Plumbing the Depths of Disgust.

This afternoon, the latest in a series of meetings began at 3:00 pm at the White House concerning the so-called Fiscal Cliff.  Although well-intended at the time, this is a misnomer originally coined by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in one of his speeches.   
 
The term has since been hijacked by the Oval Office, the U.S. Congress; and media outlets of all descriptions.  All three groups have irresponsibly used this appellation to confuse, to intimidate, to scare and, as a result, to further polarize an already jaded, divided and disgusted American public.
 
 So now we have another in a long line of fruitless, desperate meetings, with President Obama as the main figure who has assembled “legislative leaders.”
 
This includes Senate Democrat and Republican heads Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, respectively; as well as House leaders John Boehner for the GOP, and Nancy Pelosi for the Democrats.
 
Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner are also expected to be in attendance
 
When then-Senator Barack Obama made his first bid for the Oval Office back in 2004, he pledged that he would have C-Span publicly broadcast all significant deliberations, including those such as today’s high-level, high-stakes meeting.
 
But don’t count on it – this did not happen during the critical phases of debate on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and it hasn’t happened so far on negotiations about the fiscal and debt crises which have been brewing for years.