Damage Control

It is a very dangerous game of “chicken” that Congress has played with the nation’s economy. Democrats are blaming Republicans, and Republicans are blaming the Democrats for the pending fiscal cliff and the lack of a farm bill. It isn’t that they can’t come to an agreement, it’s that they refuse to. Funny thing though, we will all end up going over the proverbial “fiscal cliff” at the same time. It became quite apparent some time back that no one in D.C. will be looking out for us, and since we have all had plenty of warning, we should have been proactive and talked with our own tax advisors to figure out what, if anything, we can do to minimize our own personal injury from such a fall. The “if anything” is the scary part. The lack of a farm bill has farmers and ranchers scrambling to figure out if they should pay taxes this year instead of next year? Should they buy land, sell land? Should they be carrying expenses into next year, and bring income into this year? Mayan calendar not withstanding, 2012 will definitely be going out with a big bang, and that means 2013 is definitely going to be the year for damage control.