Okay, you’ve probably had enough of this fiscal cliff that we in the news media have been beating the drum about.
But do you really know what it is or how it might affect you?
Not to worry. A team of reporters for The Washington Post’s Wonkblog has put together a useful list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) to help you figure out this fiscal cliff mess.
The first question: What is the fiscal cliff?
“Much too much austerity, much too quickly,” The Post team writes. ”On or around Jan. 1, about $500 billion in tax increases and $200 billion in spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. That’s equal to about four percent of GDP, which is, according to the Congressional Budget Office, more than enough to throw us into a recession (more on that later).”
If you’ve got some time on your hands and want to save money by skipping lunch with your co-workers, it’s a great read that will make you a hit at the holiday parties when people start talking about the cliff and you chime in with what you know. They will be very impressed.
To see just how much the cliff might affect your family, check out The Post’s “Fiscal Cliff” calculation.
The calculator estimates how your household would be affected by the Democratic and Republican plans for dealing with scheduled tax hikes — and what would happen come January if no deal is reached.
For example, let’s say you are a married couple with two young kids and making nearly $72,240 a year. Under both the Democratic and Republican plans your taxes would increase by $1,396. But if no deal is reached by Dec. 31, your taxes would go up by $3,289.
Bet that got your attention.
Happy Birthday Great Recession
Has it only been five years?
Yes, that’s right. It was five years ago this month that the Great Recession hit the U.S. economy, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee.
Neil Irwin, a Washington Post columnist and the economics editor of Wonkblog, revisits one of the worst financial fallouts in history and gladly bids it good-bye.
“By his first birthday, though, our little recession had gone from being an adorable little imp to a pusillanimous fire-breathing demon from hell,” Irwin writes. “That fourth quarter of 2008 the U.S. economy shrank at an 8.9 percent annual rate. Many economists had viewed a collapse like that to be unfathomable. (The post-war record had been a 6.4 percent rate of decline, in 1982).”
I think Irwin sums it up nicely: “Happy birthday, Great Recession. May your birthday cake be poisoned, its candles exploding, and after the party may you get hit by a truck.”
So, for this week’s Color of Money Question: What did you learn from the Great Recession? Send your responses to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Be sure to include your full name, city and state. Put “Happy Birthday Great Recession” in the subject line.
Miss Manners
Miss Manners recently responded to a reader who wanted to know if she should offer her mother-in-law financial advice.
According to the letter writer, her father-in-law was recently jailed and his wife had a hard time getting the cash together to pay his bail and even had to ask her family for money. The writer says that her mother-in-law is close to retirement age and may permanently lose her husband’s income because of the arrest.
Loading...
Comments