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Fiscal Cliff Warnings Rise
MSNBC
Most economists agree the U.S. economy will almost certainly
fall back into recession unless Congress makes changes to a
package of automated tax increases and spending cuts agreed
to last summer to break a deadlock over raising the debt
ceiling. The latest warning comes from the National
Association of Manufacturers, which released a report Friday
analyzing the economic impact of the looming package of
higher taxes and sharp spending cuts.
“Even if the administration and Con-gress resolve the
uncertainty before the end of the year, economic growth
already has sustained significant damage,” the report
concluded. That view is supported by the latest numbers from
the government on third-quarter gross do-mestic product,
which showed weak spending and investment by companies
unsure about the long-term impact of budget policy.
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Editor's Note: The so-called "fiscal cliff" was a condition
insisted upon by the Republicans, who nearly sent the
country and the world into a global recession by refusing to
authorize a routine adjust-ment to the nation's debt ceiling
limit (see this
essay). These same Republicans are faulting the
president
for America's credit grade reduction, which they caused, and now blame Obama for
the looming "fiscal cliff," which is their doing,
and which now doing damage to
the U.S. economy because Republicans are insisting on
extending tax cuts to millionaires. This is not propaganda:
look it up for yourself.
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AP Poll: Majority Harbor Prejudice Against Blacks
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since
the United States elected its first black president, an
Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of
Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they
recognize those feelings or not. 51 percent of Americans now
express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48
percent in a similar 2008 survey.
The AP surveys were conducted with researchers from
Stanford University, the University of Michigan and NORC at
the University of Chicago.
Many African-Americans have talked openly about
perceived antagonism toward them since Obama took office. As
evidence, they point to events involving police brutality or
cite bumper stickers, cartoons and protest posters that mock
the president as a lion or a monkey, or lynch him in effigy.
Experts on race said they were not surprised by the
findings.
"Part of it is growing polarization within American
society," said Fredrick Harris, director of the Institute
for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia
University. "The last Democrat in the White House said we
had to have a national discussion about race. There's been
total silence around issues of race with this president.
But, as you see, whether there is silence, or an elevation
of the discussion of race, you still have polarization. It
will take more generations, I suspect, before we eliminate
these deep feelings."
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