Everywhere I go, I am hearing about the “Fiscal Cliff.” When I turn on the radio, in urgent e-mail messages, from worried friends. I had lunch the other day with a friend who has been following the Fiscal Cliff story very closely. He is a good and conscientious citizen and he has always thought me a bit odd for not paying more attention to the news from Washington. He spends hours poring through online blogs, newssites, and at night, he scans the cable news channels looking for meaning and understanding. He is not doing well on that front, he seemed drawn, pre-occupied, pald and fidgety. He was mumbling incoherently about deductions, rates, entitlements, payouts and block grants. I was worried about him. He tried and explain the Fiscal Cliff to me. A left right thing, he said. Divisiveness. Rigidity. If it isn’t resolved by January 1, horrible things will happen. Recession. Layoffs, unhappiness on Wall Street, lowered credit ratings. I got drowsy. But a bell went off.
Oh, I said, I get that, I know about the Fiscal Cliff. We have a Fiscal Cliff right here at the farm, we have been living it. This shocked him. You have? He seemed to focus, to listen. Sure, I said, I just moved to a new home, fixed it up. The first one has been on the market for a year. Revenues are declining, deficits are growing, costs are rising, savings have been drained, the future is uncertain.
His eyes widened. Boy, he says, that sure sounds like a Fiscal Cliff thing. How did you get into that?, he asked.
Oh you know, he said. Meaningful life. Love, that sort of stuff. He frowned. He didn’t seem to be following me. I urged him to start his own blog. Put up his own ideas. He could find lots of people to talk about the Fiscal Cliff. In the meantime, I said, I needed to re-think my relationship with politics, which I have felt almost completely alienated from.
My Fiscal Cliff is approaching, also. If I slide over it, Wall Street will be unhappy. Credit ratings will fall, bank accounts will be empty, donkeys will be looking for hay. Sheep will not have grain on frosty mornings. The dogs will not get rawhide chews every night. And forget that new camera I am drooling for. I used to feel very disconnected from Washington, from Congress. Now I feel like a patriot, in sync with the world at last. I might start following cable news again.