On Jan. 1, our taxes will go up, the budget will be cut and the U.S. economy, we are told, will go over a financial cliff.On Dec. 21, we are told, the world’s longest calendar will come to an end ... and so, some believe, will mankind.It’s too bad that our lawmakers have turned balancing the budget into a Beltway version of Armageddon rhetoric. Worst-case scenario, Congress will do nothing and our trillion-dollar deficit will be quickly reduced. The reason this is a worst-case scenario is because this hatchet approach to the budget would most likely hurt our economy and send us back into recession.Republicans who took a pledge to never raise taxes need to rethink their positions and learn to “never say never.”