"Remembering The Fiscal Cliff...of 1932"

This has happened before, folks...

"...Close your eyes in Washington these days and you can almost hear the echoes of 1932. Eighty years ago, just like today, a fiscal crisis almost totally dominated the nation's capital.

"Then, as now, fiscal conservatives demanded immediate action to fix a federal budget awash in red ink. And then, as now, average Americans wondered why all the fuss about deficits. The Depression was in its third year, and millions had no jobs. Why were politicians haggling about balancing the budget?

...

"...The nation could never meet its fiscal emergency by "soaking the rich," another Democrat, Charles Crisp of Georgia, added. Average Americans would have to "gird" themselves for "tremendous sacrifices" — a national sales tax or some other tax that demanded "backbone" from all Americans, he said.

"The White House agreed, in part. Hoover's Treasury Department asked Congress to enact new or higher federal excise taxes on many everyday purchases and services. But Hoover, who was running for re-election, would not go along with a national sales tax. He asked Congress instead to raise the nation's top income tax rate from 25 percent to 40 percent."

Read about what happened then in the entire piece from the Hartford Courant: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-pizzigati-old-fiscal-cliff-1230-20121228,0,4346988.story?track=

Amazing how these republicans are still at it, isn't it? And we have to drive yet another stake into their political hearts, once again...