Expert Opinion
AIN Blog: A City Seemingly in Perpetual Crisis
A gargoyle on the National Cathedral faces south to downtown Washington. (Photo: Bill Carey)
A gargoyle on the National Cathedral faces south to downtown Washington. (Photo: Bill Carey)

Washington, D.C., seems to be a city that is in perpetual crisis. Now the U.S. government is in conniptions over the “fiscal cliff.” Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke coined that metaphor to describe the tax increases and automatic spending cuts that kick in on January 2 unless Democrats and Republicans somehow tame the $16 trillion national debt.

The current crisis has been two years running. It started with the great debt-ceiling debate of 2011, which led to the Budget Control Act. The budget law added to the popular lexicon “sequestration,” the term for automatic budget cuts. Sequestration led to the creation of the bipartisan congressional “supercommittee,” which failed to prevent—sequestration. Now the automatic cuts are flowing together with expiring Bush-era tax cuts and other cost increases toward the fiscal cliff.

Bill Carey
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