Fantasy Football? No Thanks—We're Playing Fantasy Fiscal Cliff

NJ.com presents five fiscal cliff scenarios—pick your favorite and play it out. Or place bets. Can we say that? I don't know. Don't place bets. Maybe just draw them out of a hat to take ownership, then talk about them over dinner with your friends the way you'd talk about fantasy football—it forces you to be invested in players on opposing teams and consider their merits. (But if I get Philip Rivers, I'm trading him, and I don't care what I get back—Herman Cain at Treasury making decisions based on Pokemon songs? Whatever! SOLD!)

Here are the choices given (and, clearly, elaborated upon if you click through):

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• Go over the cliff. This one offers a taste of how crazy Washington is: "The logic is that, once taxes rise Jan. 1, lawmakers would then be able to say they voted to cut taxes. This could make it easier to attract Republicans who may otherwise feel locked into Grover Norquist's no-tax-hike pledge."
• A big deal. You may have heard it called by its stage name, The Grand Bargain. (Mixtape dropping any minute now.)
• Tax-free strategy. Do the easy part now, the hard part later.
• Buy more time. Wait a minute, as long as we're talking about doing stuff later, why not just do it all later?
• Buy more time—but with a down payment. All of the above.
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Photo via Flickr (cc) user twicepix.