President Obama is driving the economy over the “fiscal cliff” or straight into “Taxmageddon” -- choose your catch phrase -- certain that he can convince the establishment media to blame the Republican Congress for his foot on the accelerator.

On January 1, 2013 -- just weeks from now -- more than $500 billion in tax cuts will come to an end. Taxes will jump $500 billion in 2013 and the hikes will cost Americans $5 trillion over the next decade.

Two years ago, right after the 2010 election, America faced the exact same “fiscal cliff.” What happened? Obama and the then-Democrat House and Senate majorities voted to extend all the tax cuts for two years. (They acted before the GOP formally became the majority in the House. Why move so quickly to extend the tax cuts? Obama pointed out that the economy was weak and any tax on rich or poor would kill jobs.)

So what has changed? The Republicans still run the House. Democrats still run the Senate. Obama is still president. Economy is still weak. (If the Obama recovery had been as strong as the Reagan recovery, at this point there would be 11.5 million more Americans at work.)

Obama has already passed five massive new taxes that will hit Americans on January 1, 2013: taxes on income, savings, consumer-driven health insurance, sick Americans with high medical deductions and medical devices such as pacemakers and prosthetic limbs. Those are not, Obama says, negotiable.

So why would anyone be confused as to who pulled the trigger if Obama drives us off the fiscal cliff?