Analysts: Maybe the fiscal cliff will be felt “gradually”
“The slope would likely be relatively modest at first,” Chad Stone, the chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group based in Washington, wrote in a recent analysis. “A relatively brief implementation of the tax and spending changes required by current law should cause little short-term damage to the economy as a whole.”…
Even if the tax increases hit in January, families might not notice the incremental loss of income in the near term, economists said. Households might temporarily dig into savings to maintain their spending on the gas, food, housing and other consumer goods, mitigating the impact the tax increases might have on the broader economy…
Moreover, while the fiscal cliff would be enormous in annual terms, its effect would be cumulative, not immediate, analysts have noted. Households hit by the tax increases might not notice the $10 or $100 missing from their paychecks, even if it would damp their spending over the course of the year. Agencies hit by the spending cuts might not act immediately.
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“Fiscal
gently-sloping knoll”??? 0_o
Glenn Jericho on October 10, 2012 at 10:13 PM
“Fiscal
cliffgently-sloping knoll”??? 0_oGlenn Jericho on October 10, 2012 at 10:14 PM
The Old Grey Wh0re, peddling her increasingly aged wares yet again.
Girls, let this be a lesson to you. Nothing sadder than a courtesan past her prime…
JohnGalt23 on October 10, 2012 at 10:14 PM
Yeah because if there’s one thing that defines cliff, its “gradual decline.”
vegconservative on October 10, 2012 at 10:14 PM
Of course that cliff will feel awfully steep if instead of digging into already depleted due to real world inflation savings accounts families start cutting back, starting with useless fish wraps.
And if Romney wins this cliff will go from slope to impending meteor of doom in the blink of an eye. Time for the old gray lady to be put into a home.
Betenoire on October 10, 2012 at 10:18 PM
And maybe monkeys will fly out of our butts, too.
rcpjr on October 10, 2012 at 10:19 PM
Cause it feels so much better to slide down or drive over a fifty degree cliff rather than eighty.
arnold ziffel on October 10, 2012 at 10:19 PM
How will they not notice the incremental loss of income? Obama has made a great big deal out of his payroll tax cut and how helpful that was to everyone -buying a new car, etc. How will they not feel it when he takes it away?
BKeyser on October 10, 2012 at 10:19 PM
WTF does that even mean??
When it does happen, John Q. Six Pack won’t explode??
If I slip it in slowly, it won’t hurt???
BigWyo on October 10, 2012 at 10:24 PM
This would be plausible if the entire fiscal system weren’t being held up by the bond market not collectively looking down like Wile E. Coyote.
HitNRun on October 10, 2012 at 10:24 PM
Or maybe when we hit bottom we’ll all suffer from extreme cement poisoning.
catmman on October 10, 2012 at 10:28 PM
Rats. Beat me to a Wile E. Coyote reference.
Now if only Barky could somehow get in touch with Acme the NY Times’ acid trip could be realized…..
viking01 on October 10, 2012 at 10:29 PM
for those that frequent zero hedge, rosa bowers seems to have won the thread
bullish!
r keller on October 10, 2012 at 10:34 PM
“How did you go bankrupt?” Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
LtGenRob on October 10, 2012 at 10:37 PM
True. That’s the point of QE1/2/3. Make prices go up, then delay the consequences to a Republican administration.
faraway on October 10, 2012 at 10:39 PM
Another example of dishonest reporting at SeeBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57530176/romney-pitches-tax-plan-details-that-favor-the-wealthy/?tag=AverageMixRelated
But this is actually what he said
What part of below $200,000 and middle class did SeeBS not understand?
bayview on October 10, 2012 at 10:42 PM
Gradually my butt. If Congress doesn’t fix the tax mess, things will get ugly. If you think the economy is bad now, just you wait.
SoulGlo on October 10, 2012 at 10:57 PM
The new Obama metric, being tested by the media: if you have income, you’re wealthy.
It’s the only way to make sure that only the wealthy pay for his spending.
malclave on October 10, 2012 at 10:59 PM
People aren’t going to notice anything until April 15, 2014 when their taxes are due. That is when married people will discover that the marriage penalty has returned and lower income people will discover the child tax credit has been cut in half.
crosspatch on October 10, 2012 at 11:02 PM
Obama to the People as he drives the fiscal knife in:
Shh. Don’t move. You’re in shock now. I don’t want you to feel any pain. In a moment, you’ll begin to feel light-headed, then drowsy. Don’t resist, it’s so gentle, like slipping into a warm bath. I regret it came to this, Conservatives, but every game must have its ending…
Bulletchaser on October 10, 2012 at 11:51 PM
Kind of like jumping of a tall cliff in reality. You’ll only feel it for a split second.
Left Coast Right Mind on October 10, 2012 at 11:59 PM
second of = off
Left Coast Right Mind on October 11, 2012 at 12:00 AM
We’re not far behind.
Rebar on October 11, 2012 at 12:09 AM
You can tell when they are lying. Everything is hedged to such a degree as to be silly.
Might, may, possibly, potentially, could.
astonerii on October 11, 2012 at 6:09 AM
The free-fall from 30,000 feet isn’t the problem; It’s the ground rushing up to meet you that becomes problematic.
That rag cannot go under soon enough.
Rixon on October 11, 2012 at 6:54 AM
That’s the optimistic scenario.
The decline is inevitable. The unknowns are how far and how fast.
farsighted on October 11, 2012 at 7:43 AM
As an analyst, I have a very poor view of Americans, even worse than astonerii has. As an analyst, I think Americans are too stupid to remember what their paycheck is from week to week, and are not going to miss a hundred dollars from their paycheck as they are barely getting by. I think they just never balance their checkbooks, never look at their balances, and it will not be until they start bouncing checks that they notice they lost a hundred bucks from each of their paychecks. Those freaking dopes will never know what happened.
astonerii on October 11, 2012 at 8:08 AM
LOL!
That is also the sentence that jumped out at me.
I have been noticing this for the last almost 4 years.
As the woman, I buy all of the goods in this household & I know I am not the only woman to notice her household budget for necessities erode.
This $hit is ridiculous. I have had to stop buying certain food & household items bcs of these ‘gradual’ cost increases.
And I sure as hell ‘notice’ it.
Badger40 on October 11, 2012 at 8:20 AM