MoveOn.Org Stages Downtown Protest

There was a somewhat theatrical demonstration in downtown Walnut Creek Monday (Dec. 10), involving balloons, singing, and a lot of references to a thing that's come to be known as the Fiscal Cliff. 

The group MoveOn.org organized the demonstration, which was geared toward urging Congress to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of the country's wealth holders, and to leave programs like Medicare, Social Security and other programs untouched. 

To motivate itself toward an agreement over taxes and spending earlier this year, Congress devised a series of tax increases and spending cuts that would go into place automatically if other agreements could not be reached. Since then, legislators have struggled with any such agreement, and it increasingly appears as though the original plan will take place, causing a reduction in services and raised taxes. This has come to be known as the Fiscal Cliff.

Today's protest was intended to urge legislators to back away from the "cliff" and implement President Obama's plan to increase taxes on the top 2 percent of the country's wealthiest citizens. Republicans are refusing to back the proposal, insisting instead on spending cuts. 

Economists are warning that, should the 'fiscal cliff' program go into effect, it will throw the U.S. economy, only now recovering from the 2008 recession, into a another, deeper recession.