So, Which Is It?

I mean, what do the Repubs mean to tell us about the "fiscal cliff?"

Remember, two or three years ago, when they discovered the national debt, I mean, the Debt, it was declared "an existential threat" to the United States. It was essential to our very survival that we take any and all steps, immediately, to reduce the debt, which of course means reduce spending. To be sure we did so, our fearless leaders placed a metaphorical bomb in the Capitol, and metaphorically lit its metaphorical fuse.

Now we are entering the winter of our discontent. The fuse has pretty much burned down on the Austerity Bomb, a.k.a. the Fiscal Cliff (to mix metaphors), and the same prognosticators who came up with the "existential threat" notion are very, very upset at the prospect of ... a drastic reduction in the Debt. The prospect of Reducing the Debt is, suddenly, the existential crisis du jour.

That is what will happen if there's no deal; debt reduction on a  big scale. There will be big tax increases (Boo! Job Killing! Punishing the Job Creators!) and big spending cuts (Yay! I mean ... wait a minute ... the cuts are to defense industries? Boo! We meant cut payments to The Takers who are too lazy to work! Boo!), and they will all happen on January 1 unless the President gets serious, ignores the fact that he campaigned on tax increases for the rich, and he won the election, and settles down to extend the tax cuts for the rich.

But what about the debt? It's an existential crisis, remember?

Or is it?