【 國考達人 盧顧問 】

<本文轉引用自王寶鑑老師部落格>

一、2013年開始的第一天，國際上的頭條新聞就是美國的財政懸崖（Fiscal cliff）問題。根據BBC的解釋，所謂財政懸崖（Fiscal cliff）係指This is the fiscal cliff that the US is staring over. Individuals and companies will be hit simultaneously with tax rises and reductions in government contracts, benefits and support. Some $607bn of cuts and tax rises are planned, including reductions in the defence budget, the end of an employee tax holiday, changes to Medicare allowances and higher personal taxes. The lower-paid will lose some child and income credits, while the long-term unemployed will lose their right to continue drawing benefits. The political intention behind the cliff is that both sides have too much to lose: Republicans are loath to allow the Bush-era tax cuts for high income earners to expire or defence spending be slashed; Democrats want to maintain President Obama's temporary measure to help the unemployed and low income earners, and to avoid deep cuts in non-defence spending. To complicate matters further, the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned that the government is running perilously close to its legal borrowing limit once again, although he has bought it an extra two months until the end of February through some accounting tricks.(BBC)

二、國內則是總統馬英九以「奮起行動，扭轉未來」發表元旦祝詞，指出新的一年所面臨的挑戰：（1）全球產業競爭更加劇烈；（2）區域自由貿易區塊加速形成；（3）人才培育與產業需求的嚴重失衡；（4）少子女化與人口高齡化造成的年金問題。

三、新年新希望，祝福大家一切順心。