Dear Editor,
I am a 7th grade student at Pope John XXIII School in Evanston. The fiscal cliff has been in the news a lot lately and I wanted to share my views on it. The fiscal cliff was created to force action; to create urgency for a deadline. Government leaders wanted to force the Democrats and Republicans to work together to resolve some of the financial problems of our country. They believe that the two parties can work together. If they don’t have a plan in place by December 31, there will be drastic cuts and taxes as a consequence.
I think the underlying issue is that the Democrats and Republicans won’t work together; if they truly want to resolve this problem they should listen to each other and work together to solve this. My parents are always telling me and my sister to work things out, but here you have the leaders of our country who aren’t working together in a constructive way. Certain members of Congress aren’t willing to compromise, but I think they should try harder to come to an agreement. You might not like what the other person, or side, has to say, but you can listen to them and try to find a way to compromise. I think that if they could work together, a lot of our country’s problems could be solved.
The fiscal cliff would impact me because my parents would have to spend more money on taxes, so they wouldn’t have that money to spend on things like food, clothes, and trips. It would also impact social organizations, like charities. If people have to pay more taxes, they can’t give as much to the Cancer Society or the local YWCA. People might have to cut back on donating or helping out in their community.
Overall I think the spending cuts and taxes are too drastic. If we cut too much at once people could lose jobs and confidence in the economy, which could push us into another recession. If both parties could listen to each other and try to compromise, it would be a lot easier to solve problems.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Millar
