Farrah Jawaheel Cliff Research Papers

1080 Words3 Pages

Farrah Jawaheer

America is known as one of the most financially sound countries out there. But when the things started to take off and America started to build up debt the term fiscal cliff appeared. Who actually uttered the words "fiscal cliff" is not clear (Smith). Some believe that it was first used by Goldman Sachs economist, Alec Phillips. Others credit Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for taking the phrase mainstream in his remarks in front of Congress. Others credit Safir Ahmed, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who in 1989 wrote a story detailing the state's education funding and used the term fiscal cliff (Smith).
The fiscal cliff is known as a combination of expiring tax cuts and across - the -board government spending cuts that became effective Dec. 31, 2012. The fiscal cliff in regular terms is a combination of planned government spending cuts and tax increases, which take place in the future because temporary financial law has ended (Nitti). This should be considered a good thing because the government is generating more tax revenue while cutting spending. In the Bush administration, the fiscal cliff was able to save people about 10% of there paycheck due to tax cuts (Calmes). But even though the American people would enjoy temporary short-term decreases in deficit (the amount of something especially a sum of money is too small), the combined effect of the tax increase and reduced government spending will result in a huge fiscal contraction (Nitti). This would mean a decrease in GDP (gross domestic product), and increase in unemployment (Calmes). This is an issue because even though government spending would be down for a while the repercussions for the American people would be greater (Tuchman). ...

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...fourth quarter of 2013 (Gravelle 40). This would not be good for the American people this could put us back into a recession. If the U.S. national debt continues to explode eventually, when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to prevent inflation, the rising interest rates will greatly increase the interest component of the federal budget. So even though in the beginning there might be tax cuts and the people would be fine for a while. The outcome in the future is worse and would completely negate the good that was done. So America should definitely take interest in the damage the fiscal cliff could cause.
All in all the fiscal cliff is something that will always be controversial. There are benifical parts to it and non- benifical parts. Weather or not it is severly damaging to the economy is yet to be seen. But for now the fiscal cliff is here to stay.

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