Kinston residents went about their business Monday — shopping for groceries, working out and preparing to ring in 2013 — as members of Congress and the president appeared to be reaching a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”
Congress was scheduled to vote on a plan to avert about $500 billion in automatic federal spending cuts and tax increases, but news reports Monday evening indicated the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would not vote before midnight on a proposal crafted by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
A vote could still be held today, however, Reuters reported.
“They are close, but they’re not there yet,” President Barack Obama said Monday, according to CNN. “And one thing we can count on with respect to this Congress is that if there is even one second left before you have to do what you’re supposed to do, they will use that last second.”
Meanwhile, shoppers in the Piggly Wiggly supermarket in the Kinston Plaza shopping center rushed about Monday evening, filling their carts.
“I don’t understand why it’s so hard for those guys up there (in Congress) to understand,” Bob Deaver of Kinston said. “You can’t spend money you don’t have.”
Deaver, a project manager for construction contracts, said he could be paying significantly more in taxes if income tax cuts passed under former President George W. Bush are allowed to expire as part of the “fiscal cliff” requirements.
The “fiscal cliff” is the product of legislation passed in 2011 as Congress grappled with raising the debt ceiling — the cliff was designed to force Washington to get its financial house in order.
“They’re putting off the inevitable,” Deaver continued. “The country is near bankruptcy and it’s going to go bankrupt unless we do something about it.”
Many observers have feared the country could go back into recession if more of people’s paychecks go to taxes and federal spending — including vital military spending in North Carolina — is curtailed.
Jackie Perez of Kinston, who works in a local cell phone store, said customers have recently been telling her they do not want to spend too much on products.
“My paycheck comes from people spending their money buying phones,” she said.
Another shopper, who would only give her first name, Cassandra, counseled a friend who lost her job Monday.
“I tell anybody, ‘If you are in a fiscal cliff, go back to school, take up all the resources you can; there are some resources out there,’ ” Cassandra said.
Isaac Hickman Jr., a personal trainer in the neighboring Fit 4 Life fitness center, feared people would cut back their memberships in a time when local gyms are already trying to compete with the taxpayer-supported Woodmen Community Center.
“If taxes go up, it basically would affect our memberships, because fitness is one of the first things people cut out, because of course, you have to have a roof over your head, you have to keep your lights on,” he said.
Hickman cautioned: “Even though, without your health, nothing else is important.”
David Andersoncan be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.