Paul Hansen is the regional director for the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates reducing the nation's deficit. He travels across Wyoming and the West to convince people of the importance of reducing the national debt.
"Everywhere I go people get it... People understand that everything has to be on the table and people understand that we have compromise in order to solve this problem."
Hansen says everyone that is except Congress. He doesn't mince words when describing lawmakers’ inability to reach an agreement to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff.
"It's a fiscal slope not really a fiscal cliff 'cause it's going to be implemented over an entire year. It's still a stupid way to run a great nation."
Hansen says both Democrats and Republicans have to agree on a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce the nation's debt. Hansen argues that tax revenue is at the lowest percentage of the Gross Domestic Product since World War II -- a rate he says that's too low to operate a nation. Hansen warns that a failure to compromise could risk the nation's reputation as a stable and reliable economy.