Obama's fiscal cliff starting position was that any household making over $250k would see a tax increase (anyone under that amount would see no tax increase). Of course, that wasn't good enough for the rabid right.
Then Obama came back with a proposal that anyone making over $400k per year would see a tax increase. That still was not good enough for the rabid right. Even though, $400k is the 98th percentile for U.S. households.
Then a few days ago, Boehner, the House Republican leader countered with his own "Plan B", which stipulated a tax rise only affecting those making $1 million or more per year. The 99.5 percentile !
He then offered this plan to his own party tonight - and they rejected it. They wouldn't even vote on it. In doing so, they likely sentenced the entire country from top to bottom to a tax increase come January 1st. So everyone from the guy making $7 an hour minimum wage to Mitt Romney is now going to take a haircut because the rabid right couldn't compromise. Of course, Mitt and his fellow RomneyBots only paid 14% tax on their onshore money and 0% on their offshore money this past year, so this whole exercise was just a charade from their standpoint. Think about that - the ultra-wealthy had no skin in this game. They knew that if tax rates went up for everyone, they could fall back on their loopholes, deductions and offshore accounts to keep their tax rates low. Therefore, a universal tax increase actually benefits them, because it reduces the deficit at the expense of everyone except them.
Still, the markets know there is no free lunch, so stock futures flash crashed limit down on the news. Automatic circuit breakers had to kick in to prevent full meltdown.
Greed has its death grip on the U.S. and it won't let go until everyone is impoverished. As fully expected, the self-cannibalizing extreme capitalism model has begun the self-destruct countdown sequence...
