place. Probably would have only given Obama more money to misappropriate, but maby we'd be better off now. Using the rich as a "scape goat" may elevate some of the envy, jealously, and hatred of successful people expressed by the takers. Taking from builders may at least pacify takers for awhile. Of course, builders will just pass it on to us by raising costs of everything.
OH MY GOD SAVE THE RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!
GREED!! GREED!! TEA-PUBLICANS/ Heritage Foundation a fascist organization all of one policy !! RUN BY RICH BENT ON DESTROYING THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!
Fascism: a governmental system led by a SINGLE PARTY having complete power, TEA-PUBLICANS forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc.( VERY CLOSE TO CAPITALISM), and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT!!! WILL YOU LIKE IT???????????????
WATCH OUT PEOPLE WE ARE IN FOR A ROUGH TIME IN AMERICAN HISTORY!!!
They will soon be paid in bananas.
We can all post our beliefs & crap here, but how many of us have written our elected represenitive in Washington.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH) http: //boehner.house.gov/contact/ phone 202-225-6205
Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) http: //cantor.house.gov/contact/ phone 202-225-2815
Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) https: //forms.house.gov/kevinmccarthy/webforms/issue— … phone 202-225-4965
Tell them how you feel about taxes going up on 98% to all of us, just to spare the 2%.
Write the congressman of your own district as well.
I am actually ok with all the tax cuts going away if thats what it takes to get the 2% to pay their fair share!
HOLD YOUR GROUND 44!
None of you republicons have a leg to to stand on.
Obama will,do,what is,right for the nation,not one group,,sorry chumps
Sorry Mrability, but as President, Obama does not have the authority to raise taxes on any one. And if the speaker and repubs don't give in to the leftist president, ALL of our taxes will go back to the Clinton taxes.
Maybe you should look up A123 battery company and tell me how that was right for the country chump.
ZeroHedge.com: Folks getting what they voted for, More people on welfare!
And we thought last month's delayed foodstamp data was bad. The just reported foodstamp number for September was a doozy, with 607,544 new Americans becoming eligible for foodstamps, as a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty at least according to the USDA. The monthly increase was the highest since May 2011, and with August's 421K new impoverished America, over 1 million Americans made the EBT card their new best friend. It is unclear just which atmospheric phenomenon will get the blame for this unprecedented surge in poverty, which comes at a time when the pre-election economic data euphoria was adamant that the US economy was on an escape velocity to utopia.
Instead what we do know is that in August and September, over three times as many foodstamp recipients were add to the economy as jobs (324,000). We also know that with the imminent impact of Sandy, which will send foodstamp recipients soaring, it is now looking quite possible that the US may end 2012 with just over a mindboggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person, instead of working. Welcome to the recovery indeed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest report on food stamp program participation through September today. I received the email alerting me to the release at 5:17 p.m., so it seems reasonable to believe that USDA and the Barack Obama administration wanted the new data to get as little attention as possible (as will be seen later, it's currently getting none). If so, they have two probable reasons for wishing to minimize its impact.
The first and more obvious of the two is that the food stamp rolls increased by over 607,000 in September to 47.71 million, yet another all-time record. That's awful enough, but here's the real kicker: the participation figure for July, the last month of data available before Election Day, was revised up by over 150,000, changing that month's reported increase from 11,600 to just under 166,000. As will be seen after the jump, no other month's data was revised except August, where the changes were infinitesimal.
200,000 what?
"The end Game" For the USA as we know it? Cut spending to current revenue levels. Any increase in tax revenues goes to the deficit.
The President will be making a big mistake if he thinks he can punt these issues to the new year. Everyone I have talked too want both the tax increase and middle class tax cuts. You can punt the rest but any plan must include those to issues. We have spoken and we will vote one vote at a time come mid terms. David Price and Kay Hagan should be listening.. We are 200,000 and growing
nothing but bottom feeders in here
They are eating what trickled down.
Yep
The red states take the award for being dumb,poor,fat,welfare riddled,and low iq losers.
It's rampant in all 50 states.
Ever wounder why the red neck GOP keep getting elected,,lmao
Haha hehe hoho. Losers
Blue states rule
Ever notice how Democrats have the mind of six year old?
MRABILITY, please put your helmet back on and stop playing with mommy's computer.
MRABILITY, another American terrorist. Patriotism goes out the window for supremacy. Surprised you didn't vote for Romney.
MRABILITY - keep drinking the Obama kool-aid! Of the following 5 states, guess which one is a Red state?? LOL
Oct 2012 Unemployment Rates (5 states with most population):
10.1% - California
6.6% - Texas
8.7% - New York
8.5% - Florida
8.8% - Illinois
You oughta know, you keep making it. But MRABILITY simple shows he's Glenn Beck evil twin brother.
Peter17:
Isn't Texas last in Education, first in poverity, first in the number of people without health care. And you seem to think the unemployment rate is do to GOP policies, but it's not...it's because it has oil......Saudia Arabia is doing pretty well too. But there's no doubt the GOP polices are the result of last in Education, Poverity, and last in people covered with health care.
Why you'd be proud of that baffles me.
Peter17 is bitter than his beloved Gordon Gekko didn't win this past election. Probably has a lot of stock in Chinese companies. It's part of his superior work ethic.
Also guess which state has the highest number of minimum wage jobs, 65% immigrant (legal and illegal) work base, lowest percentage of worker benefits including health insurance.
Go ahead. Guess. It starts with a big letter "T".
What fiscal cliff "end game"? Sandra Fluke got her free birth control pills...what could be more important than that? Women apparently won whatever war they perceived was being waged against them, Scarlett Johannson and Eva Longoria saved all of woman-kind with their Obama commercial, Obama plans on spending much more than the government could possibly raise, the dollar continues a slow death, and libs are happy. There ya go. What fiscal cliff?