Tough decisions must be made
In response to “Obama and Boehner discuss fiscal cliff by phone,” [News, Dec. 5], the Senate and the House of Representatives are at a standstill with regards to coming up with a viable solution to the fiscal cliff; they have not reached an agreement.

If all talks fail, millions of people will be affected in regards to jobs, education, health care and aid to local and state governments. The country may fall into another recession if an immediate solution is not made.

They must decide whether or not to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the top 2 percent of Americans and whether or not to protect investments in middle- and working-class Americans, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

This is a big problem for average Americans if the wealthiest would not be paying their own share of the taxes. The planned $2,000 to $3,000 per year tax hike that every middle- and working-class family could face would definitely hurt them more compared with someone who is making more than $250,000 per year. This would mean the difference between having adequate money just to buy food or to pay rent.

—Danielle Hufana, Seattle