[zardo]

In year 20 he pays income tax on the forgiven amount. He'd better be saving up for that.

[learc83]

That's never going to happen. Too many people are affected for congress not to act before the tax bill comes due.

The economic effects are too large for them to ignore.

[s73v3r]

Much like the economic effects of not passing a budget, or the economic effects of a temporary government shutdown for petty reasons?

[learc83]

Most people don't really care about government shutdowns because it doesn't directly cost most people much money. And, even then you'll notice the government never stays shutdown.

If government shutdowns meant a huge chunk of the voting population (across both parties) was suddenly going to owe thousands of dollars in extra taxes, you can bet they'd never happen.