There’s a concept I live by that’s done wonders for my mental health:
You can’t make sense out of nonsense.
You see, once I recognize something as nonsense, I immediately dismiss it. It no longer requires the effort to figure out because there’s nothing to it.
(“Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.” -Billy Preston)
My wife uses this trick to prevent her from leaving the house late. She sets the kitchen clock ahead 5 minutes. This is supposed to get her out of the house 5 minutes earlier.
Doesn’t work.
Doesn’t work because she knows the clock is 5 minutes fast. She pretends that it works despite the fact that it obviously doesn’t.
She disregards her own technique!
So, what’s this got to do with the “Fiscal Cliff”? Well, the wife mentioned they picked such a dramatic name. I reply that’s because they’re a bunch of drama queens.
That’s when it clicked for me.
This “Fiscal Cliff” was a technique they used to try to motivate them to resolve this budget issue in a timely manner.
No one bothered to mention that the timeliest way to resolve the budget issue would be to…
…resolve the budget issue.
But they don’t really want to resolve the budget issue because that would mean compromise. Some of them were probably betting on the fact that a new President would simplify the process.
The President gets re-elected.
“The Fiscal Cliff” threatens to smack them in the face.
Only they forget…or they pretend to forget…or (here’s the kicker) they’re very much aware that “The Fiscal Cliff”...
…is something they made up.
“You can’t make sense out of nonsense.”