Debt

Republicans in Washington seem to have recognized that refusing to raise the debt ceiling and putting the nation on the brink of default in a trumped-up "crisis" isn't playing well with the general public, so they're switching tactics. Now, instead of blindly driving off the cliff of fiscal Armageddon, they are pushing for the Obama administration to prioritize federal obligations - so the country can be late on some bills but not on debt payments, Social Security checks and pay for active-duty members of the military.

I just read your editorial, "Another cliff ahead?" (Jan. 4). Please understand Washington does not do anything these days unless it's forced to. The only leverage to get Democrats on board to have a serious discussion on our debt and the slowing of spending growth (calling it cuts is a joke) in the future are issues like the debt ceiling. You agree that we have a debt problem (as do most Americans), but do not want the Republicans to use the debt ceiling as leverage, then I have a question for you and your colleagues.

I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial, "Another Fiscal Cliff?" (Jan. 4). As a businessman, I am outraged that certain Republican extremists in the House are prepared to trash our economy in order to gain their political objectives. We have a long and honorable tradition in the U.S., and that is to never negotiate with criminals and hostage takers. The president must continue that tradition. The business community will strongly support the president as he rejects blackmail attempts by tea partyers.

The Oscar nominees for best picture owe a huge debt to books -- and the creativity of authors. Most of the top films are screen versions of tales that were woven by printed words (or digitized versions). That's not taking anything away from the writers who adapt a novel or work of non-fiction. I'm slogging my way through Victor Hugo's Les Miserables now, and it is a wonder that a hit musical and movie could be distilled from the sprawling 1800s. Here are other adaptations that join Les Mis in the best picture category: -- "Lincoln," drawn from " Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

You state that the Republicans' "demanding spending cuts to reduce our deficit is holding the debt ceiling increase hostage" ("Another cliff ahead?" Jan. 4). Really? Most American citizens would have the common sense to cut spending if confronted with a problem of paying creditors! This would be done to ensure that the problem would not have to be dealt with in the future. Cut future spending and pay future bills! Republicans and Democrats should also hold themselves accountable and prior to raising "our" debt ceiling should demand spending cuts.

Once again, The Sun is lambasting Republicans for using the debt ceiling to attempt to reduce government spending ("Another cliff ahead?" Jan. 4). Yet you yourself suggest what's needed to reduce the deficit: "Stop spending so much money. " Great idea. Now please tell us what proposals have been put forth by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats to reduce spending and reform entitlement programs? Even The Sun seems to doubt the Democrats' resolve to "face up to the challenges facing popular programs like Medicare and Social Security.

With all the moaning coming from the Tea Party Express and their loyalists in the House Republican Caucus, you would think conservatives had lost everything, including their virtue, in the fiscal cliff parlay with President Barack Obama because taxes are going up on the wealthy. However, if they could just get past their prudish sensibility about backroom compromises, they might recognize that their side actually did rather well in the dead-of-night deal making. Yes, Democrats can claim some good results in the last-minute bargain that was struck to avoid the immediate across-the-board tax hikes and budget cuts that were set to begin on January 1. The Bush era tax cuts for people making more than $400,000 a year were eliminated, and capital gains taxes and estate taxes were raised, providing new revenue sources that Democrats insist are necessary.

Everything that everyone loathes about Washington was present in the "fiscal cliff" bill just passed by Congress. It is 153 pages long; most members probably hadn't read all of it before voting on it; it was delivered in the middle of the night; it was loaded with pork -- the mother's milk (to mix a metaphor) of politicians -- and while the country is already swamped with massive debt, it contains massive giveaways to satisfy interest groups and campaign contributors. Did I mention the bill raises taxes on top of the coming Obamacare taxes, but does nothing -- nothing -- to address the debt problem?

With the fiscal cliff surmounted, at least temporarily, a new Congress sworn in and Republicans licking their self-inflicted wounds, it is tempting to theorize that a new political reality has taken hold in the nation's capital - one where the American economy won't be taken hostage by the House GOP and Washington won't bounce around from one trumped-up crisis to another. The best evidence of this would be the lopsided and bipartisan votes in favor of the final tax package approved by both the House and Senate.

"It's not all I would have liked," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, speaking of the deal on the fiscal cliff, "so on to the debt ceiling. " For Republicans, the battle over the fiscal cliff is only a prelude to the coming battle over raising the debt ceiling -- a battle that will likely continue through early March, when the Treasury runs out of tricks to avoid a default on the nation's debt. The White House's and Democrats' single biggest failure in the cliff negotiations was not getting Republicans' agreement to raise the debt ceiling.