Reporting from London, markets are up around the world this morning because the American government has settled down for the moment to restore order. Providing a stable foundation for business planning and personal finances is the end result as well as moving the American government toward living within its fiscal capacity. Americans have reached their limit.
Capitalism as we have known it is not going to be so easy to swallow with 1% still hoarding 90% of the wealth and the economy, the mix of private sector production and public sector consumption remaining out of balance.
This writer has postulated the optimized sustainment model as the way ahead. It is a combination of several ideas:
- Progressive Utilization Theory
- Forum of the Future Sustainable Economics
- Gaia Theory
- Dr. John Ikerd’s critique of capitalism
- Smart Data, Enterprise Performance Opimization Strategy © 2010, James A. George and James A. Rodger, Wiley Publishing
Combined, these ideas, theories, concepts, and management approaches provide substance for a way forward. Save invention and innovation from capitalism and free enterprise and tweak incentives in the system to encourage creating new energy strategy that is 100% renewable. Commit to ensuring a good life for all throughout their lifetime through a sustainable economy and that is where we must be.
Passing a budget that puts on the brakes in time to prevent disaster is short sighted and far from what is required. Congress is a disappointment and requires restaffing by American voters who must address qualifications of all elected officials with higher standards.
The voter and citizen revolt over a dysfunctional Congress has only yet begun.
“House approves 'fiscal cliff' deal; bill headed to Obama's desk
By Russell Berman and Pete Kasperowicz - 01/01/13 11:01 PM ET
The House late Tuesday night voted to approve a sweeping tax deal to prevent the most significant effects of the "fiscal cliff," overcoming Republican resistance to raising income tax rates on the wealthiest earners.The 257-167 vote culminated a day of high drama in the Capitol, as Republican leaders considered and then quickly abandoned a plan to attach steep spending cuts to a measure passed overwhelmingly by the Senate early Tuesday morning.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) voted in favor of the legislation, splitting with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), the Budget Committee chairman and former Republican vice presidential nominee, voted yes.
Finished just over 36 hours before the 112th Congress adjourns, the legislation now goes to President Obama for his signature.
The bill extends indefinitely marginal tax rates on annual family income up to $450,000, lifts the top capital gains and dividends rates to 20 percent, extends unemployment insurance benefits and a host of other tax provisions.
It delays automatic spending cuts for two months, setting up another fiscal showdown over replacing those cuts, raising the debt ceiling and funding the federal government.
For Boehner (R-Ohio), the vote ended a nightmarish two-month stretch during which he failed to strike a post-election grand bargain with Obama, scrapped a vote on his own fiscal plan because of a Republican mutiny and ultimately was forced to sit on the sidelines as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hammered out a final deal with Vice President Biden.
The post-election period was not much better for Congress as a whole. With economists warning that going over the fiscal cliff could send the U.S. economy back into recession, Democratic and Republican leaders bickered until the 11th hour and technically missed the Jan. 1 deadline for preventing a sharp tax hike.
The Senate approved its bill in the early morning hours as most Americans were celebrating the New Year, forcing the House to accept it or risk the wrath of taxpayers and the markets.
After a personal pitch Tuesday afternoon from Biden, House Democrats broadly supported the measure.
House Republicans, meanwhile, nearly revolted.
The party met behind closed doors for more than three hours over two separate conclaves, where rank-and-file members lambasted the measure for its lack of spending cuts.
Cantor (R-Va.) told members he could not support the bill, while Boehner said he would personally vote for the Senate measure if Republicans lacked the votes to amend it.Boehner and his leadership team assessed support within his conference for amending the bill by adding more than $300 billion in spending cuts, but when they determined they could not muster enough Republican votes, they moved quickly to bring up the unchanged Senate bill for a vote.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/275101-senate-fiscal-cliff-deal-in-trouble-in-house
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