Our Fiscal Soul and the Arithmetic of Protecting the Poor

huffingtonpost.com — The discussion we are having about "the fiscal cliff" is really a debate about our fiscal soul. What kind of nation do we want to be? We do need a path to fiscal sustainability, but will it include all of us -- especially the most vulnerable? It's a foundational moral choice for the country, and one with dramatic domestic and deadly global implications. It is the most important principle for the faith community in this debate. I am strongly in favor of restoring previously higher tax rates for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans -- and ending their unfair loopholes and deductions -- but that still won't raise enough revenue to move us toward fiscal sustainability while protecting the poor. We must make other choices in spending cuts and new revenues -- but in clearly morally responsible ways. Here are just a few examples.

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