The feelings of stress and fear that military families reported feeling ahead of a decision on the fiscal cliff and sequestration have only been extended, not assuaged, by the deal passed on Jan. 1, First Command reported Monday.
“Days after lawmakers stepped back from the fiscal cliff with a last-minute compromise, military families are now staring over the edge of a second cliff that poses even greater challenges to their long-term financial security and success,” Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command Financial Services, told AdvisorOne in an email. “Many observers, including myself, feel our Congress and president kicked the most challenging issues down the road. They didn’t make any meaningful progress in dealing with the long-term financial challenges facing our country in general and military families in particular.”
Among the issues that needed attention but didn’t receive it, Spiker (left) said, are “meaningful cuts in spending or entitlement programs” like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. “While they raised revenues a bit through tax rate changes, they made virtually no progress in reducing our $1 trillion annual deficit and $16 trillion national debt.”