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I don't agree with everything Peterson says, but he nailed it on this one. Congress will NEVER agree to cut spending on anything, so we might as well let it go 'over the cliff'. There is ZERO doubt that the lower and middle class tax rates will be voted on after Jan. 1, and they will most likely be voted on alone because the Capitol Hill mailboxes will be filled with letters and the phone lines full of screaming constituents, on both sides. If we want to actually solve our debt problem we are going to have to make some very painful cuts, and it has to start sometime. The sooner the better in my opinion.

This is the first rational view that I have seen on the subject. Everything gets cut, everyone pays more and we don't get in this situation again. Cut the govt credit cards in half. Quit electing big spenders.

They're wondering, 'Why, you guys, if you're trying to balance the budget, why are you spending more money?'" Mr. Peterson, you might want to ask this question of the President and Dem leadership....I would love to know the answer.

This guy needs to be go. He's a professional DC politician anyway, rarely spending time back in MN--but this attitude takes the cake! People are watching their retirement funds, their kids college funds etc. go in the tank now because the financial markets very appropriately think idiots like Petersen don't get the fact that this IS a big deal! Collin could care less--his retirement is assured, his health care is assured for life, if he was kicked out today he'd just come back as a lobbyist and make even more money. Remember these comments and vote this professional DC politician out!

Finally, a democrat who gets it. Wish there were 100 more just like him.

How can he be a fiscal hawk with those farm bills he churned out? More like an accountant for big farm operations.

People (mainly Republicans) trying to lump together the debt and the "fiscal cliff" either don't understand the issue or are being dishonest. The problem with the cliff is that it takes too much money out of the economy at a bad time. In order for our capitalist economy to work, people have to have money to spend. Cutting spending/jobs and raising middle class taxes would reduce the debt, but it takes money out of the system and will likely drive the economy back into recession. We do have a long-term debt problem, but trying fix it right now (when the economy is still very weak) will only make both problems worse. Since it does not seem like the GOP is able to avoid the "cliff," we might as well let it happen and then try to immediately reinstate the middle class tax cuts once a more reasonable Congress is in place.

"There has never been a 'cliff,'" said Rep. Collin Peterson, one of a dwindling number of fiscal hawk Blue Dog Democrats in Congress. "It's been manufactured by the media and it's relentless." Wow! A Democrat politician actually telling the truth! In the 20 years I've been paying close attention to politics, this is the FIRST TIME I have ever seen a Democrat politician say something this truthful. The FACT is that the Bush Tax Cuts were NEVER "tax cuts for the rich" as the middle class got the bulk of the cuts in dollar terms. Another FACT is that Obama and the Democrats jacked-up spending after he took office in 2009 and they REFUSE to cut a penny of all that new spending. Not only that, but under Obama's own budget projections spending does nothing but SKYROCKET under him in the future. The USA is doomed, destroyed by the Democratic Party. The damage Barack Obama and the Democrats have done will be felt for generations to come. Nearly $6 trillion in borrowing since Feb. 2009 and no end in sight. Hope and change.

endotherm***How long do you think we should wait before we try to fix the debt problem?

The media has obviously been catastrophizing the whole 'fiscal cliff' business. Their goal is to get viewers to tune in, not to support rational and reasonable debate. I don't think that's good for the Country.