With the presidential campaign season coming to an end, the media is desperately looking for something else to endlessly obsess over. Luckily, we’ll have to look no further than the so-called “fiscal cliff,” that combination of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect after the New Year.
The Congressional Budget Office and a wealth of other economics warn that unless Congress can work out a compromise to avoid the cliff, the changes brought about can plunge the economy back into recession. But if no compromise can be reached, will going over the fiscal cliff be as cataclysmic as some might make it sound? Felix Salmon, finance blogger at Reuters, makes his best guess.
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