FISCAL CLIFF LOOMING EVER CLOSER!

Congressional members took the unusual step of working on Sunday to try and work out some sort of compromise deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff".  Failure to come to resolve the problem will lead to higher prices, lower paychecks (mostly due to tax increases) and severe cutbacks in government programs.  While none of this sounds too appealing, it does sound like a step towards reducing government spending and the federal deficit.  While I'm not convinced this is the way to go about it, there is always more than one road to take to where you want to go.  

If it should happen that the politicians in Washington can't hammer out a deal, then it may not be quite the doomsday scenario mainstream media would have you believe.  Whatever way it goes, it's sure to mean depressed stock prices for most of the coming year.  So being on the buying side, I'm all for low priced stocks for the time being.  As for the rest of the economy, I don't hold out a lot of hope for any major changes at least within the next 4 years or so.  We've got an obstinate, my way or the highway leader in the Whitehouse, who doesn't have to worry about being re-elected and an ineffectual and confused GOP, so I don't see much of any real value coming from the political arena.  It's going to be up to the U.S. citizens to look out for themselves and each other as best we can and maybe that's the way it should be.  The more you depend on government and the less self reliance you have, the more you become indebted to and enslaved by government.